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Post by Admin Sydnee on Oct 30, 2012 21:50:51 GMT -5
AJ did what she usually did in all of her classes at Spiritus, she barely spoke a word and made sure that she didn't look approachable. She kept her head down, concentrated on her art work, a water color of the lake in Cranbrook, her auburn hair falling into her face. She was in an oversized hoodie and a pair of ripped jeans with sneakers, comfortable and nothing that would make her seem desirable.
Unfortunately, how her art class was arranged, they sat at tables and not individual desks, so she had three other people at her table who she'd barely even glanced at. If she didn't make eye contact, they wouldn't speak to her and if they didn't speak to her, then they wouldn't touch her. It was the only plan she had.
She concentrated on the brush strokes, dipping her brush into her cup of water.
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Post by Admin Courtney on Oct 30, 2012 22:03:37 GMT -5
Art class. The only class Ashton actually put some real effort into. It was basically a second power class to him, and he loved perfecting his power twice as much as he would have had his power been very different. Today they were painting, but so far all Ashton had done was mix colours. He couldn't just create anything. Whatever he put onto paper came alive once it was completed or left for too long. He couldn't really control that yet, and he was not entirely sure he could.
As the teacher passed by his desk, she frowned at his blank canvas and Ashton sighed. He'd have to get something down if he wanted to avoid her artistic wrath. And so he painted the first thing that came to him. A rainbow.
It took him only a few minutes, and so after a few careful brushstrokes, Ashton sat back and admired his work, then grinned as a bright and colourful rainbow extended from his paper in an arch over to the other end of the class. "Sorry," he couldn't help but announce to the class. "No pot of gold at the end of this one."
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Post by Admin Sydnee on Oct 31, 2012 14:33:23 GMT -5
AJ managed to keep herself busy, blending colors together on her canvas, envisioning the view of the lake in Cranbrook where she'd originally taken a photo to work off of for her water color painting. She'd much rather be there than painting it though. She wanted to feel the crisp Autumn breeze and sit on a bench with a good book. Besides, she wasn't particularly talented in art anyway.
A few minutes later, there was a lot of chatter and she looked up to see a rainbow extending across the room, the end of the rainbow extending onto her table. She stared at the colorful thing that was so lifelike, as if she could reach out and touch it and then heard a voice speak out over all of the others. A male across the room who had obviously made the rainbow. She peered across the room, her eyes landing on the creator of it, who was cracking a joke. The familiarity of him practically hit her in the face as she froze with the paintbrush in her hand. It couldn't be. He wasn't...he didn't have a power. She thought she'd left him and everyone else behind in Ontario, in her school that felt like it was years away, like that incident was years ago. But that was definitely Ashton Matherson. She knew that grin anywhere.
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Post by Admin Courtney on Oct 31, 2012 15:06:17 GMT -5
A couple of his friends laughed, and one told him he was worthless if he couldn't use his powers to make money.
"Hey, at least my power is fun," he retorted in a friendly manner to his friend, who had the ability to shatter glass. How boring was that? It sounded like it would get old, fast.
As his friend told him to eff off, Ashton ignored him and admired his rainbow. It was really something, to see his art be brought ot life like this. He almost wished he had added a sparkle to it, but it was too late now. Once his art was 'alive', he could not modify it. He could only start over. He followed its trail to a table and smiled at the girl sitting there. She was staring at him with a pair of familiar brown eyes. Ashton's eyes widened with mild excitement. So this was where she had gone to!
"Hey!" he called across the room to her, the other chatting students paying him little attention. They were used to his puppy-like antics by now. "I know you!" He clambered out from behind his desk and made his way over to her, a bright smile on his face.
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Post by Admin Sydnee on Nov 1, 2012 16:08:51 GMT -5
AJ wasn't exactly expecting him to notice her, most people didn't, but when he met her gaze, locking on her eyes from across the room, she looked away a little too quickly, wishing she could blend in with her water color painting. And then he called out across the room to her and she didn't know what to do. He was headed this way, which only made her freeze up and stare down at her painting. "I think you have the wrong person..." she mumbled, feeling her face redden. How could she even look at him? He didn't remember...but she always would. She would always remember the time they got assigned a project together and how it ended, in a way that AJ hadn't wanted. She'd never had anything against Ashton, but what happened between them made things difficult and when she left Ontario, she thought she'd never see him again.
