Chapter 14

My feet were starting to hurt along with my sides, I had started with a wrong sitting posture and was suffering for it. There were only four minutes left for me to model, and they felt like hours.

No doubt Cameron would win this, the whole class encircled around him, peeking into his drawing, awarding him consenting nods.

As for Carlisle, he decided to sit far away from me, and sketch me from the back of the class, where he would not be disturbed.

Did he honestly think hiding his drawing would make the situation any better? If he knew he couldn't step up to the challenge, then why bother in the first place?

"Time's up, you may now drop your pencils." I heard the excited art teacher announced, discreetly peeking into Cameron's work, openly smiling at it.

"Good job." She whispered to him, staring at me, then at the drawing, comparing them both. Cameron on the other hand was staring at Carlisle, inviting him to come to the front and present us with his drawing.

The scornful gazes of the class all turned to him, whilst he approached the teacher, holding his eisle effortlessly. He placed it down next to Cameron's then turned to return to his seat.

"Let's even take a look at what he..." Cameron's relaxed tone came to an abrupt pause, as his gaze landed on the drawing Carlisle had sketched.

Oh my, was it that horrific that it held someone's breath?
"As we can all see, it is clear who represented Peyton the best from both sketches. Whilst one mirrored her exact position, not failing to miss any necessary detail. But, on the other hand, he went as far, as to add emotions to her sketch. Emotions so strong that anyone could see them at first glance, something only experienced artists are capable of. No words need to be spoken to announce the winner." The bell accompanied her departing words.

Cameron was the first one to leave the class, leaving behind his sketch. The teacher ran her frustrated fingers through her hair, as she gathered all the items sitting on her desk into a grey bag.

The others filed out after setting their works in it's respective places, stealing glances at the sketches which stood side by side.
I stood up from my stool as well, eager to know what Cameron had drawn so well that he gained such high praises. Everyone slowly left the class, save for two girls who sat chatting at the back.

And Carlisle, who sat across his drawing, staring at it intensely. The glare he sent the work was enough to undress it, something that made goosebumps crawl all over my skin.

I looked at Cameron's drawing, and was stunned by how well we represented me. It was like I was looking into a mirror, everything was perfect. Even up to pimple I had tried my hardest to conceal for some time now.

"He truly is an artist." I mumbled under my breath, taking in the beauty of the ordinary drawing. I could probably never measure up to him considering my current level.

I gently tilted my head to the side, and glanced at Carlisle's drawing, looking to see what he was able to pull off.

My heart skipped a beat the second my gaze landed on his drawing of me. My fingers curled themselves around my hair, as my eyes stared so intensely at the sketch, taking a mental image of it.

Before I could muster up the courage to even say anything to him, he stood up from where he sat and slung his bag over his shoulder.
"If you like it, then it's yours." He said on his way out, without even making any form of eye contact with me.

I just stood there in pure shock, my feet wanted me to chase after him, but my brain wouldn't allow it. Not after what happened with Ace only recently.

"Um, if you don't want it, I'd be happy to post it online and sell it." One of the girls in the class said, snapping me out of my deep rooted thoughts.
"You've been staring at it for a while now, if you don't want it, you can let us have it." The other girl joined in, walking closer to me, to take a good look at it.

She pinched her chin while analysing the drawing, smiling fully at it. "Who would guessed someone like him was good for anything?" She remarked, about to place her greedy paws on his drawing.

"If think he amounts to nothing, then don't think of laying your hands on this!" And with that, I took a hold of the sketch and ran out of the room, angrily running through the halls, somewhat pissed!.

*********
I could feel everyone's stare directed on me at the gym, they must have already found out about Ace and I taking a break. The worse part about it all, was the fact that no one was even discreet about it.

And somehow the story had twisted itself into a strange version.
"I heard Ace dumped you! Is he nuts or something?" Olive cursed from the door, making a loud as hell entry to volleyball practice.

As student council president, she had to supervise all the clubs after school along with the other members of the council.
"You could try to talk softer and less loudly." I scolded giving her a square look. She shrugged her shoulders in response and looked at me, with a straight face.

"What happened between you two? Everyone knows about it!" She went on to say, pulling me away from the members of my team to the stands to talk.

"I'm trying not to think about it, so let's just drop it." I tried to explain to her, not really in the mood to talk about Ace or our little break.

Olive wore an all knowing look on her face, and for some reason I couldn't shake off the feeling that she was somewhat happy about this. Her eyes seemed too glad for someone who was sympathising with me.

"Okay sure, whatever, don't tell me, I'll probably hear an altered version of it from someone else tomorrow. But putting that aside, where are we on those signatures? If we're ever going to get that dance, you need to finish your end of the work."

I honestly felt like rolling my eyes at her but refrained from doing so, after all she was my best friend and only had my best interests at heart.

"Sure thing." I managed to respond, forcing a smile out of my lips. She returned it with equal zeal, before taking her leave out of the gym.

I let out a depressed sigh after she left, and spread my anxious fingers across my forehead. It was starting to piss me off how invisible I was to the people around me.

"Alright girls! Let's do twenty serves each before we go home!" I hollered at the team, who all fell silent the moment I walked in on their conversation.

Which confirmed that they were indeed talking about my break with Ace.
What a mess!

*End of practice*
I drank from my water bottle as I stared into my phone, checking the time. We finished practice later than I thought, and I had to stay till the end to supervise the clean up.

My fingers happily tapped on Ace's number to text him that I was ready to go home now. Luckily, realisation hit me swiftly, reminding me that Ace and I were on a break.

Which meant that I would be taking the bus home today. As I strolled out of the girl's locker room, freshly showered and fully changed, I had the feeling it would rain again.

I looked at the drawing perfectly balanced underneath my armpits and sighed. Then hurried myself, determined to catch the bus and reach home before the rain started.

The deafening sound of thunder and the strong cool breeze that lifted up my skirt as I ran through the halls, hinted just how heavy the rain would be. And just how screwed I was.

The others had a bath first and left earlier, I was in truth the last one left, and would definitely be getting soaked.
Or so I thought.

As I reached the huge exit doors, my bag placed over my head to protect me from the rain, my gaze locked with Carlisle's brown eyes.

He stood at the foot of the stairs, holding an umbrella in one hand and a car key in the other. His face seemed relieved the second he laid eyes on me, he made a move to bring the umbrella to me.

But, right as I was about to tell him off, a huge gush of wind breezed by and lifted up my skirt so high that my black laced underwear was in full view!