Chapter 6
The summer holiday came and went for Grace. Today was the first day at her new school in Blackpool. She had joined other students who had artistic thoughts and it was easy for her to join in with the others.
The school's uniform contain a white blouse, a gray sweater vest with green linen and a gray skirt for the girls. The boys also wore the sweater vests with a white undershirt and gray pants.
Pitch decided to stay out of the way as much as possible for Grace and for the other students.
He would peek into the other classrooms to see what the other children were doing. Some students did oil paints or watercolor and others did clay sculpturing, but he had to admit, they were not his favorite kinds of art.
He then found Grace's class, where she and the other students were sketching a person, maybe their teacher sitting sideways on a stool.
"10 minutes everyone," the teacher said to the class.
Pitch was curious of what Grace was drawing and decided to look down on her from the ceiling. He smiled upon seeing the sketch; Grace had drawn the teacher in amazing detail on her paper.
A little later, the teacher got up and collected the sketches from the other students, but she stopped and looked at Grace's drawing.
"Look at this, children," the teacher said to the class and she showed Grace's sketch to the students. They stood up from their desks and grew wide eyed at the drawing.
"Now this is how you're supposed to draw," the teacher added and pinned Grace's piece on the bulletin board.
The students groaned and Pitch could sense that they were jealous of Grace and he hoped that they wouldn't get too envious of her.
The class ended and the students were dismissed for lunch.
"Excuse me," a girl just about Grace's age came up to her. "What's your name?"
"I'm Grace," she answered.
"I'm Elizabeth, but you can call me Lizzy," the girl replied, "Do you want to eat your lunch with me?" she asked.
"Yes, I like that," Grace answered and they headed outside with their lunch packs.
The two girls sat under the shade of an ash tree, while Pitch watched them from the shadows.
Lizzy had blonde-brown hair tied in two pigtails, her eyes were the color of morning gray mist, and her peach-colored hands were covered in charcoal.
"I really liked your drawing of Mrs. Fredericks," Lizzy said to Grace.
"Thank you, I really like to draw, I guess you can say it's a gift," she replied.
"If Megan Honeycutt saw it, she'd be very jealous of you. In fact, she's a bully and she wants everything to go her way, especially being the best," Lizzy warned and Pitch listened in.
"Does she do charcoal?" Grace asked and Lizzy nods. "You said that Honeycutt is her last name; why does that sound familiar?" Grace asked, again.
"Her father was senior editor of an art magazine in London; I forgot what the name was. He moved here to Blackpool after becoming senior editor to the Blackpool Still Life art magazine and that's why Megan is here," Lizzy explained. "Just be careful when you see her," she warned.
"What does she look like?" Grace asked and Pitch also wanted to know.
Lizzy looked around and her eyes grew wide, "There," she whispered to Grace, pointing to a girl a few feet away. The girl, Megan had dark brown hair, but it was a mess as if she never combed it and her eyes were a dark shade of brown.
Megan was teasing a boy who was doing a watercolor painting of the grounds.
"C'mon, paint me in!" Megan demanded and jumped in and out of the boy's view.
"Please leave me alone," the boy said, but Megan continued to tease him and then started to poke her fingers on his canvas. "Stop that!" he cried as Megan left colored finger points on the canvas.
"Someone's got to stop her," Grace said and got up.
"Don't do it!" Lizzy exclaimed, but Grace was already walking up to the bully. Pitch followed behind and he prayed that this Megan would not tease Grace so much.
"You better stop that!" Grace ordered Megan, who stopped and turned her attention to Grace.
"Why should I stop? This boy won't paint me on his canvas," the bully replied.
"He does not want to, why can't you understand that? You don't know him and he does not know you," Grace said.
"You must be new this year. Just to let you know, everyone knows me here and I get to do whatever I want," Megan replied, but Grace grew angry.
"Just because your father is rich, that does not make you a ruler over everyone here," she said and Megan gave a look of shock.
"Alright, I'm sorry," the bully replied and leaves.
Grace walks up to the boy with the ruined painting. "That doesn't look too bad," she said when she looked at the canvas and the boy nods.