Apparently she was wrong.
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Post by Admin Courtney on Nov 1, 2012 17:09:19 GMT -5
The wrong person? Could he have the wrong person? She looked the same as the girl he had known back in the school in Toronto, except a little older. Did he look different, then? It was possible. He had stubble now, although he kept it shaved.
"No, I'm sure I know you." He pulled an empty chair from a table where the student had gone to the bathroom and sat backwards in it, facing her. "What's your name? I'm Ashton. You know. Ashton Matherson? Really loud kid in class, can't stay in his seat, charmingly handsome?" He laughed, running a hand through his hair.
"I had no idea you transfered here. And I thought I was the only one in that boring old school with wicked awesome powers." As he said that, the rainbow began fading. He frowned up at it. Ah well. It wasn't the greatest painting he'd done.
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Post by Admin Sydnee on Nov 1, 2012 17:30:39 GMT -5
She should have known she couldn't throw him off. It wasn't in Ashton's personality to just forget about people. So why had she tried? It had been worth a shot? AJ looked up at him, nodding slowly. He hadn't forgotten her, and she hadn't forgotten him either. "I know," she said softly. "I remember you." And then he was laughing, a familiar sound to AJ and running a hand through his hair. She remembered him doing that other times, when he'd crack jokes at her in freshman year when they should have been working on their biology project. They'd been lab partners and he was nice enough, a happy-go-lucky guy with a bright smile who never ran out of things to say. It only made it that much worse when her powers took control. If she would have known...if she would have just made sure that he hadn't touched her, nothing would have happened. If she could have pulled away.
She didn't know how to face him, didn't know how to act. He took her virginity and he didn't even know it and now he was here, at Spiritus and she still couldn't figure out how it was possible.
"AJ," she told him. "AJ Lane. And yeah..." she mumbled as the rainbow began to disappear. "I transferred here...in grade nine." Wicked awesome powers? She couldn't say that about hers, but his seemed interesting, fun even.
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Post by Admin Courtney on Nov 1, 2012 17:47:12 GMT -5
Had she always been this shy? Ashton thought back to when he had known her, but the memories were a bit fuzzy. Perhaps it had been too long. He remembered her and that they had been doing a project together, but he couldn't really remember the project. Then again, why would he focus that much of his attention on school?
"Yeah, AJ," he said with a brilliant smile. "That's what I thought. Wow, what a small world, huh? I transfered in grade nine too, just after midterms." He pulled a blank sheet of paper over to him and picked up one of the paint brushes she had. "So what are your powers, anyway? I don't think we've ever had a powers class together," he noted, frowning slightly as he tried to remember. Then he shrugged. "Anyway, this is my power."
He drew two curves on the paper like an elongated 'm' then slid the paper over to her. The 'bird' he had drawn began to move and then flew off the page, growing slightly in size and flapping around the room. But because it couldn't see and was just a scribble, it hit the side of someone's head and fell, then disappeared. "It's better than that most of the time, I promise," he laughed, lifting an apologetic hand at the person his bird had hit.
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Post by Admin Sydnee on Nov 1, 2012 17:58:09 GMT -5
The look of concentration as Ashton seemed to be trying to remember her was evident on his face and she couldn't help but feel bad. His memories were fuzzy because of her. But she remembered it perfectly. "Yeah, small world..." she agreed, trailing off. What were the odds? She thought she would never come across him again and here he was, with a power, sitting beside her in art class.
When he went on about powers and asked what hers was, she just bit her lip, watching as he demonstrated his own power. She watched as the bird flew from the page and across the room, hitting somebody before disappearing and then turned back to Ashton, who looked sheepish about the entire ordeal. "It's okay," she said. "I remember you being really good at art. You used to...carry around a sketchbook."
She pulled at a loose string on her hoodie, trying to think of what to say next, hoping he'd forget about asking her what her power was and trying to come up with a fake one just in case. She didn't want him to find out what she could do, or that she had done it to him, even if technically he'd done something to her. It was too much to deal with.
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Post by Admin Courtney on Nov 1, 2012 18:14:59 GMT -5
Well that was an anti-climactic demonstration of his powers, but he was sure she got the gist of it and knew the rainbow was his.
