Omar's picture ^

This chapter is dedicated to EkehAnita for the wonderful new book cover. Thank you ^_^

Art class was one of those classes I wished would end as quickly as possible. I didn't have any creative flair, I always sneered at my classmates whenever they flaunted their "awe-inspiring" artworks to one another leaving me to sulk in the corner of the class staring at my artwork wondering why I didn't have an artist's touch as Mrs. Uzo Aduba often said.

"Every artwork has an artist's touch, you could look at a piece of art, design, or sculpture and immediately get into the mind of the artist. What you've experienced at that moment is the artist's touch." She would say waving her hands in the air, reminding me of Mulan singing to a bunch of kids in Mulan 2.

Mrs. Uzo Aduba took the word "artistic expression" too seriously. She talked with an accent that sounded like a mix between French and Russian and she was from neither of those countries. It sounded horrible.
, I could hardly make out anything she said whenever she spoke. She wore the most enormous glasses I had ever seen, which took up most of her face, Ugly Betty looked like a goddess next to her. Her outfits were the worse, she could pair a red and white polka dots shirt with a bright orange flare skirt finishing her outfit with multi-colored sneakers. I always mentally face palmed myself whenever she came to the class, which was usually three times a week. Nevertheless, she was the sweetest teacher in my school. She was so nice, patient and she treated all the students with love, she was the best.

I looked up at the ceiling which was wooden and had an intricate pattern. The brown color and interior of the room we were in made it feel homey. We were currently in the garret and the only source of natural light was from the tiny window which I was seated next to, the light coming from the light bulbs above gave the room the right light it needed. If I didn't like art class I absolutely adored the art room. There were lots of paintings and sculptures displayed around most of them were made by students who had graduated from our school.

My classmates and I were currently seated in a circle, our drawing boards were holstered in front of us. Everyone was concentrating on the task Mrs.Uzo Aduba had given us, which was to close our eyes and draw the first person that came to our mind.

The first person that came to my mind was my mom but I didn't want to draw her and make her look like a potato.

I looked around and saw everyone focused on their boards. Carla stuck out her tongue her nose looking scrunched as she drew on the white paper. She was the best art student in my class, she could paint a flower and a butterfly would come to perch on it. She was that good. I turned to peek at Jennifer's drawing. It looked like she was drawing a guy, I rolled my eyes why am I not surprised.

Mrs. Uzo Aduba gave me a thumbs up and grinned, I smiled back I was sure my face resembled that of looney tunes.

"I want you all to feel like you're one with the pencil. Let your imagination guide you." Mrs. Uzo Aduba said clapping her hands together.

I sighed. I was just gonna draw my mom however I could. I took my 2b pencil and faced the white paper in front of me and envisioned my mom grinning. I opened my eyes and held my pencil with a light grip, I was about to start when Davyn walked into the art room with Mr. Vincent by his side. I glimpsed at him with my side-eyes. His hair was kinda wet, so it stuck to his temple and his neck which was weird because it wasn't even raining. His eyes met mine for a brief second which caused my tummy to feel tingles. I faced my board quickly my eyes catching Keith's eyes while he smirked at me.

"Good morning ma'am," he greeted in a low voice. His voice could wake the dead. I'm not even exaggerating.

Everyone including Mrs. Uzo turned to face him. I didn't bother to spare him another glance.

"Sorry for the interruption Mrs. Uzo, He is the new student in this class and I had to show him the way to the art room, so he wouldn't get lost" Mr. Vincent clarified then he waved at us turning to leave the room.

"Oh, and what might your name be dear?" Mrs. Uzo asked with a huge smile on her face.

" Davyn" he replied.

Carla looked at me and winked. I squinted my eyes at her and she blew a kiss at me. Her long hair bounced as she moved. I caught Keith staring at her, then he shook his head blinking his eyes at the same time.

What was that?

"Dav-id?" Mrs. Uzo repeated looking confused. Everyone laughed except me. It wasn't even funny.

"Dav-en ma'am" Davyn replied his expression as stoic as a brick.

"Ooh right, Davyn! That's such a unique name. Welcome to Springsland School" she said waving her hands in the air. " I am Mrs. Uzo, your art teacher. Find a seat and I'll get a drawing board for you to use."

"Okay, ma." He said and turned his head surveying the room, Jennifer called out to him to sit next to her. He ignored her and took the seat next to Keith, which was opposite me.

"Who are you going to draw?" Ben asked poking me with his pencil, I turned to my left to look at him "would you stop, that hurts" I replied angrily rubbing the spot where he poked me.

