SEVEN

God wasn't helping me or Marco this time.

Some of twelve one shouted my name and greeted me, completely ignoring Marco.

It was so rare to see Frank in a fine arts class. He didn't like them. Then…

It couldn't be… was Frank following Marco? Did he somehow know that he'd sign in in Art and that's why he also signed in? There was no explanation because Frank already took fine arts class last year, so he already had the credit. Not only that, he brought some friends for the hunt.

I smacked myself. It was obvious he'd still be after Marco. He wouldn't let him go that easy. He never does. I had a feeling that Marco was beginning to doubt if it was a good idea to sign in for Art. It crushed down because he entered either way and sat in those long all colored tables. I saw Frank's eyes following him like a predator. Fuck, so many fucks.

I sighed and walked to the teacher, Dot Pixis, -"Um, Pixis, am I in this class?"

-"Saluti, saluti, Jean, how are you doing?"- He asked me with his Italian accent and fancy voice, arms behind, -"I believe it's been so long since we've seen each other."- Yeah, ever since I came to this classroom to ask for some paint for a work in History that we ended up discussing and naturally in the principal's office.

-"Uh, yeah, can I see the lists of students?"- I asked.

He nodded, but didn't gave me the list, -"Yes, yes, you are, unfortunately, in this class since you lack a fine arts credit."-Unfortunately,ha! This year's going to be hell for him and just that cheered me up for staying.

But still: Ah fuck, -"Fine."- I said in a not so good way. I felt his I'm-seeing-you-but-not-really stare on my back. Most of the time, his eyes were closed and that's how he gave the class. When he opened them, it didn't seem like it.

I sat beside Marco because there were no more chairs left, -"Aw, Jean, come with us! Why so left behind? Join the coolguys!"- Frank mocked, laughing. It was all directed towards Marco.

Look around you, dumbass,I wanted to say that, but I'd get in real trouble.

I looked at Marco to see how he was doing. He was still pale and kind of surprised, but apparently, Art kept him cheered up because he took out a black with a collage of different geek and nerd stuff portfolio from his backpack. Passing some transparent slim bags with drawings inside, he reached the end, pulled out a drawn paper and began continuing it. He seemed very happy. I looked up again. There was only some of twelve one here, those who will back up Franks if things with Marco gets hard. Other than that, the rest were practically nerds who loved to draw. From my group… the horrible trio. My group took fine arts last year; they didn't apparently.

-"Hey, Jean! What about your girlfriend? Shouldn't you be with her?"- He asked me, standing from his chair.

I perked my head up and looked for her, immediately sawing her. She stood up and walked to me. Shit. She was here and I didn't notice her. She ordered the guy beside me, not Marco, to change places with her and he, drooling over, moved, -"Hey there, hot stuff."- She said and leaned to kiss me. From the corner of my eyes, I saw Marco gaze at me. My excitement shot up. I was here with my girlfriend and Marco was beside me. I'll show him how a true man is like.

Apparently, he didn't care, because he went back to drawing.

The class started with obviously… art and Pixis trying to tell Frank to shut up. The teacher ordered us to do an origami of whatever we wanted and then paint it. He passed the tables giving papers of all colors: white, black, pink, red, etc., -"This is how I liked to start my class, simple and fun. Do your origami of whatever you want. You can use the internet access I have and check out different origami online. Then, I want you to paint it. Look around you, you have everythingyou need. The classroom is yours. You can do it wherever you want: on the floor, tables, even in the ceiling if you're skilled,"- He laughed. Even his laughter was fancy, -"You may begin now. Remember: This world is a canvas of your own imagination."

Immediately when he said that, the nerds stood up and began taking all sorts of things from the counters. Other used the free internet the teacher had to look for origami. They quickly sat on the comfortable fluffy couches. The floor was also comfortable; it was all covered in a nice soft mat. Literally, the teacher had everything we needed. The classroom wasn't immense as others, but it sure had a lot. In the sides were lined up counters with pencils, all types of them to the cheapest one to the most professionals one. There were paints, all colors, crayons, paintbrushes of all sizes and other things I've never seen. It was amazing, I had to admit. To keep hefty smells away, Pixis had sweet candles that gave the room a different scent. He always changed them; today was sweet vanilla.

I mentioned earlier that periods always shifted. For music, there was another room, smaller, on the other side. A large glass separated the rooms and from here I could see the teacher, Eld Jinn, organizing the instruments for the next period.

Another awesome thing of the classroom was the walls. It was as if someone threw them balloons filled with paint. It also had colored hands prints. The thing was that Pixis did that same thing when classes finished and when started. He'd paint the walls again with white and then students' get to throw balloons filled with paints, printed their hands or drew stuff. It sounded really fun.

I left art behind though. I was here only because I needed the credit. Nothing else.

