Can't I Touch Your Heart?

Chapter 6 Deception

Neel undid the buttons of his shirt and removed it. His neckline was covered with red paint,
"OH MY GOD! STOP STRIPPING!" Rhea shouted as he cleaned the paint with some toilet paper, "Shut up, help me," He threw a toilet paper roll at her.
"NO!" She shouted.

"I can't reach my back," He turned back, "Wipe it off,"
She looked at his back. He wasn't as tall as Ember and sheer opposite of him. She took the toilet paper and rubbed it on his brown skin. She looked at his black hair, curling up at his neck, with fragments of yellow paint sticking on them. He smelled of men's body spray and acrylic paint. He picked out the paint from the strands of his hair.

Acrylic paint was difficult to get rid of, it felt like an old bubblegum sticking on the hair. And it dried up pretty fast.

"So, you're in the art club?" She asked.
"Why else would I sit there unpacking canvas boards?" He said, grumpily. He did not like her. She noticed. 
"Well, do you like painting?"

"Why would I be in the art club if I didn't like painting?"
"Why are you so passive aggressive?" 
"Just shut up and get done with this already. Don't try to strike a conversation with me, I don't fucking like you,"

She felt her blood pressure rising, "Dude, it was a mistake. I apologized. Why are you still crying about that?"
"Why? You ruined my uniform and my hair, if this paint doesn't come off, I'll have to cut my hair. I have to go back to the class looking like a complete idiot and be bullied for it for the rest of the week, you ruined the brand new canvas boards I ordered from my personal money, and all the paint that Ms Monica bought me upon my continuous request. All of it, gone! Because of a stupid fucking bitch who does not know how to open a door like a civilized human being!"

"Well, if you are that "smart" then you shouldn't have sat right beside the door!"
"That is my workstation that I've been assigned. But bet your countryside ass wouldn't know of it because all you did was throw cow dung aside your entire life, you country bumpkin! You don't fit here!"

She took a step back while the school bell rang behind them.

"Just look at you, dude! You've got oil in your fuckin-braided hair like-Who even makes braids these days? Your clothes are a mess, you got a yellow stain on your skirt, your socks are loose and you stink of sweat! It's embarrassing to even be seen with you! Leave me alone for good!"
A few boys entered the bathroom, "OH MY-DID WE ENTER THE WRONG BATHROOM?"
"No, it is the boys bathroom. Dude, Neel is here with a girl!"
"He's shirtless too!"

Rhea turned back and left the bathroom. Neel looked into the mirror.
"Ohhhhh" The other boys howled. Since it was a short five minutes break between two periods, the halls were crowded. Rhea ran into people as she made her way to her class. And finally, walked into a wall. 

Everyone heard a whistle and the PT teacher entered the scene, "EVERYONE GO BACK TO YOUR CLASS! MADHO! STOP STANDING AT THE DOOR!" He slapped a ruler on Madho's butt and threw him inside the class.

Rhea walked inside her class. After a while, Neel entered the class.
"You will sit on the first seat," Mr Pranav said and Neel quietly sat on the first seat.
"Why you looking so shaggy?"
"Sir, you mean shabby-"
"Shut up!"

Neel looked away, "Some idiot threw paint on me,"
"Why you even go to the art room in the first place? Art has no future. Study well and take a government job,"
"I don't want a government job,"
"Why would you want one? Your dad is a politician. He must have enough to feed you for the rest of your life even if you don't do nothing," Mr Pranav said.

"My dad has got nothing to do with it,"
"Lo, why you talking back to your teacher, huh? Go and stand outside the class!"
He got up and went outside, slamming the door behind him.
"This boy got anger issues. Anyways, what did we do last class?"