Shifting Moon

Shock was the expression I would assign to her exquisite face right now. But even that didn't stop the little skip that I assumed was her customary pace as she approached our desk. Despite all these childlike attributes I had described her with, and the praising words I used to express her beauty, every instinct in my body was shouting DANGER!!!

 "I didn't see you???" She tilted her head slightly like a puppy seeing something that puzzled it, and her chirpy bird-like voice carried all kinds of confusion. "I saw Bella, but not you. I wonder why?" 

 Not sure how to respond to her statement, I slowly reached out my hand. "Hello, I am Thomas, Thomas Raizel. If you saw Bella, I don't know why you didn't see me, she is far too small for me to hide behind. You must have seen her after we had parted ways, I guess. Anyway, from my understanding we will be art partners for the rest of the year." I talked like I was speaking to a child who I was afraid of frightening off due to my size. 

 She gave me a smile that could melt the coldest heart, took my hand that was dwarfing her own to the point she could only grip 3 of my fingers, and shared a gentle handshake. "My name is Alice Cullen. I am glad to have a partner, finally." Everyone in the classroom was staring at us as we introduced ourselves to each other. I noticed Alice's hand was very cold like it was still trying to shake the cold from outside. As if guessing my thoughts when I looked at her hand, "I have poor circulation in my hands, they are almost always cold." She removed her hand from mine took off her backpack and hung it on the back of her chair. Then she sat down with a thoughtful look on her face. 

 Thomas also sat down and finally registered the very sweet smell that came from his new desk mate. She smelled very much like cotton candy, pure sweet sugar. His attention was drawn to the front of the class by the teacher standing up. "Class, I would first like to draw your attention to the back of the class and introduce a new student from Phoenix Arizona. His name is Thomas and I hope you all welcome him and answer any questions he may have." I nodded my head and waved to everyone, secretly glad that Ms. Ross didn't make me stand and give my own introduction. 

 "We will take this first class of the week and lean into what he tells me he enjoys about art. I want you all to use just a pencil and white paper to draw your own partner in any style you wish. If you do not finish during class, you may take it home to finish but be sure to bring it in tomorrow to receive credit." As she spoke, Ms. Ross laid two sheets of thick white artist paper on each desk. "Begin now!"

 I looked again at Alice, and she was looking to the front of the class, but I could tell she wasn't focusing on anything in this room. She had an adorable little pout on her lips that gave me a great idea for my assigned art piece. As I started drawing, Alice seemed to come to herself and looked around. Turning to me she whispered, "What was the assignment?" Her eyes went unfocused for a moment. "Oh, I see, everyone is turning in pictures of their table mates." She turned thoughtfully to me, and I turned my paper so she couldn't see what I was doing. She hummed to herself for a moment and then turned to the paper in front of her and quickly began drawing. 

 Time faded away as it always did when I was drawing. My muscles loosened up and I wasn't wound so tight during this time. It was part of what pulled me to drawing. At any other time, I felt like a compressed spring ready to explode in any direction at any given time. As I put the finishing touches on my picture, I saw Alice stand up and take her drawing to Ms. Ross. Not long after her, I stood up and followed with my own finished piece.

"Impeccable art as always Miss. Cullen. Care to tell me what it represents?" I looked at the picture on the table and saw she had cut the page in half with the top half being almost all grey. The only exception was an all-white, vague outline of a person. But on the white bottom side, you could see a perfect drawing of me, down to the design on my t-shirt. I thought it resembled a shadow of the vague outline. I was impressed with the details, as well as the symbolism. 

 "The top half was what I expected of the day, just a grey passage of time. But the bottom is what I got, a new partner to help brighten my day." She said the last line with a smile. "Well, It's an A+ as usual Alice, thank you. You can give your piece to Thomas if you would like." Ms. Ross said as she handed the drawing back to Alice. 

"And are you ready to turn yours in Mr. Raizel?" "Yes mam, I am." I said as I reached over Alice's head and kept the drawing turned away from her, handing it to Ms. Ross instead of putting it on the table. This caused Alice to puff out her cheeks and form a pout on her face that was just too adorable. "I wanna see!!!" she said as she folded her arms. 

 Ms. Ross looked at the picture and then looked at Alice and burst out laughing. She sat back in her chair and just continued laughing as little tears came out of the corners of her eyes, this caused the whole class to turn to us. As Ms. Ross started to recover herself, she placed the picture on the table so Alice could finally see it. At first glance, one would see a picture of Tinkerbell from the Peter Pan Cartoon sitting on a cube of sugar with her hands across her chest and an adorable pout on her face. But a closer look showed it was Alice's face with her pixie-cut dark hair and not the classic Tinkerbell. It was a picture of Alice Cullen with fairy wings and Tinkerbells outfit, pouting as if someone had teased her and she was about to get angry. 

 Alice picked up the picture and looked at the drawing and slowly a smile spread across her face. She started to do little jumps so fast I thought she was about to blur out of existence. She turned her blinding smile at me and said, "Can I, have it? Please! Please! Please! I really want it... Pleeease!"

 I chuckled at her reaction, "Sure thing Alice, think of it as a gift for being my tablemate and our first meeting." As I finished speaking, Alice reached over and hugged me. I didn't think anything of it until her arms touched my sides and then I thought I was trapped between two cars. For a brief moment, it felt as if my ribs were about to shatter from the pressure. But before I could react, the pressure was gone, and Alice had let me go to turn and ask Ms. Ross for a tube to roll her new treasure in and protect it from the rain. 

 This little Lady was not normal, I thought to myself. I prided myself on paying attention to my surroundings and the people in them. It came from years of therapy and reading self-awareness books for the first two years after having my mother taken from me. My first thoughts were rather childish and ran towards little girl robots like in some anime I had watched and read. I just noted it and put it away for thought further down the road if it was warranted. Another childish thought had me check her waist for a possible tail. Laughing at myself I turned after getting a tube to protect the drawling that Alice gave me and walked back to my desk. 

 As I walked, I noticed everyone not concentrating on their drawings was looking at me strangely. As if I had done something wrong and they were waiting for me to get into trouble. After I sat down and secured my picture from Alice, I watched her skip to our table and put her new drawing into her backpack. "So, Thomas. What class do you have next?"

 "Next, I have Government with Mr. Jefferson at building 6. What about you?" I said after looking at my schedule. 

 "I have math with Mr. Varner at Building 5, so we can walk that far together. If I'm not bothering you, that is. I… I could point out building 6 once we are there." She seemed like she was waiting for me to tell her no, so when I nodded, she had another brilliant smile on her face.

 "That would be of great help Alice. Thanks for taking pity on the new guy. I hope you have Bella in at least one of your classes, I get the feeling you two would get along great and maybe you can pull her out of the introverted shell she keeps herself in."

 "Oh, me and Bella will be great friends! I can't wait to meet her, but I don't think we have any classes together." In a low whisper, I barely made out her next sentence. "Maybe I can try and change that. No, better stick with what I see." Focusing back on me, Alice says, "You ready to go? The bell will ring before we get to the door." I grabbed my bag and we walked to the coat hanger and grabbed our respective jackets, then said, "Lead the way, my diminutive guide."