Chapter 1.16: School of Art and Science

Isobel giggled as she pressed the send button, Emm was going to flip out because they were literally talking about the guy on the computer next to her. She heard the ding on Emm's computer and struggled to keep her composure as she watched her friends reaction. They really weren't suppose to be chatting at school but the gossip was particularly juicy and she had just dared Emm to talk to the brooding male next to her. Emm made a face on the other side of the glass wall, and shook her head. Isobel nodded encouragingly, because she knew her friend was totally crushing on him.

"Hey... Ummm, what's your name again?" Emm started to say. The new kid looked up from his computer, raised an eyebrow and then looked back to the computer he was on. Isobel typed up another message and hit send, this time she raised her eyebrow at Emm and looked to the new kid. Emm made another face, and cleared her throat. "Soo, your name?" Emm asked again.

"Is it really that important?" the new kid asked.

"Well, duh," Emm said, the annoyance clear in her expression. The new kid laughed, and then Emm's face turned red. Uh oh, this might not have been the best idea.

"The names Hayden," Hayden finally said. Isobel looked over to Toni who was doing her best to pretend like she wasn't listening to what was going on. Sighing, she decided to go work on some paintings. The school was famous for its art, and she had begged her mama to send her here. They almost couldn't afford it, but they cut their spending by a lot in order to send her here. She had to do her best, because she didn't want them to think she was slacking off at the school.

"Isobel, slow down with your strokes. Fast brush strokes leads to a choppy and sloppy painting!" The instructor said. She nodded, and slowed down. Isobel wanted to move on to bigger paintings but Instructor Cross said she wasn't there yet. An hour later, she was done and was looking at a nice painting."Sloppy!" Instructor Cross said and shook his head.

"How so?" Isobel asked. Her instructor made a clicking sound and shook his head. That asshole, she thought, he's been on her all day about being sloppy.

"There will be a test tomorrow, don't forget!" Instructor Cross told her. Fuck, she thought, another test? She wouldn't be able to keep up at this pace, and he didn't care.

They had been given their uniforms, and Isobel hated them with a passion. She sat down with a huff and glared at the stool, until Hayden had come over. "I think the stool is very scared of you, right now," Hayden said, he had that stupid smirk on his face again.

"It's a lame ass stool," Isobel muttered. "Did you have to be a dick to my friend?" she demanded to know. He laughed, he was such an asshole!

"Nope, but what fun would it be to not be a dick?" Hayden asked. Alright, she wanted to punch him in the face. "I can understand how you would think of it as a dick thing to say, but if I wasn't a dick to her then people wouldn't have anything to gossip about. And that would be a tragedy," he said.

"They can gossip about something else," Isobel told him, her own face turning hot with anger. "Fuck you," she told him and then got up to leave.

"Hey, they can gossip about you strangling your instructor. Isn't he the real reason you are pissy right now?" Hayden asked. Well shit, Hayden had hit it right on the nail. He grinned, because he knew he guessed right. "Thought so," he said smoothly, too smoothly,

"You are still a jackass," Isobel said and walked away.