ELIAS

"YOU SHOULDN'T WALK and draw at the same time," Cannon suggested with a facepalm I could see with the corner of my eye. "You might bump into something . . . or someone."

It's already the second day of school and I'm already sketching random lines in the back of one of my notebooks. During my entire high school experience so far, I've been sketching in notebooks and loose papers whenever I feel bored in school, which clearly is right now.

Ayden "Cannon" Daniels, my best friend, has always been there to warn me not to do so. Of course, I always find a way to do the opposite. We've been friends for as long as I remember. Maybe kindergarten or first grade. We became friends just by speaking with each other. During lunch, we traded sandwiches our mothers made for us. During recess, we drew whatever we could think of on the sidewalk outside our school with chalk.

Cannon always gave off bright vibes, like colors on a rainbow that reflect throughout sunlight. He almost always found a light through everything, no matter how dark it may be.

Now that we're seniors in high school, it's time to be a bit more serious about everything, starting with me not sketching something on whatever paper I could find.

"I know I shouldn't walk and draw at the same time, Cannon," I chuckled, closing the cover of my spiral notebook. "I just can't help it."

"I get that, but when you bump into someone or something, don't say I didn't warn you," he tutted.

"I won't," I said before stuffing my notebook into my backpack.

If I hadn't put away my notebook, I probably visually wouldn't have noticed that we were almost at the cafeteria for lunch. People crowded through the doors, chatting and joking with each other loudly with each other. Cannon and I squeezed our way through the doors, making a beeline towards the back. The smell of freshly cooked food prickled my nose, automatically causing my stomach to roar. 

We joined the line, which only had a few people in it for the time being. I reached to the front pocket of my backpack, rummaging through everything in it to see if I could find a few dollars. There was my tangled earbuds and crumpled sticky notes filled with random sketches, but no money. Not even a penny. I should've made sure I had a few dollars in my backpack this morning, but I guess I forgot.

"Cannon, can I borrow five dollars? I forgot my money at home," I questioned, clutching my fingers together. "I'll pay you back tomorrow."

"Of course you can have some money, Eli," Cannon tutted, reaching towards the pocket of his bright blue jeans. He fished a five dollar bill out of it. "Don't worry about paying me back."

"Thank you so much," I accepted the dollar from his hand.

"No problem," he said, gesturing towards the moving line in front of us.

It's now my turn to order what I want for lunch. The food they serve here at Crews isn't the best, but it isn't the worst. Overall, I'd rather order something to eat from a restaurant or grab something from home instead of eating food from here, but that isn't possible right now. I requested for a hamburger, fries, apple slices, along with a water bottle. The lunch lady that worked at the register charged me four dollars and fifty cents. It's the perfect price, considering that I only have five dollars. 

I handed her the money and she gave me my change before stuffing it into my back pocket. I grasped my fingers tightly against my tray, stepping aside a bit to allow the lunch line to move on. After Cannon paid for his meal, we strutted across the cafeteria, searching for an empty table to sit at. The only idle table that we could see was near the large windows . . . which is also where the trash cans are. The unpleasant odor of the trash cans invaded the area, along with a few flies that buzzed around. Gross.

"How do you like senior year so far, Eli?" Cannon asked, combing a hand through his shaggy, lemonade-pink hair.

"It's been fine," I replied, lifting the bun of my burger. There was only a few drops of ketchup, making the burger look ordinary. "What about you?"

"Mines have been all over the place, but nothing bad. I think I'm interested in one guy in our History class, the one with raven hair that always rests over his honey eyes," he put his hand over his chest, disappointment growing in his voice. "But then, I found out that he's straight and has a girlfriend. I swear, he was so adorable!"

"Bummer," I replied, my disappointment matching his.

"It is. I'm tired of being single . . . I'm so, so ready to mingle," he sighed, poking his fork through the salad he ordered. 

Ever since Cannon came out a few years ago, all he ever wanted was a friendly boy that would love him just as much as he would. 

"You'll just have to keep waiting for the right time to come," I assured him.

"I know," Cannon mustered a smile, followed by a smirk. "Anyway, what about you? Do you have eyes for anyone yet?"

"Uh, no. Not yet," I answered, biting a piece of an apple slice.

"Alright," he chuckled.

I don't have any type of crush or whatever with anyone here at school. Not yet, at least. Even if I did have a crush on someone, I'm sure that there's a large chance that they won't like me back.

