This couldn’t be too bad.

However, I noticed a familiar figure entering. I couldn’t remember if Angel ever told me the names of his friends, though I didn’t bother. Instead, I would call the guy attacking me yesterday Justin Bieber, because his hair was a reminder to the popstar's early years. So, Justin Bieber entered the classroom and as soon as his eyes landed on me, his face turned into a scowl. If looks could kill, I would be in hell right now, but thankfully they don’t, and his fist wasn’t strong enough either.

I ignored him and stared out at the large window front, facing the courtyard of the school. Some leaves already started to change their colour. Surprisingly, its beauty was immensely relaxing. 

As if one surprise wasn’t enough, the second came in the form of Justin Bieber, as he sat down on the chair beside me. I looked at him, raising a brow.

“I wanted to apologize for what happened yesterday,” he said, lacking emotion. I saw his jaw clench afterwards. He clearly didn’t want to apologize, but was forced to by some unknown entity, probably called Angel.

I couldn’t blame him; I wouldn’t apologize to me. “Don’t bother,” I answered quite like him.

He was already opening his mouth in protest, but was interrupted by the teacher starting her lecture. I didn’t even know, art classes had lectures. I had always thought, we would happily sit here and draw stuff though apparently that wasn’t the case.

The first 45 minutes consisted of the teacher telling the class about some epochs, their characteristics and art styles. It was the first time that I felt like I didn’t need prior knowledge to understand most of the stuff, the teacher was talking about.

I didn’t know her name, yet she seemingly was really passionate about this subject and let that show in the way she spoke. Her motivation even got to me and made me listen to her whole lecture without getting distracted. She proceeded to announce, “So class, today I want to start a new project. I want you all to paint a person of your choice in an impressionistic way. It does not have to look identical to the person, so instead of focusing on what they really look like, focus on the impressionistic aspect. Maybe point out some characteristics or paint them simply as you imagine them. It should be based on a person that you’re familiar with, and that goes to our school, though. I also want you to add their name when you submit your work. You should be familiar with the characteristics of impressionism, if not, you can always look them up in your book. Simply be sure to remember them for the exam.”

She then proceeded to show us the equipment, the colour and special paper, and a few examples of impressionistic paintings that we could use as reference. I obviously didn’t know much about impressionism, so I did look up the characteristics and a few pictures in the book.

To my own surprise, I actually wanted to finish this task, so I thought of a person in school that I knew good enough to complete this. There wasn’t much to choose from: I could draw the principal, but I really didn’t want that. Then there was Ben, though my emotions towards the guy who once was my best friend were kind of conflicted, and I couldn’t picture a painting of him. The only ones left were Justin Bieber and Angel.

I looked to Justin Bieber and saw him deep in thought. He probably didn’t know whom to draw either. It would be really awkward if he noticed that I drew him though, so I settled on Angel. I immediately knew what to paint. At first, I tried to sketch his silhouette, which was more difficult than I thought it to be. I was pretty immersed in my work as the bell rang, signalling that the lesson was already over.

“You can finish your painting as homework. I want it submitted by everyone by the end of the next week, so you will still have time to work on it the upcoming lesson. I would recommend you to only do your final touches next lesson and finish what you can during the week. You are dismissed.”

With that, most students left the classroom immediately. Some stayed behind to ask the teacher about their paintings. I didn’t want to show anyone yet, so I just left continuing to my next class. Justin Bieber and I didn’t talk after.

Math it was again. I shuddered at the thought. It felt like an entirely different language to me, one that I didn’t understand. The second it was over, I hurried out of the classroom as fast as humanly possible.

On my way, I saw Angel + friends going inside the classroom that was also my destination. Apparently, we at least had chemistry together. They sat down in a row of four, and when Angel saw me, he waved me over to their place, signalling to sit beside him. 

That guy must really have problems. Why would he want me to sit there? I contemplated ignoring him and walking to a place in a back corner. However, I didn’t want someone else to sit beside me, so I made my way over to the empty seat next to Angel. His friends stared at both of us, silently asking him if he was crazy. He just smiled innocently. It was ridiculously funny to observe.

Chemistry was in no way better than math. Apparently, we got an assignment last week, that I – obviously – didn’t complete. However, the teacher seemed so surprised by my presence, that he ignored my ‘mistake’.

I actually tried focusing on what the teacher had to say, only it was so damn boring that I lost concentration every few seconds before I just gave it up entirely. 

I instead looked around the classroom, observed the other students, and then my eyes travelled back to Angel’s face. He seemed to be remarkably focused on I-don’t-know-what, while he was furrowing his bows again, his mouth set in a slight pout.

He looked kind of cute, I had to admit. The Not-Justin-Bieber-friend caught me staring and gave me a questioning look. I ignored him, focused back on my empty sheet of paper, and started drawing random stuff I saw around me.

When the class ended, Angel suddenly asked, “Do you want to eat with us?”