Pencil and Paper

[Ashley Andrew Stephens]

While the first floor lounge of the Red House might have been the obvious place to meet with a fellow student, Drew wasn't keen on pushing school rules. Besides, he was sure that the girls' lounge was done up with some sickeningly festive decor and would resemble a kindergarten after an arts and crafts day. The lanky boy gave a bored shrug and hoisted his backpack onto his shoulder scanning the room to make sure he had everything he needed. Sininen hopped up into Drew's hand, and the pair set out towards the rec center. Despite it being winter, there wasn't a flake of snow on the ground, and the temperature was consistently above freezing. Even the shining sun and cloudless blue sky made the weather feel like some perverted type of summer instead of the end of December.

Naturally, the art teacher assigned group work over the break. The instructions were fairly simple. Each pair of students had to make a two part representation of winter. The catch was that both parts had to be part of the same theme and look as though they belonged to the same collection. That meant that students going home for the break couldn't just abandon their partners and do their own thing. The boy wasn't fond of group work. If it was up to him, he would have just made a couple of sketches and called it done. It also didn't help that the teacher still couldn't get his name right. Even after turning in multiple assignments with the name "Drew", the teacher continued to call him Ashley.

He set his pet bird down on the table. The red flightsuit with a silvery-white snowflake embroidered on the chest was an early Christmas gift from his mother. Drew quickly checked the time on his phone and let out a long breath that he still had a few minutes before the appointed meeting time with his partner. He dropped his backpack in an open chair and sat down next to it. The table he picked out was large and round, and with it being winter break, the Academic Center was completely empty. A large grape was enough entertainment to keep Sininen occupied while they waited.

[Andrea Valentine]

Andrea had spent the past, oh, half hour chasing George around the room, trying to coax him out from under furniture or keeping him away from electrical hazards. Finally, she caught him, and this time he didn't have the chance to wriggle away. She tossed him gently into his cage and locked it tight. Then she glanced at the clock and gasped. "George! I'm late because of you!" she cried. The ferret chewed on his toy happily. Andrea rolled her eyes and gathered her supplies as fast as she could. Then, still in a mad hurry, she scampered out of her room and on the way to the Academic Center.

She kind of remembered Drew from class. He had an interesting first name, but she couldn't remember exactly what it was. One of those old-fashioned names like Leslie that used to be masculine but turned feminine somehow. Well, either way. She peeked into the Academic Center and saw that he was the only one there. Blushing, she joined him at the table. "Hey! Sorry I'm late. I was chasing my ferret around. He didn't want to be caught." She was still blushing, embarrassed, but she lit up when she saw the bird on the table. It was adorable.

[Ashley Andrew Stephens]

With Sininen there was always need for expanding his vocabulary. Sure, it looked ridiculous to see a teenage boy talking to his pet in the most excited sing-song voice ever, but it was how the bird learned best. The routine of cues and prompts came much later. When Andrea arrived, he was working on teaching Sininen the phrase, "He is Mi and I am Yu".

The boy looked up slightly startled from his concentration. From training, Sininen chirped. "Hello! How are you?" Technically, Sininen wasn't supposed to be there, but the bird was on a leash and had his flight suit on. No mess for the janitor. "Don't worry about it. You're here now. And I hope you don't mind my bird. I'll try to keep him sort of quiet. Anyway, Andrea right? Easy name to remember."[/i]

He cleared aside a bit of space and started pulling out his art supplies. Sininen hopped around on the table looking only slightly agitated. "Hey little guy, what's your name?" The bird paused at hearing his cue. "I am Sininen!" It was hard not to try and make talking to Sininen sound like a real conversation even though Drew had to use certain cue words and phrases to get set responses. But, the illusion of a bird that could really have a conversation was quite the parlor trick. "Did you have any ideas for the project? I mostly just do sketches and sometimes charcoal work if I'm feeling up to it. You?"

[Andrea Valentine]

She stifled a delighted squeal when the bird spoke. "I'm well! How are you?" she cooed at the little guy. Then she turned to her human company with a wide grin. "Of course I don't mind. He's adorable." She nodded, pleased that he'd remembered her name. "It should be! It's the feminine form of Andrew. That's your name, isn't it?"

Speaking of names, apparently the bird was capable of introducing himself. Andrea was going to have an overload of cuteness if this went on much longer. Still, she had to focus on the task at hand. Easier said than done. She shrugged at Drew's question. "I don't really know. I just think of snow, or sleigh rides, when I think of winter. I like to use graphite. Charcoal's too messy for me. I usually ink my drawings afterwards, if they're good."

[Ashley Andrew Stephens]

"Yeah, it is." Drew was a bit surprised that she remembered since their teacher seemed to insist on calling him Ashley. "Though I usually just go by Drew." He pulled out a small plastic bag of cut grapes and offered a grape half to Andrea. "You can feed him if you want. Just put it on the table next to him. And if you want to pet him, use one or two fingers. Sininen is really good with people." The blue bird chirped and whistled in happiness. A talkative bird was a satisfied bird.

"For the project, do you know the song Sleigh Ride?" He hummed the first couple lines of the song. "Maybe it's too cliché to draw horses, but we could make a two panel illustration of the song." He made a quick Google search for the lyrics and pulled out a notebook page to draft ideas. "I was thinking...the horse drawn sleigh with some people, falling snow, a couple birds in the background..." He blocked out very basic shapes for where things might be placed. "Your thoughts?" It was still a conscious effort to make this a group project and not just him doing all the work.

[Andrea Valentine]

She took the grape half and placed it next to the bird. Briefly, she wished her dad would let her have a bird, but that wouldn't happen. But, back to business!

"I'm not totally sure about the song, but horses are good! Oh, maybe I can draw a deer herd for the second panel. And the sleigh in the distance. My dad used to go hunting in the winter with the horses, but these days he just takes photos of the deer. Do you think that'll work?"

[Ashley Andrew Stephens]

Drew slid his phone across the table to Andrea. "The second panel would be indoors. Currier and Ives is a print maker, and I was thinking about drawing the first panel in that style. But I think you could put some deer in the second panel. Maybe mounted heads or a hanging picture. All we need to do is go through the song and include the elements mentioned. It's actually pretty easy." Drew wished he could have done the whole thing by himself. He had plenty of ideas and didn't need someone else asking if they could modify them. He knew he was leading the project and only half listening to Andrea.

[Andrea Valentine]

She frowned. She didn't like to be told what to do, but she figured there was no point in arguing with Drew. "Sure, sure. I can do that." she said. It took all her energy to keep her voice even. Well, he seemed like a nice enough guy, so maybe if she just complied with him and stayed on his good side, they'd get along just fine.