Painting The Bad Girl's Portrait

Chapter 4

Diana spent her free period at the meeting for the Yearbook Committee. Mr Jones, who was in charge of it, had convinced her to join it a couple years ago. Diana initially had not wanted to, but eventually did, seeing as there wasn't any other extra-curricular activity she was involved in.

She was the photographer for the yearbook and liked this as she didn't have to get too involved. All she did was take the pictures and hand them over to the other members of the committee. They did all the heavy lifting. Bonus points, she got to have a high-quality camera in her possession for the school year. She had to return it at the end of every school year, but otherwise, it was practically hers. Also, it was probably the closest she'd ever get to owning a camera of her own.

Diana tried desperately to listen to what Mr Jones was saying, but most of the things he was talking about didn't really apply to her as he was currently talking about the yearbook design. Before long Diana's short attention span kicked in and she started fiddling with the camera in her hands, playing with different buttons and looking through the settings.

"Miss Williams."

Diana looked up suddenly to see Mr Jones standing right in front of her. The other students that had been in the classroom for the committee meeting had mostly disappeared, there were now only a few people remaining.

"Y-yeah?" Diana stuttered out, hoping not to sound as confused as she felt. She had been so distracted that she hadn't even noticed when the meeting had ended.

"Miss Williams, did you even listen to anything I said?" Mr Jones asked, crossing his arms over his chest. Diana wished he would just call her by her first name rather than 'Miss Williams'. It made everything he said sound a lot sterner. She nodded her head, but Mr Jones didn't seem convinced.

"I have an important task for you this year," Mr Jones said, changing the topic much to Diana's relief. It was then that she remembered he had wanted to tell her something on the first day of school.

"Yeah?" Diana asked instantly, giving him her full attention.

"You're going to paint portraits of the captain of the women's soccer team," Mr Jones replied, walking over to a desk where his laptop sat.

Diana remained fixated on her position for a moment longer, blinking in confusion. "Sir?"

"Miss Alexandra Perez. You're going to be painting portraits of her."

The first thought that came to Diana's mind was how Mr Jones said Alex's name. It made her sound like something delicate, Diana knew that she was far from that. Diana couldn't focus too much on that, however, as there were more pressing issues going off in her head.

"Why am I painting portraits of Alex Perez?" Diana asked, walking over to where Mr Jones was seated and typing away on his laptop. By now, they were the only ones remaining in the classroom.

"They're going to be sent off with recruitment agents from the different colleges that would be scouting her this year. Principal Randall thought the portraits would be a nice touch."

Diana blinked at him blankly. Mr Jones had spoken casually, as if what he had just said was totally normal.

"Okay..." Diana said, dragging the syllabuses out, "and what does that have to do with me?"

Mr Jones looked up briefly from his laptop.

"Of course it has everything to do with you. You'd be the one painting her portraits."

"That's the problem," Diana exclaimed, her voice rising slightly, "why am I the one painting her portraits?"

"Because you're the best artist in this school, so I chose you for the job. I think others should be able to see your talent."