I looked at Marco. He seemed like he was going to have a heart attack of excitement. He was too happy, smile reaching his ears. After what happened, he didn't let it get to him and ruin his mood like most people do. That was… something to admire. Art used to make me feel better too.

I sighed and with my girlfriend looked for some origami on our phones. Every now and then, she'd kiss me and I gazed at Marco. Again, when I looked, he looked away. Then, he stood up. I noticed he was walking one legged and an arm around his abdomen.

After looking and looking, I've decided to do a double color heart for her and she was going to do a rabbit. She stood up with me to choose the colors. After some time staring at the million colors, I chose blue and pink, 'cause she liked pink. Then I took two paint brushes, -"What the hell, Jean? Pink?That's not something you'duse. You're worrying me, y'know?"- Frank said behind me. He wasn't doing anything, just leaning on walls, his predator eyes on Marco who was happily beside me picking stuff.

I sighed, -"It's not for me."- I said lowly. I didn't want Trisha to know yet.

-"Ohhh."- He whispered back and snickered. He kept speaking, but I didn't want to hear his indirect insults to Marco.

Suddenly, I heard Marco speaking a lot. When I turned my head to the side, he was speaking or better yet, explaining some things to other nerd. I figured he was in his habitat. He pointed to a lot of different things, explaining them all, one by one, -"Yeah, with this, you can make awesome shadows without having to blur much,"- While he spoke, the other nerds just nodded, -"These are water color pencils. Just add water to them and it'll paint neatly."- He seemed very content.

-"Oh, I get it,"- One nerd said and pointed to something, -"What's that?"

-"That's Chinese ink,"- He snickered, -"To use it, you need to have a lot of tolerance and- ow."- He flinched in pain while clutching his abdomen. Worried looks formed on the nerd's faces. Marco just smiled to them.

Then, Frank's laughter shot, followed by lots of fake sneezes. Everyone looked his way, -"Too much bullshit makes me sick, y'know what I'm sayin'?"

Here he goes,I rolled my eyes and looked worriedly at Marco, whose attention was now on Frank, just what Frank himself wanted. Aside from that, the others from twelve one joined him. God, this is just Marco's first day, -"Hey, guys, look,"- He began to draw something on his cheeks. When he turned again, -"My own freckles!"- He had little dots drawn on them. He also began to jump and turn around like a girl, supposedly imitating Marco. To be honest, he looked like a complete idiot and nothing like Marco, still… I laughed with the rest of twelve one.

The nerds looked at Marco and then at Frank. They obviously didn't want to confront Frank in any way or to piss him off, so they left him alone. They knew Frank, everyone did and they also knew he shouldn't be messed with, especially the ones of their kinds. Their kind pissed him off very bad.

Marco stared at him for a moment and then turned around to pick up the Chinese ink and went to the table. Twelve one was dying of laughter. That's when Pixis came in, -"Oh, I see everyone is done with their work. Good job."- He said sarcastically with that smile of his.

Twelve one laughed more, but when it came to speaking, Frank was the one who did, -"Sure did, pal."- He said and went to his table. I expected him to make a smartass or disrespectful remark, but I figured he'd left them for Marco.

After choosing the colors, we sat and started to make the origami. I was kind of surprised when I found out that my girlfriend was involved in the Marco thing since he was close to us. She leaned closer to me and said, -"Look, Frank was scolded about not doing anything and look."- She pointed towards Marco.

I looked at him. True, he wasn't doing the origami, but he was doing something. With the Chinese ink, he redrew what he did, spreading the ink on the edges with patience. Occasionally, he sank the Chinese pencil in a little vessel filled with ink. I almost gasped, though I had my mouth open. He was drawing Superman and it was coming up amazingly. He was, like always, posing with his hand on his hips, looking up to sky that had a plane falling towards him. He was floating, ready to stop the plane. I figured Marco was going to add color because he had color pencils. Woah, he sure knows how to draw.

Trisha snickered, -"Drawing kid's stuff, that explains a lot,"- She said, gradually rising her voice with the sole purpose to be heard by him, -"You see why you have to hang with us? You get infected if you go around with guys like him and end up doing stupid stuff,"- She scoffed. She was speaking to me, but she glared at Marco, her mouth not stopping, -"I even bet that nerdy freckles will appear on your cheek if you ha-"

I had to stop her, because by the mention of freckles, Marco halted his drawing and a drop of ink almost landed on Superman's face, -"Trish, stop."- I whispered to her.

-"What?"- She asked me, surprised, but then a wide grin formed on her face, -"Let's see if his hero can save him from this."- She raised her knee below the table.

-"Trish… don'tdo it."- I tried to sound sharp and cogent, emphasizing on the don't,but it didn't work. Something burned in me.

She raised her knee harshly, hitting the table with a loud thud. Immediately, I saw the ink flying and naturally, landing on Marco andSuperman. She laughed loudly, like a crazy witch and she gave a thumbs up to Frank while sticking her tongue out. Mission accomplished.

