Chapter 24

Background color
Font
Font size
Line height

I felt much better the following day. Aiden texted me before school, and we briefly saw each other but didn't have a chance to talk for more than a minute. Our Biology teacher decided to give us a surprise quiz, much to the distress of our classmates.

We weren't together in PE, and when the class finished, I decided to visit the studio and give my paintings to Joanne.

"Come on in!" I heard her say as I knocked on the door.

"Hello, Joanne." I shifted on my feet once I was in.

"Ellie, glad you came here today." She tore her gaze away from the colorful posters lying on her desk and glanced at the folder in my hands. "Those must be your works. I've been waiting to see them. Come over."

Joanne extended her hand, and I gave her the folder.

"You've chosen several, I can see." She took out the drawings, placing them on the desk. "Could you explain what inspired each piece?"

"Yes, right, so this one," I pointed at one of the landscapes, "is the place my mom and I used to visit when I was little. I loved the flowers and the colors as well as that pond in the park, and the way the trees reflected in the water."

I took another work from the pile. "That's just a seascape; I'm not sure if a place like that even exists, I love the sea and everything that has to do with it, so I painted it. These are my uncle and my mom." I showed Joanne a sketch of Louise and uncle Steve, the one I drew right before he moved abroad.

"This woman is the nanny I had at the orphanage." Joanne raised her eyebrows, and I was surprised as well at having offered this piece of information about me willingly.

"This is my first real Christmas tree at home." I traced the colorful ornaments with my finger. "I drew it from a photo later because I was too little when we had it."

"And these?" Joanne held up a sketch of two women wearing long gowns.

"My mom and I love fashion." I smiled. "So, once we went to see a fashion show, she got the tickets for, and I liked the dresses a lot; that's why they are here."

As I turned over the last sketch, my breath caught up in my lungs. I accidentally put the drawing of Aiden in the folder for Joanne.

"And this handsome young man?" She took it from me. It was intimate, unique somehow as I drew it when we were alone, minutes before agreeing to be Aiden's girlfriend. I wasn't going to let anyone see it. Now it was too late for that, so I simply said, "That's Aiden, my boyfriend."

"The same boy you drew in class." Joanne was still studying the sketch. "But look at this, so much love in his eyes."

Love? A nervous tingle spread all over my body. Joanne saved me from dwelling on her words by picking up all my works and putting them back in the folder.

"Ellie," she said, focusing on my face, "do you have any special training? Have you studied painting or arts before?"

"No, I just do it for fun."

"I'm not going to lie to you..."

My heart sank, and I braced myself for her rejection.

"These are the most extraordinary works I've seen in a long time, especially taking into account how young you are and the fact you didn't study to do it professionally. They are vivid; they portray emotion. And you are seemingly good at drawing and painting a wide range of subjects. I wouldn't be surprised if you also used oil paint. Do you?"

I nodded.

"When you came in, I was preparing these." She slid one of the posters I'd seen before closer to me. "You know I own a gallery. This year, we decided to organize a painting contest among high school students from all schools in the city. It's our way to spark young people's interest in art." She smiled.

"It will be in January, after the Christmas holidays. The jury consisting of famous local painters and alike will select three best students who will receive a prize, which prize I cannot tell," she added, grinning, "and, most importantly, their works will be displayed in the gallery until summer. I strongly encourage you to participate."

I couldn't believe my ears. Joanne went on.

"You will have to create two pieces on non-related topics, a landscape, and a portrait, for example. If you use different mediums, it will be a plus. I don't know yet if there are more students at Bright's who possess skills similar to yours. We'll find out when they start to apply to take part. Every school can only send two of them, though. So, what do you say?"

"I'd love to participate." I grinned.

"Just what I was hoping to hear." Joanne handed my folder back to me. "You only have two months left, so as soon as you've decided what you'd love to paint, it will be time to get down to work. I'm here for whatever you might need. And as I've already told you, you can use the studio anytime as long as you let me know you need it."

"Thank you so much, Joanne." I shook her extended hand.

"You're moving in the right direction, Ellie. Keep up the good work. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to take care of those posters."

I said goodbye to Joanne and rushed to my last class, looking forward to seeing Aiden and telling him the news.

The bell rang just as I was exiting the studio. I quickly made my way to the third floor, where the Math classroom was. My hand lingered on the doorknob before I quietly made my way in. Mr. Norton didn't take notice of my entrance, but Aiden did.

"I was already starting to worry," he whispered.

"I have something to tell you." I turned to look at him. "I've been to—"

"Miss Donovan," our teacher's voice boomed, making me pause mid-sentence, "you've missed two classes, so please focus on the task at hand."

"Sorry," I muttered.

Mister Norton made sure nobody could chat during the rest of the class. The number of problems and the amount of the theory he assigned for homework exceeded everything I'd done in high school so far. I heard several students complaining as we started to pick up our things before leaving the classroom.

Just as I got up from my chair, Aiden turned me around, pressing me to him, and gave me a long kiss. I kissed him back, forgetting where we were.

"What are you staring at, people?" Aiden snapped as a couple of students stopped what they were doing and focused on us instead.

"Chill out, man. We're leaving." One of them slung his backpack over his shoulder and left the classroom, followed by the other.

"That's not the way to speak to people, boyfriend," I said gently.

"Dammit, I'm sorry. It's just that I wasn't able to be with you all day. It drives me insane. This and our tutor."

"What happened?"

"I got an earful about skipping classes yesterday. I was lucky she didn't say anything to my father."

"Is he back yet?"

"Yeah." Aiden sighed. "Got back earlier than expected. I bumped into him as I was leaving for school this morning."

