"Oh wow, Autumn. I had no idea. It's... It's beautiful."
"Do you think I've done her proud?"

Julian stared down at the drawing for a while and traced his finger along the outline of her face.

"She looks just like you." He muttered, not taking his eyes off the drawing.

Autumn smiled sadly and blinked up at Grace who was also glancing down at her artwork. Autumn twiddled her thumbs, suddenly feeling shy at the increasing amount of attention directed on her. She wasn't used to showing off her drawings to anyone, let alone a whole class of people.

"She's beautiful." Grace mused, resting her hand on Autumn's shoulder.
"Yeah, she is." Julian whispered, sitting back down in his seat.

Autumn fished around in her bag and took out a worn photograph of her mother. She was in a white wedding gown with lace trimmed sleeves and and a daintly, little heart-shaped locket draped around her neck. She looked graceful and incredibly elegant as she smiled softly into the camera. Autumn grinned down at the photo with pride and placed it next to her drawing.

"You guys mean it? You really think I've done okay? I mean, I'm not finished yet, the hair needs shading and-"
"Autumn, it's gorgeous. I love the detail you've put in her eyes." Grace interrupted, holding up a hand to Autumn.

She laughed nervously as Grace took a closer look at her intimate drawing. Julian shifted as he stood and caught Autumn's eyes quickly.

"You have her eyes, you know." He muttered, turning his head to hide his flushed face.

Autumn rewarded his compliment with a smile as she carefully folded the photograph and put it back into a special compartment in her bag.

"I think you will fit in just nicely here, Autumn." Grace said with a wink.

Autumn took out her own set of Artist's pencils and carefully began to shade in her drawing. Julian sat with his head in his hand, watching her intently. He realised that he truly loved the way she chewed on her lower lip as she focused.

"Julian!" A voice shrieked.

Julian looked up to see a vision of pink come towards him. It was Grace, only covered in black paint.

"Hey, Grace."
"I see you haven't started anything yet."
"I guess... I guess I'm not good at this stuff yet."

Grace adjusted her glasses and wiped them with the sleeve of her cardigan. She looked down at Autumn who was oblivious to the two of them.

"What inspires you, Julian?"

Autumn looked up and caught Julian's eye very quickly before she returned to the paper. Julian swallowed and took a deep breath.

"My sister. My football coach. My family. Small people. I guess lots of things inspire me to succeed." He laughed, feeling Autumn kick him playfully under the table.
"Small people?"
"It doesn't matter."
"Right. You mention your sister. What's her name?"
"Hope."
"Hope?"
"Yeah. She was sick when she was a baby and... And I guess I'm just protective over her even though she frustrates me so much."
"How does she frustrate you?"
"The guys she dates. She's into bad boys, because she's such a good girl."

Julian could hear Autumn giggle next to her. He looked over at her with raised eyebrows but she didn't falter from her drawing. He smiled as he thought about Hope. He was sure Autumn would love her.

"How does it make you feel when you think about Hope dating a slacker?"
"Angry. And like an old man."
"Excellent. Julian, I want you to try a little starter exercise, just to really get your creativity flowing through you! I'm going to bring an MP3 player over and have you listen to some music. I want you to paint to the music."
"How do I do that?"
"Listen to the rhythm the bass lines, the lyrics. Don't even think about it. Just paint, draw or scribble whatever you want as you listen to the music."
"Er... Okay..."

Grace put her thumbs up and dashed off.

"How do I paint to music?" Julian mused, scratching the back of his head in frustration.
"You'll never know until you try, kiddo." Autumn smiled.

Suddenly, a tall and tanned figure burst in and stormed towards Julian and Autumn. She threw her designer bag on the table and sat down in a huff, careful not to spill the contents of her large coffee cup.

"Julian. Autumn." She hissed, taking no notice of anyone else.
"Mia Warren? "

Mia turned to face Grace with a face of thunder.

"What?"
"I er... What are you doing here?"

Mia rolled her eyes and took a sip from her drink.

"Um. Duh. I'm at this art club thingy or whatever."
"But... But why? You're head cheerleader? Do you have time for this?"
"Wouldn't you like to know. Yes I am head cheerleader, but my boyfriend took an interest and I'm just being supportive. I also want to check out how the... well, the less popular students of Wynter High bide their time. I guess you could call what I'm doing charitable. I'm sure my appearance here will expand your credentials."

Grace raised an eyebrow at Mia who was fluttering her long, thick eyelashes in Julian's direction. Autumn blinked up at Mia, but paid no attention to her exasperated expression.

"Okay, well, Mia. I'll be over in a minute to explain what we are doing-"
"No need. I'm sure my boyfriend will get me up to speed."

Grace tutted and muttered some colourful language under her breath before heading over to Koh's direction. She could see that Koh was hissing out of gritted teeth and bashing her canvas violently.

"Julian, baby. Why don't yout tell me what you're doing?" Mia purred, running a slender finger down his arm.

