Page 24 of The Art of Us

She poked the tip of her paintbrush up at his nose, leaving agreen dot. “If you time travel to visit me, make sure you bring me some future stats on companies I should invest in.”

Kal put his hand on his heart. “You wound me! The mockery!” Then he scrubbed at his nose to wipe off the paint and said, “You’re lucky I’m a gentleman, or you would be covered from head to toe in paint.” He pulled his brush out of the can and tapped out the excess water before dipping it back into the paint.

Ireland smiled to herself. He was such a good guy. She’d gotten to a point where when she wasn’t with him, she was thinking about him. Thoughts of him kept her company when she was alone in the woods. They made her feel less afraid—less lonely. She knew it was seriously stupid wishful thinking, but Ireland hoped if he did invent a time-traveling machine and went cruising through the years of history, he wouldn’t need to come visit her in the past. She hoped she would still be in his life in that future and that he’d take her to time travel the world with him.

Chapter Eight

Kal

Kal swirled a few paints together, pulling the emerald down into the forest green before using the results to outline the flat, needlelike leaves of the redwood tree. The faint odor of ammonia in the paint bothered some people, but Kal liked it. He also liked the dried-clay smell of chalk and the turpentine smell when he was working with oils. Simply put, he loved the smell and sound and sight and feel of creativity. He’d have gone so far as to say he loved the taste of it, too, but he’d never taken a lick of his paintings before, so the jury was out on that.

The mural outline was done, aside from a few finishing touches he was currently adding. He’d done some branches in shadow and some in full light. The outlines of the sections left plenty of room for students to fill in with their own art.

“I’d better get going,” Ireland said from below him as she stretched out the kinks in her back and neck.

He glanced outside to find that not only was there a sunset in their mural but there was also one in the real-life sky. That meant if Ireland wouldn’t let him drive her back to her bathroom, she’d end up having to walk. In the dark. By herself. He didn’t dare follow her again in case she caught him, but Kal hated her going alone.

He looked down from his scaffolding and said, “Let me drive you tonight. You don’t want to be walking home.”In the dark. By yourself.He finished the thought in his head.

“I’m fine. But I should really get going now.”

“Why?” That question came from a different voice. Mara’s.

Ireland seemed confused that Mara was talking to her directly. “Why what?”

“Why leave now? We’re not done yet.”

“We’re done with my part.” As if to prove her point, Ireland dropped her brushes into the can of water at her feet and swirled it around.

“I thought you wanted to be part of the club.”

“It’s okay, Mara.” Kal felt like he’d better interject because the two girls below him seemed like they were hovering on the edge of arguing, and he wasn’t emotionally prepared to deal with that kind of situation. “Her part is done, so she doesn’t need to stay if she doesn’t want to.” The sooner Ireland left, the less walking in the dark she’d have to do.

“I don’t see why any of us should get to go home before the others,” Mara insisted.

“Charisma left before we even started,” Ireland said, definite irritation in her voice.

“Charisma cleared that with everyone first. You’re being low-key selfish right now since you know none of the rest of us can go home until this is done.” Mara had her arms crossed over her chest and a scowl so deep that she could have given lessons to the Grand Canyon.

“I have to get home, or I’ll get in trouble. Sorry if that’s a problem for you, princess. See you later, Kal.” Ireland turned on her heel and pretty much stomped off before Kal could scramble off the scaffold to give a decent goodbye.

Rowan, one of the seriously rich kids in school, had apparently been staying late for track practice because he had been in the art room to talk to Cooper when the altercation between Mara and Ireland happened.

Kal had never liked Rowan. The guy used too much product in his dark brown hair and he had a habit of standing straight asif to prove he was taller than everyone else—not to mention his hooded brown eyes tended to trail after girls in the school in a way that made Kal feel queasy. But he liked him even less as the guy watched Ireland storm off. The way Rowan’s mouth pursed and his eyes tracked Ireland’s every step made his skin crawl. He held his breath to see if Rowan would follow Ireland, but he didn’t. Instead, he sauntered over to where Mara and Kal were working.

It appeared as if he were about to greet Mara, which would make sense since they hung out in the same circles, but instead he twisted his face as if he smelled something rotting and said, “Nice paint in your hair, Mara. You do know it’s supposed to go on the wall, not on you, right?” Then he went off the way Ireland had gone, making Kal’s anxiety spike for reasons that didn’t make sense. Rowan wouldn’t hurt her, would he?

“What’s going on, Mara?” Kal asked, baffled that Mara would lash out at anyone, least of all Ireland, and completely weirded out by Rowan insulting Mara, who was one of the most popular girls in school.

“Nothing.” Mara stomped off too, leaving Kal to wonder what had just happened. The thing with Ireland seemed like a power play, but what kind of power? And the thing with Rowan was just plain next-level oddball. Kal frowned while he finished up the leaves and climbed down from the scaffold.

He wanted to tell Mara to go easy on Ireland, but he couldn’t think of any way to phrase it that wouldn’t make things worse. He worried about Ireland making it home okay. Rowan wouldn’t have followed her. That was too paranoid to consider. Yet he couldn’t stop considering it. Kal had hoped that by making friends with the art club members, Ireland would find someone in that group to confide in to help her so she wasn’t alone and vulnerable.

But if the situation with Mara offered any evidence, she wasn’tany closer to those sorts of friendships than she was to being involved in a lunar landing.

Kal hated how the worry was living in his head like some malignant, snarling growth. He couldn’t check on her at her bathroom because he was afraid she’d catch him, and then she’d know he knew, and then it would be awkward, and he couldn’t deal with that.

But he didn’t like the way Rowan had watched her. He didn’t like knowing she was alone. And now it was Friday, and he was stuck with another weekend without knowing if she was okay or not.

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