Chapter thirteen
"So today we're going to be starting another assignment. I promise it's nothing too hard." the art teacher strolled into the 'art barn' and added the last part after a few people groaned. The woman's frizzy brown hair was contained behind a white bandana so her light brown eyes could sweep over her students. Anika decided that the woman couldn't have been more than forty five years old.
"Alright, so you're going to choose someone in this room and do a series of sketches of their personality. The only rule is that you can't ask them any questions. All you can do is watch. It could be just their face or a certain position they're in that captures a certain emotion. Now, they can know that you're drawing them or they don't have to know. You can show them as you go along, or not show them at all.
"I will be grading them, however I've learned to tell who's work is who's by the techniques they use so don't put your name on it. At the end I want you all to hang them up. Have fun with this. After all, I'm giving you all permission to go creeping on each other, just keep it clean."
"Um, so who are you doing?" Skinner cleared his throat and looked at Anika out of the corner of his eye. As promised, Ivy was sitting at their table. Except she was on the opposite side of Skinner and Anika and avoided Anika's eyes altogether while she stole glances at Skinner.
"Don't know yet." Anika couldn't lift her glare off of a certain dirty blond head. The guy sat in the furthest seat away from Anika and returned her hate filled stare.
"You should draw him." Skinner held in a chuckle as he subtly nodded his head in Ryleigh's direction. Anika didn't reply with words but rather turned her narrowed grey eyes to the white blond haired boy next to her. He held up his hands in surrender.
Yes Ryleigh had art with Anika who was beginning to dread the slight possibility that they might share the same schedule. With a scowl, she turned to Ivy to take her mind off of the devil child she had the unfortunate chance of being in the same room with.
"Hey you." Anika smirked to herself as she watched Ivy's lips twitch when she herself struggled not to slip on a smile.
"Are you talking to me?" Anika blinked in astonishment at the raw hostility in the pink haired girl's tone.
"Who else? Certainly not this guy." Anika settled a fake scowl on her face as she glared to the side where Skinner flicked his cherry brown eyes between the two girls.
"What do you want?" Ivy snapped and this time Anika let her smirk show.
"My buddy here wants to draw you." from beside her, Skinner choked on air.
"Um, sorry, what?"
"He thinks you're cute with the pink hair and all." Anika watched with mischievous grey eyes when Skinner never made a move to deny this 'false' fact. Instead, he sported his own faint blush and fiddled with his charcoal pencil.
"What are you color blind? It's magenta." Ivy spoke slowly as if she were talking to someone that was trying to read her lips.
"Whatever." Anika waved her hand dismissively so that it blocked Skinner's view to her face so that she could wink at Ivy. "What's your name?"
"What's it to ya?" Ivy raised a brow in a challenge and leaned on the table with her elbows.
"That's an awful name. You still want to draw Pinky?" Anika turned to look at Skinner.
"I-I, uh..." Skinner stuttered adorably, staring at Ivy.
"Fine, we'll draw each other." Ivy made the decision for him and caught Anika's proud look.
"Oh, okay." Skinner pulled his sketchbook with a shaky hand so that it still leaned against the table but rested in his lap.
"But if you draw me ugly, I'll find out where you sleep." Ivy promised, the amused sparkle in her baby blue eyes could easily be mistaken for a dark promise.
"I-I won't. I mean, you're pretty." Skinner offered a small, nervous smile; a sight that Anika wanted to laugh at.
"Yeah, pretty ugly." Anika whispered loudly to Skinner and felt him freeze as Ivy playfully narrowed her eyes at them, not that Skinner knew that.
"Anika, why don't you find someone to partner up with?" Skinner proposed, probably thinking the two girls were going to fight. This thought had Anika nearly breaking her hard exterior with the need to laugh. Though, she did give a lot of credit to Ivy for being a good actress.
"Right, I know where I'm not wanted. I'll be in that corner creepily drawing that dude from a far." Anika pointed to the closest corner and then to a random guy sleeping on the desk.
"Have fun with that." Skinner jumped in before Ivy could utter a word. With a wink over Skinner's head, Anika pulled her chair over to the corner and sat in it. She twirled the charcoal pencil in between her fingers on one hand and tapped her thumb on the sketchpad in her lap while scouting the classroom for an interesting model. She found herself struggling between two people but at last, Anika felt a little more curious about the guy.
