Misfits, Outcasts and Outsiders

Chapter 4 - Awkward Art Class

I made it to class just as the second bell rang for classes to begin. My right hand was still stinging from coming into contact with that guy's face. If Ashley found out that I did that I was going to die. Oh, who am I kidding? She probably already knows that I had slapped him, after all Hannah was standing right behind me when I did it. I just really wanted to curl up in a ball and die.

"Okay class, first I'd like to introduce a new student that'll be in our class for the rest of the semester," my teacher announced, making me stiffen. Oh please no, don't let it be him! I looked up just as he walked into the classroom with that big red hand print on the left side of his face. Shit! "This is Felix. Now why don't you go take that empty seat over there while I start the class."

I looked out of the corner of my eye to where she was pointing and realized that the only empty spot in the classroom was the spot between me and the window. I wanted to bang my head off the table at the whole situation. As Felix walked over I stiffened, waiting for him to say or do something. But it was like he didn't even see me, he just sat down in his chair and stared out the window to his left. I was very confused. What's with the change in attitude all of the sudden?

The nice part of me which was a lot bigger than I liked wanted to ask him what was wrong and apologize for slapping him. But I forced myself to bite my tongue and keep my eyes on the front of the room. For the better part of class I was able to just focus on what we were doing and ignore Felix. But then the teacher started talking about our final project, which was a mini art gallery of 8 paintings from each pair of students. Then she let us off to sketch some ideas in our sketch books. Our teacher usually let me work alone, but today she walked over to my desk while all the other students were working.

"Janet?" She called to get my attention up from the page that I was sketching on.

"Yes, Ms. M?" I asked, confused as to why she wanted to speak with me so suddenly.

"I know you and Maria usually work together on these things but I was hoping you'd be able to work with our new student on this one," Ms. M said trying to make it sound like I was doing her a favour. The real reason why she was asking me was because the other people had probably already said no. I was trying not to show the horror on my face but something must've slipped out because she continued on talking. "I've seen his portfolio, Janet, and I know that you two won't disappoint me."

With that she turned her back on me and returned to the front of the class while I was left staring at her back wondering what had just happened. I closed my mouth and chanced a glance at Felix. He was looking back at me with this baffled expression on his face, like he couldn't believe it either. At least that's what I was hoping he was thinking. I kind of felt insulted by that but I let it go because I was probably thinking the same about him that he was thinking about me.

The bell rang knocking me out of my thoughts. I jumped out of my seat and practically ran to my next class so that I wouldn't have to deal with Felix cause he seemed to be in a better mood now and I was just still not ready to talk to him. But he had other things in mind, and caught my wrist as I was leaving the classroom. I stiffened and turned to look at him, keeping my face neutral.

"What do you want?" I asked Felix trying to be polite, but raising an eyebrow when he didn't let go of my wrist.

"I apologize for the misunderstanding earlier," Felix said but he had this weird look on his face that made me think that he had wanted to say something else as well, but he closed his mouth and let go of my wrist. I nodded slowly, and hesitated a moment before jogging off to my next class. I shook my head and tried to rearrange my thoughts as I walked into my photography class.