“Oh, my God, Dani. Are you okay?” Meredith searched for breaks and bruises. She grabbed Dani by the arm and patted her up and down. She even felt Dani’s forehead as if Dani had a fever. She stopped when she saw Dani grinning at her.
Meredith smacked her in the arm. “Cut it out. I thought you were hurt.”
“Is that all you’ve got? We’ve got to get you into some kind of weight training program. Gee whiz.”
Dani could have been her father’s clone with that comment, but Meredith ignored it and said seriously, “Are you okay?”
Dani locked eyes with Meredith and said, “You’re cute when you’re worried.”
Meredith felt her face grow hot. “Oh, stop that. I was afraid you got hurt.”
“Well, I may have bruised my ego a little, but I’m okay.” Dani reached a hand toward Meredith’s face. “You’re very pretty with your hair pulled back, you know.”
Meredith leaned back out of reach, mortified. Dani had almost touched her acne scars. Meredith knew she was blushing furiously, and if she didn’t know better she would have thought that Dani Lassiter was flirting with her.
Dani pulled her hand back. “Why don’t you wear your hair back at school?”
“I don’t know,” she stammered. “I guess I don’t want to be seen.” She instantly regretted saying it. She never thought she would admit that to anyone. She barely admitted it to herself.
Dani brushed herself off and stood up. “Well, I think from now on you need to be seen. Starting on Monday.”
“Dani, I—” Meredith started to protest, but Mikey launched himself at Dani sending them both sprawling back to the ground.
“You 'kay, Dani?”
Dani laughed. “Mikey, I’m okay. Really.” To Meredith she said, “He said my name. Did you hear that?”
“Yeah, he’s quick like that.”
Dani smiled and got up. “Hey, let’s go get hot chocolate and cookies. This ground is kind of cold.” She stopped and looked at Meredith. “Oh, can he have sweets?”
“Sure, why not. Let’s get out of here. Cookies, Mikey?”
“Cookies! Yeah.” Mikey heartily agreed with the change in plans for the evening.
They stood up to go, but something caught Dani’s eye. “Hey, look at this banister I broke.” Dani pointed to something in the shadowy darkness. “It looks cut at the base. Like with a hacksaw or something. See where it’s smooth all the way around except just right here in the middle where it’s all splintery? It wasn’t cut all the way through. It almost looks like someone meant for the banister to break the way it did.”
Meredith looked at Dani with concern. “There may be more to this house than we bargained for. Let’s get out of here.”
Halfway down the overgrown walkway, a loud bang shattered the quiet air. Meredith jumped and knocked into Dani who in turn grabbed onto Meredith’s coat sleeve to keep her balance.
Meredith whispered urgently, “Did you hear that?”
“Yeah.” Dani still held onto Meredith’s sleeve. “It came from inside the house. Let’s get out of here.”
Meredith grabbed Mikey’s hand and the three of them ran down the concrete steps and through the open gate. They didn’t stop running until they reached the pickup truck. Meredith’s eyes grew wide she realized that the blue sports car was still in the parking lot, but not a single one of the three guys was in sight.
Chapter Five
The Protector
THE FIRST HALF of Meredith’s senior year was finally over. What a relief. But when one thing ended, another began— in this case the second semester. She sat at the big worktable in the art room and waited for her new course, Senior Art Elective, to start. The art class was filled with mostly seniors who needed to fulfill the fine arts half-credit required for graduation. Meredith was hopeful that, even though this was a beginner’s course, she’d learn something new. Art was ever evolving and Meredith knew she’d be learning all her life.
Four tables placed together formed the large student work area. Naturally, she had plenty of space around her because the other seniors in the new class, about twenty or so, crammed themselves into the chairs well away from where Meredith sat by the windows. She sighed when she realized what was happening again. In fact, she had an empty seat on either side of her. Clearly, the other students did not want to be associated with her. Less than one hundred days of high school left. She could make it. Endings created beginnings, after all and after high school she would create a new beginning at Syracuse University. If she got in, that is.
Mrs. Levine bustled around the room getting ready for the new semester. She reached around Meredith to place a basket of fruit in the middle of the work area. The bananas had definitely seen better days because several had brown spots. Some kind of genetic engineering had gone into creating the orange because it was an almost unworldly color. And the huge Delicious apples looked so shiny Meredith figured they could make candles from the wax.
