Chapter 3

I ran a brush haphazardly through my hair, not really bothering to get it all the way smoothed out. Part of that was because I didn't care all that much, and another part was that I was just terrible at fixing my own hair. I liked it a little messy, anyways.

"Hey Justin?" I said, turning to him. He cocked his head to the side like he was listening; yet he was still typing away at the Macbook in his lap. "Does this shirt make me look like Andy Warhol?"

"What- No, Kellin," Justin groaned, looking up from his laptop. He looked over my outfit, scrunching up his nose in distaste. "You are not wearing a turtleneck."

I just shrugged and grabbed my backpack. I had to get to my studio art class. I guess it didn't really matter what I was wearing because I was just going to throw a smock on over everything. Well, I guess I was excited to see Vic afterwards, but . . . wait, no that didn't matter either.

"Well, I like it. I think it's kinda cool," I chuckled as he just shook his head.

"Whatever you say, man," he said, though I noticed a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "Alright, well thanks anyway," I smiled, walking out the door. "See ya later, Justin."

He mumbled a weak 'see ya' in response and I was off. I got down to the front of my building and unlocked my bike. The art building was kind of far from my dorm, but that was okay. I needed the exercise. I was pretty sure I was incapable of any other sort of physical activity, anyway.

I entered the classroom and found a spot next to my easel and dropped my stuff to the ground. From there, I grabbed a smock and my paintbrushes that I kept in a lock box in one of the cabinets. Alex let me keep my stuff in there because I kept forgetting it at home. I would probably lose my head if it weren't attached, honestly.

"Hey, how's it going?" he said to me as I set up my supplies. I turned and smiled, holding up one of the paintbrushes.

"I am in the zone today, Alex," I informed him, earning a laugh. "I'm totally going to finish . . .I think."

"Alright, well, whatever you say," he said, before moving on to greeting other students. And from then on, I was basically in my own little world. It was like I couldn't see or think about anything that wasn't on my canvas, and it was honestly one of the best feelings. I had never found anything else in my life that could give me as much joy as painting did. I littered the canvas with a few new splashes of color, as well as adding onto areas that I had already painted.

This was an abstract piece, but there was still very much a method behind the madness. I mean, I don't think I could have explained that method to save my life, but it made sense to me. In fact, I sometimes felt like art was the only thing that made sense to me. It was the only outlet I had that allowed my to effectively express myself and I was absolutely in love with it.

Once again, though, the class just seemed too short, even though it was the longest class I had. Two hours was just not enough. However, I did reach a stopping point on time and was able to get cleaned up in time to head to my next class. I sped over to the philosophy building on my bike and this time made sure I locked it up outside. I couldn't get lucky with that every time.

As soon as I entered the lecture hall I scanned the room for Vic. I found him sitting in the back row this time, and luckily there was an empty seat next to him. I smiled to myself and headed up the steps, then shimmied through the row until I got to that seat.

"Hi," I said, cheerfully.

"Hey, it's you again," he said, grinning. "You're on time today, huh?"

"Yep," I chuckled.

"You've got something on your face, by the way," he said, casually. I gasped and my hand flew to my face.

"What? Where?" I asked, without really thinking of the circumstances beforehand. Vic just chuckled to himself and shrugged.

"I don't know," he said, still stifling a laugh as the realization suddenly hit me. How the hell would Vic know if I had something on my face?

"Oh man, you're a jerk," I said. "You got me."

"I sure did," he said. "But, for real though, you're shoe's untied."

"Ha-ha," I said, sarcastically, though I secretly stole a glance downward, surprised to see that it actually was untied. "What! How did you know that?"

"Your shoelace hit my ankle when you sat down," he explained, as if that should have been the obvious explanation. I actually found it pretty amazing that he could be aware of little things like that. I probably wouldn't have even noticed until I tripped over it and fell on my face.

"Oh, I'm sorry," I mumbled, reaching down to tie it really quick. "You're a real joker, you know that?"

"Hey, what's wrong with that?" he asked, his voice still just as cool and casual. I wondered how he managed to stay so composed all the time. That was definitely something I needed to learn.

"Uh, nothing," I mumbled, trying to think of what I wanted to say. "You just make a lot of blind jokes for a . . . for a . . . "

"For a blind person?" he suggested. "Well, hey, the way I think of it is . . . I can't change the fact that I'm blind, so I'm gonna be a lot happier if I just embrace it rather than try to avoid it. Does that make sense?"

"Yeah, it does," I said, smiling. He just had me in such awe. "Wow, so you're like, really confident."

"I try to be," he shrugged. I was so fascinated by this guy, I wanted to keep talking to him, but unfortunately our professor interrupted that endeavor by starting class. As usual, I took to doodling random designs over the corners of the pages, only really taking notes of things every now and then.

The lecture seemed to drag on for hours and I hated it. I couldn't wait until I was done with all of these dumb Gen Ed classes so I could focus more on my art.

Finally, after a grueling hour of lecture, we were free to go. I quickly packed up my stuff and then turned to Vic, who was already standing up. Walking out of class with him again had excitement bubbling in my stomach.

"Do you have a class after this?" I asked him, not really paying attention to whether or not I was sounding too eager. I probably was, though. Dammit.

"Yep, it's a math class," he said.

"Oh, okay, which one?" I asked, as we started to leave the row. He continued going back and forth with me until we got outside and I was to the bike rack. I didn't want him to go to class, though. I really wanted to just keep talking to him. He was probably annoyed by me, but if he was he wasn't showing it.

"Um, well, I guess I'll talk to you later then, huh?" I shrugged.

"Yeah, definitely. Hey, what are you doing later tonight?" he asked, smiling. I grinned as my chest swelled with hope.

"Nothing!" I chirped.

Okay. That was probably too eager.

"Well that's great," he smiled. "Want to grab something to eat? We can meet by the activities building and go from there."

"Yeah, sure, that's great," I said, excitedly. "Awesome, how's seven sound?" he asked. "Perfect."

---

"Justin, Justin, Justin!" I said trying to get his attention as I flopped down onto my bed. I laid flat on my back with my arms out, staring dreamily up at the ceiling. Justin was sitting at his desk, probably working on something for school.

"Kellin!" he mimicked. "What?"

"I have a date . . . I think. Maybe. I might have a date," I said, unable to wipe the stupid grin from my face. Oh my god, this was just too cool. I was already kind of crushing on Vic, and the fact that he even wanted to hang out with me felt like a blessing.

"Whoa, really? Who with?" he asked, suddenly really interested in the conversation.

"His name is Vic Fuentes - he was at that party the other night," I explained. He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, which wasn't exactly the response I was hoping for. I wondered if that meant he knew Vic.

"You wouldn't happen to be referring to Mike's blind brother would you?" he asked, seemingly wary. I gave him a confused look. "We were at Mike's place for the party."

"Uh, yeah, maybe . . . unless there are multiple blind students on this campus named Vic Fuentes. . . then in that case, I don't know," I said. Justin gave me a tired look. "Yes, that one."

"Really man? Isn't that like, weird?" he asked, though he didn't sound like he was saying it in a mean way. I shrugged.

"No? Why would it be? Vic is really nice," I assured him. I propped myself up on my elbows as I looked over at Justin. He studied me for a minute, and then sighed.

"Well, alright. To each their own," he shrugged, thankfully not trying to push the conversation further. I felt a little relieved because I thought he was about to get all judgmental and the last thing I wanted was an argument with Justin.