6. Abigail pays a visit

The week passed by faster than I had expected it would, which was very welcome. The school week wasn't heavy in terms of school work so there was not much to complain about but who doesn't like a Friday after the school week. Occasionally, I was invited back to the cool kids table to chat over lunch. They were pretty friendly the more I got to chat with them. I still felt a little awake and around Alex but she was really sweet around me. I'd also gotten to know Abigail a little better. They filled me in on a few more details about the party that weekend. Fortunately, they were cool with me inviting a few of my own friends. I didn't want to let them know I was a bit skeptical of them. I guess mom's warning was partly to blame for it but I was already skeptical about it before that. I was sure she would be more comfortable with me going to the party if I was with someone like Hunter at least. Mike was also willing to come along just to check it out.

That Friday afternoon found me and Zara in the art room after classes beginning our work on her cousins birthday present. Zara gave me the concept of the drawing she wanted us to do. When it was finished it would look kinda like a princess of some kind of warrior gem tribe surrounded by her downed enemies. We were doing the art work on a sheet of A3 paper. There were a few other students there with us, mostly club members, who were busy with their own projects. The art teacher looked around like a detective looking for clues at a crime scene. She inspect every single person's art and their tables a bit to throughly before moving on to the next. Soon she walked up to see what we were up to.

"Did you bring your own stationery?" she asked.

"Sure did," I responded with a friendly smile.

She squinted her eyes at me. "Anthony, you're an excellent artist. But excellent artists are often thieves. Are you a thief?"

"Uhm..."

"Someone's been stealing art supplies from here and all of that is coming out of my pay check unless I find out who's responsible."

"Well I have no idea about whose been doing that."

"You better not. I mean, you should so you tell me...but you shouldn't be one of those thieves."

"I assure you," Zara backed me up." He's not. I can bet on it"

"You wanna go down for your little boyfriend if he's guilty?"

"He's not....he's not a thief."

She walked away backwards, still eyeing us like we were savage dogs behind a gate ready to collapse at the slightest gesture. I turned to Zara, who gave me a mocking look of suspicion as if she was trying analyse my facial expression for any hint of deceit. I responded to by nudging her shoulder which made her laugh.

"Tell me what you think about my sketch?" Zara asked me.

"It looks good," I said." Your cousin must really like fantasy."

"You have no idea. She lives and breathes that kinda stuff. She's kinda like you, actually."

"I hope that's a compliment."

"Take it how you like," Zara teased.

I began to add some outlines to Zara's sketch when someone knocked on the door. I didn't really want to look. I was in the zone. Zara looked up though. She immediately gave me a similar look as before. I wondered why. My suspicions were cleared when I heard the twelfth grader speaking to the person at the door. It was a girl. Now I was interested. He was trying his best to flirt with whoever it was. I turned to see who it was. Abigail. I then understood Zara's expression. Ever since I told Zara about my first encounter with Abigail, she teased me about it every opportunity she could. That moment was not helping me at all.

I caught Abigail's gaze as she tried to talk herself out of the conversation with the twelfth grader. She finally finished off with him and walked over to me. I didn't know if I should stop drawing or something.

"Hey Tony," Abigail said then turned to Zara." Hi there."

"Hi," Zara responded." I'm Zara. You must be Abigail."

"Yeah."

"I'll just leave you two alone."

"Wha...you don't have to," I said awkwardly.

"Trust me.... I'll be back when you're done."

Zara left us there to talk. For a while, none of us said a thing. Abigail took up the seat that Zara had left. She looked down at the drawing I was doing. A slight smile came over her face.

"That's really cool," Abigail commented, looking up at me. "What is it?"

"Say hello to Queen Tess," I said. "Leader of the Gem people. You like it?"

"Are you kidding me. This is the best drawing I've ever seen."

"I wouldn't say the best."

"What would you say?"

It sounded like rhetoric so I didn't see a reason to answer except that I felt it was rude not to. I simple smiled, speechless for a moment looking between the drawing and Abigail.

"Well I don't know," I admitted.

"So uhm...you still going to Ty's party right?" she asked.

"Yeah sure. My mom was a bit skeptical about it but I convinced her. Plus I told her I'd have a couple of friends who she knows with me."

"Your first party?"

"Is it that obvious?"

"That's how parents act on your first outing. But it'll be fine. We'll be together...with everyone there."

"Hmm yeah. Any details more on the times?"

"It'll probably start out in the late evening. Douglas' parents will be there to supervise. Apparently they don't trust a bunch of teens alone in their house at night."

"Yeah, imagine that."

She let out a little laugh. From across the room I could see Zara with a friend of hers. She looked over at me and made heart shapes in the air. I tried to hold my reaction so that Abigail would not think I was doing something funny or mocking her.

"Hey," Abigail said." You wanna grab some ice cream?"

"Ice cream?"

"Yeah. There's a local place that me and my friends usually go to after school. We could ho if you want."

"Uhm....yeah sure."