SCARLET STIFLED A YAWN as she painted wooden beams a dark gray. Others zoomed around her, going from painting to building to planning and back again. All the movement made her dizzy. Blinking the feeling away, she focused on her pitiful task.
The urge to face plant right into the wet beam was hard to fight off. Even as she weaved the brush back and forth, laying layer after layer of dark gray, her breath slowed and her head bobbed.
Ever since she started working on her academic standing with Gwenn, she worked more than her body and mind were used to. Gwenn went over her house every afternoon, helping her study better. But Scarlet had no idea her friend was intense when it came to school.
"Today she's a sleepy thief," Jake teased as he sat beside her. She sprawled out on the stage, almost knocking her nose on the newly painted wood, belly down. She shook away the thought of intense, tutor Gwenn.
"Hi," she greeted, but it lacked her usual sharpness. Jake frowned, but said nothing about it.
He cleared his throat as she hyper fixated on the brushstrokes. Sometimes she left strips without color, which annoyed the ever living crap out of her. She would go back until the dark gray was nice and even before going over to another side.
"How's rehearsal?" Scarlet asked without even looking at him.
"Um... well, you know," Jake stammered. "I mean, you're right here on stage. You've probably seen how it's going, right?"
Scarlet mumbled incoherently. Jake leaned forward as a silent question, and she sighed. "I tune out everything, Jake. I have to hear Lindsey all day at school. You think I want to keep on listening? Plus, that old annoying English is literally the worst thing ever."
Jake laughed. "You hate the old English? Why art thou so vexed at it?"
She stopped her painting to glare at him. His blue eyes glimmered, so she opted for good old grumbling to let out her irritation.
"Okay, okay, I'm done teasing," he said. "You're cute when you pretend to be mad though."
Her throat dried up. She thought long and hard about what she wanted to answer, but before she could find the right words, Mr. Williams summoned Jake back. He sighed, and looked back at her, his gaze lingering.
"I guess I'll see you, thief." He winked and stood up, adjusting his pants as he made his way to the front of the stage.
Scarlet stared at him a second too long before catching herself. She had a job to do. Those wooden beams weren't going to paint themselves. With shaky hands, she painted as if that were the single most important task she had ever received, ignoring the dull ache sprouting on the side of her head. The task a life raft, keeping her afloat from drowning in those blue eyes.
She chastised herself for even thinking about them and getting distracted.
After finishing one beam, she stood up, holding her plastic bin of paint in one hand. Using her left arm, she rubbed at an itch on her forehead, then sighed when a suspicious chill spread over her skin. She got paint on her face.
The cherry on top to end her week.
Scarlet didn't even bother to attempt wiping at it, and stormed backstage. No one was usually back there, so she would be able to curse out her life in peace as she found a way to clean her face without making it worse.
Her hands turned on the bathroom faucet, letting ice cold water drench her skin before scrubbing at her forehead. The paint had begun to dry, leaving a gradient of gray to a darker gray on her ivory skin. She grumbled when the paint began to drip down the sides of her face like tears.
YOU ARE READING
Forever Crimson
Teen Fiction"The vultures are disguised as humans." Scarlet Turner has her last semester of high school planned out: graduate as best as she can and take care of her sick mother. But when she's told she won't graduate because of the pile of tardies she's collec...
