The next day, Celeste arrived at the art classroom, holding her sketchpad at her hip with a hopeful glint in her eyes. She was thinking of doing a Victorian theme to match Lysander's tastes, and just the idea of that gave her so many more ideas for paintings. But then again, there was a chance she didn't even get the offer to have her stuff in the gallery. She arrived at the art room to see Miss Cunningham practically exploding with excitement.
"Kitten!" she said cheerfully, "Guess what? I called Lauren, the art gallery owner I told you about, and she said she'd be interested in seeing what you've got!"
"What? Really?" Celeste said, grinning, "That's awesome! I can't wait."
"Great," Miss Cunningham said, "Kitten, I'm going to have you do a separate project from the rest of the class. You're an amazing artist already, but there's only room for improvement, right? So I want you to paint whatever you want today. Experiment techniques and things for today, okay? Can you skip lunch again?"
"Alright," Celeste said, "but when did Lauren say she'll look at my paintings?"
"Tomorrow," Miss Cunningham said, "so you've got all day today to practice and tomorrow too. After school, you can come here and borrow some supplies if you don't already have some at home. Then tomorrow I want to see you here this period and next period too. We'll be leaving after school."
"Tomorrow?" she said, "But tomorrow's Wednesday. I have plans."
"Kitten, this is a once in a lifetime offer," Miss Cunningham said, "I'm sure your friends can reschedule, right?"
Nibbling on her lip, Celeste nodded slowly although she wasn't sure about what Lysander would think if she skipped out on him. It was an offer that she'd thought only existed in her dreams, so maybe he would understand. Miss Cunningham gestured to the easel already set up. Celeste gathered her watercolor painting supplies and gazed at the empty canvas. In the end, she decided to draw a girl with a deep red Victorian styled dress to the floor in the photo. Her head wasn't in the painting but her hand lifted the dress off the floor a bit and her hair came out behind her as if she was running. Celeste wasn't sure how else to draw it, so she painted the hair blonde and curly so it came out behind her elegantly. The photo would match the theme perfectly, but she still had yet to give the theme a name.
"That's really good," Miss Cunningham said from over her shoulder, "You're going places, kitten!"
Celeste smiled as she took the photo and set it aside to dry completely as she turned to Miss Cunningham. "Miss Cunningham," she said, "I was wondering… say I did something wrong and I screw everything up. Would you be mad at me?"
"Of course not," Miss Cunningham said, furrowing her brow, "Whether you screw everything up or not, you're still my kitten."
Grinning, Celeste took another blank canvas and propped it up on her easel. "Thanks," she said. She gazed at it curiously for a moment. If she was going to have a Victorian theme… wait, wasn't it originally supposed to be about Lysander? In order to fit both of her previous paintings into one, she would need to come up with a theme that included both of them. Something in her head told her to make it so it revolved around the first portrait of Lysander she'd painted but also included things from the Victorian era. Hmm…
"I've got it!"
"Got an idea, kitten?" Miss Cunningham said at Celeste's sudden outburst.
"I know what my theme is going to be called," she said, "I'm going to call it 'Victorian Prince'. Yeah, I like that! It fits the last two paintings."
"You're including them both?" Miss Cunningham asked. Celeste nodded before returning to the canvas.
For her next painting, she decided to paint a Victorian-styled castle. She gave it a darker theme and finished it by setting the scenery. After it was finished, she set it beside the other for Miss Cunningham to admire. By the time she had completed putting everything away, the bell had already rung and Celeste was on the verge of being late to class. She held her sketchpad at her side, her bag over her shoulder as she rushed to her next class. In her rush to get to class, she ran into someone so hard, it sent her falling on her bottom, her bag falling to the floor beside her and her sketchpad dropping near her feet. Just as she had settled on to the ground, the late bell rang. She sighed with exasperation, rubbing her forehead.
"Sorry," said the voice of the person who had unintentionally knocked her over, "I'm sorry." She sat up at the sound of his voice to see Lysander. He gathered her sketchpad in one arm, stretching out the other towards her. She took it and he pulled her to her feet with an easy tug of her arm. She hoisted a strap of her bag over her shoulder and he handed over her sketchpad.
"Lysander, I'm glad I ran into you," Celeste said, "I know we had plans tomorrow, but can we reschedule for Thursday? I'm really sorry, but I have an important meeting tomorrow."
"It's fine," he said with a nonchalant wave of his hand, "really."
"Great," she said, smiling, "I'm glad you understand." Her gaze lingered on him for a few moments before she brushed past him, slipping inside the classroom.
The art gallery owner had strongly approved of including the paintings in her gallery; the only thing she asked more of Celeste was to finish and perfect the theme by next week. Lauren had never actually asked about the theme, but she seemed in a hurry so it didn't matter much. Celeste had only guessed that they would discuss the theme at another time. The viewing of her theme would be next week, when it was supposed to be completed. So now, Celeste sat across from Lysander at a café near the school, gazing at her plate full of food in front of her. She hadn't realized how hungry she was until now. It didn't occur to her the past few days to eat, so she hadn't been doing that. At least not until now. She wanted to eat it all in a few bites but she didn't want to look like a sloppy eater in front of Lysander.