Suddenly, someone gave a hard push at Grace from behind and she toppled over the boy and they crashed to the ground, along with the easel that held up the painting.
Grace looked up to see Megan towering over her and she was laughing. Pitch grew angry at this girl; he did not like people, especially children when they take advantage of others.
"What is going on here?" a teacher asked and walked over to the children.
Megan then turned around and faced the teacher with a sad face. "This girl and I were playing, but she got a little rough and she ran into this boy," she said.
"That is a lie! She pushed me!" Grace replied and pointed a finger at Megan.
"You two," the teacher said to Lizzy and the boy, "What did you see?"
Megan gave a look at the two children, as if she was threatening them.
"I didn't see them until she tumbled into me," the boy said and Grace was shocked.
"I actually didn't see anything," Lizzy replied.
"So that's it?" Pitch asked, but the children didn't hear him, "You're just going to let the bully win?"
"Well, since no one saw anything, I'm not going to report it to the headmistress, but I am giving both of you a warning," the teacher said and walks away.
Megan gave a grin and she also walked away from Grace.
"Why did you lie?" Grace asked the boy and Lizzy.
"If we told the truth, Megan would tease us forever," Lizzy replied and the boy nods.
Pitch was very irritated by this; if he was mortal and witnessed this, he would've slapped Megan and threaten to expel her, but he couldn't.
He then noticed Grace leaving the boy and Lizzy, an angry look was on her face.
She walked to a lonely spot by another ash tree and sat under it and Pitch joined her.
"She didn't hurt you did she?" he asked Grace and then noticed the tears in her eyes.
"I wanted her to stop, but I didn't expect her to do that," she replied and hugged her knees to her chest.
Pitch placed his arms around her, but did not hug her and used a thumb to brush away her tears. "Dry your eyes, if one saw you as a weak being, they'll hurt you even more," he said and leans into her ear, "Don't worry, I'll pay Megan a little visit tonight."
"You mean you're going to haunt her with nightmares?" Grace asked and Pitch nods. "I hope she has bad dreams all night long," she said.
"And she will and perhaps she won't sleep a wink," the Shadow Man replied, just as the bell rang.
"And don't worry, this is your first day and so far, you've won the favor of one teacher. Keep it up and maybe you'll be the new favorite here," Pitch added and Grace gives a smile. "Now that is what I wanted to see. No more frowns today, you promise me?" he asked and she nods.
Grace runs back inside to go to her afternoon class, while Pitch stayed under the shade of the ash tree.
Erebos joins him and nudges at the Shadow Man's head. "How am I doing so far?" Pitch asked the Pegasus.
"You really handled that like a pro," a voice said from somewhere.
Pitch looked up to see Jack Frost, walking on a tree branch, it frosted from his touch.
"Well, well, it's the misfit," Pitch said to Erebos.
"Ha, ha, ha," Jack replied, sarcastically.
Just then, Pitch heard a buzzing sound and he knew what that was.
"Hello there, Lady Tooth," the Shadow Man said to the tooth fairy.
The hummingbird woman took a peek inside one window of the school and admired the works of the young children.
"Such artistic geniuses these children are," Tooth said, "And I understand that Miss Grace is quite the artist?"
"You need to see her work," Pitch replied. Tooth's feathers ruffled; she still had not forgiven the Shadow Man for kidnapping her assistants and stealing the children's teeth.
"You're lucky to have one child believe in you," she said and Pitch felt offended by this.
"One is not enough," he replied.
"Now, now, let's not do anything we might regret," Jack cut in. Tooth decided to leave, but she says to the boogeyman, "My assistants and I will never forgive you." With a sniff, Tooth flew away.
"Don't mind her; someday she will see Grace and her work. As a matter of fact, I have not seen them," Jack said as a cold wind blew in.
"If you stay any longer, winter will be here much too early," Pitch replied.
"Alright, I'm going," the winter spirit said and he flew away with the wind.
Erebos gave a snicker at Pitch. "I suppose you're right. I should be open to the other Guardians," he said to the black Pegasus and rubbed one of the long ears with his fingers.