A Twist in my Story

I pushed through the crowd of the students as I made my way towards my Art class, the only class that seems interesting enough for me not to doze off in class. I tugged the sleeves of my zipped up hoodie, once again, double checking that they were covering my scarred arms. I had become more self-conscious, ever since this morning. I couldn’t stand someone staring at my scars, the whispering quietly behind my back and people snickering as I walked past.
I always kept my eyes glued on the floor, ceiling or lap. I didn’t want to make eye contact with anyone at this school but Lily and Rose. Xavier had informed me this morning that he went to college studying a course in health. It had surprised me a bit that he wanted to become doctor, but I had smiled at him nevertheless and wished him good luck before skipping off with Rose to form.
Letting out a sigh, I slipped into the art room, smiling nicely at Misses. Burrows, our Art teacher before slipping into my seat at the back of the classroom. The Art classroom was set out very brightly. There was a large mural along the roof, along with an abstract feature wall on the opposite wall to the double doors, while the rest of the walls had names of all of the Art students along with pictures and paintings which the students must have drawn. In the centre on the classroom was multiple amounts of double desks placed randomly around the room, everyone having a double-desk to themselves.
Placing my forearms against the paint splattered table, I pressed my forehead against the back of my arms, closing my eyes until I heard Misses Burrows start to introduce the class.
“Good morning everyone, today, I will be assigning an assignment for this. You see, you will be pairing up by pulling a name out of my magical top hat!” Misses Burrow exclaimed, picking her black top hat from the table and flashing it around the room. “Shall we start off with,” Misses Burrow said, pulling her eyebrows together as she pulled out a white strip of paper, “Caleb.”
Misses Burrows practically skipped over to me before shoving the black top hat under my nose, beaming down at me. I let out a small sigh, before placing my hand into the hat, pulling out a slim bit of white paper. Misses Burrow quickly snatched it out of my loose grasp before reading it out to the class.
“Mister Damien Right you will be working with Mister Caleb Smith for this evening,” Misses Burrow informed before skipping around to do the rest of the class.
I scowled down at the table, as I heard the chair draw out from beside me, a presence sitting in unoccupied seat. I could feel Damien’s hard glare on the side of my face, as I kept my eyes on Misses Burrow, trying my hardest not to squirm away from his gaze. I noticed a guy put up his hand once Misses Burrows had returned to her desk, her eyes glued to her computer screen.
“Misses Burrows?” a girl asked, her voice strong.
“Yes, dearie?”
“What is our assignment?”
“Didn’t I tell you?” the teacher asked before shaking her head, “Silly me, silly me, I’m getting more and more forgetful at my old age. Okay, your assignment is simple, all you have to do is pull the food that I have stored in my fridge to make a small sculpture on the topic, ‘you are what you eat’. Understood?”
We all nodded as she grinned before she returned her attention to her laptop, giving me no choice but to glance over at Damien who was now relaxed in his seat, his hands behind his head lazily as he stared up at the ceiling.
“D-Damien, uh, d-do you want to s-start the assignment?” I stuttered, a blush rising to my face before I stared down at the pearl coloured floor.
“No.”
“N-no?” I wondered, looking up at him with incredulity.
“Yeah, do you know the meaning of the word ‘no’?” Damien snapped, glaring over at me.
I nodded before racing out from beside him, over to the now abandoned fridge, I guess I’ll be doing this on my own. I grabbed out several fatty foods and some healthy foods before closing the fridge and placing them down at the nearest, empty table. Biting the inside of my cheek I crept over to the draws, pulling out a bright orange Stanley Knife and some toothpicks, I got to work.
I let out a sigh of relief when I attached the last Jelly-Bean onto my creation, just as Misses Burrow clapped her hands, announcing that she would be judging them now, and deciding the winner, wait, this was a competition.
I looked down at my creation, suddenly doubtful of it as Misses Burrow walked past. She paused for a second, before leaning over my food sculpture.
“This is amazing, I love the idea. The anorexic person, made out of healthy food standing on one side of the mirror while on the other side is a large person, made out of unhealthy food. Truly, brilliant, therefore Caleb and Damien win this competition and get a ticket each to the carnival that is in town,” the teacher praised, placing the tickets into my pale hand as the bell shrilled throughout the school. “Well, I’ll see you tomorrow class, we’ll be working on scarecrows tomorrow, come prepared.”
I nodded before turning around to go back for my books, coming face-to-face with Damien. Damien shoved my back harshly before yanking the tickets out of my hand and flashing me an evil smile.
“Thanks for the tickets, derp,” Damien sneered before shoving me into the wall before storming out of the room.
I let out a low groan as I slid down the wall, pain running through my left side as I made my way back to my feet. I glanced over at the teacher, to see why she wasn’t helping, only to find her glued to her computer again with a pair of earphones attached to her ears.
Letting out a low sigh, I grabbed my books and left the classroom, glad that it was lunchtime. I placed my books into my bag as I walked outside to the bleachers, where Rose and I sat the day before, grinning when I found her sitting there, chewing on her white bread sandwich.
“Hey,” I murmured, sitting beside her.
Rose looked up at me with a grin before wrapping her arms around my thin frame. Although I was confused at the sudden affection, I hugged her back nonetheless with a sluggish shrug. After a few moments she pulled away and took another bite of her sandwich, staring at me innocently.
“This is odd, you’re not talking for once,” I mumbled, my eyebrows furrowing together with confusion.
Usually, whenever I saw Rose, whether it was in between classes, at lunch, in the mornings and even in the afternoons she was always talking with a large grin on her face. Usually I could never shut the girl up, yet now, she sat in silence, staring at me with a cheeky smile.
“What are you up to? I can play the silent game too,” I said childishly before crossing my arms and looking the other way with my nose in the air.
After several minutes, I heard a loud groan from behind me before Rose burst into words, explaining her day and her lessons making a grin a appear on my face as I turned to face her cheery figure. It wasn’t until the bell rang that Rose explained why she wasn’t talking to me, it turns out, she had been dared to stay silent for a whole hour, which was a big struggle for Rose, but sadly, she was one minute off and Lily, the person who had dared her refused to allow her to say she had won.