With her pencil pulling across the paper, Anika blew away the shards of charcoal that crumbled from the sharp point and began to sketch the first in her series. She didn't have to worry about him finding out she was drawing him because he was facing away from her with his head propped up on his hand with his elbow on the table. Â She concluded he fell asleep an hour later as she watched his head dip closer to the table before softly banging against it. Anika held in the chuckle building in the back of her throat as he jumped out of his seat. Every pair of eyes swung over to the dirty blond haired kid but he just emitted a growl and they went back to their drawings. By that time, she didn't need to look at him to draw his features correctly. On her sketch pad, his figure sat a the end of the dock with the fiery sun rise flaming out of the water just like how she witnessed it this morning. Greg had always said that her memory was the best for remembering things and repainting them.
"So, who are you doing?" Anika jumped as Skinner whispered in her ear.
"Gah! What are you doing?" Anika pushed his shoulder so he wasn't so close and closed her sketchbook.
"Waking you up from your day dream about sleeping beauty." Skinner chuckled and flashed his eyes over to the boy sleeping on his arm, a string of drool dripping from the corner of his mouth.
"I wasn't drawing him." Anika rolled her eyes and unconsciously her eyes roomed the room for her model but he had already left.
"So... who is it then?" Skinner slung an arm around her shoulders and led her out of the barn after she put away her supplies and shoved the sketchbook under her elbow.
"I'm not telling you." Anika smirked at the white blond kid as he pulled the puppy dog face. Anika shook her head and looked away.
"Ooh, little Annie is a creepa'."
"Yep." she popped the 'p' making Skinner laugh.
"Alright fine. I won't ask again."
"Why do I feel like there's a 'but' coming?" Anika thought aloud.
"But... will you show me which drawings are yours at the end?" Skinner asked hopefully.
Anika took a minute to think about this. If she showed him- or the girls, she wouldn't hear the end of it. Anika could picture them forcing her to show her sketches to him.
"Maybe." Anika replied but it seemed enough for him. "How'd the drawing session with Ivy go?"
"It went great." Skinner smiled and Anika raised a dark brow at him.
"Great eh?"
"Uh, yeah. Sorry about ditching you but I didn't want you to fight two people in the same twenty four hours." Skinner smiled sheepishly.
"That's alright. I wasn't going to fight her anyways." this time Skinner raised his blond brow at her, which Anika shrugged at.
"I'm glad you forced me to draw her."
"Forced? You could have backed out and just said we were drawing each other. Admit it, she kind of appeals to you." Anika poked his side.
"She's cool." he shrugged a shoulder casually.
Anika scoffed at his laid back attitude but ceased her teasing. "Where'd she go anyway?"
"To the bathroom to wash the charcoal off. It's supper time you know that right? Or were you too busy watching the kid sleep?" Skinner joked and laughed loudly as Anika rolled her eyes again.
"Whatever. I'm going to the bathroom too." Anika stepped out from under Skinner's arm and took a turn down another path heading to the girl's hygiene shack.
"See you in a few. Oh, and don't pester Ivy, Anika. She's only mean to other meanies." Skinner yelled over his shoulder as he walked further away from him.
"I won't Blondie." Anika smirked when he turned around at the nickname. She blew him a kiss before laughing and losing him in the trees.
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Anika let out a squeal as she was attacked as soon as she set foot in the girl's bathroom.
"Ivy! You can't just jump on people like that." Anika scolded the pink haired girl who beamed at her with her thin arms wrapped around her neck tightly.
"He's awesome! And you're awesome. And you were great with the whole 'hey my buddy wants to draw you'. And I nearly died. And he was just so-"
"Breathe." Anika clasped her hand over Ivy's mouth, cutting off her rambling when her face started to redden.
"Okay. Okay. In... out... in- oh my gosh thank you so much!" Ivy bowled her over in another massive hug.
"Jeesh Ivy, okay, you're welcome." Anika chuckled and peeled the girl's arms away from her throat.
"Sorry." Ivy grinned. "I'm so glad you came. I'm mean, I feel bad because you have to deal with Ryleigh in art now, but Skinner actually seemed to tolerate me. That was just to good what we did to him." Ivy held her stomach to keep from laughing all over again.
"I think he more than tolerates you." Anika mumbled.
"What! He talked to you about me?" Ivy's eyes lit up.
"I don't think this obsession is healthy."
"I'm not obsessed." Ivy slapped Anika's arm lightly. "Just interested."
"Right. Well, why don't you ask him?"
"What?"
"Sit with us at supper. Meet the girls." Anika looked at Ivy through the mirror hanging over the sink.
"Um, okay. But I don't think we can do the whole act with them. They'll rip into me if I talk to you like that." Anika chuckled.
"Come on, Ivy. They're not sharks." Anika walked out of the bathroom with Ivy close behind. "Well, not to me anyway."
"Anika!" Ivy cried in fake annoyance.
"Alright, how about I won't let them eat you." Ivy rolled her eyes and swallowed audibly.