Suicide, Skittles and Skates [✓]

Chapter 27

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

"You'll be okay!" Emma whispered.

Alex was wringing his fingers in anticipation, absolutely terrified of what was going to occur. He was in the main hall in school, along with the rest of the Art students, waiting to present. As it was a major part of their grades, all the art teachers were there along with a couple of university representatives. But he was only focused on the man who had introduced himself as Gary Newman, Vice Chancellor of Central Saint Martins.

All the other representatives were relatively young with easy grins and rather messy hair and weren't wearing anything fancier than shirts and trousers. It was just his luck that the only one he needed to impress looked stern with neatly combed grey hair and a matching grey suit. Alex gulped. He'd never been too good at public speaking but this was worse, he hadn't even gotten around to writing the damn speech! He and Kalila had been planning on getting it written during their fourth period the previous day but with his wonderful girlfriend being rushed to hospital, it had completely flown out of his mind.

'Just gotta wing it,' he thought, trying to concentrate on the pair currently presenting. They'd decided on using purely pencil and had sketched scenes of famous landmarks from all around the world. As they were droning on about the Taj Mahal, Alex mentally tried to compose a bulleted list of everything he needed to mention but it was no use – his mind was completely blank.

Before long, it was his turn and he still hadn't thought of anything decent to say. With a suppressed gulp, he stood up next to the canvases they had painted as Mr Jamison introduced him to the visitors.

"Um, hello. My– um, my partner Kalila isn't able to be here today so I guess it's just me. As you, um, as you can see, we used a mixture of photography and acrylic paints throughout our project," he started saying, trying to appear confident but it wasn't working. He snuck a look at the Newman guy from Central Saint Martins who didn't look at all impressed with his pathetic beginning.

He had half a mind to give up but then he bowed his head a little and caught sight of his wrist. Nestled along the edge of his sleeve was the wire bracelet Kalila had picked for him when they went Brighton together. It was so small that he'd forgotten he was even wearing it but as the silver letters glinted in the light, it gave him confidence he didn't know he possessed.

Alex stood up straighter with determination as his fingertip traced the 'Live Life' words on the bracelet. With a smile, he continued, his voice growing louder and more in control.

"The day I first met Kalila was the day we were assigned this project and ours is a lot more personal than everyone else here: it documents our friendship as it developed with experiences. As you can see in this first painting, there's a great deal of distance between us and although we're smiling, it's a little forced. That's because we barely knew each other but as time progressed and we learnt about each other, we became closer. The painting of us in the snow is one of my favourites as it symbolizes a change between us. The park that the picture was taken in held bad memories for my partner and if you look carefully, the background of it shows this. The trees around the picture are sort of curving in towards us in the middle, in an almost predatory way and beneath the snow you can see Kalila used an incredibly chilling blue, a colour associated with lifelessness."

From the corner of his eye he saw a thumbs up from Emma and a proud smile on his teachers face. He could do this, he would do this. For Kalila.

"After the two of us opened up and began trusting each other, our friendship strengthened and all the pictures after this become somewhat brighter. Just like everyone else, our title was the beauty of life and well, to me there is nothing more beautiful than the power of friendship."