Chapter 2: Furby looking-ass
Genevieve slowly opened the door to the studio and popped her head in to peek into the room hoping the space wasn't already filled with other students. The room was empty. Yet another victory for the day. She smiled happily and made her way to her favourite work table near the windows at the front of the room; she hated when the room was crowded with other students. She liked her classmates but working without distractions and just her music playing in her ears was so much more relaxing.
She glanced outside while she absently felt around in her bag for her headphones, a few brown leaves flew past the windows, carried by the cool breeze that blew through the trees to rustle their branches. It was chilly out and somehow gloomier than it usually was. She didn't mind this kind of weather though, it meant she could wear her cosiest sweatshirts and boots: her preferred type of outfit.
Just as she placed the headphones over her ears the door swung open. Jasper strode in smoothly his arms clasped behind his back, his demeanor stiff as always. Genevieve forced herself to not roll her eyes in his direction, "What was he doing here?" She muttered to herself softly very much disappointed. She had never seen him in the studio before and he didn't seem like the artsy type to begin with. If anything she almost rarely saw him roaming about the school. He only ever showed up to classes and disappeared after.
From the corner of her eye she watched him glide smoothly, a little too smoothly for a human being, past her and towards the back of the room, keeping his gaze forward almost ignoring her presence. It was just as well as she wasn't interested in forcing herself to partake in small talk. The mildly annoyed girl sighed as she heard the scrape of the chair's legs against the floor indicating that her schoolmate was indeed going to be sticking around.
Genevieve let out another small sigh of defeat, "There goes my alone time" she thought to herself. She shrugged and decided it would be best to ignore him and to continue on with what she had planned on doing. Soon enough she'd be too into what she was doing to remember he was there. Standing up she made her way to a series of small lockers at the front of the class that housed the project she was working on. The school was kind enough to provide small lockers that the students could rent out while they worked on their pieces without having to worry about them being touched, stolen or destroyed.
Punching in the code on the small keypad, she unlocked the small metal door. Genevieve swung it open to reveal a few carving tools and three pink rubber carving blocks. She grabbed the materials and seated herself comfortably once again still trying her best to pretend the boy who sat at the back of the room was not there. Looking down at the pink rubbery block she took a deep breath and tried her best to focus on the music blaring into her ears. She hunched over slightly to get a better grip on the pink block and began to slowly carve at the cluster of trees she had previously drawn onto the rubbery material.
A few minutes passed of complete silence, only the faint sounds of music coming from the girl's headphones. Without warning a soccer ball flew into the air and slammed into the closed window to the girl's left. She heard the muffled gasps of the students messing around outside realizing they have kicked the ball too far and too high. Genevieve jumped, startled, the carving tool she was gripping slipped off the pink rubber block and embedded itself into her left palm. "Shit, fucking hell..." she cursed pulling the sharp tool out of her hand and tossed it away discarding it onto her desk to inspect her hand. As the blood pooled out from the wound she heard the scrape of the chair Jasper sat in. No movement; she assumed he had probably just pushed back his chair to make himself comfortable.
Genevieve looked back down at her bleeding hand, it shook a little from the sudden injury; her heartbeat quickened as she looked to her bag hoping she had a small packet of tissues on hand. Jasper stood up from his seat but stayed at his table, umoving. Suddenly the green-eyed girl felt a strange wave of calm take her over, her mind cleared almost instantly of all anxiety and annoyance. She glanced back down her hand as it steadied again. Her heartbeat slowed to a normal pace. Her attention shifted causing her to turn her head in the direction of the sound once again as she heard Jasper's chair back up out of the way as the honey blonde-haired boy made his way to her table, his steps were light though quick to her table.
Suddenly feeling his presence on her right side she glanced up slowly, tucking her injured hand at her side hoping he was just there to ask her the time or some other stupid question and would go away quickly. Yet again without saying a word he held out a dark blue neatly folded handkerchief to her. Genevieve stared at the blue cloth thrusted out at her and back up at the ever stoic boy mildly confused at his actions. She hesitated, leaning back slightly away from him to create some distance between them, "Uh...no thanks, I'm okay".
She stood up quickly, mildly uncomfortable and definitely embarrassed and tried to shove her belongings into her bag hurriedly to leave the room. Blood tainted her forest green bag and she handled the bag with both hands, causing splotches of dark spots on the canvas material. Jasper stiffened suddenly taking a step back away, his fingers closing in tightly around the handkerchief. Genevieve glanced up at him sensing his sudden unease, seeing the tattered book he had clearly been reading tucked under his left arm. For a moment as she regarded her odd classmate and his extremely tense stance, an image flashed into her mind; the furby she had been drawing. She pressed her lips together, "he looks just like that damn furby, does he ever blink?!" She thought to herself trying to keep her demeanor unchanged. As laughter threatened to slip from her lips, she forced her gaze elsewhere quickly deciding she would amend her drawing later to reflect the boy who stood near her. His golden eyes glossed however and she realized he was staring at the blood on her bag.
