Jiwa

Chapter Thirty-Two

My palms were still sweaty when I met up with Kelly after our End of Year Exams. I was caked in clay, from head to toe. But that was not why I was sweating. I was sweating because I knew my mother was not going to pay for me to come to school next year because no matter how great of grades I got, I still needed tuition.

"Jeez, Kells," I said in awe. If I thought I was covered, then Kelly had become the paint. Her Afro was stained a bright magenta, and her torso was electric green. One leg was a pastel blue, the other a muted orange. Ironically, only the palms of her hands remained clean.

"Yeah. The paint all, uh-" I nodded, displaying my own pottery-covered frame. I was literally caked in clay - as a statue come to life.

"Kells, I was so clean until about ten minutes ago - I was so good for the essay portion, and then with the magic portion, I fashioned myself in response to the prompt, 'Sculpt something Important' and I thought it was good. But for the DIY section of the test, I was smothered in clay!"

"I actually did a similar thing; I devised a paint-by-numbers, of my face, and then painted it; but my melukis spell backfired, and half the paint painted me, not the painting of me." I stifled a giggle at that.

"Welp, how did-uh, how did the essay go?" I questioned. Kelly sighed and did super unenthusiastic jazz hands.

"Decent, I guess? I forgot the origins of-" Kelly was cut off by a triumphant shouting from across the atrium.

"What's that?" I wondered aloud. Kelly and I shrugged and bounded in the direction of the whooping.

It's Joan, I thought to myself. But then why would she be... I looked to her right and gasped in amazement.

Sitting next to Joan was a nearly identical girl, but this one with orange hair and bright red lips. She sharply contrasted to Joan, despite the fact they were nearly identical, with their uniforms the only discernable difference.

"Kelly? Nice to meet you, I'm Jean, Joans' twin sister," said Jean, shaking Kellys' arm. Kellys' eyes widened and she shot me a look of utter humiliation. I made the eep face and slowly backed away.

"My, you're very...uh, well, you're certainly very artistic, I can tell..." I heard Jean say. I stifled a laugh as I stood in line for one of the food stalls.

I got to the front of the line and said, "Kay, I'd love a-" Before I could place my order, Dan had set a huge mug of Teh Tarik and a plate of buah on the counter. Stunned, I handed over four wangs, then tried to give another two when Dan added a bowl of gula-gula.

"On the house, Fiona. Consider it an apology, for...well, everything. Jerry sends his apologies too." He handed me back my wang and I took the tray of food. Stunned, I wandered the atrium until I found an empty beanbag cluster and sat there.

While I was grateful for the free food, I was morally torn. Did free food account for kidnapping me? I had almost gotten over it. It was kind though. I suppose I should have thanked him instead of just walking off.

"This seat taken?" I looked up to see Devi. I smiled and gestured to the velvet beanbag across from me. I blushed, remembering last night. We still hadn't talked about it. Should we?

"Fiona, I...could we, um..." I sighed and passed her the bowl of gula-gula.

"Kelly and I promised you that we were going to take you on the town for gula-gula, but now all we get to do is offer you some pity-prize sweets in the school atrium. And Kelly can't even be here! She's over there being evaluated by her girlfriends' twin!"

Devi gave a small smile and unwrapped a piece of lemon taffy.

"And, well, Kelly and I probably both did super well on our exams, which means that we each get to stay, except, well..." I trailed off and looked into my lap. "I lied to Kelly," I said. "And, well, I lied to you. Even if I got fantastic grades, there's no way I can come back to the Academy of Peculiar Artistry because you need tuition, and my mother-" 

Devi cut me off. "Fiona Murphy, you listen to me. I am taking this straight to the Headmaster because you deserve to stay!" Devi grabbed my shoulders, and said, "Girl, you sculpted something that literally came to life and they think you don't deserve to stay at this school!?"

At this, I smiled. "Thank you, Devi. You're...a great friend."

Devi cocked an eyebrow. "Just a friend?"

Before I could answer, we were interrupted by Madame Tembikar, who for once was not covered head to toe in clay. I did a double-take.

"Madame T!" I said hurriedly, standing up. "Have you already checked over my grades? Or-" She hushed me and sighed.

"Fiona, a word in my office, please," I nodded sullenly and, with a final glance tossed over my shoulder at Devi, followed her towards the Pottery Wing.