"Are you not hungry?" he asked, simply watching as she gazed at her pile of food.
She gave him a smile before picking up a fork and digging in. She was careful not to eat too quickly or too much like she hadn't eaten—which she hadn't; three and a half days was quite a bit of time to go without eating. Before she knew it, she had finished her plate much before Lysander, although she had double the amount of food that he had.
"You seem hungry," he teased, gazing at her empty plate.
"Sorry," she said, grimacing at being unable to control her behavior, "I don't normally eat like this… it's just that I haven't eaten in a few days."
"A few days?" he said, "Why?"
"I've been too busy," she said, shrugging, "Miss Cunningham wanted me to work on my technique for a couple days and skip lunch to do it so I could paint in her room before my meeting with this art gallery owner. I've been doing that so I haven't had time to eat."
He paused, as if pondering what to say before replying with, "You paint?"
"Yeah," she said, proudly, "I relish in the fact that I have talent in art, so I try to expand the things I try so that I'm not only drawing. I even started sculpting recently; of course I'm going to need to practice that if I'm going to be any good, but still."
"That's interesting," he said, "You wouldn't mind showing me sometime, would you?"
"Some of my paintings?" she said, "Yeah, sure. Just stop by the art room any time after school. I'm usually there. It's nice to have a break though; I think I'm getting an artist's block."
"You shouldn't push yourself too hard," he said, "It's clear you are, since you're forgetting to eat."
"I know," she said, "I just get too into it sometimes. It's hard to explain."
He didn't question her as he slowly finished his food. Celeste felt a bit off, watching him. After spending so much of her time just watching him, she was sure to have every detail of his face memorized, right? So why couldn't she portray all of those details correctly on paper? She gave a sigh which, in turn, caused him to give her a curious gaze. She simply shook her head, letting her gaze wander to the window, wondering why she hadn't learned anything today about him, aside from the fact that he took an interest in her art.
After eating, they split the bill and he walked her home. While walking, he didn't say much. Celeste wasn't even sure if he paid attention to her constant ramblings about whatever when her mind went off track; he just kept his gaze glued to the floor. It only piqued her curiosity even more but she didn't mention it. Once they arrived at her home, she felt a bit remorseful towards the fact that she hadn't asked him any questions about himself, and yet she wasn't even sure if he'd have answered them. She considered inviting him inside but decided against it as she wished him goodnight and disappeared inside the front door of her home.
Celeste stood in front of her easel, gazing at the canvas blankly with no idea what else to paint. After about ten minutes of attempting to think of something, she eventually decided to drop it and hurry to the shower, bathing and readying herself for bed. It wasn't late yet but she'd begun to feel increasingly tired the past couple of days. She curled up in her bed, feeling more than just comfortable as she closed her eyes and let her mind wander.
It always seemed to wander back to Lysander, thinking of his mismatched eyes and how they were both deeper than each other. It was almost as if his eyes were passageways to the soul inside of his hard shell that she was attempting to pierce into. And his hair… every time she thought of his hair, her fingers tingled with the desire to run through it… that way she could hold his face closer to hers and feel his breathing warm on her face just before their lips met and… wait, what? When her mind began coming up with crazy conclusions to things that would otherwise be possibly okay, she wasn't sure. But she was sure she had a nice time with him at the café and she definitely wanted to do it again, despite the fact that she hadn't managed to know him any better than she did before. He was a good listener; that was definite. Her eyes remained closed as she realized something, lifting her fingers to her lips as she traced the curve. The thought of him brought a smile to her face.
The next morning, Celeste decided to wear a floral white and pale pink blouse tucked into beige shorts that pulled up to her belly button over another pair of floral laced stockings that disappeared into regular boots with hardly a boost to her height at all. She had her hair straightened so it only took a few strokes of her brush to fix it before she did her makeup. Thinking back to what Lysander had said the day before brought her to the kitchen somehow and she threw together a sandwich and ate it quickly before deciding to drive to school to give her more time in the morning. She sat at a bench in the courtyard and pulled her sketchpad out of her bag and found an empty page, a pencil in hand as she gazed at it. She hadn't drawn anything with pencils in what felt like ages, due to her being stuck in front of an easel for so long. She knew it would pay off at the viewing of her theme and she would get a break for a while, but it still hurt her that she was sketch-deprived. She began with the simple sketch of a face that could easily turn into anyone with more detail and, eventually, she found herself drawing Maya. Maya was a gorgeous girl after all, so Celeste didn't mind drawing her in the least. She had just finished darkening the sketch when a voice reached her.
"You're so talented."
Celeste lifted her gaze to find Lysander standing above her, watching her draw. Immediately, she brightened and lost all grogginess she'd carried from sleeping for so long.
"Good morning," she said cheerfully, "And thank you!"
"Morning," he said, sitting beside her. She could tell how tired he was just by looking at him; his eyelids were a little puffy, his lips were dry, his eyes were a bit narrow.
"You're not a morning person, are you?" she said, "You look tired."
He nodded. "Is it obvious?" he said sheepishly. She giggled.
"I'm a morning person," she said, "I just like brighter colors and the night doesn't have much of that."
