I've crossed you in hallways a thousand times.....

[Dani]

Lucas sat in the back of the classroom, his chin resting on his hand as he half paid attention to the teacher. His attention was more focused on the random drawing of a sailboat that he was currently doodling in his notebook. He didn't feel the least bit guilty about not giving the teacher his full attention for two reasons. First of all, he was in art class, a class where it seemed perfectly reasonable to draw pictures. Secondly, the teacher wasn't really doing anything too important, just announcing the partners for the upcoming student portrait project. Since he didn't really know anybody in the class, he didn't have a specific person that he wanted to be partners with. He was actually dreading the entire assignment itself. It required him to spend the next few weeks staring at someone that he barely knew and draw their picture. It required him to sit still for someone else and let them draw him as well. It required social interaction, something which he wasn't exactly an expert at. Thanks to his very different and outgoing friend Monte, he had gotten better recently, but it was still a work in progress. His ears perked up as he heard his name called. He put down his pencil and gave his full attention back to the teacher, waiting to hear the name of the poor person that would be stuck with him. "You'll be partnered with Kacie Everdeen," the teacher said as he pointed Lucas's new partner out to him. His face turned bright red. Oh no, I got paired up with a girl.... Could this get any more awkward?

[Alisha]

It was so close she could almost taste it. Summer was just around the corner. No more school, no more homework, no more staying up late and waking up early, and best of all, no more distractions. It couldn't have come any sooner in Kacie's eyes. Unlimited time to draw, paint, and sculpt? That sounded like utter paradise. If there was one thing Kacie cherished, it was her free time. Presently, she was trying to pay attention to her art teacher, who was assigning the partners for the final project. Kacie was quickly loosing that battle, as her attention was drawn to the page in front of her. She didn't particularly care who she was paired with, as long as they had some form of talent and could hold a conversation. Kacie pushed her hair behind her ear and leaned over the page in her sketchbook designated for classroom doodling, paying just enough attention to the teacher to not look like an idiot. The brunette looked up when she heard her name, and scanned the room with an emotionless stare until her eyes landed on her new partner. I got the quiet one... This should be interesting. Kacie smiled in his direction, giving a little wave before turning her attention back to her sketchbook as partners were finished being assigned. Mr. West droned on about the final project in the background, speaking of expectations and due dates and she listened, though she didn't set her eyes on the teacher for the rest of his monologue.

[Dani]

Lucas waved back, forcing a polite smile as he did so. He was not looking forward to this at all. His social interaction skills were improving, but they absolutely sucked when it came to girls. Surprisingly having ten sisters and having a long term relationship with his ex-girlfriend for five years hadn't helped the situation much. He went back to his drawing, half listening to the teacher explain the guidelines and how the project would be graded. He wasn't too nervous about the possible grade. There were several things that he knew nothing about, but art certainly wasn't one of them. He was a very good artist and had been painting and drawing since he was a little kid. Art was a subject that had always come easy to him, even throughout middle and high school. Sure, he highly doubted that his work would be displayed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art someday, but it was certainly good enough for him to have an A average for the two semesters. As soon as the teacher finished discussing the project, he then told everybody to use the last few minutes of class to get to know their partner and work out a schedule for meeting times. Oh brother..... Lucas reluctantly stood up and headed towards where Kacie was sitting. "Uh....hi," he managed to spit out.

[Alisha]

Kacie smiled up at the boy when he approached her, ignoring his uncomfortable expression and moving her book bag out of the empty seat beside her, setting it on the floor. It wasn’t often that Kacie had the chance to meet new people this late in the school year, by this time she usually had befriended everyone in all of her classes. There were always a select few that managed to avoid her, not intentionally, she hoped. The girl was a bit of a social butterfly, making friends everywhere she went. “Hello,” She responded, holding out her hand for the boy to shake, “Kacie Everdeen.” She repeated her name, even though their art teacher had already spoken both of their names just a few minutes ago. Kacie brought a foot up on her chair, turning slightly to face him more directly. She rested her chin on her knee. “So, how long have you been doing this?” She questioned, pointing to her sketchbook on the table. “I’ve been drawing since I was four, though it didn’t become of good quality until I was nine or so.” She figured she might have to coax conversation out of him, which would be no problem for her. She welcomed the challenge. Making friends had always come easily for her, despite the questions and pity that came with people finding out about her true parentage, not that she let those things bother her… much.

[Dani]

"I-I'm Lucas," he said, shaking her hand in return. "Lucas Howard." He smiled a little and sat down in the chair next to her, attempting to make eye contact with her. Eye contact was something that came natural to most people, but not to Lucas. It was increasingly difficult for him to look directly at someone and hold a conversation for an extended period of time, especially a person that he wasn't close with. After ten seconds of shaky eye contact, he focused his view back on his notebook. "I've been drawing since I was three," he said as he resumed working on his random sailboat drawing. "I took lessons until I was nine. I was in an art club until high school. I'm not the greatest artist in the world, but my pictures really got good when I was in junior high."

[Alisha]

The friendly smile remained on Kacie’s face. If there was one thing that stood out about Kacie, it was her smile. She had the kind of smile that just made a person want to smile in return, the kind of smile that made her yearbook pictures stand out, and the kind of smile that set her apart from the crowd. If it weren’t for her smile, she’d just be overlooked with her mousy brown hair and even more brown eyes. “Nice to meet you, Lucas.” She said, “We’re going to be spending a lot of time together, so you might as well get used to me pretty quick.” Kacie’s gaze shifted to what he was working on, but she couldn’t quite make out it was from the where she was sitting. “I’m sure you’re pretty good. People don’t continue to do things as long as you have been without having some kind of talent. I’ve never had any kind of formal training aside from art class. I used to get pointers from one of my friends back home though.”

[Dani]

Taking her words to heart, Lucas looked up from his drawing to get a much closer look at the girl that he was forced to get to used to for the next few weeks. It was actually a good idea. He might have doubted his art ability from time to time, but he prided himself on his excellent photographic memory. A lot of his drawings came mostly from memory. He usually only stared at his subjects once or twice. Maybe if he got a real good enough look at Kacie's face, they wouldn't have to see each other much during the project. As soon as his eyes met hers, his breath caught in his throat. Wow, she's beautiful. He had seen beautiful girls before, but it was rare that he saw a naturally beautiful one. From what he could tell, there wasn't even a stitch of makeup on her face. She didn't look like the other girls he saw, the ones that needed an endless makeup and hairspray. He definitely wouldn't have a hard time drawing her. In fact, it would probably be one of the easiest assignments of his life. "I, uh, do have talent....ummmm somewhat," he replied, trying to snap himself out of his mental inspection of her face. "I mean, not everybody knows how to draw a landscape or a person, which I can do. I guess I never really thought of myself as talented."