"Hey." I greeted cheerfully, "Hope you didn't stay up too late."
"Of course not, don't worry about it." He remarked playing with the tips of my braids between his fingers, and I grinned at the gesture. Just then Monsieur Étienne made his way hurriedly into class tossing his briefcase onto his messy desk. I quickly made my way back to my seat next to Tori.
"Bonjour la class!" He cheered, and everyone gave him a round of applause in response, "Welcome to the start of a new semester in your specialist art class here at St Kathrine's. This semester we will be working on the idea of the Gemini concept, this is the idea that everyone has two faces, the one you show to the world and the one you see in the mirror that you conceal from the public eye. You will be working in your portfolios and sketching your Gemini."
"This is going to be a therapy session I didn't need," Tori whispered to me and I laughed,
"Don't look at me I'm a Capricorn," I replied and she placed her hand on mine,
"That explains a whole lot." Victoria declared and I rolled my eyes playfully.
We spent the rest of the class planning our portfolios and I had the exact image of what I was going to draw in my head and I knew that this was the piece that would set me apart from the rest. I planned to sketch a drawing of the two sides of me, the little girl who grew up in Kenya and the girl who was forced to adapt to the new Western world and is struggling to figure out who she was. Those girls were both me and I owed it to myself to capture them the best I could.
By the time the end of class came around, I was almost done and I stayed behind a little to finish up my plan, I couldn't help but overhear Monsieur Etienne's conversation with River upfront.
"You must redo your painting, there's no other way, the colours don't match and the textures and brush strokes are all wrong." Monsieur scolded holding up River's painting of the Eiffel Tower, it was beautiful but he sure as hell didn't seem to think so.
"I've been working on this nonstop all week, I'mnotredoing it." River declared standing his ground,
"River I'm your teacher no?" He retorted and River impatiently slammed his hand onto monsieurs desk,
"Exactly and you know better thananyonehow hard I worked on this, and how long it would take to redo it. I don't have the time I have other classes that require just as much- if notmoreattention." River emphasised,
"I've always said this to other students but I never thought I'd have to repeat the same to you; it's either you're in and you're in it with everything you've got- or you're out and you forfeit. This isn't just about you Monsieur Kennedy, this is about the school and its image, take this as the privilege that it is!" Monsieur demanded,
River shut his eyes for a moment in thought before storming out and slamming the door shut so hard it made goosebumps rise on my skin. I knew how frustrating it was and it was for that reason that I said;
"Perhaps you're being a little too hard on him?" I suggested and Monsieur Etienne scoffed,
"This academy isn't for the weak of heart. He's handled it before and he can handle it again."
After French it was lunch and we all made our way to the cafeteria and I basically had to drag River along with me. It was Baguette au fromage for lunch today and I was starving. Sometimes I wished we were allowed to eat in class instead of starving for two whole hours.
"Aren't you going to eat?" I asked River,
"Erm no, I'm not hungry right now." He replied with a shrug and I didn't think much of it.
I was seated opposite Gene who looked chipper than usual this morning and I wondered why.
"What's got you in such a good mood?" I asked and she smiled knowingly,
"Mon père is coming to visit this weekend, and I can't wait for all the gifts he brings with him. I do need a new closet." Gene told us and I nodded slowly and tried my best to seem interested,
"Mer, why don't you tell Armani about your new beau?" Keomi suggested with a wink and Mer got all excited,
"Armani I've been meaning to tell you, I met someone." She told me and I was excited too, for her, "His name is Muleya and he's so kind and smart and we're going on another date this weekend."
I turned to look at River knowingly but when I did so he was staring out into space so I turned back to her. I wouldn't want to be that girl who's allwe met beforeblah blah blah so I decided to act like the name was new to me for her sake. I didn't want to ruin her excitement.
"That's great, I'm so happy for you and I can't wait to meet him." I grinned and she raised her eyebrows.
I returned my gaze back to River who seemed on edge and distant today, actually the past two days I realized. I wasn't going to push him to talk to me, I'd learned my lesson well enough about doingthatand how it never got me anywhere. So I decided not to push it until I noticed it, the way his hands were balled up in fists beneath the table. The way his expression remained calm and composed under the surface but his mind was a hurricane.
I opened up the palm of his left hand and saw the swollen red crescent wounds his nails had left on his skin and at first he tried, to jeer his hand away from me but I stopped him and looked intently into his eyes and I saw that he was battling something within. I wanted to ask what it was but I knew that he wouldn't tell me, he would talk to me when he was ready and I'd be here waiting. It hurt me to know that this was the way he found to cope, to scar himself this way when things got too much.
I looked into his eyes in the hopes that I would find something, anything, a clue perhaps to what was going through his mind but I was unsuccessful. His expression was so unreadable and blank and it scared me almost, I'd never seen him so distant.
"Are you okay ?" I asked as he'd asked me many times, my voice small and merely a whisper enough for him to hear me,
