Two Months Later

"For two years, this past student struggled with her art. I don't believe I've ever seen an artist so frustrated, yet so dedicated to her work. Countless of times, she scrapped her work and begun anew, simply because her pieces didn't speak to her. It was a process that finally begun to tear at her abilities and weaken her.

"One day, I came to her and told her to go find inspiration out in the world – I kicked her out of my classroom until she came back and wowed us all," Valenches chuckled out to the packed auditorium where Mia amongst them all sat. Smiling back, she looked down at her lap, remembering that time. "I'll admit today, I've never done that to any student of mine before and I don't plan on doing it ever again. But what she then came back with, not but a few days later, was enough to make me praise my own decision. Because the piece she came back with is the reason why we're all gathered here today."

Valenches looked out at the giant crowd from the podium. It was the start of a new school year and today was the day everyone gathered to meet last years most successful graduate to get inspired.

– That person was Mia.

"I had the incredible pleasure and honor of watching this art grow into a masterpiece day by day, stroke by stroke, shade by shade," Valenches continued. "This young artist found her inspiration within someone who had been through more than the mouth could express. Because of that, she chose to show us how he showed it to the world, through his own creative ways. The result of two creative minds colliding like that, was astounding.

"She chose to portray her subject in a way that's left so many of us puzzled, and yet hypnotized by such a unconventional polish. She showed that truly, you cannot judge someone by their appearance, by their outer layer – that some things, you must gaze upon with your heart instead of your eyes; feel, rather than observe.

"Furthermore, this young artist took it into her own hands to fight the prejudges and discrimination that so often hit the less fortunate – specifically people who stem from the street. After graduating here from the Alexandrettia, she started an independent charity that today helps people from the street from getting surpassed by better-set people, and helps them get good educations and jobs. She has raised over 100.000 US dollars and already ensured over 75 people an educational spot or a place to work. All in the course of just two months.

"Prejudice is what this young artist says inspired her masterpiece, which landed her 'last year's most successful graduate', yet she chose to name her masterpiece by another name. A name of which I can only say suits the portrait, as well as its description and model, perfectly. So, if you'll all please stand up; please help me welcome to the stage, last year's most successful alumni and our probable new future Picasso; Mia Rebecca Hanson."

Valenches stood aside from the podium and welcomed Mia with a smile. Mia smiled back and humbly rose from her chair as the auditorium broke into a loud applause in her honor. She walked up to the auditorium's platform where Valenches waited in front of the big blackboard, where the Fermat's math problem still stoically stood, along with her easel that now proudly displayed her portrait of Eli to the whole school.

This was where it had all begun. This was where her and Eli's journey had started. Standing in front of the Fermat's problem, next to the faceless portrait of him, she smiled to the new student body of the Alexandrettia who sat down and muted their applause to hear her speech. There were so many new faces.

"The person who said that a picture speaks more than a thousand words clearly never met this guy," Mia begun, cracking a smile as she gestured the portrait of Eli. The auditorium laughed a little. "Not because he taught so many valuable lessons, but because he preached so many things, a picture became utterly redundant; Speechless.

"I learned many things in my effort to create this piece. What started out as an assignment to get back into class..." She gave Valenches a quick grin, "...quickly turned into being one life-defining process of finding myself, while unfolding Genius as well.

"I had to go through unbelievable and repetitive heartbreaks and some most excruciating pains. I had to shatter my ego – my core beliefs – and allow myself to be exposed to unknown, uncomfortable experiences I lacked to create. From that, a new me was born."

Mia paused for a long moment, taking in a shaky breath. This was the hard part.

"I learned in a long, hard lesson, that you can't ever judge people by how they appear or speak. It's through their actions you learn the true nature and heart of the person you're with – a lesson which most of us here so often forgets. I learned that sometimes, the help you need is not always the help you want. Nevertheless, that help could be the thing that either makes you or breaks you. It's up to you to choose what you want it to be."

Mia glanced down to the first aisles of the auditorium and saw Zoe and Caleb sitting there, their fingers braided. Their relationship had lasted, and now they were even talking about finding a place together.

Anna sat next to Caleb with Elana in her lap. After all the exams, Anna had taken some hours with an actual shrink and gotten some real good talking done. Mia had even done so too, because... well, after everything, she had needed it.

Now they were all finally happy, but a part of Mia had felt like something was missing. She of course knew what it was, which was when she had realized her calling; the streets.