"Yeah, I kept wondering why the drawings in my sketchbook kept disappearing," he laughed. "At first I thought someone stole mine and replaced it, but then this weird-looking puppy followed me home one day and I realised that it was a dog I had drawn. It was really weird at first, let me tell you! But I'm sure you understand that, right? All powers are pretty weird at first. Fun, though. I stayed up that whole night drawing random things!" He laughed again at the memory. "My parents woke up to see what all the ruckus was. Man, the looks on their faces when they opened my bedroom door! I just about collapsed afterward, though. Was asleep for a day and a half and nearly missed my mid-terms. All that drawing really took the energy out of me."
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Post by Admin Sydnee on Nov 1, 2012 18:23:35 GMT -5
AJ listened to his story. She should have remembered him being this talkative, but she didn't mind. She enjoyed listening and she didn't know what to say to him anyway, she couldn't get her mind off of what happened between them two years ago, what he didn't even know about. And how was she supposed to talk to him normally when she knew that? Sometimes she wished she didn't remember after she used her power either.
"It's great that your power has to do with a hobby you enjoy very much." She enjoyed writing and reading, so why couldn't she write a story and have the events become true or something? Now that would be a lot more fun for her. She smiled at the idea of it, at having a fun power that didn't burden you at all. "Do you like it here?" Keep the conversation off of herself...that was her goal.
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Post by Admin Courtney on Nov 1, 2012 18:46:17 GMT -5
"It is, isn't it?" Ashton agreed joyfully. He began to doodle random small things on the paper that came alive once he finished with them. The first was a stick figure whom he made have a dress and then he drew her a companion with flowers and the figures met and the male stick figure gave the girl the flowers, and then they held hands and walked until the reached the edge of the desk and sat down. Ashton watched them with a smile, then turned his attention back to AJ.
"I do like it here. It's fun, you know? Being in a school full of people with unique powers," he said. "It's like a new adventure every day! These people are ten times more interesting than the ones I knew in grade nine!"
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Post by Admin Sydnee on Nov 2, 2012 11:43:10 GMT -5
AJ nodded, unsure of what to say. He was so excited to be here, so interested in his power and in everybody around him and what they could do. Didn't he realize that some powers were unwanted? She followed his gaze, following his stick figures to the end of the desk and smiled at the doodle. She wished a boy would give her flowers. Of course, AJ probably wouldn't accept them because getting involved with somebody meant they couldn't touch each other. And she was mostly afraid of coming across someone who wanted to use her for her power.
She met his gaze again. "Yeah, it's a lot less....boring."
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Post by Admin Courtney on Nov 2, 2012 19:38:18 GMT -5
While the stick figures cuddled at the edge of the desk, Ashton began another painting, using the tip of the brush and dipping it in the brown paint to draw a more accurate paint-sketch.
"We should totally hang out, you know," he told AJ. Though he was speaking to her, he kept his eyes on his paper as his hands expertly created and then brought to life a fuzzy caterpillar. He put the paintbrush down and held out his hand so the caterpillar would crawl on it. He grinned down at it in fascination, poking it with his finger as it crawled along his index finger.
Then he looked back up at AJ. "I mean, we barely got to know each other in ninth grade. I'd say this is a sign, don't you think?" He then held out his hand to show her his brought-to-life bug.
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Post by Admin Sydnee on Nov 2, 2012 21:54:08 GMT -5
AJ watched his brushstrokes carefully, amazed when the bug he'd drawn came to life and was crawling along his finger. What a cool power! Unlike hers. This is what really got to her, when other people had such interesting powers, that made life fun or entertaining. Then there were ones like her, with burdens they had to carry around.
When he suggested that they hang out, she wanted to eagerly reply with a yes. She would have as she was a human being who obviously craved to be social, but she knew that she shouldn't. It was risky. And being around him brought back memories, memories he didn't have. And it just reminded her of a different time, two years ago when she was a freshman and she had no idea what this power meant and then everything had gone wrong.
But he was smiling and saying it was some sort of sign and honestly AJ wasn't really sure how to say no to him without coming off as being rude. "Uhm, I..." she stammered. "Yeah, sure."
What did she just say?
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