Inked > h.s au {DISCONTINUED}

chapter 8

Chapter 8

            Illustration got moved to 7pm. I repeat, Illustration got moved to 7pm. Thank the gods. Thanks Park. Thanks everything. I hate mornings. So I’m basically running to Illustration at 6:30. and then I realize that Harry is in this class with me. And I die inside. I walk into the classroom and there he is, wearing a plaid shirt and those tight black jeans. His curls are slicked back again and he looks up at me with this glare and looks back down at whatever he is shading. I sit far away from him and put in my earphones. I let my hair fall in front of my face and tell myself not to brush it behind my ear. I pull my Eli drawing out of my portfolio and shade the bags under his eyes a little more, because what we all know is that cancer patients are constantly tired. Park walks in and sits at his desk, not talking for once. The blonde girl I think he’s fooling around with walks in and sits as far away from him as possible and doesn’t give him a second glance, they must be fighting, seems to be a common trend in this class.

            While half the class is whispering about Park and the other half is staring at Harry, I throw my head back and stare at the ceiling. I don’t think that every art room on campus looks like this, but there’s a painting on the ceiling that looks something like space, or maybe the sea. There are stars and a sun painted on a background of a seabluegreen, and the light hits it just right although it’s dark outside like this. Mermaids are on the ceiling, too, with their long tails swirling around the planets like they’re used to it. I start wondering how long it must have taken to paint it all when the girl sitting in the chair in front of me says, “It’s called The Unkown. It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

            I think her name is Casey. No, Clare? The blue in her eyes pierce through me while she expects an answer. “Um, excuse me?”

            She giggles, and her whole body seems to move when she does. “The ceiling. You were staring at it, yeah? It’s about how we don’t really know anything about space or the ocean because it hasn’t been completely explored yet. And, like, what if we’ve been getting it wrong the whole time? What if mermaids are in space? Or maybe there’s a sun in the ocean?”

            It takes all of me not to laugh at her enthusiasm. She flips her red hair back on her shoulders and ties it up, looking at the ceiling and sighing. “How’d you figure that one out?” I ask.

            “Oh. Yeah. Park told me. Just after we screwed. It was only last week, actually,” she says, her smile fading into a grimace. Her head turns around to stare at the blonde girl, and I can hear Harry laugh from the other side of the room.

            God, I think. What a fucker. Because as much as I want to be annoyed with every little thing that he does, I just can’t.

            “Me?” Harry stage-whispers, loud enough for me to hear. All the girls look over at Harry (Park hasn’t even started talking yet and it’s been ten minutes into class; he’s just been twiddling his thumbs) like they’ve just seen the face of God. “If anyone, you’re the fucker. You maced me.”

            Before I can say something like you’re the one that took me into the woods or I didn’t even say anything? Park raises his hand as though he’s motioning for us to stop talking. He’s not smiling, and his eyes give away just how little he’s been sleeping. “Alright, people. I won’t tolerate cursing here. I don’t give a crap about how much you cuss outside of this classroom, but this is a no-cussing zone.”

            “He obviously wasn’t living by that rule last week,” Casey/Clare whispers. Her elbow is leaning on my desk and she winks at me. It’s really hard to stifle a laugh, but I know that I have to, because Park is giving us a death glare.