"Whether you choose to accept the help from a rich, spoiled chick like myself..." Mia smiled a little, glancing to them all, especially the corner of people from the street who had come to hear her talk today, some of whom she had been working with, "...that's up to you. But before you make your decision, I beg you to remember what I learned; Help may come from who you least want it, but remains help, nonetheless."

Mia paused again, catching all their eyes as she now changed the subject to something more serious.

"My campaign 'Discrimination vs. Creation' is open to anyone out there who'd like a future but have been denied so, either because of bad reputation or appearance or likewise. It offers you a second chance, one that society have denied you, one that society owes you. Genius was my inspiration for what I've decided to do with my life," Mia said, looking at the portrait again. "He taught me that no matter the obstacles, the people that are against you, you can always win. You can get what you want and you can achieve your goals." She held a short pause, catching their attention. "Society has told you for a long time what is right and wrong. We made the mistake of listening to them. Thanks to Genius, now they will listen to us."

Exhaling when she was done, Mia stepped back from the podium, and that's when everyone begun applauded her loudly. Unable to stop smiling, she looked down to the front rows again, seeing Caleb, Zoe, Anna and Elana all clapping, Caleb even doing a whistle.

Valenches walked up to the podium again, making the crowd settle down. "Alright, guys. Now that Mia has held her speech, she's going to answer some of your questions. If you have any for our brightest alumni, this is your time to drop it. Give it your best. But keep it PG," He added, eyeing a few on the front row who had smug grins.

Mia took the podium again and then watched as hands rose with questions. "Alright. Let's begin. Why don't we start with... you, right there, in the red sweater."

A girl stood up, one with braces and a plaid skirt. "Where did you find your subject for Genius?"

"I found him lurking in the shadows, smoking weed," Mia truthfully replied with a little grin. People chuckled a little. "Next question?"

A guy rose his hand and she gestured to him. He stood up. "So who is he?"

That was the one question she avoided answering on any of her many interviews. "Well, why don't you take a look at Genius and tell me?"

The guy rose a brow, but then sat down again.

Mia looked around. "Anymore questions?" When a girl who reminded her a little of Zoe with her emo look raised a hand, she nodded at her. "Yes?"

She stood up. "So where is this Genius now?"

Mia looked down. She briefly saw Zoe stop breathing and Caleb freeze. They both knew that was a sensitive question.

"H-he's out there somewhere. Doing what he does best," Mia said after a moment, looking up with a little smile. "Making people speechless."

She answered a few more questions and then Valenches finally took the stand again, smiling out to the crowd. "That would be all that we have time for. I hope you got all your questions answered, and that you got inspired for a few amazing years here at the Alexandrettia. We look forward to working with all of you. Give one last round of applause to Mia!"

People clapped again and Mia just smiled thankfully, but then every started to clear out. This wasn't orientation, this was just a sort of a 'welcome to the school' ritual they did here at the Alexandrettia. Being the key speaker was such an honor.

Zoe, Caleb and Anna all came up and said their opinions on her beautiful speech, but then they left, too. Mia decided to linger in the auditorium, getting one last look at where it all began, before she left.

She probably wouldn't return here for a long time. Coming here... it brought back too many memories. Not necessarily bad memories, just memories that... well, memories that were hard to be reminded of.

She stood there watching her drawing of Eli, her eyes welling up by the thought of how much good it had done. To think... it all started with him asking her—

"Are you fucking done yet?"

Mia wheeled around in shock and then nearly fell to the floor with a heart attack.

In a navy-blue janitorial suit, Eli came walking down from the empty aisles, unzipping it. Beneath it, he wore a simple black wifebeater and a pair of black pants.

"Amazing how people still ignore the poor cleaning crew, even after your big speech." He flatly commented, still coming closer. "Getting in was a fucking joke."

Mia had to grab onto the podium as he stepped out of the suit and tossed it aside.

Dear God, was she dreaming? She had to be. Except... except she wasn't. He was really coming up the stairs, to the platform, closing in on her. She couldn't believe it.

"You... you came back." She whispered, barely audible. But he heard.

"No fucking shit. Still as bright as I remember," He stopped up for some reason and gritted his teeth. "I mean, yeah, I came back."

This was unreal. Hearing his voice. Seeing him there. His tattoos. So much more vivid than how she remembered them. Those eyes; so piercing. His piercings; glinting like his eyes.

"Why?" She whispered again. She didn't know what was with all the whispering. Maybe it was because she couldn't breathe.

"Why? Maybe because everywhere I went, I kept hearing about this rich, blonde chick from Pasadena who's doling out charity to the street and decided to fight credential discrimination with a drawing she made. A drawing of a guy with tattoos all up and down his birthday suit."