"Huh? Oh, er, just watching Autumn finish her drawing. Grace has gone to get me some music for me paint to. How cool is that? Apparently I just put the headphones in and paint whatever I visualise and-"
"Eugh. Boring. Art, shmart. How pretentious."
"Anyway, Mia, where have you been? This club started over half an hour ago."

Mia pointed at her coffee cup and rolled her eyes again.

"Duh. I went to get a drink."
"What is it?"
"Just my usual. A grande extra hot soy cappuccino with extra foam, split shot with a half squirt of sugar-free chocolate sauce and a half squirt of sugar-free cinnamon, a pump of Madagascan vanilla hold the cream with just a dash of hazelnut, in a take away cup, no lid, with hot soy milk on the side. Duh? I'm sure I've told you this, like, a thousand times."

Autumn stifled a giggle as Julian's brain progressed everything Mia had just said. He raised his eyebrows at her as she leant over the table seductively, flashing a very tempting cleavage in his direction.

"Julian, honey, this looks super boring. Why don't we leave little Autumn to her work, and we ditch this crap-fest. Yeah? My parents aren't home by the way..."
"Mia. I told you, I'm staying here. I'm actually, kinda enjoying this. It feels good to not be judged constantly."

Mia sighed dramatically and sat down a little too closely to Autumn. She eyed up her drawing and scoffed.

"Mia, how about I get you a sketchbook and some pencils? Our theme this week is family and-"
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever, Lacey."
"It's Grace."

Mia flicked her wrist as Grace placed an empty sketchbook in front of Mia.

"So, what am I doing again?"
"Well, you draw from your inspiration. We have paints and watercolours over by the-"
"I know how to paint, idiot, just tell me what to do!"

Grace bit her lip and pinched the bridge of her nose as she let out a deep sigh. Finding whatever composure she had left, she placed a hand on Mia's shoulder and forced a smile.

"Maybe you'd like to do what Julian is doing as a little starter exercise?"
"Maybe you'd like to have a mint or five? Your breath smells like dog food."

Grace put her hands over her mouth and raced off into another room. Julian glared at Mia and shook his head.

"What is your problem, Mia? You've been acting so strange recently."
"How would you know? You never see me any more!"
"Mia, I asked to see you last night and you told me you had cheer-leading practise."
"I didn't have cheer-leading prac- Oh yeah, last night... Right. cheer-leading practise."

Mia grabbed a handful of coloured pencils and began to scribble over a page.

"This is boring."
"Mia, you have to spend longer than 5 minutes on something."
"Well, it's still boring."
"Look at what Autumn is doing, look at how careful she is, look at how she's shading in the highlight of the hair."

Mia chewed her gum obnoxiously as she glared down at Autumn's drawing.

"Huh. Whoever that is, it looks like you." Mia muttered.
"It's her mother, Mia." Julian quipped.
"Meh. It's alright, I guess. The nose is a little wonky."

Autumn felt her face flush as her hand instinctively moved to cover up her drawing.

"It's er.. It's not finished yet."
"Well, duh. I can see that."

Julian stood up abruptly and gestured towards the corner of the room.

"Mia. Let's talk. Now." He hissed.

Mia stood up and followed him, tossing her luminous blonde locks over her shoulder. She gave Autumn a sly look, but it went on unnoticed.

"Mia, what the hell is wrong with you? That's her Mom."
"Yeah, and?"
"Her Mom is dead, Mia. Could you find it in yourself to be a little sympathetic?"

Mia shrugged and pulled at her gum and twirled it around her finger.

"I swear I don't even know you any more."
"Is this little talk over with? It's awfully boring, baby."

Julian leant against the wall and sighed deeply, holding the bridge of his nose with two fingers.

"Why are you even here, Mia?"
"Because I want to hang out with you, and like, do art or whatever."
"Right. Fine. I'll go grab you another iPod or MP3 player or something and you can do the same as me. Try and get along with Autumn. She's really nice Mia, just give her a chance. Please?"

Mia nodded without making eye contact with Julian, as she turned her head in Autumn's direction. Julian hesitated before he bent down and kissed her cheek. Mia flinched as his lips touched her skin and she started to walk in the other direction. He sighed inwardly again and strode out of the room in hopes of finding Grace.

Mia gripped her coffee cup, anger seeping out like poison into her veins. She strutted over and placed her drink down next to Autumn.

"Hey, Mia, are you finished with the-"

With a slight thrust of her hip, Mia's coffee flew over the table, spilling it's contents over Autumn's drawing.

"Oopsie." Mia giggled, taking a step back from the liquid that was flowing towards her.

Autumn leapt up with a loud cry and frantically grabbed her sketchbook, burning her fingers in the process.

"Mia... What have you done?!" Autumn gasped, holding her completely destroyed sketchbook in front of her face.

Don't cry, Autumn. Don't cry in front of everyone...