"So, you have to go home now." I tried to hide my disappointment and failed miserably.

"No, I was going to offer you something." Aiden smiled, caressing my cheek.

"What?"

"We could have lunch and study Math together. I know a place for that."

"Okay." I took Aiden's hand, and we left the classroom. The school hall was almost empty now, except for Joanne, who was hanging a poster. She winked at me as we approached her.

"Just like in the picture." She smiled.

I blushed, as I always did.

"Is there anything I need to know, girlfriend?" Aiden's bright eyes bored into mine.

I told him about the competition in detail as we crossed the school playground and got into his car.

"I'm proud of you." He kissed me, leaning over the console. "Do you know what you want to paint or draw?"

"Not yet. I have to make up my mind soon, though."

We discussed several options for my works as Aiden drove us to a place I'd never seen before.

"A library?" I looked at him questioningly as I took in a beautiful brownstone building with a book sign on a post next to it.

"Yeah, but there's also a nice café on the first floor, and there aren't many people at this time of the day. It usually turns rather crowded in the evenings and on weekends."

"How do you know about it?" I asked, following Aiden into the building.

"I come here a lot to study. Better than staying at home waiting for the next blow. At least here I can focus," he added quietly.

My heart hurt as I imagined what it must have felt like when your home was not your safe place.

The café was snug, and there were only two people apart from us. A young man was eating his sandwich and typing something on the laptop. By the lost look on his face and a messy mop of hair crowning his head, I assumed he might as well have been a poet or a novelist.

At the table next to the entrance, a woman was having her coffee looking relaxed as she observed the hustle of the city through the large window.

"Aiden, dear, you're back at last!" A short older woman with kind blue eyes approached us as we sat at a corner table.

"Hi, Mary. This is Ellie, my girlfriend. Ellie, this is Mary, the best sandwich-maker in the city, just don't tell Thierry."

Mary laughed. "Nice to meet you, Ellie. Your boy here is my best customer. Guess you kept him busy as he didn't come here a lot over the last weeks."

"Nice to meet you, too." I smiled back at her.

"Would you bring us something to eat?" Aiden asked. "My girl here said she was starving."

"No, I didn't!" I objected, making Mary laugh.

"He's a keeper, this one." She said retreating into what must have been a kitchen, only to reappear moments later with two bowls of steamy soup and some sandwiches.

"Hope you like it." She winked at us. "Aiden, I also wanted to thank you for the toy. You made Tommy happy."

"No problem. Tell him I said hi."

"Will do, sweetie. Enjoy your lunch." She wandered off to a noisy group of students who took a large table opposite the window.

"Who's Tommy?" I asked.

"Mary's grandson, a nice kid. She sometimes brings him to work with her when his parents travel, and she has to look after him. He loves toy cars, so I got him one for his birthday." Aiden smiled at me. "Like it?" He nodded at the sandwich I started to eat.

"Yes, it's delicious. I won't tell Thierry. We don't want to hurt our friend's feelings."

"No, we don't," Aiden added softly, watching me eat.

Later we made our way upstairs to a study hall. It was cozy and smelled of books, something that instantly made me like the place.

Aiden dropped his backpack on the floor next to a big wooden table, and we sat down to study. The hall was nearly empty, so we could talk in a low voice without disturbing anyone.

An hour into our study session, I was already feeling my brain getting tired. I sighed, making Aiden put down his book and look at me.

"Tired?"

"Yeah...It's too much. I feel all the concepts mixing up in my head."

Aiden circled the table and stood next to me.

"We need a book."

"Do we?" I asked just as he took my hand and led me to the shelves in the back of the study hall. I hadn't realized how many of those there were until we ended up in a sort of maze surrounded by books.

I was going to comment on this, but all of a sudden, Aiden pressed his fingers to my mouth, silencing me, only to replace them with his lips a second later. My back hit the shelf as I got lost in the kiss, at the moment, in Aiden's heat reaching me through the layers of our clothes. My hand found its way under his sweater, and I felt his hot lips on my ear as I touched his skin.

"I'm crazy about you...I..." This time it was my turn to make him quiet as I tangled my fingers in his hair and trailed kisses down his neck.

Aiden's breathing turned heavy. His mouth found mine again, clashing against it, and I felt my heart beating wildly.

Aiden was the first to stop as he pressed his forehead to my neck, breathing out slowly. "God, Ellie, this is—"

He couldn't finish saying what that was as the unmistakable noise of my ringtone broke the quiet of the study hall. I rushed to the desk to fish the cell out of my bag, mortified to be disturbing a couple of students engrossed in their reading.

My mom's smiling face was on the screen. I went out of the hall to take the call. After breathing deeply to calm myself down, I pressed the answer button, silently praying my voice wouldn't betray me.

"Hey, honey," Louise chirped. 

"Hey, mom," I half-whispered.

"Why are you whispering? I can barely hear you."

"We are at the library; I had to go out to take the call."

"I was getting a bit worried seeing it was late, and you weren't home yet, but that's not why I called. Is Aiden with you?"

"Yes, why?"

"If he's going to give you a ride home, could he come in? Thierry's here, and he wanted to talk to him about something. I'll tell you more, but later."

"Okay, I'll tell him."

I hung up and made my way back. Aiden was sitting at our desk. His eyes shot up from the textbook as soon as he heard me approach.

"It was my mom."

"Guess she told you it was late. It kind of is." He sighed.

"And we have to go back..." I wished we could stay there and repeat everything that happened between the worn tomes over and over again.

We gathered our things and left the library.

"I'll never look at a bookshelf the same way after today," Aiden said, kissing me lightly before we got into his car.

You are reading the story above: TeenFic.Net