"You've been keeping tabs on me?" She said, feeling tears well up in her eyes.

To that, he scoffed. "Kinda hard to ignore when you've fucked the bitch who made it. Fuck."

Mia's heart raced in her chest while he gritted his teeth again. She was too happy to see him to even care about what he just said. "But you came back."

"Yeah so?" He said, locking his jaw. "Why do you care? You've been waiting for me or what?"

Yes. "No."

He said nothing to that, just gave her a flat look and something that sounded like a grunt.

Mia looked down, feeling her balance fail. "So why did you come back?"

"Because I heard that the bitch who drew the fucking portrait of the guy she fucked for inspiration was giving a fucking—damn it!" He frustratedly cut himself off and bit his tongue.

That's when Mia noticed something; As he drew his tongue in between his teeth, she saw a small shining thing glint – a little silver stud in his tongue. "Y-you got a tongue piercing?"

His eyes flipped from the floor to hers. "Yeah. So what?"

Eli never did anything without a cause. Every piece of art on his body had been meticulously thought out before inked into his skin. This new addition – his tongue piercing – no doubt had a symbolic meaning as well.

Like right now, when he was yanking at the little stud as if he was trying to pull it out of his tongue, using his teeth. It didn't look painful, it just looked... therapeutic.

He suddenly cursed again and ran a hand over his hair. "Fuck it. It's to help me speak prettier, alright? I'm trying to make my badmouthing stop."

Mia gulped. "So the piercing is to help you speak... nicer?" She hesitantly asked. Why would he suddenly care about that?

"Yeah, whatever. That's the goal anyway. You said my mouthlashing was what always bother you, so..."

"So you did that for me?" She said, sucking in a breath. She hoped that was a fair question to ask since he brought it up.

Eli let out something that could've been a snort, but it never really got the power it needed. Instead he looked at the ground and shoved his hands into his pockets. "No, I did it because... I want to be different, alright? Not change, I fucking am who I am, I just... fuck, I just wanted a better filter on my mouth, okay?"

Mia nodded once, then looked down at the floor as well. The more he said, the more she felt like either crying or collapsing... or maybe even jumping him. None of the responses made sense. She just knew... being this close to him again hurt. She wanted to ask him where he had been, what he had been up to, how he was doing, if he was seeing anyone... but she was afraid of all the answers.

"Listen, Eli..."

"I want to be someone you can be with, Mia."

Mia's throat dried out. She completely forgot what she was about to say.

Did he just... say... he wanted to... be... with her?

Mia opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Not a sound. Not even a squeak or a breath. She just stood there like a fool, mouth hanging open.

"Jesus Christ. Remember what I told you about your mouth being open like that?"

She gulped again.

Come on, princess. Close your mouth unless you want me to fill it.

She immediately closed it.

Eli sighed harshly after a moment. "Look, I didn't fucking come here to woo you back like some shit chick-lit movie or whatnot. I just came here to say that I'm trying to behave differently. It's what I've been doing these past months. I needed time and... yeah, well now I'm here again." He pushed a hand through his hair, beginning to pace the floor back and forth.

That had previously been one of the signs that he was getting riled up, but this time Mia didn't see any anger in his eyes. Just... frustration. Like what he was saying didn't want to fit on his tongue, no matter how he tried to phrase it. But he still tried.

"I'm not even fucking sure I should be here yet," He continued after a moment. "I'm not even close to being nicer and we both know how fucked up it got back then."

Mia forced her voice to work. "So... why did you come now? Why... today?"

He met her eyes, hard. "Because I couldn't stay away any longer. Two months on the street with constant word of you, but not a single word from you? Goddamn, just shoot me."

Mia could hardly take it much longer. If she understood correctly what he was saying... "Are you here... to give us another chance?"

He met her with his piercing eyes, hard. "I'm going to be shit at it, you know. I don't care about shit like fucking Valentine's Day and I don't pay attention to anniversaries and shit like that. I don't even know how to fucking date. I would be an awful boyfriend. Really awful."

Everyone was bad at new things. Well, most people. He was right, he would probably suck at being romantic. He probably wouldn't cook her breakfast every now and then. He'd forget to buy tampons. The toilet seat would not stay down. He wouldn't compliment anything on her, except for maybe her tits or her ass.

But he'd be Eli. And that was all she really needed from him.

"You once told me, Mia... that you didn't want to be my enemy, but you also didn't want to just be my friend," Eli begun again, taking a step closer to her. "And that that left us with being nothing. But... I don't want to just be your nothing," He harshly said, coming closer. "But I can't be your everything either. I don't know what you'll let me be, especially after all the shit I've just let out, but... I would like to be your something, Mia."

