Artistic Value

 

    A loud sigh came from the girl sitting on a stool facing an art canvas.  Her arms swayed up and down as she was tending to her masterpiece, eager to get it finished.

"Argh!" She let out a miserable groan as she felt the sudden pang of soreness in her arms.

"Hun," A concerened voice came from another room. "Maybe you should take a break?"

The girl smiled a little bit as she admires her work.

"No," She sighed "I'm almost done!"

She was like this.  Once she started something she always wanted to finish it right away. No acceptions. She also took great pride in her work. She was one of the best artists in her school.

"Alright..." The concered voice concluded.

Jade loved her art teacher just as much as her art teacher loved her. They had a mother daughter relationship, and she even called the art teacher "mom".

Wiping the sweat off her forhead, she looked over her work again, deciding which colors to mix in order to get the results she wanted.

"Should the rocks be pink or grey!?" She shouted to her "mom" who was busy in the photography room.

"Mmm, Grey." The busy woman finally replied.

"Just as I thought." Jade said to herself as she dabbed the silverish grey onto the canvas.

She kept working like this for 15 minutes straight before her arm started to ache again. 

"Aishhhh." She whined rolling her shoulder in a circular motion.

"Maybe you should take a break."

"I know, but I already told you mom-"

"I'm not your mom." The voice replied.

She confuseingly turned around.  She couldn't belive that she was to absorbed in her painting that she hadn't realised that her best friend had already walked in and was sitting at a table eating his lunch.

"Oh, you came?" She asked setting down a brush.

"No." He said sarcastically before having a bite of his mixed fruit.

Jade just rolled her eyes, already used to her best friends ways of annoyance.

"You were too obsorbed in your forest painting to even NOTICE me!" He complained.

"I know! I'm sorry." She sighed picking up her brush again. "But I really want to get this done."

Her best friend secretly rolled his eyes from behind her back, sticking his tongue out.  He wanted her attention on him.

So eventually out of bordem he called her name.

"Jade," he began. "JADE!" He yelled when she hadn't replied.

"Huh, what?" She finally snaped out of her concentration to look at the boy.

"Want some?" He said indicating his lunch.

"No, I'm fine."

"You already ate without me!?!" His eyes widened.

"No, It's not that... It's just. I'm not hungry." She lied. She really just wanted to paint, and thought that chewing was a waste of time.

Her growling stomache revieled the truth and he rose his eye skeptically.

"Ugh, Fine." Jade marched her way towards his table and pulled out a seat.

He chuckled and pushed his tray toward the girl.

"Oh, it looks good." She nodded.

"Well, I wouldn't put slop in the antique vase that is my body." The boy smirked playfully.

Jade just rolled her eyes once again at her ridculous bestfriend and began to pick up a fork but stopped when she came to think of something.

She held out her hands revealing she had paint all over them.

"I have to go wash my hands." She started to get up.

"No, it's fine." He assured her.

"What? But I have paint all over-"

He lifted up a fingure indicating her to silence herself.  He then proceded to pick up the fork and stab a couple of pices of fruit with it.

She gave him a puzzled look.

"Say 'AHH!'" He demanded.

Jade deadpanned at her bestfriend.

"I am NOT a baby!"

He dropped the fork saftly on his trey.

"You're my baby, So do you want food or not?"

Her loud audible growling stomache answered for him.

"So as I was saying,... baby," He picked up the fork again "Say 'AAH!'"

She pouted for a while before giving in to her friends childish tactics.

He grinned and placed fed her the fruit that were placed on the fork.

"Indirect Kiss!"

The two teens shifted in awkard positions after they heard a voice say this.  The once concerned voice turned into a playful one once she steped out of the photography room.

"Mom!" Jade complained. 

Jade couldn't admit that she had a little built up crush on her best friend to her mom or anyone else, becuase she was embarressed that she did!  Everytime he would linger in the art room with her it made her feel un-easy and giddy at the same time, but she was still comfertable with him being there with her, and so was "mom".

"I'm joking." The woman laughed.

The fact that it was a joke hadn't changed a thing for him.  Just knowing they shared an indirect "kiss" made his face turn a light shade of pink that he hoped no one noticed. Esspecially not Jade, his crush.  The truth is, He'd been crushing on her since the first time they met years ago.  He'd just about had enough of this "Friends" phase.  He thought it was time to turn a new leaf.

