“Something wrong, Jonatha?” Buffie, in his shimmery emerald green dress, short skirt and heels, was perhaps one of the most put-together people he’d ever seen, before or after this wish. He might not have had all that much in the asset department (at least by this world’s standards), but he would probably have been described as pretty.
“No...well yeah...well no… You headed to art class?”
“Of course, boy. What’s up?” Buffie put his arm around Jonatha, which made him notice the emerald earrings he wore. He was extremely color-coordinated.
“I don’t know if I can adequately describe it. You’d call me insane.”
“Would it explain why you and Jade seemed a little...confused in class?”
“Yeah, but again, you wouldn’t believe me if I told the story, so I’m not going to.”
“Wanna sit together in class today? Would that help you feel better?”
“Uh, sure, if you want,” Jonatha replied as they entered the art room. Mr. Hanford, who had spent more than thirty years teaching art at the school, was one of its most respected teachers, even if he was often ignored in the grand scheme of things for being a man. Jonatha and Buffie took one of the tables on the side of the room, each of which offered room for two people and their art supplies and projects. Most of the class was boys, though there were a few girls, none of whom he seemed to recognize.
“Today’s gonna be a free sketch day, class. I want to see how you do making something happen within one class period! Sometimes the best projects occur in the shortest amount of time,” Mr. Hanford added. He wore a fairly conservative outfit, with a string of pearls around his neck and a fashion style that definitely was for teachers in their older years. His long hair was starting to gray, while he wore more comfortable shoes than the heels he once would have chosen.
Jonatha was a bit intimidated. As pre-wish Jon hadn’t had an art class in years, he wasn’t quite sure what to do or draw. Worse yet, he only had less than 50 minutes to execute it. It occurred to him that any people he attempted to draw might not match reality at all, given that he’d only been in a school environment for six hours and hadn’t seen the outside world yet. He decided to try drawing a landscape scene, a forest, inspired by Buffie’s green ensemble. That would be a safe choice.
Mr. Hanford put on the smooth jazz music that accompanied such work time in class, and after a few minutes checking his computer for new emails and the like, began to roam around the room and look at students doing their projects. After a hesitant start, Jonatha began to sink into another sort of autopilot, like this world’s muscle memory was taking over for a moment. He had a set of green, white and blue colored pencils on hand to add hints of color, even though it was unrealistic in the time given to do the entire project like this.
Soon enough, about halfway through class, Mr. Hanford came by Jonatha and Buffie’s table and took an interest in Jonatha’s forest drawing. “That’s a very serene scene you have there… What made you decide to draw it? A lot of people in the class are doing objects, other people… But this is a little different. I don’t often see nature scenes,” he added sort of wistfully.
“Well, it’s a reminder that our worlds constantly change,” Jonatha said, covering for his real reason. “You know... People and places always… enter and exit our lives. But some things… Some things can’t change.”
“Aha, I see, Jonatha. Buffie?”
“I’m doing a quick sketch of a girl in a letter jacket. She’s a football player.”
“Is she based on anyone in particular?”
“No… I’ve just had football on my mind this afternoon,” Buffie admitted. His sketch was peppered by navy blue and pink highlights, matching the school colors. The girl was fair-skinned, with short-cropped hair, blue jeans and a confident expression on her face. He was adding details, working fairly quickly, though at times he had to stop to prevent his long, frizzy hair from falling in front of his face. To Jonatha, it was apparent Buffie had artistic talent.
“Hey, Buffie…” As Jonatha added to his own sketch, which now included trees, a calm river and a blue sky. “Can I see your drawing?”
“Sure thing, boy,” he said as he turned the paper so that Jonatha can see it.
“Tiff’s comments last period must be on your mind… Even though that doesn’t quite look like her.”
“Yeah, I’m thinking about girls playing football, that’s all,” he added. “Of course, letter jackets like this are kinda ugly. Even girls can have better fashion than that.”
And I’m thinking of how it reminds me of a certain Biff Meadows, Jonatha thought to himself.
