The drawing.





I couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe. It felt like my heart was going to burst out of my chest. There it was. A huge Bengal tiger stood nose to nose with me. He blinked and his ear twitched with curiosity. He breathed heavily though his nose and stood his ground over me. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know what to think. All I could do was wait for him to move. My ocean blue eyes were locked with his, and his whiskers were gently placed onto my face. I blinked, he blinked. What was happening? I held up my hand slowly, and his huge paw lifted up slowly. Its like he was mimicking me. Like he was reading my mind, trying to trick me somehow. I couldn’t figure out what exactly he was doing, but when our hands touched, well, hand and paw, something…clicked.

***


I jolted awake to the incessant beeping of my alarm clock. Ugh. School was calling my name once again. I groaned and rolled out of my bed onto the cold floor. Whoever made school start at 7:50am must be the ultimate morning person. I don’t know how I do it 6 days a week including church, but it happens somehow. I walked groggily to the bathroom to embrace my warm shower that was awaiting my presence. As I turned on the water, my mind flashed scenes from the dream I had the night before. The beautiful Bengal tiger towering over me, and our movements being in sync. I didn’t quite understand what was happening, but I knew this wasn’t normal. Sure, I had weird, crazy dreams similar to this, but this was the first time that I had ever dreamed about myself, and a tiger. I let my thoughts cease as I got into the warm shower. Once I had finished clothing myself, I walked out of my room and out into the freezing house. I shivered and caught a quick glance at the clock. 6:45am. Good, just enough time.

My mother was already waiting out in the car when I walked slowly out into the cold, crisp air. I could see each breath I took, and I knew that winter was upon us. I quickly locked the front door and hurried myself into the car. I let out a sigh of relief when I entered the car and we drove off into the distance towards my school.

***


It didn’t take long for the first bell to ring. All of the freshman practically ran to their first class, not wanting to be late, and the upper classman watched us in amusement. I walked briskly to English 1, my first class of the day. When I entered the room, only a few seats were occupied with freshman bodies, and they all turned to see who had entered the room. I turned my head to meet my desk at the corner of the room, which was empty like it always was. When I took my seat, freshman poured in the classroom. Scattered conversations gradually got louder as all of the seats in the classroom were filled, except for the one next to mine. No one sat there, and no one knew why.

The tardy bell rang not long after and the scattered conversations quieted. The teacher walked into the room, calling out a good morning. We answered back and I rested my chin on my hand. She had papers in her hands, which meant a test was coming. I sighed as her monotone voice flourished throughout the room. This defiantly wasn’t going to be an exciting period. Mrs. Grey handed out our weekly essay test, and I rolled my eyes. There wasn’t any need for essay tests every week, but I guess that’s how she teached. This time it was a free write and I started out immediately.

‘Its funny how just one little thing can turn everything around. How one word can make you wonder. It’s funny, how quick it all happened. I just don’t want it to go to far too fast…’

I ended the last few sentences to my essay and handed it into the teacher. Sighing, I looked out the window of the classroom. The trees were swaying ever so slightly from the bitter wind that was wafting through the golden leaves. I turned my attention back to the board and waited for the rest of the students to finish their test. I was one of the first ones done, and now I didn’t have anything to do. I sat there quietly, resting my head on my left hand while I tapped my pencil on the side of my desk. No one noticed my tapping since they were too engrossed in their tests, which was rare. I caught a glance at the clock, and we still had 45 minutes left in the class. I sighed quietly to myself. Hopefully time would go by faster than yesterday.

My thoughts were distracted when someone opened the door. The whole class lifted up their heads to meet a new face. He had longish dirty blonde hair that fell right above his eyes. He seemed very tall, and had those drop dead gorgeous golden eyes. Almost all of the girls sighed dramatically over him, but I just smiled shyly when his gaze rested on me. He smiled back, then turned to the teacher, asking her if this was English 1. She nodded to him, and pointed to the seat right next to me. I looked down at my desk and blushed the slightest bit. I haven’t even met the kid and I already was getting butterflies, which wasn’t normal. He nodded a thanks and headed towards the desk right next to mine. I rolled my eyes and lifted my feet from the chair and down back to the floor. When he passed by me, a wonderful aroma filled my nose and I smiled. Thank gosh he wasn’t one of those guys who smelled of smoke like the rest of the kids did.

“Hey. Do you happen to have a pencil?” His voice was musical and ever so soft. I almost passed out right then and there, but I held myself together and handed him mine. He said his thanks and I just nodded. Turning away slightly, I caught the gaze of one of my friends who mouthed ‘you are so lucky’. I just rolled my eyes an looked forward, waiting for the bell to ring. He pulled out a piece of paper from his backpack and began his test which he must’ve gotten from the teacher. I glanced over, and noticed that he was left handed. He wrote smoothly, and his hand writing was actually legible, unlike most of the guys in this school. His name was Drew Peterson, and he wrote down the wrong date. I chuckled to myself and tapped him on the shoulder.

“It’s the 19th,” I whispered and Drew took my criticism easily.

“Thanks.” He replied and gave me a smile. I got lost into his eyes and just nodded back. He turned back to his work and I bit my bottom lip, turning away to meet my friends gaze again. She just rolled her eyes and mouthed ‘try not making a fool out of yourself’. I shooed her away and I felt my face turn hot with embarrassment.

Thoughts started to fill my mind when I looked back over to Drew. His fingers had band-aids on them, just like mine. My eyes narrowed and I wondered what he had done. Maybe he played piano, like I did. Or maybe he played the guitar. I know a lot of guitar players that put band-aids on their fingers because of the blisters. I shook my head and turned back to my desk, which was empty. It felt weird staring at him while he wrote his essay, so I took out my sketchbook for my own personal drawings. Flipping through the pages, I landed on my latest work. I was a tiger, just like the one I had dreamt about the night before. I picked up my pencil in my right hand and started filling in its fur, trying to remember which way it fell on its face.

After about 10 minutes, almost the whole class was done with their essay, except a select few that never finished in time. I didn’t seem to notice that Drew was staring intently at my tiger drawing. It wasn’t that good, but I guess I’m my own worst critic. When I finished the fur on his face, I began to sketch out his paws and shoulders. As I started out with his left paw, I felt a gaze that was burning through me. I sat up straight and looked at Drew, who was watching the tiger like he had seen it before.

“That’s a nice drawing you got there.” He whispered to me and I shrugged.

“Its not all that great, but thanks for the compliment.” I replied back and He shook his head.

“No, its really well drawn. I like the way you made it look like he is searching for something.” Drew murmured and pointed to the eyes. “And how you made his eyes so intent and focused. Its really good.” He added and smiled up to me. I felt my face turn hot again, but pushed it away.

“Thanks.” I replied and turned away just a bit.

“I’m Drew, by the way.” He said and smiled.

“Natalie.”