He grinned and winked at me, going back to his drawing. I breathed in and out trying to calm my nerves and I went back to my drawing.

I looked up and saw Mrs. Uzo handing over some drawing materials to Davyn, telling him to draw the first person that comes to his mind when he closes his eyes.

He nodded and thanked her. Carla who was seated to his left waved at him and he gave her a slight nod. She looked at Keith sticking out her tongue. Keith ignored her, looking slightly pissed.

"Everyone we have 20 minutes left before the bell rings, anyone who hasn't completed theirs would wait behind during break time except Davyn of course" everyone groaned as Mrs. Uzo announced. I didn't want to spend my break in here. No offense to Mrs. Uzo.

I immediately drew a circle, drawing a cross sign in the middle of the circle, then I proceeded to add lines for the cheeks and chin following the techniques Mrs. Uzo had drilled into her heads for the past years. As I continued the steps my drawing started having depth but it certainly didn't look like my mom. I was shading the hair when the bell rang.

Fudge

Mrs. Uzo ordered us to drop our pencils, she went from student to student checking our work, she smiled at some, frowned at some, and corrected others.

I had her gasp as she reached Davyn my classmates turned their heads to him looking at his drawing, also gasping and awwing some of them stood to look get a better view of his work. I huffed folding my hands and leaning back on my chair.

"Wow, Davyn this drawing, though you haven't completed it, is fit for the museum to be placed right next to "the Monalisa". Mrs. Uzo said looking like she was about to cry. She was so extra.

Seriously, "the Monalisa"? Did she just downgrade such a wonderful piece of art just for a High School's student uncompleted life drawing? Woah. That's insane.

I cleared my throat.

Davyn looked at me with a frown and I frowned back not minding that I noticed the way his lips looked fuller when he frowned.

"So who might this be?, let's hear it before I release you all for a break. Davyn's artwork has put me in a good mood today," she said with a smile.

Everyone clapped and smiled at Davyn."Thank you ma" they all shouted.

"Oh, that's my friend ma," he said staring at the ground pulling his eyebrows together with a pained expression on his face.

Carla looked at me raising her eyebrows, I shrugged my shoulders. Jennifer's smile turned into a sad one in an instant. Everyone looked stunned.

Perhaps she was his girlfriend.

Mrs. Uzo noticed the change in the mood of the class and instructed everyone to leave for break except Davyn.

I immediately stood my classmates doing so also. This caused a ruckus as we all packed our boards and drawing pads to our respected lockers in the art room pushing and jabbing each other as we did so.

Carla came to stand beside me hooking her hands with mine. I smiled at her and glanced at Davyn who was still seated. He stared at the drawing he made with so much yearning that it shook me to my core. He must love her.

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Carla and I were on our way to meet Cynthia so that we could all go for break. The halls were filled with students, the noise they made was so disconcerting. Some boys ran past us pushing me in the process and I ended up tripping, I could hear Carla scream my name, I closed my eyes putting my hands forward bracing myself from the impact of falling to my death but I was caught by a strong grip. I knew it wasn't Carla because her palms were soft. I breathed in and out loudly turning to meet my saviour but a chill ran down my spine as I looked into the eyes of the person whom I loathed the most. His locs fell forward as he gripped the wall with one hand, using his other hand to pull me forward causing me to stand directly in front of him, his locs grazed my face. He bared his teeth grinning at me while he swooped his locs to the back his eyes locking with mine as we stared at each other. His lackeys stood staring at us making "oooohhh" sounds.

Idiots

"Be careful Maria, you don't want that sexy body of yours to end up with flaws" Omar whispered into my ear and winked at me. I felt stupid as I stood unable to talk as he passed by me putting his hands in his pockets, his lackeys winking at me as they also made their way down the stairs. I glared at them putting my hands into fists.

Who did he think he was? Captain America? yeah right...

Carla rushed to my side dragging my arms causing me to shift my gaze from Omar, I looked at her as she bounced on her feet causing me to stumble in the process " Maria, what's going on between you and Senior Omar?" She questioned her black eyes full of curiosity.

"Nothing," I answered making my way down the stairs, if you gave Carla an inch she would take a whole mile. I wasn't in the mood for her theatrics.

"What do you mean nothing, there was so much tension between you two and it looked like you were about to throw up when you saw him, certainly something is up and I'm going to get to the bottom" she said hitting her chest repeatedly with her palm.

"Carla, there's nothing to get to the bottom of. You know Senior Omar does whatever he wants when it comes to girls, I'm sure he was just messing with me" I placed my hands on her shoulders and said rapidly knowing what Carla was capable of. " I don't want trouble Carla please" I begged my voice cracking in the end.