“What do you think, Meredith? Think this bunch is ready for a still life?”
Meredith laughed. “I’m not so sure about that, but I guess they have to start somewhere, right?”
Mrs. Levine patted Meredith on the shoulder, and Meredith saw the other students look her way. She sensed their confusion with Mrs. Levine’s obvious familiarity with her. Most students didn’t know that Meredith was in the AP Art class, but that was because most students didn’t know Meredith at all. How Dani had known she took AP Art was a real mystery. She smiled in spite of herself. In this class, at least, she was in her element. Maybe she wouldn’t have to hide so much. She couldn’t make up her mind that morning whether or not to wear her hair back all day like Dani wanted her to, but ultimately decided against it. She would pull it back for art, like she always did, but then she’d yank out the rubber band before heading to Mr. Dalton’s seventh period history class.
Meredith began to wonder where Dani was. She was supposed to be in this art class. Maybe she decided to drop. Maybe she didn’t want to spend so much time with Meredith after all. By the time Meredith had almost convinced herself that Dani was trying to get out of her life, a blur of Whickett green and yellow barreled through the door.
“Am I late?” Dani asked to no one in particular. “We went out for lunch, and I forgot what time sixth period started.” The bell rang. “Ah, I made it.” She looked up and saw Meredith at the far end of the art room near the windows. “Meredith! Long time no see.” Dani sauntered over to Meredith, threw her book bag on the floor, and plopped down in an open chair next to her.
Meredith saw the other students in the class turn their heads again and whisper to each other.
Yeah, that’s right. The president of the senior class is sitting next to me.
Meredith sat a little higher in her chair. She hoped that Dani wouldn’t take too much flak for associating with the class outcast. She nodded hello.
“Did we start yet?” Dani whispered.
Meredith shook her head no.
“Hey, how’s my dude, Mikey?”
“Oh, he’s fine.” Meredith smiled. She remembered how great Dani had been with her brother when they had gone out for hot chocolate and cookies the Friday before. “He kept talking about you all weekend. Dani this and Dani that.”
“Yeah? He did? Tell him I said, ‘hi.’ No, wait. Tell him I said, ‘hi, dude.’” Dani reached into her book bag, but then stopped. She looked perplexed. “What do we need for this class?”
Meredith laughed at Dani’s confusion. “Mrs. Levine will probably give us supplies today, but eventually you’ll have to buy your own. We’ll probably use graphite pencils for the still life.” She gestured at the fruit.
“Still life. What does that mean? Life that is still?”
Meredith smiled at Dani’s ignorance. “You really haven’t been around an art room since middle school, have you?”
“I told you I was inept. You’re supposed to help me, okay?”
“Okay. A still life is a piece of art that depicts inanimate objects. You can take anything, like the fruit Mrs. Levine put out or shells or kitchen utensils or whatever, and draw them.”
“Why would you want to do that?” Dani blinked several times in obvious disbelief.
“Well, for one thing, the artist has control over the objects in a still life, but with, say, a landscape you draw what’s already there. You can’t manipulate the scenery. Here, though, Mrs. Levine could have put the bananas in the back instead of on top. Do you see? In fact, each one of us has a slightly different perspective on the bowl. Those kids across from us can see the full orange while we only see the top. We see the entire apple—”
“While they only see part of it. Okay, I get that, but what makes this art? Why do I want a picture of fruit on my wall?”
Meredith laughed again. “You’re funny, but at least you’re asking questions. Most people don’t get it at all. Sometimes it’s just art for art’s sake.”
“Oh, now that’s clear...not.”
Meredith smiled. “Sometimes we do art just for the sake of doing art and not for any other reason. Artists just enjoy the process. Mrs. Levine told the AP class that art doesn’t always have to make a big moral or historical statement. The art doesn’t even have to be displayed once it’s done, although Mrs. Levine will probably display our still lifes on one of the bulletin boards. When we look at everybody else’s stuff we’ll see how differently people see the same objects. Like some people will focus on the colors. Some on the shapes and some will focus on the contrast—the interplay of light and dark.”