Gasps, snickers and whispers were heard, especially Marco's gasp. They had acquired Pixis attention and he walked over to Marco, -"What is the matter?"

Marco looked up and I saw his face. I froze. His eyes were glistening while looking at Pixis, but he held back tears. He was scared, ashamed, but at the same time, he tried to regain composure and remain calm, strong. He looked down at himself, at Kat's coat, tainted with ink; then, he looked at the draw and back at Pixis. He opened his mouth to speak and a shaky voice came out, -"I'm so sorry! I…"- Not only did Kat's coat and Superman were tainted, the table had little pools of ink that traveled to the floor… the mat. Shit. Shit. The thing is that that ink was almost impossible to clean.

God, what is this burning I feel in my chest? I clutched my hands tightly, keep it cool, keep it cool.

Pixis' eyes widened slowly when he saw Marco's draw, -"What is this?"

I think Marco was more afraid that Pixis will scold him for not doing what he was told, because he gasped when Pixis took it. Before he could apologize, though, my girlfriend spoke, -"You see, P? He wasn't doing the origami."

Pixis nodded, -"I see…,"- He eyed the draw and kept nodding, liking it, -"Superman, eh?"

More laughs.

Marco looked down, completely ashamed now, but still not crying. Across the room, Frank was staring intently at him, clearly wanting to see him cry.

Pixis sighed, -"My, my… accident always happens. It's inevitable, but you should know that working with Chinese ink requires extreme caution,"- He said fancily, giving Marco his drawing back. Hewascautious, I though,-"Not to forget how expensive it is,"- A lot of 'uff' were heard and more when he said the next words, -"Stay after class is dismissed."- Pixis didn't show any sign of being angry; he had a small scowl though.

Marco turned pale when he said that. He was probably never asked to stay after class.

The burning in my chest got hotter and hotter. My clutched hand ached. My mind raced. I couldn't tell if I was angry or if something's wrong with me physically. Obviously, I was bothered with Trisha, because I told her to not do it, but she didn't listen to me. I just… didn't expect her to do that. I though she wasn't that kind of person who would contribute Frank on his quest to make Marco's life miserable. I though… she wasn't like that.

This was unfair. Marco didn't caused anythingthat happened here. I looked at him and he was more worried about Kat's coat and the mess he thoughhe made, completely ignoring his Superman drawing. If I still drew, I'd be breaking walls and punching the hell out of everyone… but he wasn't. What's more is that he will receive a scolding after class that included charges from Pixis about the ink when he didn't do anything. He wasn't calmed, but he wasn't angry or breaking walls either like he should be.

There was one thing to do… but I didn't know if to do it and that was telling Pixis the truth. If I did, Trisha would probably break up with me for betraying her and Frank would kill me to a pulp. That's an exaggeration, but yeah, he'd punch me until the day ended and that included no soccer for me and I didn't want that.

So, I kept my mouth shut. That burn still lingered and I realized that I was… angry at everyone, especially my girlfriend and Frank.

After class, Marco stayed and I went to my next class which was chemistry with Grisha Yaeger, yep, Eren's dad, but he didn't come. Though, before I left the classroom, I 'took' a white thin, soft towel and added a liquid that will surely erase the ink. I left my girlfriend without kissing her goodbye; I didn't even say anything, which she would question me later. Then, I wondered alone around the school and ended up in the upper rondure called the Nerd's Nest, that included geeks, gamers, otakus, readers, blah, blah. Yeah, Marco was there, legged crossed… alone, staring sadly at Superman's draw, touching it slightly. I could hear his sighing. I went over to him and kneeled, took the draw and the book where he was propping it.

-"Hey, what are you-"

-"Shut it."- I quickly said while trying to erase the ink from Superman's face and the edges of the paper. Slowly, I rubbed the towel over the ink while trying to prevent the liquid from damaging the paper. The ink slowly faded. In the end, it didn't disappeared completely, but it was enough for him to continue it. I gave it back to him along with the book.

He gasped happily when he saw it, -"Wow, thanks. I- I didn't though about that. I'm such a bird-brain. Thanks, Jean!"- He said happily and looked at me smiling.

I just shrugged and walked away. When I turned back, though, he was looking at me with wistful eyes, apart from being confused at what I just randomly did. He wanted me to stay and ask me questions; he was alone and so was I, but I couldn't risk being seen with him. I wasn't like him, no matter how much he reminded me of my old self.

The next period came flying. My favorite class: Physical Education. It was in the court outside. I went running, my foot clashing on the grass. Before I entered the court though, I heard a loud and hoarse voice echo right in the doors, -"Alright, you pussy nuggets! I don't want no screwing around! Get to work! 100 push-ups! NOW!"

Keith Shadis, our instructor and teacher shouted to us as we entered and immediately, we bent down and made 100 push-ups.