"Hi, L.Joe." Their teacher smiled. 

"Hello." He glanced at the ground still embarressed about what she had just said but then through the corner of her eye he noticed something.

"Woah! That's that?" He pointed to the big boards sitting on the ground.

"They're panels." Jade finished chewing and opened waiting for the net forkful.

"Panles?" L.Joe stabbed some fruit while eyeing the boards.

"Yes, one of my classes were supposed to be painting on it and it would be displayed outside the cafeteria." The teacher answered fiddling with one of her students films for her photography class.

"Really." He said still not noticing Jade's request for food.

"Yes, really!" She said impatiently awaiting fruit.

"Hmm," he glanced back at the somewhat blank giant boards "What's its supposed to be?"

The teacher put down her fil amd looked at him. "Well, Jade is working on the grass hills, but nobodies helping her.  She's pretty much doing it all by herself."

He frowned a little.  She was already complaing about how her arm hurt and now she has to do a whole billboard by herself.

"Well, I can help." He smiled at his offer.

"No, it's ok." Jade repied again, still eager to be fed.

"Please!?" He pouted now looking at her friend.

"No." She plainly rejected, then opened "ahh."

"Nope!" He moved the fork away from her. "Not unless I get to help."

She glared a little then grabbed his hand with both of hers, biting the fruits off of the fork.

She then tried to keep herself from laughing at his disapointed face. He looked so cute when he was pouting.

"He gets to help." Mom said assertivly.

"WHAT?!" It was Jade's turn to pout now.

"HA! MEHRONG!" L.Joe gloated.

"That's not even fair! L.Joe doesn't even like art! So I don't know why he wants to- URMF!"

became filled with more fruit, which happened to be L.Joes doing.

"Eat up, Jagia!" He said with a playful wink.

She almost choked.

Minutes has passed ant they were still in the art room and had started to paint the wooden panels.

Jade occationally stole glances at the boy, half out of pure curiousity, half out of having a habit at glancing at her crush.

She giggled a little. "What are you doing?"

She couldn't help but to giggle at the somewhat confused boy laying in front of her attempting to paint.

"I'm PAINTING!" He whined.

She got up and walked over to him, taking his hands in hers once again, she wrapped his hand in the brush and begain painting the board.

"Like this." She said as she the paintbrush across the board.

He only could grummble. "I knew that."

"Oh sure you did." She laughed sarcastically.

He truened on his side to face the girl. "Oh, so Jade knows everything about paint, huh?"

She rose her eyebrows at his last statment. Just about everything! She had been painting everyday in the art room, she knew enough about paint.

"Well, does she know she has paint on her FACE!?" L.Joe questioned.

"Where?" She touched her nose.

"Right, THERE!" He lightly touched the brush against her cheek.

"YAH!" She yelled over his laughter.

He had always been the one to play childish pranks like that on her, and she had always been the one to fall for them.

"If you wanna play like that, FINE!" She took her own brush in her hands.

"Wait! What are you doing?!" His eyes were widened once he saw her scooping up a lot of blue paint on her brush.

"Are you ready for this?" She sneered at him as he scooted back only to scoot back more as she was continuing to crawl toward him with the threating paintbrush.

"WAIT! WAIT! YOU CAN'T! MY CLOTHES ARE EXPENSIVE!" He cried, leaning back.

She jumped up and daringly sat on his stomache and grabbed his collar.

"YOU'RE Going to get it!" She growled.

"AISH!" He called while laughing.

He probably could've pushed her off of him if he wanted too. She wasn't that heavy. But he figured this way was funner. So he just went with it.

"HA!" She said as she begain to paint L.Joe's cheek blue with the brush.

"Heh-Heh! I'm gonna paint a blue bird on your face, with a nest, and some eggs, and- AISH! OUCH!" She got up and rubbed her arm.

"CRAMp! CRAMP!" Che cried in pain.

He leaned up and looked at his best friend in deep concern.

Frowning, he crawled toward her and grabbed her arm and helped her up and sat her on a chair.

"My arm really hurts." She whined.

