“Did you hear Tide Serrano beat the shit out of some junior?”
Forest froze as he walked into the art studio on the Wednesday afternoon. He hadn’t seen Tide all week; maybe the older boy had been suspended? He tried to focus on what the other students were saying.
“It was Trev Buchanon,” Cindy whispered, leaning across to Forest.
“Trev?” Forest half squeaked. Trev was one of the guys that routinely picked on Forest, he hadn’t seen him around this week either.
“I just heard about it in Chem class,” Cindy shrugged. “Apparently Trev said some shit about you and Tide flipped the fuck out.”
“W-what?” Forest’s eyes widened as he found his usual easel and settled down on the high stool, drawing out his charcoals.
However, before Cindy could explain further, Mrs Kittaneh swirled into the room. She was wearing a long pearly silk scarf with smudges of orange chalk and her lipstick was a bright coral red. “Fantastic news my darlings,” she laughed, “No more fruits!”
The assembled students cheered as Mrs Kittaneh set up a chair in the middle of the circle.
“Oh finally,” Cindy grinned, “figure drawing.”
But Forest didn’t respond, his eyes were too busy bugging out of his head as he noticed that Tide was striding into the centre of the room.
“Holy shit on a stick is Tide Serrano our life model?” the girl on the other side of Forest squealed excitedly.
“Now,” Mrs Kittaneh clapped her hands together, “I’m afraid the actual model won’t be arriving until next week, so to get us warmed up I have a glamorous volunteer,” Mrs Kittaneh gestured at a very apathetic looking Tide. “Of course, being a fellow student, he won’t be nude –“
There was a loud chorus of disappointed jeers and wolf whistles from around the room as Forest felt his cheeks heat up. Tide didn’t seem embarrassed though. Instead, he scanned lazily around the room until his eyes met Forest’s. Tide looked slightly surprised as he sat up and clenched his jaw.
“This must be part of his detention,” Cindy whispered, looking just as shocked as Forest felt.
“Instead, today,” Mrs Kittaneh continued, “I would like you to focus on sketching the proportions of the human body, don’t lose yourself in details, I want broad strokes.”
Forest’s throat seemed to constrict as he realised he was going to have to stare at Tide for the next hour. Especially after what those guys had said at Tide’s party, Forest wondered if Tide was going to be uncomfortable? Maybe he should leave?
“Forest!” Mrs Kittaneh smiled, walking over to them. “This is going to be a fantastic opportunity for you to build your portfolio. You might even get some inspiration for that competition I told you about.”
“Y-yeah,” Forest nodded and picked up his charcoal, his hand was trembling slightly.
He forced himself to look up and let out a small soft gasp when he realised that Tide had positioned himself to be directly facing Forest. Tide flashed him a small, bright smile and winked before resuming a more neutral pose.
“Did Tide Serrano just wink at you?” Cindy whispered.
“No!” Forest retorted, but he couldn’t help but bite down on a pleased smile. Surely this must mean that Tide didn’t think Forest was a creep?
Despite Forest’s fears, the class seemed to pass by incredibly quickly. Forest managed to get three sketches done that he was satisfied with before the bell rang and everybody started packing up.
“Wow, you’re really good at this,” Tide’s breath tickled in Forest’s ear as he jumped violently enough to snap the charcoal he was holding.
“Shit, sorry,” Tide apologised, bending down to pick up the fallen fragments. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“When did you leave the chair?” Forest panted, holding his chest. “You’re like a ninja!”
Tide blinked then laughed loudly and pleasantly.
“Hey, are you free after school?” Tide asked, sticking his hands into his jeans’ pockets and raising his eyebrows.
“He is,” Cindy replied without missing a beat. Forest jerked his head round to glare at her accusingly.
“Oh,” Tide’s smile faltered slightly, “I mean, only if you want to – but would you maybe like to come help me shop for a birthday present for my stepmom? She’s super picky and I can never seem to get it right.”
“S-sure,” Forest nodded. “But I don’t know how helpful I’ll be? My mom doesn’t do presents.”
“No worries,” Tide grinned, “just a second pair of eyes would be great when I’m knee deep in ridiculously priced face creams containing gold leaf and extract of phoenix egg.”
Forest grinned before he moved to put his sketches away and gather up his things.
“He just asked you on a date,” Cindy hissed.
“No, he didn’t,” Forest shook his head as the tips of his ears throbbed red. “He just wants my help.”
“Sure,” Cindy snorted, “because everything about you screams ‘knowledgeable about gifts for young, hot trophy wives’.”
Forest rolled his eyes and turned back round to Tide, “Hey, did you want to go right away?”
“Yeah, if that’s cool with you?” Tide beamed.
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