For now, that's fine since I don't like anyone in that way. After all, I want to focus on school—specifically art. This year, I want to work extra hard in that class and participate in any art contest that our school might have. Art is my passion, especially painting. It's my way of escaping reality. When I get older, I want to become an artist. It's the only thing I can imagine myself being.

Of course, my parents don't think the same.

Ever since they found out that I wanted to be an artist a few years ago, they've tried to discourage me countless times, saying that I should be someone that is considered something—whatever that means, like a doctor or a lawyer. There's nothing wrong with those jobs, but they're just not for . . . me.

Entering a popular art contest at school and winning it might change my parents minds. If I'm that good at art to win—or at least come in second or third place—their perspective on me wanting to become an artist might change.

The most popular art contest that I know of here is The Crews City Visual Art competition, TCVA, which usually opens late September, and closes in December. The contest will open in several weeks from now. I've already made the decision to enter when my artwork will be finished, whenever that will be.

The sound of a deafening laugh interrupted my thoughts as it neared closer to me. Axel Hanson strutted by our table, shooting a soda can into one of the trash bins behind us. Before he could get back to his table—which is somewhere in the middle of the lunchroom, he stopped to talk to someone, while eyeing me suspiciously.

Why is Axel fucking Hanson looking at me like that?

Before anyone can make any assumptions, he and I aren't rivals. Well, in most ways we aren't. We're just competitive when it comes to art. For the entire time we've been in high school, we've pretty much done everything we could to determine who's the better at art—me or him. Yes, I know; it's unnecessary and pointless. But I guess we can't help it.

Axel began to walk away from where he was, separating from the person he was talking to to join his girlfriend, Adrienne Griffin. They've been dating for three and a half years, longer than most of the relationships a lot of people here at Crews had. As they strutted away, Axel threw a playful but stern smirk at me, his mocha brown eyes somehow giving me chills.

Between Axel and me competing over everything related to art and myself willing to do my best in art class, this year is gonna be a long, yet interesting year.

Throughout all my four years at Crews High School, Ms. Edwards has always been my favorite teacher. Not because she teaches my favorite subject. It's because of how friendly, creative, and open-minded she is. Her class is the class I was interested in most. Her class is the only class where I can be myself, and do what I adore.

Today in her class, we're learning about realistic still life drawing. I already knew some of the things she went over, but a few things were oddly new to me. After Ms. Edwards modeled what to do, she gave us all paper to practice a few of the sketching strokes she went over, as well as some shapes.

Easy stuff.

"I can't wait until we actually start drawing our still life drawings," Cannon squealed like someone who just saw a baby animal or human.

"Me too. I hope I get an A on it," I gleamed, stroking my pencil across my paper to draw a circle.

"Same here," Axel added from out of the blue. He sits across from me in this class. It's exactly what I need to focus on my work. Not.

His smirk broadened as he stared at me, as if we were having a stare down. I let out a sigh as I let go of my pencil. After staring at each other for what seemed like forever, Axel finally turned back to his paper, and I did the same.

When class ended about twenty minutes later, Ms. Edwards called Axel and I up to her desk to discuss something before we would go home.

"Hi, Ms. Edwards," Axel gleamed.

"Hi," I said with a wave. "What did you need us for?"

"I just wanted to tell you all great news," Ms. Edwards beamed, putting a strand of her strawberry-blonde hair behind her ear while viewing something on her laptop. "The date of TCVA has been planned. The contest will start on September twenty-third. Since you two are the best at art in this class period, I decided to tell you this early in case you'd be interested."

"That's awesome," I could see Axel wink at me from the corner of my eye. "Perfect."

"Yeah, that's great," I added.

"Mhm. I know that you two will do great if you decide to enter," Ms. Edwards smiled.

Since the contest will start soon, everything will change between Axel and I. We'll be a lot more competitive than we are right now.

Being competitive about something some people would consider little is unnecessary, but for me, it's for a good cost. I want to convince my parents that being an artist is considered a great thing. I want them to be proud of me. As of now, the only way I could do that is to enter and win TCVA. But of course, Axel is going to make everything harder than it should be.

This school year will indeed be interesting. 

//

We've finally learned some information about Elias. What do you think about him? I'm interested in hearing your thoughts. 

Thanks for reading! 💙

P.S. I've uploaded some character aesthetics on the Preliminaries part of this book. Feel free to check them out if you want 💕
P.PS. Also, would you all like it if I create a character map? I've been working on one lately and plan on releasing it at a certain time, but what are your thoughts?