"You should've tooken a break!" He scolded. "Things should be done in moderations! Not all at once! Of course you'll be sore!"

She just pouted.

He walked behind the back of her chair and removed her left hand from her right shoulder.

"What are you-"

"Just keep quite, My little whiney Baby! Let L.Joe handle this." He sighed.

She secretly blushed at what he just said.

Had she really whined that much?

L.Joe rubed his hands together then gently began to massage her shoulder.  At the touch of her bestfriend slash crush, Jade began to shiver.

"Are my hands cold?" He questioned concerned.

"Hmm, oh? Y-Yes." She lied horribly. 

He snickered a little and continued to rub her shoulder.

"Good. That's what you get for being a pabo."

"I'M NOT A PABO! You are!" She barked back.

"I'm not the one with a knot in my shoulder."

She grunted.

"Well, I'm not the one with a blue bird on their cheek!" She snickered cleverly.

"Well, you are the one who fell for the old "You have something on your face" prank."

I she could do was let out an audible gasp.

L.Joe laughed harder at her defeat.  Jade truthfully didn't care that he was laughing at her because she loved his cute little laugh, esspecially when they were laughing together. His laugh was contagious.

She started to laugh too. "SHUT UP! I HATE YOU!"

Once he caught his breath he wrapped his arms aroun her shoulders from behind the chair she was sitting on, catching her off gaurd.

She stiffened at the feeling of his sudden touch.  She prayed he could'nt see her redness, or feel her shiver.

"I love you, too. Jagia." He replied enthusiastically.

The sound of his voice and what he just said to her caused her to shiver even more.

"Wow, am I really that cold?" L.Joe laughed at her reaction.

All she could do is nod.

"Hmm, this hug should warm me up then." He sighed nuzling his head against her neck from behind.

"THIS doesn't look like painting!" 

Startled, The boy flew back.

The teacher studied both of them knowingly.  The truth is, she's known ahead that the two both had crushes on eachother.  Only they didn't know.

He scratched the back of his neck. "She had a- erm sore.. arm."

"But I'm better now! Let's paint L.Joe!" The girl quiclly changed the topic getting off the chair and onto the floor.

The both of them always returned to the art room everyday for a week and worked on the huge billboard panel during lunch and afterschool.

Jade was impressed at her best friends sudden interest in art, he was even doing better in their actual art class.

"What are you doing now?" She questioned him.

He was working on the sky dierectly in front of her. 

"I'm painting the MOOON!" He shook his , knowing it was probably in her face at the moment.

"Ah! EW GROSS! STOP!" She tried not to laugh. 

He knew she was probably about to laugh so he continued his silly anticts.

"See, Look. I can spell Supercalifragalisticexpialidosis with my !"

"STOP!" She laughed when he attempted to spell it.

"Get your out of my FACE!" She poked it with the end of her paint brush.

"P-E-R!" He started to shake his acording to the shape of the letters.

"QUIT IT!" She slaped it out of her way.

He turned around suprised.

"Did you just SLAP my Jade?!"

She covered still giggling as her face turned pink.

"SORRY BUT I TOLD YOU TO GET IT OUT MY FACE!" She defended herself.

He laughed himself, and returned to facing forward.

"No it's okay. I liked it. We could make a michi go parody! Do it again."

She laughed even harder and confused.

"WHAT!? No you FREAK!" She shook her head and continued to paint the roots of the tree.

"HOW AM I THE FREAK? You slapped my ! I SHOULD SUE FOR UAL HARRASMENT!"

The girl turned redder and redder. 

"Shut-up!" She laughed.

He looked over his sholder to smile at her.

"Don't worry jagia, I won't sue you. I sait I approved of it." He winked.

She then covered her face with both of her hands and he watched and laughed.

"Cute." he thought to himself.

The last day of the week had came and the panels were just about done. 

"And one last star...and we're done!" She smiled at their work.

She still couldn't belive L.Joe, the un-athusiastic about geting paint on his clothes, L.joe, was the one who helped her complete this masterpiece.

"Wow." He grinned in disbelife as he analyzed the nigh landscape picture they'd painted. "It's beautiful."

