Chapter One - The Girl Who Lived

A Chapter by Taylor Ann

Grayson

I sat in art class, twirling the brush between my fingers. The bristles lightly swept over my fingertips leaving a wet trail. Mr. Calahan stood up before the class clearing his throat, catching my attention. I set the brush down.

“Today we’re working on portraits. But not portraits of ourselves, portraits of others.” He tapped his fingers together like he always did while giving an assignment. “I will also be assigning partners.” A few people groaned in response. “And if there is any complaining,” He warned, “You will have an extra piece to work on, during lunch hour.” A few more moans came from around me.

He walked down the rows assigning people their partners as the room shuffled, people finding seats beside their partners. Suddenly someone sat beside me. I glanced over to find a girl setting her brushes down on the easel’s ledge. She looked over at me. My heart seemed to stop.

She had long brown hair with a few strands hanging in front of her face. Her skin was porcelain, and her cheeks rosy pink. Her soft sea green eyes met mine as her pale lips lifted at the corner into a small smile. She was beautiful.

“Hi,” her voice was light as she brushed the strands of hair behind her ear, “I’m Skylar.”

My voice came out as a whisper as I spoke, “I’m Grayson.”

Her lips pushed together as she tilted a smile. “Mr. Calahan assigned me as your partner. But I must warn you, portraits aren’t my best.”

“Why not?” I smirked. “Just draw what you see.”

She giggled, “It’s not that easy for me. Realism isn’t my strongest. If I could draw you as a cartoon this would be an easy A for me.”

I shrugged my shoulders, “So then just do that. It’s still a portrait, whether a caricature or not, right?” I asked.

Skylar smiled, revealing pearl white teeth. “Yeah, I guess so. But won’t Mr. Calahan be upset if I don’t draw something realistic?”

I shook my head. “It’ll be something different. We need more of that these days.”

Her eyes shimmered in the light as she gazed at me. She smiled.

“Your job today is to find out about your partner,” Mr. Calahan announced, “The only way to do a good portrait is not only to know what’s on the outside, but also what’s on the inside.”

Skylar looked at me, “This will be a fun project.” She sounded sincere.

I smiled, “Let’s get started on it then.”

next chapter

© 2012 Taylor Ann

Author's Note

The chapters will be short, but they tell the story in themselves. I hope you love it!
Enjoy.

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Reviews

K.D. Wagner

Very cute. I wouldn't mind a little more description, but that's just me. All in all you're right, the chapter is short, but it gets the ball rolling and starts the story up nicely.