I asked, furrowing my brows together.
“Mix the paint to be her exact skin tone,”
she asked.
“Oh, it’s easy,”
I said with a faint smile. “Here, let me show you.”
I slid off my stool to join her at her easel, and I picked up the paint I used to create a new color on her pallet. She gasped as the color transformed and turned into Miss Emily’s skin tone.
“If you make it too dark, you can always add white to lighten it,”
I explained as I continued to mix the paint.
I didn’t realize others were watching as well; apparently, everyone was struggling with the same thing because a nearby boy asked, “Can you do mine too?”
I smiled at him and nodded.
“Me too!”
Someone else said.
“Can you help me as well, Lila?”
“Yes,”
I chuckled. “I can help everyone. Give me a second.”
Miss Emily watched me with wonder as I traveled around the room and showed everyone how to mix the paint to make her exact skin tone. She slid off her own stool and came to examine the color herself and her eyes widened.
“Wow; I could use this as foundation,”
she said, poking it with her finger and holding it up for all to see just how similar the color was to her actual skin tone.
We all laughed, and she chuckled as well.
“Nice job, Lila,”
she said as she went back to her stool.
Once everyone had her skin tone painted color, we all got to work on creating her. Everybody in the class was very talented. Nobody did Miss Emily in the clothing she was wearing; the girl who sat behind me painted Miss Emily wearing a cat costume. Someone else made her wear a wedding gown. There was another one that made Miss Emily in a purple princess gown with a Tiara.
I made Miss Emily in exactly what she was wearing and exactly where she was sitting. I painted the easel that sat beside her and on the easel, I painted the entire class. I had to use a very small brush to do that one. By the time I finished, it looked like a legit photograph.
“Wow, these are incredible,”
Miss Emily said by the time was ending. She froze when she got to mine. “You painted the entire class on that mini easel?”
“Yes,”
I answered, glancing up at her.
Soon, I was surrounded by the other students all trying to glimpse themselves.
“That’s me!”
“Oh, my goddess! I look so cute!”
“That’s really amazing!”
“Thank you,”
I said to them, feeling my face warm. “You all have great paintings,”
I added.
“I agree; every one of you did great,”
Miss Emily said with a big smile. “Maybe if I get permission from the board we can put one or two of these paintings up in the school art gallery that just opened.”
“Who’s painting?”
Some asked.
“Definitely Lila’s,”
someone else said.
I frowned and looked up at Miss Emily.
“How about we all do one big painting for the school? Goddess knows this school could use some more color,”
I suggested.
I heard excited whispers from all around me.
Miss Emily looked around at all the students.
“Like a mural?”
She asked, glancing at me.
“Yes!”
I said excitedly. “We could all contribute to it; that way no one is left out. I could gather meaningful pictures from each student around the school and we could paint them as a class. Everybody here is talented enough to do that.”
“I love that idea! Lila could help us mix the colors for everyone’s skin tone,”
someone else chimed in.
“It would be huge! Everybody in school would see it!”
Another said excitedly.
I looked back up at Miss Emily who had a smile on her face.
“Let me speak with the school board and see what we can do,”
she said. “I’ll let you know.”
Everybody cheered happily and as we began to pack our things to leave for our next classes, some walked by me and told me they loved my ideas and that I did a great job.
I felt my face blushing as I smiled at them.
Just before I left, Miss Emily said, “Come by my office at lunch and we can eat together and talk.”
“Sounds great,”
I said with a beaming smile.
On that note, I turned and left for my next class, Werewolf History.
History wasn’t as fun as art class, but I was good at most subjects, so it was a breeze to get by. We read the first couple of chapters in our history books and then took a pop quiz. Mr. Edwards typically graded pop quizzes before class was over and it wasn’t a surprise to me that I got an A+.
I heard a couple of others groaning from nearby and I looked over a girl and a couple of boys that were staring at their papers with upset expressions.
“I can’t believe I failed,”
one of the boys muttered. “I thought for sure I’d pass this time.”
“If I don’t pass the next quiz, they will kick me off the football team and I might lose my scholarship,”
the other boy said.
“I got a C, but to my parents, that’s practically failing. They are paying a lot of money to have me attend this school and they expect perfect grades. What am I going to do if I don’t understand the history of my own species?”
The girl said through her teeth.
“I can tutor you,”
I said, staring between them all.
They all looked at me with shocked expressions.
“What?”
The girl asked.