Sketch Buddies (Ray)

[Sunar Chugani]

Sunar pressed one fist against his cheek while his other hand traced circles across his paper. He was supposed to be taking notes, but the teacher's voice was so boring. She spoke in a droning monotone, and no matter how hard he tried he just couldn't concentrate. 

In fact, trying too hard resulted in several loud, disruptive yawns, and piercing glares from the teacher along with an admonishment to pay attention.

In order to keep awake he had resorted to doodling on his notes. This, at least, kept his mind busy without being so difficult that his mind began to wander. Granted, this also meant his attention wasn't on the topic at hand, but at least he wasn't yawning anymore.

Movement from the corner of his eye caught his attention, and he smiled to himself; it looked like the student next to him had the same idea.

Once the class had ended he followed the other boy, waving to catch his attention.

"Hey! Hey, were you drawing in class? You're not in art club, are you?"

At least, he hadn't seen the other boy during club meetings.  

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

Ray yawned. This was so boring. He’d long since stopped paying attention, in the back of his mind he was just hoping that the teacher didn’t call on him, but he was so far gone he wasn’t even sure what she was talking about anymore. At least he could doodle and pretend like he was taking notes. That was always the key, move the pencil and make it look like he was taking notes. His wings pumped lazily, causing his legs to bounce. He had far too much energy to be sitting here taking notes. Raylaigh was completely oblivious to other people as he focused on the random doodle that was slowly oozing across the page, long gliding lines interrupted the sentences he had written while taking notes and shading emphasized strange words in awkward order.

He rarely drew with a purpose when he was doodling and as a result an intricate plant was forming in the hand of a long limbed one eyed alien woman, with sweeping wings that hung from her arms and over her body like a dress. She took form in his hand and Ray was smiling, imagining her life on her planet and what that would be like. It was this aspect of art that Raylaigh loved, he loved being able to create, take his imagination and put it on a page, tell a story without ever writing a word. The clock ticked away quickly and Ray glanced up when the teacher said the word homework. He abruptly stopped sketching and wrote in the top margin the assignment and tapped his feet agitated, waiting for the words that would release him and let him escape to the skies.

Raylaigh bolted for the door, a bird that had been caged too long, rushing for the freedom of the open sky. He did a double take when he caught someone waving, unsure if that person was waving at him. He hesitated in the hallway and waited to see if he was waving at Ray or someone behind him. He smiled when the kid stopped at his locker. “Hey!” Ray greeted just as enthusiastically. “Uh…” Should he admit his guilt? Then he smiled and relaxed, he wasn’t about to be blackmailed by some kid for sketching in class. “Uh, no, I’m not. Are you?” He asked with a bright smile. “I think it conflicted with dance last year… or swimming? One of the two.” He shrugged as he mused distractedly. “Anyways… Are you into art too?”

[Sunar Chugani]

"Ah, no, that explains why I haven't seen you, then." 

But on the plus side the other boy implied that he had at least considered art club, which meant that he probably hadn't been imagining that he was drawing during class. 

He puffed out his chest in pride at the question. "Yeah! I'm in art club! With Cleo Warren, do you know her?" 

Who didn't know Cleo? Obviously everyone should know who she was, right? Because if he knew someone, everyone else would, as well. 

"I thought maybe you were a fellow doodler. I think it's almost impossible not to doodle when you have a pencil and paper in front of you."

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

“Uh…” Ray paused and went through his long list of acquaintances and friends, “Not ringing a bell, but I’m also really bad with names.” He shrugged and gave a smile. If she was in art then chances were he knew her, but chances were also that he wasn’t paying attention. Raylaigh didn’t like to talk to people while he was working. When he was focused, he was in it one hundred percent, but when he was waiting for inspiration he could easily be the most distracted child on the planet. It really depended. So if they were in the same classes, it was possible that depending on the day he spoke to her or he didn’t. Though, Hammel wasn’t so big, so chances are, he’d seen her at least.

He fell in step with the excited boy and smiled, it was rare to meet someone who spoke as much as he was. Ray decided he liked him, despite not actually knowing his name yet. Ray grinned. “Let’s be honest, it’s impossible not to doodle in that class,” Ray said and rolled his eyes. He hadn’t actually take notes in that class since the first week. He really hoped that most of that wasn’t on the test, his mom was not gonna be happy with another failing grade.

“I’m Ray, Raylaigh, but you can call me Ray,” he said and stuck his hand out. “Are you in one of the art classes? Have I seen any of your stuff?” Ray chattered excited, not paying attention, he tripped over a bag on the ground. He was down for about a second, popping up with a giggle and brushing himself off. He waved off the person apologizing, his face reddening. This was why he couldn’t walk places. Everyone should just learn to fly, it was a much better mode of transport anyways.

[Sunar Chugani]

They were walking in the exact opposite direction of Sunar's next class, but he was too excited to have found a fellow artist to pay much attention to where he was headed. 

He nodded in agreement with the other boy's statement about the class. "If I didn't doodle I would fall asleep, and that would be way worse. I'd probably have detention with Mrs. Raines or something!" 

Mrs. Raines was intimidating, but even if she had a more approachable demeanor he would have preferred to avoid detention if he could help it. He would never be able to explain that to his parents, especially if the reason was falling asleep in class. 

But this class is boring! would not be an acceptable excuse. 