She grinned. She loved seeing the sparkle in his eyes when he'd admire something. It made her a type of happiness that only he could make her.

"To celebrate our accomplishment, I brouth these." Jade then reached into her bag and took out two small cans of sparlking juice.

"Ah, how considerate, Thank you my little whiney baby." He grinned taking one of her cans.

She rolled her eyes at the name he had given her, although it was nice that in a way he was sort of claiming her as his own.

"What?" He said smiling.

"Nothing." She grumbled taking a sip of her drink.

"Wait! I wanted strawberry! Trade! Trade!" He snatched her can from her and handed her his un-opened can.

"But indirect...kiss.." she mentioned oftly as she watched him about to drink from her can.

"I don't mind." He glanced at her and continued to drink.

She bit her lip and stared down at what was his can and tried to maintain her blush.

"AH! I almost forgot...I made something!" He then got up and set the drink down next to wear they were both sitting which was on the edge of a table.

As he rushed off to somewhere in the corner of the room.  All she could do was stare at the place where both of their lips had once been.

"He said, he didn't mind..." She blushed at her thoughts.

"Alright! My whiney baby! I have something..." He called.

She quickly shook her head and sat up.

"Alright, let's get this over with."

When he apperead in front of her, he was holding a canvas and was wearing an shy face.

"What is it?"

He bit his lips timidly.

"It's a painting...I made it."

"Oh, let me see!" She grinned.

Un-Easy, he twirled the bottom of his foot against the tiled ground.

"Alright close your eyes."

She did acorddingly.

L.Joe took an audible deep breath and flipped over the painting.

"Ok, Open them."

Immeaditly her eyes snapped opened aand she noticed the picture first.

She could autimatically get the background. It was a hill with flowers.  She didn't understand the two things in the middle, or why they're were a bunch of little black lines but she thought they were bugs, but either way it was pretty. It was pretty because HE made it.

The secound thing she notcied was him.  His face seemed a little pinker. Maybe he was disencouraged to show her for some reason.  He thought he wouldn't do well maybe?

"It's good L.Joe! You're getting better!"

He just laughed and scratched the back of his neck and handed it to her.

"Hmm, but whats this?" she pointed to two figures.

He sat besides her and leaned in to see what she was pointing too.

"Oh, that...." He suddnly became more awkward than useual.

"This one..." He pointed to a figure "Is me."

"OH, and this one?" She pointed to the one next to it.

He blushed more furiously.

"Erm...it's....you."

She felt her cheeks heat too. 

"Oh, it's pretty....what are these things? Handcuffs."

"Close, they're....holding hands."

Her face heated even more and a small smile formed on her lips.

"Oh,...I like it" She admitted to him.

"I'm glade..." He said softly and glanced at the ground. "I made it for you...."

She grinned and hugged it to her. "Thank you! I really like it!"

He glanced at the ground.

"I really like you." He admitted with his face blazing red.

The sudden confesstion made butterflies in her stomache and caused her to un-willingly grin like an idiot.

"That's why I made the picture. But I can't really paint people yet, so that's why it turned out like that. Sorry. I'll make you a better one-"

"L.Joe." She called.

He looked up at her.

She just grinned and took a deep breath. 

Leaning forward, her lips breifly pecked on his cheek. 

His eys widened.

He studied her shy expresstion, and the smile on his face grew. He knew she liked him back. And now he coud finally do what he's been wanting to do for a while now.

"Jade....Jade...JAGIA."

She finally responded.

His face smirked as he caressed her chin with his thumb. He leaned in to her face, as his eyes drew shut, his lips pursed forward ending in a sweet collison with her lips.

Caught by suprise, her eyes sealed close.

When their lips set apart, they both smiled shyly and looked away.

"Oh, and I also have this." He pulled out another picture, but this time on a sheet of paper and not a canvase.

"What is this of?"

"Look at it." He handed it to her.

As she studied the drawing he tried his best not to laugh.

"WHAT IS THIS?!"

It was a doodle of a person who resembled L.Joe feeding a baby with a bibb which resembled Jade.

He laughed harder and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"You don't like it? I think it has artistic value." He laughed.

She rolled her eyes.  "I love it. Thank you." She then rested her head on his shoulder.

"You're welcome my whiney little baby."