Chapter 10
Story
The room grew uncomfortably loud as more and more people flooded the small shed that was our art class. There weren't enough tables for everyone so some students had taken to inhabiting the floor and counter tops. The final bell rung, forcing Martin to put down what he was working on and stand up to address the class. "Alright, children! Grab your sketch books and whatever else you feel like you may need! You know what to do." He emphasized words unnecessarily and used exaggerated hand motions when he spoke. Martin didn't even bother taking attendance; he just marked everyone as present and carried about on his own for most of the classes, only giving little instruction here and there. The other students began to scurry around, grabbing whatever it was they desired. I already had everything I needed. I fished through my bag and grabbed my sketch book. I took a pencil from the bin on the desk. It didn't have an eraser, something most people would find slightly annoying, but I didn't mind it. My mistakes were what made the art mine. I flipped to an empty page and started on the outline of a few tall buildings. I got up and walked to a drawer and collected a few different water colors. I could see Gerard watching me from the corner of my eyes but he was easy to ignore.
I started with a purple. But it wasn't a purple, really. It was purple mixed with reds and blues and greys. And that covered my entire paper. Then I had to repaint the buildings black. And that's exactly what it was; just black. It was my buildings. Bland and dull and lifeless just as they are in real life, but this time, with a purple tint in the back. Some kind of promise. And then I had to mix my yellow. It was orange tinted, though. Stark yellow wouldn't have done well. So I had my buildings. But the rest was all my purple. So I took that same purple and added more red. It started to lighten and made a warm pinkish color. I painted the bottom third of my paper with it, covering the purple. Then, I took that pinkish color and added a lot of blue, darkening the pink past the purple it was before and into an almost navy blue shade. This is the color that went on the top third of the paper. I held the paper up and let it drip onto a napkin below. The colors started to blend, losing the sharp contrast that the sky had. And when I laid it down, I had my messy night and a boring black and purple city with obnoxious yellow-orange lights. And I loved every inch of it.
And when I looked to see what Gerard had, I was taken aback for a moment. He had me.