"I prefer nights," he said, "How early are you awake?"
Grinning, she said, "I occasionally wake up at five A.M. but when I'm really tired, I wake up at five thirty. It's early, but I like watching the sun come up."
He yawned as if it was a reflex at her even mentioning waking up at the crack of dawn. "I don't understand how you could do that," he said.
"What time do you wake up?" she asked curiously.
"Seven," he said.
She giggled and said, "Oh I'm up an hour or two before you. It's kind of funny." He stayed quiet, allowing her to return to her sketch. Maya came out easily on the paper until Celeste had reflected every detail into the illustration. She could feel Lysander watching from over her shoulder beside her, but he didn't say anything; she was just glad to have his company. Ironically, just as she had finished the drawing, Maya was hurrying towards her.
"Celeste, Celeste, Celeste," she said quickly, panting in between words, "have you talked to Nathaniel yet?"
"Not yet," she said sheepishly, "I've been busy. Should I go now?" Maya nodded.
"He hasn't been answering my texts all morning," Maya said worriedly, "I think he's lost interest."
"Aw, don't think like that, honey," Celeste said, getting to her feet, "Maybe something happened that he's not ready to talk about yet and he's just upset, or maybe he's going through something. I'll talk to him."
Maya gazed at the drawing open in Celeste's sketchpad and smiled. "Aw, it's me," she said, "You're amazing, Celeste."
Celeste gave her a wave of her hand as if to dismiss the compliment. "Do you want it?" she asked. Maya shook her head.
"It's really good, but I still have the other ones that you drew for me," she said, "You can keep that one." The way she bounced on her toes showed that she was impatient for Celeste to hurry and talk to Nathaniel. Clearly this was hurting her, whatever Nathaniel was up to and Celeste was determined to get to the bottom of it as she put her sketchpad in her bag and waved to Lysander before brushing past Maya. With her chin up, she approached the student council room and gave a light knock before opening the door. The sight made her gasp; Nathaniel pressed against Melody, who was leaning against a table with one knee up on his hip and her other foot on the floor. They were in a tight lip lock.
"Um, am I interrupting something?" she said slowly.
Nathaniel was a foot away from Melody the next second, looking as flustered as ever. He and Celeste both knew what was really happening in the room; Melody was just as clueless as Maya. Of course when Maya had told her recently that she and Nathaniel had gotten back together, she had assumed that he had broken up with Melody, but clearly that wasn't the case.
"Uh, d-do you need s-something?" he stammered in an attempt to sound sure; clearly he was failing.
"Yes," Celeste said, "I need to speak to mister president alone; sorry Melody."
Melody dismissed her apology with a wave of her hand and left the room, closing the door.
"Okay, where do I begin?" Celeste said, tapping her chin with her finger, "Oh, gosh, Nathaniel, you're just falling lower and lower on my list of people I approve of. Hmm…" she thought for a few moments before snapping her fingers, "Oh, I have a way to start this!" She let her expression fall grave as she put her hands on her hips, shifting her weight to one side of her body. "Are you stupid?!" she said so loudly, her voice echoed in the room. Nathaniel flinched as if what she had said had physically hurt him.
"Don't tell Maya," he said quickly, "Please, Celeste! I'm begging you!"
"Why shouldn't I tell Maya?" she said, fuming, "She deserves to know how much you really don't deserve her. And you know what, Nathaniel? You don't have to cheat if it's because you don't want Maya to get hurt. Frankly, I think she's been getting a lot closer to Castiel lately."
He grimaced at the thought, avoiding her gaze. "I'm not doing it because I don't want her to get hurt," he said, "I love her."
"No you don't," Celeste said, "If you think this is love, then you clearly have no freaking clue about what love even is. If you really loved her, you would never have even considered dating any other girl."
"I do love her," he said, "You just… don't understand."
"I understand that you're a player," she said, "I understand that Maya's way too good for you. I understand that even if she went out with a tree, she'd still be doing much better than dating you. You remember last time, how I told you I lost all respect for you? That never really came back but now I'm just going to think of you as nothing. Maya doesn't deserve all the crap you give her and I just don't think you're worth it."
"You don't understand," he repeated more firmly, "I love Maya but I can't break up with Melody."
"Yeah you can," she said, "You just walk up to her, you know with your feet, and then just use your mouth to say 'it's over'. Two words that you've had no trouble saying to Maya in the past, if you remember."
"It's because I'm scared," he admitted, "Like you said, Maya has been getting closer to Castiel and I don't want to go through that."
"Okay, so all you have to do is dump Melody and then go get your girl," Celeste said, "Cheating on her won't make her like you more."
"I know," he said, "I just… I want someone else there to cushion the blow if that happens."
"You're stupid," she said bluntly, "Maya may be getting closer to Castiel but right now she's head over heels for you. It would be really easy to win her back now."
"Just please," he said, "I'll clear this up. Just don't tell Maya. Please."
Celeste sighed, giving her forehead a thorough and frustrated rubbing before shrugging. "Sure, whatever," she muttered.
"Promise me that you won't tell her," he said.
She sighed again before saying, "I promise."