The two were inside the art room, in yet another fateful lunch break, completing yet another draft of their art. They worked together fairly peacefully for once, building each other up instead of tearing each other down, complementing each other instead of contradicting each other, working in harmony instead of working in discord.
They were laughing and joking at how the art teacher had thought they were in love. The scene was pretty much perfect. Until… well… it wasn’t.
The problem started when they both reached for the same paintbrush at the same time. Their fingers touched, and they immediately jerked their hands back. They looked up, annoyed, and glared at each other. They were so close that they could hear each other’s snarky remarks.
They both snapped, “What are you doing?”
They let go of the paintbrush, which fell to the floor with a clatter. They both bent down to pick it up, but they bumped their heads together. They groaned, rubbing their foreheads. They straightened up, still fuming.
They both said, “Watch where you’re going!”
They pushed each other away, trying to create some distance. They felt a surge of anger, frustration and irritation. They wanted to get as far away from each other as possible,
They were stuck in a conflict, and they didn’t know how to resolve it. They didn’t realize how long they had been fighting over the paintbrush, or how loud they had been shouting at each other. They didn’t notice the other students in the art room, who had resumed their own work and were ignoring them. They didn’t hear the bell ring, signaling the end of lunch break.
They only noticed each other, and the paintbrush that had caused them trouble.
“Excuse me…” a third voice emerged.
Angelina turned around and smiled at the girl standing at the door. She had long black hair, straight bangs, and a slight Asian accent. You could tell by her eye shape and glass skin that she was easily part Korean or Japanese. “Oh, hi Leann, what are you doing here? Didn’t you say you have Computer now?”
“I do, and so do you. I figured I’d find you here. I’m on my way there now. Come quickly, or you’ll get scolded by Mr. Ashton.”
Ash turned around too. “Huh?”
“Not you. Our computer teacher has the same name,” said Angie, as she threw her shoulder bag on and ran outside, with Leann.
That’s when Ash realized, he had Physics, and was very late, and was in very much trouble. He ran out of the art room, leaving his sketchbook behind.
Meanwhile, the two girls were walking to the computer lab peacefully, having a discussion.
“Who was that, Angie?” the Asian girl asked.
“That’s the guy I keep telling you about, Ash.”
“I gotta admit, he seems like a nice guy.”
“Key word there, ‘seems’.” Angie corrected.
“Then why are you alone with him, in the art room?”
“It’s for the art contest, what do you expect?”
“So this Ash you’re working with, and the Ash you hate with all your guts are one and the same.”
Angie nodded nonchalantly. “Yep.”
Leann took a minute to process all of that information, then replied, “Okay… that’s weird.”
“Hey – I didn’t decide to work with that jerk.”
“Aw, don’t call him that!”
“Why not?”
Leann adjusted her jacket, and responded in a stereotypical British accent, “It is unbecoming behavior for a prefect.”
The two friends laughed and laughed, and were content with their day. Until the computer teacher scolded them for being late. Badly.
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