Breaking His Rules

🏈27🏈

Aaron's POV:

"All contestants, you have 30 minutes to set up your artwork", the voice from the loud speaker pierces into the silent room.

Kayla is on the floor sobbing. I have never seen her cry before and it wrenches at my heart.

Because deep down, I know that it is all my fault.

I try to ignore the little voice in my head which is blaming me, even though I know it is my fault.

I have to find a way to solve this.

"Don't you have another artwork to enter into the competition?", I ask Kayla.

She slowly looks up at me, her face drenched in tears as she shakes her head.

"I have to – ", she breaks down in tears again and Steph crouches down beside her, hugging her head against her chest. I want to comfort her as well, but now is not the moment to succumb to emotions.

I need to fix this.

I turn to look at Quinn who is standing awkwardly above Kayla, patting her head, camera around her neck.

"Kayla has many pieces of art. Surely you have pictures of some of the ones that Kayla ripped?"

"I have pictures of all her torn art – ", Quinn starts slowly as she lightly touches her afro.

"That's awesome!", I break in, turning to look at Kayla. I expect her to look a bit happier, but her head is in her hands and the tears continue to run.

"The rules of the competition state that you need both photographic proof and the artwork.", Quinn tells me.

I immediately deflate.

"So there is really nothing we can do?", I ask, running my hands through my hair.

Quinn looks down, her eyes avoiding mine.

"Let me see your camera", I ask, desperate for something to do. I can't just stand there watching Kayla being sad and knowing that I am partially responsible for it.

Quinn seems to understand how I feel because she hands me her camera without a further question.

Slowly, I begin to scroll through the pictures. Most of them, I recognize because I have seen them before since I come into the arts class after Kayla is done painting. Also, pieces of the paintings are strewn around the floor.

Some of the pictures don't only show the pictures, but Kayla as well and my heart jumps at her sad expression, sometimes a glimpse of tears behind her eyes. I have to hold back my own tears at the sight of her looking so sad, and it doesn't make me feel better knowing that I am the cause of it.

As I go through the photos, I can't help but admire Quinn's talent with photography. Kayla's artwork is gorgeous but with Quinn getting all the right angles and lightings, it looks simply angelic. I recognise all the artworks but seeing it in this form feels like the experience of a lifetime.

As I scroll on, I begin to get to other pictures that are not of Kayla's art, probably because Quinn took these before Kayla was preparing for the competition. I am just about to hand Quinn back her camera when something catches my eye.

It's a picture of a piece of art – but it isn't one that I've seen before. It looks like the tattoo shop that we passed on the first day that we ditched school to go to the arcade. And is that an ice-cream in the foreground?

"Quinn, what is this?", I ask , thrusting the camera towards her.

Quinn catches the camera and looks at the picture, her expression a mix of confusion and then acknowledgement.