Mia didn't realize she was crying until she felt a teardrop at the corner of her mouth. She wiped it away and shook her head, closing her eyes. "Eli, I... w-what are you saying to me?"

"I'm saying..." She opened her eyes again and found Eli looking at the blackboard where his solution to the Fermat problem still presented itself stoically. He looked at it for a short moment, but then without further ado, stalked up to it and grabbed the sponge. He pressed it to the surface and begun wiping it away with harsh movements.

"Eli!" Mia screeched. "What the hell are you do—"

"Relax, Jesus, I can fucking draw it up for them again if they want me to," He flatly replied, swiping away all the written chalk until he had a giant blank spot. "But I need the board right now."

Mia watched silently as he then grabbed a piece of chalk and begun sketching out something new with hard strokes. Something that looked like... an equation?

When he drew a coordinate system next to it and then turned to look at Mia, she just stared, confused. "What, uh... what is that?"

"Solve it."

When he held out the chalk for her to take, she just blinked stupidly. "Eli, I can't solve that. I suck at math."

He cursed blasphemously and then rolled his eyes. "This is fucking easy – I chose easy so you could solve it, and you're saying you can't even figure this out?"

"This is easy?"

"It's a simple coordinate system – that's middle school basic knowledge!"

"It doesn't look that basic to me."

He rolled his eyes again and then turned to the blackboard again. "Fine, I'll fucking solve it for you."

Mia watched in silence as he begun calculating out the coordinations and then placing them, before connecting the dots.

She dropped her jaw as the motive came together.

As if the result didn't say it all, he wrote four bold-lettered words below, and then lined them with a harsh swipe, before turning to face her. Mia read the words;

I LOVE YOU TOO

Just like he had done back when they had been drawing each other, he threw the chalk carelessly over his shoulder. "Is that fucking clear enough?"

Mia couldn't breathe. The four words became blurry to her and she realized she was crying again. A lot.

"Oh, for the love of God." Eli grew impatient with her girly reaction and walked up to her. In three strides he stood in front of her, grabbed her head, and with both hands, mashed his lips against hers.

Breaking under the harshness and rawness of his brutal mouth, Mia grabbed on to his wifebeater and allowed him to kiss her. She kissed him back, shaking, but passionately, not able to stop the tears streaming down her face.

"Stop crying," He growled irritatedly into her mouth before attacking her lips again. She really did her best, but her tear ducts didn't want to cooperate. She couldn't believe he was here, saying these things.

"Can't," She whispered back when he drew her bottom lip in between his teeth.

"Fucking do it anyway."

He shut her up effectively when he pressed his mouth against hers again and let his tongue explore away inside of it. Mia couldn't help but moan, feeling that new little stud on his tongue brush against her own tongue, and gripped tighter onto his shirt, testing the strength of the fabric.

Eli moved his hands down to her sides, forcing her closer. His fingers gripped her ass, an act she had so missed. She instantly felt the wetness in her panties, another thing she hadn't felt in months. When he roamed even lower, finding the split of her legs, he let his fingers tickle burning patches of her inner thigh, before squeezing her ass firmly again. That made her moan somewhat loudly.

"I finally shut you up," He breathed against her lips. "Wanna find out if I can make you scream, too?"

That drew an involuntary shudder from her. God, she wanted him to do that. She cupped his face. "Eli..."

He laid his own hands on top of hers, suddenly moving his lips from hers, to her left arm, kissing a trail up to her wrist; Her tattoo. He kissed it.

"I like this, you know," He murmured, watching it as he pressed another kiss to it. "Actually, I fucking love it."

Mia couldn't help but smile. He loved it. "Thank you. I hoped you would."

"But why a fucking art brush? If you're gonna tell the world you got a man, why not tattoo my dick on there instead?"

"You're bad-mouthing again."

"Shut me up then."

She found his lips and he hungrily kissed her back. Getting high on his taste and the small groan of approval he made, Mia felt like she was going to collapse. But she still needed to know one thing before she overdosed.

"So what does this make us?" She whispered right against his lips.

Eli shook his head and brushed a thumb over her cheek. "Told you, I don't know that. But assuming you're giving me a chance, I'd like to call you my damn girl."

Mia's heart soared. His girl. She liked that. "So if I'm your girl... then what are you to me?"

For the first time Mia could ever recall, Eli pulled away and gave her a true smile, even if it boarded on being a naughty smirk.

"I'm your genius, baby."

• • •

The End
(Ish)