“I think I just got schooled.” Dani grinned at her.
Meredith wondered if she had gone too far. “Oh, sorry.” She dropped her gaze, embarrassed.
“Oh, my God, Meredith. Don’t be sorry for being smart. You really know what you’re talking about.”
“Thanks, I think.”
“What, uh, focus are you going to use?”
“Mainly the interplay of light and dark, but I’ll keep everything in mind.” Meredith unzipped her vinyl pencil case and took out a handful of colored pencils.
“Well, that’s why you’re in the AP Art class, I guess.”
“I guess. Anyway, Mrs. Levine told us the ancient Egyptians hung still life paintings in the tombs of their dead because they believed the stuff in the paintings would become real and feed the dead person in the afterlife.”
“Oh, now that’s gross.”
Meredith giggled. “No, it’s not. I think it’s fascinating.”
Mrs. Levine called the class to order and had the students put their book bags in their newly-assigned cubbies. Meredith had already stored her book bag so she opened up the fresh sketchpad she’d bought over the weekend because she didn’t want to mix up her AP art sketches with the sketches for this class. She raked her hair back with both hands and pulled her dark waves into a bundle. She held her hair back with her left hand and, feeling playful, held her right wrist out to Dani. Dani looked at her perplexed, but then realization hit her face. She pulled the rubber band off Meredith’s wrist and placed it in her open palm. Meredith smiled and put the rubber band around her hair. Dani nodded at her in approval.
As expected, Mrs. Levine wanted the students to draw the still life using graphite pencils. Before she let them start, however, she explained the concept of composition. She wanted them to find just the right balance for the objects on their paper, not too big and not too small. She reminded them to keep the size relationship realistic among the objects as well. No huge bananas. That brought a snicker from several of the boys in the class.
When Dani reached for one of Meredith’s colored pencils, Meredith shook her head, “no.” Dani then slowly reached for one of the 2B graphite pencils, and Meredith nodded, “yes.” Colored pencils would have been too overwhelming for Dani’s first attempt at drawing since middle school.
Still lifes were not her favorite type of drawings because Meredith preferred portraits, but she didn’t mind because she was happy whenever she was drawing. In fact, she had been so absorbed with her sketch that she was shocked when Mrs. Levine announced that the class was almost over.
Mrs. Levine told them they would continue working on their still life sketches the next day. Of course, by that time the bananas would look even worse. Meredith laughed to herself and thought that Mrs. Levine should have used plastic fruit, especially in a beginner’s course.
Dani leaned against Meredith’s arm in order to see Meredith’s drawing. She fell back in her chair defeated. “Oh, my God, Meredith. Yours is so good. It looks just like a bowl of fruit. Look at mine.” She slid her drawing toward Meredith.
Meredith covered her mouth with her hand. “Oh, umm, well, uh, that’s...sure, that’s a good start.” Dani’s drawing looked like something Mikey would have done. The composition was awkward. The tiny blob of fruit looked as if it had been shrunk by an evil scientist. Meredith pointed this out to Dani, who looked completely defeated.
Dani sighed. “I have a lot to learn, I guess, but I have the best teacher right here sitting next to me. Should I start over tomorrow?”
Meredith nodded. “Probably.” And by “probably,” she meant “definitely.”
Dani sounded helpless. “I don’t even know where to start.”
“No problem. Tomorrow’s a new day.”
The bell rang and Meredith put her colored pencils back in their case. She still wasn’t sure if Dani’s friendliness was genuine or if she was just trying to get help passing the class. Meredith didn’t care. Not really. She would share her expertise willingly. Even if Dani was using her, at least it kind of felt like friendship.
Meredith pulled the rubber band out of her hair and slipped it back over her wrist. She shook her long hair free so it fell around her face.
“Meredith, don’t do that.” Dani looked disappointed. “You promised.”
Meredith shrugged and looked away. She had never promised anything. She ripped the still life out of her sketchbook and got up to get her book bag.
Mrs. Levine came by to collect their sketches. She picked up Dani’s and said, “Thank you, Danielle.” She glanced at the sketch and said, “Okay, tomorrow let’s you and I talk about composition, okay?”
Dani blushed. “Okay. I’m new at this stuff.”