"Ray!" He repeated, "I'm Sunar! It's great to meet you!" 

He stuck out his right hand only to find that he was offering his hand to empty air, because his companion was sprawled across the ground. Fortunately the other boy found his bearings again quickly, and so Sunar tried again. 

"I've had some pieces in some of the club shows, yeah. But it's okay if you don't remember, I don't remember everything from any of those, either. But! But the art club is gonna paint a mural in the cafeteria. Cleo and I designed it! It's gonna be so cool!" 

It had been a few weeks since they had got together to design the mural, and he was just as enthusiastic about their idea now as he had been when they'd first come up with it. 

"You can come hang out with us while we paint, if it's not during ummm...what did you say you did again? Swimming?"

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

Raylaigh laughed and bobbed his head in agreement. “Ugh, been there, not fun!” He shook his head, “It’s like we can’t win, we can’t sleep, we can’t doodle, what the hell are we supposed to do when that class is absolute torture!” Raylaigh lamented. “She makes you clean the windows, or at least I did, but I guess that’s more reasonable for me.” He shrugged and gestured at his wings. He doubted someone else would have to clean the outside of the windows. Raylaigh had then gotten away with so much more than sleeping, it was funny. He got caught and punished for sleeping, but not for that invisible paint trick. That was good.

Ray popped up as if nothing had happened and smiled, “Nice to meet you Sunar,” he giggled and shook the other kids hand, his face flamed with embarrassment. Ah, gravity, Ray’s old nemesis strikes again. If there was a day when Ray didn’t fall over or trip over something, it was bound to be the end of the world. Maybe they’d given him the wrong power and he actually should have had terrakinesis or something. With how much he and the ground had gotten intimately acquainted it would only make sense. Nah, he much preferred the sky to the ground, the sky was much softer and much more fun. It was like swimming but not needing to come up for air. Well, sometimes he had to come down for air, but that was beside the point.

“Oh cool! You’ll have to show me some sometime!” He burthened, “What that’s awesome! What’s it gonna be of?” He shook his head and laughed, scratching the back of his head, “Sorry, who’s Cleo?”

Ray nodded excitedly, “Hey yeah! I’d love to! You’re in luck.” Ray’s laughter turned nervous and he pointed at the brace on his arm. “I broke my wrist a little while back and I’m not allowed to swim until the doctor declares I’m 100 %. I mean really, it’s fine, but they’re being annoyingly careful, you know?” He shrugged, and waved his hand around. “But I can paint no problem!”

“What class do you have next, Sunar?” Ray asked, wondering if they shared any other classes. “Hey, do you wanna meet up after dinner and show me some of your stuff?” He asked brightly, “I’ve got flight training right before dinner.”

[Sunar Chugani]

"It's actually a maze! So you start out, like, coming to Hammel, right? And then you travel through Hammel and you can find your way to art or sports or whatever, and then you eventually come out the other side to graduation!" 

Sunar and Cleo had spent a great deal of time brainstorming that particular idea, and he was thus rather proud of it. It wasn't, perhaps, quite as unique as the dragon huskies he had originally proposed, but it had taken a lot of time and effort to even get a rough draft down. 

"Cleo Warren!" He explained helpfully. "She's in art club, too. Blonde hair down to about here?" He indicated with his hand around his waist. "Not very chatty, super skinny." 

Well, she was a bit on the quieter side; perhaps that hindered her ability to be known by everyone. 

"Oh. Uhhh....actually I have Biology next," He apologized, pointing the opposite direction from which they'd come. "But I'd love to meet after dinner!" 

New friends were always a priority, after all. 

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

Ray’s smile broadened and he let out a small laugh. “Hey, that sounds awesome!” How much of life could be explained by a maze? Dead ends and false turns, all lead to the same ends but Ray guessed that he could say he was in a maze. He’d hit a wall with Jack and then backtracked and now he’s on the clear and free path, no ties, no relationships, just fun. Though Nao was making a very good job of mucking up those plans. How could he explain to Nao that this casual thing, was just that? Did he have feelings for Nao? Yes. Could he act on them? Hell no. There was no way he was getting into that again.

Raylaigh brushed a hand through his hair, and dispelled thoughts of Jack. It was his new goal not to think about his ex. It would be better if he could forget about the whole thing, but the pain was still too fresh, too scarring. “I’d love to see it, and help you paint it if you want.” He nodded his head joyfully, happy at the idea of being included in something like this.

The flyer shrugged his shoulders, “I mean I think I’ve seen someone skinny with blonde hair but I don’t think I’ve ever met her… like face to face you know,” he rambled, “I mean I kinda didn’t get into art until recently, you know my parents aren’t exactly excited about it. They always hoped I’d pick up math or science or something, but I definitely do not have that kinda brain power.” Ray laughed at his own joke, though the truth in it was a little higher than he would have liked. Sports had been his thing before his power and adjusting to his new delicate body continued to be a challenge, contact sports he loved were no longer a go. So swimming and running were the ones he got to do.

“Oh...” Ray uttered pointing in the opposite direction as he realized that his new friend was going the wrong way. “Uh… Sunar, you know that’s that way?” He asked but it seemed like Sunar might have already figured that one out. Ray grinning brightly, “Sweet! I’ll meet you in the art room? You can show me some of your stuff!”