A Twist in my Story

I bit my lip as I entered the Art room, watching as the students filled in silently behind me. I moved quickly to my seat at the back of the room, my head down the whole time. I was mildly shocked when I didn’t hear Damien’s chair move or even feel his presence next to me. I glanced beside me, to find his seat empty, maybe he was away?
“Good morning class,” I heard Misses Burrows chirp happily.
“Good morning Misses Burrows,” the class mumbled back lazily.
Looking towards the front, I noticed Misses Burrows beam at the class as she pulled out a box she hid behind her. The box was rainbow and had a clear window on the front, showing off several colourful sticks.
“Today, we will be using Oil Pastels to draw a person of your choice. You have to make it as detailed as you can manage and whoever wins will get a prize, per usual,” the teacher spoke before clapping her hands together and telling everyone to get to work.
I watched Misses Burrows as she moved to her computer and sat down on her chair before getting absorbed into the computer screen, like always.
Standing up I moved towards the cupboards to grab out a box that looked exactly like the box Misses Burrows was holding before I grabbed out a clean sheet of white A3 paper. I headed back to my table as people ran throughout my mind, not sure on who to draw and finally I made up my mind onto draw Rose and Xander.
Sitting back down at my table, I began to sketch Rose’s eyes in pencil, but as I did so my mind began to wander off. I was wondering about how drastically my life had changed, how I had managed to escape my father’s wrath and how I managed to get an Aunt and Uncle that were so caring, how I managed to find two of the nicest people I know, Rose and Xander.
Alexander Royce, I was still thinking about the night of the kiss over and over again in my head. I always felt a pang in my chest whenever I thought about and I had no idea why, maybe I should ask Rose about it at lunch. I hope nothing was wrong with me, how horrible would it be if something was, although, it wouldn’t be very surprising.
Shaking my head, I glanced down at my white drawing, surprised to not see Rose but instead to see a chubby man that had piercing dark eyes that felt as if they were staring into your soul. He had a bald head that had small tuffs of hair random parts of his scalp. The man sat down in a dark-coloured chair as he glared away from the television, up at me with a beer in one hand and the other raised towards me threateningly.
Swallowing nervously, I realised I had just drawn my father, but it was too late to change. We were already halfway through the lesson, so instead of throwing it away and telling her I have nothing, I drew out the oil pastels and began to colour in my father. I grimaced when I finished, the picture looked far too realistic.
I swallowed back the tears that threatened to show in my eyes before I slumped back in my seat, watching as Misses Burrows walked around the class, checking to see how far along everyone was, it turns out, hardly anyone was even halfway through, so instead of giving out the prize today she told everyone to clean up and that we would finish everything tomorrow.
Nodding at her instructions, I placed my work on a small, wooden shelf before stuffing my belongings into my bag, placing the oil pastels back where I found them and leaving the room to head towards the back.

Rosie and I would have had to been talking for fifteen minutes before Xander’s name popped up. I bit my lip nervously as I listened to what Rose was telling me.
“Really?” I had asked previously.
“Yeah, he was forced to go with Marissa, you know, the girl at the Laser Tag place?” Rose asked, pausing a bit to wait for me to nod. “I couldn’t believe that the principal was too homophobic tonot let him go with his boyfriend at the time, he wanted to go with him anyway, and ignore the principal’s rules, but she had told him that he would be kicked out of the Prom if he did such a thing and that he had already assigned him to Marissa, the girl he hated with a passion.”
“That sucks,” I murmured, not really knowing how to reply.
“Yeah, it did for him, but it was hilarious for me,” Rose said with a chuckle. “I remember his face when he told me, he was completely disgusted.” I nodded, finding this conversation slightly awkward and I think Rose noticed this because she tipped her head to one side and studied my expression closely before she raised an eyebrow. “What’s wrong Caleb?”
“Well—No, never mind, it’s nothing,” I replied, changing my mind.
“No, you started, now finish it. Come on Caleb, I’m not going to judge you or walk away from your problems.”
“I’m just confused,” I defended myself, trying to get her to drop the subject.
“Good, join me in your confusion,” she answered, looking over at me as she bit into her sandwich.
I let out a defeated sigh as I stared off, scratching the back of my head as I thought about everything.
“Fine, well ,I’ve realised I think about Xander far more that I usually do, I’ve found my heart beating faster than normal when around him and a blush always rises to my face either when I’m thinking of him or seeing him. I can’t help but to smile around him and it takes me a lot of effort to speak to him,” I said in one breath.
Rose stared at me for a while, comprehending what I had just told her before a grin split out onto her face. Rose threw her arms around my body, hugging me tightly. Rosie pulled away from my confused figure before chuckling and looking into my eyes.
“Why didn’t you tell me you liked Xander earlier?” Rose asked, her face cheerful.
“I don’t!”
“Yes you do hon, you like him big time,” Rose said, nodding as if she agreed with her accusation.
“How do you know?” I asked, completely oblivious.
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe you just told me your heart accelerates when he’s around, you find it hard to utter a word, you think about him all the time, you blush about him and no doubt about it you probably think about the moment in the hallway all the time as well,” she stated, grinning like she had won the lottery when she noticed I didn’t correct her. “Caleb likes Xander, Caleb likes Xander. Caleb and Xander sitting in the tree, K-I-S-S-I—”
“Don’t you dare finish that song,” I muttered.
“Aw, why?” Rose mumbled with a pout as they bell shrilled for the next class.
“Because,” I mumbled, not caring that my word probably wasn’t comprehensible as we picked up our bags and moved towards our next periods.