introvert | c.b

pt 1: art class

i stare at the blank canvas in front of me. i'm told to draw how i feel at this exact moment in time, but all i can think about is the fact the canvas is blank and so is my mind and soul.
miss preston, my art teacher, weaves in and out of the students in class. each one with a canvas full of doodles, writing, colour and work. mine, however, sits still in a classroom of movement. she stands still behind me, her head cocked to the side like a chicken, inspecting the empty canvas.

"interesting." she mutters, nodding at me.

i scoff, rolling my eyes as i sit back in my seat. i turn to the boy next to me. his hair neatly packed into a beanie, jeans so tight his legs looked like needles and his clothes so black he looked like a void.

"pst..." i whisper, poking his bicep with the end of my pencil.

he looks at me, his blue eyes piercing into my own. he looks around him and points to himself, as if it to ask 'who? me?' i nod, laughing at this boy who looked rather uncomfortable by my presence.

"how do you know how you feel?" i questioned, my eyebrows raising as i looked at the canvas in front of him. it was filled to the brim with doodles on top of doodles, one stuck out to me in particular. it looked like a self portrait, but the guy was screaming while covering his ears with his own hands.

"i— i don't know? i just feel, i guess?" he answered, the look on his face was a mixture of confusion and annoyance.

"is that you?" i asked, pointing to the doodle in the far right of his canvas.

his eyes followed my finger, he looked hesitant in his response but he nodded nevertheless before looking back at me.

"are you not going to explain it— or?" i questioned, dumbfounded.

"uh—" he began before being cut off by miss preston's end of class speech.

the bell rang, signalling the end of class and the start of lunch. i packed my pencil case into my backpack and watched as everyone shoved their "feelings" into their bags and left. i looked at my canvas and sighed, picking it up and tossing it into the bin as i walked out of the classroom.

i strolled into the hallway as a flood of students bombarded the lockers and found my way to my own. i noticed the boy from art class at his locker, which wasn't that far from mine, fitting his artwork into the extremely inconvenient small hole in the wall that accounted for a locker.

he was struggling for a while until a blond boy came and helped him.

i noted that they either may be brothers or boyfriends, i still wasn't sure.

i slammed my locker shut, smiling at them as they walked past me. a blush peaked on the brunettes already rosy cheeks as the other boy elbowed his side, whistling.

brothers, noted.