"He must hate the sight of blood, maybe even more than I do", she mused quietly to herself. Before she could say anything to distract him he leaned forward and grasped her uninjured hand, his fingertips icy on her warm skin, and placed the blue folded cloth into her palm. "You need it", he muttered softly before taking a few steps back, turning on his heels and almost hurrying out the door. Genevieve blinked confused, the coldness of his fingers still lingering on her skin. "Thank you!" she yelled out after him unsure if he had heard her.
Slinging her bag onto her shoulder, she dug around in it with her good hand to retrieve her phone. She glanced at the time; 3:05 PM the screen read. A text popped up from her mother at the same time which she was very much expecting. She read it out loud, "Sweetheart I'm outside". Genevieve grinned, "Right on time as usual mother". She flung the phone back into her bag and hurried out of the art studio almost as quickly as Jasper did.
Her steps were short and quick as she made her way towards the shiny black car parked out in front of the school. A tall, short-haired woman in a cherry blossom pink tailored suit and black red-bottom pumps was leaning against the vehicle, her arms crossed over her chest as she waited. She smiled as she spotted her child and removed the dark sunglasses covering her eyes and propped the eyewear on top of her head. Genevieve smiled widely, "How do you always get here exactly on time?" She asked impressed as always with her mother's punctuality.
Sliding into the driver's side of the car Genevieve's mother grinned handing the girl a clear packaged round crustless sandwhich, "Don't worry about that. I brought you a snack though because god knows when your father will feed you...". The woman trailed off, her hands slipping off the steering wheel as she noticed the handkerchief clutched in her child's left hand. "GENEVIEVE!" She shouted startling the girl, "What did you do?!" The smaller girl paused for a moment before speaking considering what would be the best answer, "Um it was an accident. I was carving out a new stamp, it's nothing major and I'll disinfect it when I get to dad's". Her mother sighed the car vibrating softly as she started it up and pulled out of the spot, "Sometimes I don't know what to do with you".
Genevieve smiled shifting in her seat making herself comfortable, "It'll be fine. You know I always get hurt somehow". Her mother sighed again taking a corner sharply though smoothly at the same time, "Yes I know Genevieve. But can you at least try not to lose any limbs this weekend at your father's? I'd like to pick up my kid unharmed." The curly-haired girl glanced at her mother and stuck her tongue out playfully, "No promises. I might lose all of them, who knows!" Her mother turned, speeding up and pulled up into a driveway, slamming on the brakes aggressively causing them both to lurch foward. "GENEVIEVE!", her mother yelled exasperated. She giggled enjoying antagonizing her mother slightly though feeling mildly dizzy from the sudden maneuvers, "I'm kidding I'll be careful. Extra careful even!" The suit-clad woman turned off the car and slid smoothly out of the vehicle to open her daughter's door, holding out a hand to help her out. Genevieve stepped out clutching her bag and unopened sandwhich.
The dark brown door of the house they pulled up to opened slowly to reveal a dark-haired man clad in a black tank top and dark blue basketball shorts. He held a stripey kitten under one arm while his free hand clutched a glass bong. "Gen! Ex-wifey!" He called out, a grin spreading across his face as he used the glass bong to wave happily. The girl's mother rolled her eyes at her ex-husband before turning her attention back to her daughter, "he's an idiot. Please tell your annoying father to make sure you're fed properly". It was Genevieve's turn to roll her eyes, "Please don't walk me to the house. You're just gonna end up telling dad to go fuck himself and dad will just reply 'been there done that'. Also I can feed myself y'know. Dad means well anyway." Her mother planted a quick kiss on her cheek agreeing with her child's statement before making her way back into the car, "Have fun!"
Genevieve threw back an awkward wave at her mother as she hurried into the house and kicked off her boots to the side of the entranceway. Her father grinned and smoothed down her hair affectionately; a gesture that was half head pat, "I missed you all week Gen". He grinned and made his way back to the livingroom to settle himself at his computer. He called back to her as she headed up the stairs to her room, "I have burgers sitting covered on the stove I grilled a little while ago if you're hungry!" Genevieve called back bounding up the stairs, "Maybe later." Dropping her bag onto the floor in her room, she threw herself onto her bed laying face down exhausted from the day, her left hand still clutching the blue folded cloth.