"Are you that scared of him, Katty?" Carla asked searching my eyes.

" It's nothing like that Carla, just forget about it please," I said clapping my hands together and pouting my lips. This was Carla's weakness.

" Stop it" she covered my face with her hands " not the puppy face, you know I'm a sucker for those" she removed her hands and laughed hitting me on my ass.

" Ouch Carla, does this mean you'll forget about what just happened?" I asked rubbing my ass.

" Hmmm" she placed her index finger on her chin, rolling her hair with her other hand " Yes," she said with a bright smile. I smiled back and breathed a sigh of relief.

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We were seated in the cafeteria, Carla and I sat facing Cynthia and Aliyah.

"Cynthia, why aren't you eating?" I asked looking concerned.

Cynthia opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by Aliyah "you know she doesn't enjoy eating beans, don't you!" she said with a smile but her words held a double meaning. I glared at her as I answered " I know that but the beans are paired with plantains and Cynthia eats that" I knew what she was implying, she usually made it her mission to make me feel like I wasn't a good friend to Cynthia.

Carla looked between me and Aliyah as we had a staredown.

"Guys calm down, I'm not feeling hungry at the moment," Cynthia said folding her hands looking pissed.

Aliyah Fasaad was the most intelligent girl in my year and the entire school and she made sure to make others know through her snobby attitude. She wasn't as revered as I was and that was a big slap to Aliyah because I was likely going to become the Head Girl, a position Aliyah coveted. She hated me and she enjoyed disputing whatever I said even when I was right.

She was from the Northern part of Nigeria and the majority of them were Muslims. I was a Christian and my faith was very important to me.

One fateful day, Aliyah told me to my face that I was acting like a pick me girl, who acted all high and mighty claiming to be religious but being a bitch about it. "Stop acting like you're not like other girls, you act as if you have never committed any sin in your entire life" She lashed out at me. This happened just last year. The only thing that stopped me that day was the holy spirit speaking to me and reminding me of the fruits of the spirit.

So I calmly responded " I'm unique but so is every girl in this school including yourself so if I don't like or do certain things it's because I prefer not to do them. I'm not trying to please anybody but God, if he's happy with me then I don't care what anybody thinks"

Ever since we had never seen eye to eye. She even called me a blasphemer of Islam.

"I was just worried that's why I asked" I replied Cynthia. Aliyah rolled her eyes. I don't even get why Cynthia was friends with such a narcissistic person.

I looked down at my food and forced myself to finish my food despite the anger I was feeling. Carla squeezed my hands that were placed on my lap, I looked at her and gave her a small smile.

I looked up at Cynthia and Aliyah, they both looked shocked as they stared at whatever was in front of them. Carla raised her eyebrows and I shrugged turning to see what had made them look like statues. The tingles in my tummy started churning as I stared at the figure making his way toward our table. Everyone in the cafeteria stared probably anticipating something to gossip about.

He looked so good in the Tommy Hilfiger navy blue t-shirt and white with black stripes joggers. I gulped as he stood in front of me. He squatted and held the chair I was seated on his fingers lightly brushing mine. I recoiled my hands not liking how my hand tingled to a slight touch from him but he smelled so good I had to stop myself from sniffing the air like a dog.

"Hi, you're Maria right" his accent made my name sound even better. I hummed in reply staring at my fingers, whenever I meet his eyes I felt so uncomfortable. I knew everyone was watching us and I knew Carla and Cynthia were going to hold this over my head for eternity.

"Okay, can you look at me please" he said his voice turning to a whisper making sure I was the only one who heard him.

Jeez, why did he have to add please? That was my weakness.

I braced myself from the impact of looking into his eyes which shone brightly, the grey flecks in his hazel eyes drew me in, I couldn't even look elsewhere as I held his gaze. He licked his lips" The art teacher said I ask you if you could be my muse for the project I am submit to her in the next class" he said scratching the back of his hair. I almost fell off the chair as I processed what he said.

"What!!"

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A/N:

I honestly wanted to drop this book this week for two reasons

* I felt really detached from this book, I didn't even know why. I asked myself" do I need to continue writing something I don't enjoy?"

*I got a wake-up call about the message I was going to pass across with this book. Do I write for popularity or inspiration? I want to inspire people through my words and not just for pleasure.

Suddenly, I found a new zeal to continue this book putting at the back of my mind that I was going to write to help myself be better and others around me. I don't only want to write but I want to learn also.

Whew! That was long but I felt good writing that. Thanks for reading^_^

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