Crazy in Love (OnnaOtaku & Katon)

Stepping into her classroom, Kari Ottes looked around the room, her amber brown eyes hidden behind her strange yellow sunglasses. With hair the color of a sunset, she always got stares, most of them the bad type though. She hated that kind more than anything, but hey, she knew it was coming when she got it colored. Moving towards the back of the class to her normal seat, she sat down and leaned on her hand, which was using the desk as a table. She couldn't help but smile at some of the girls that seemed to be insulting her right in front of her face. It was just too much fun to mess with them. She just had to do it.

College starting up again and Andy had decided that he had done well in school at art so he would proceed to continue it into college.

It was his first day at college and it was like being new at school again. Not quite as lonely as when you start off at school though, Andy walked through the college grounds and noticed a few people he knew from over summer and from his past school. A few brief exchanges and college wasn’t looking so bad any more.

Sorting him self out he registered for his course and proceeded to try and work out the map he had been given so he could find his room. The college was an inner city one and he was fortunate to be on the city centre campus. The college was three buildings horse shoed around a large grassed area with foot paths travelling through it and benches every few meters down the foot paths. It was September so it was a little chilly though the sun was out and the whole setting for the college was picturesque and Andy was already scouting out possible portraits he could end up drawing over the year.

Travelling from the main building he found the section of the college where all the art rooms and workshops would be held for his course. There were a few students milling around inside and it didn’t take Andy long to find the right room.

Upon entering there were some students sat around, you could tell which knew each other as they all hung around together. No teacher had turned up yet so Andy moved his way inside and grabbed him self a table by the window. Andy liked being by the window, he could see out over the grounds and could see more people were arriving and milling around below.

Sinking back into his chair he stretches out, the table is quite big, larger than those at school they are spread out over the class room, Andy hated it in school where you used to have to sit all squashed in and normally next to some one you didn’t like for the year. This was college though and it rang freedom to Andy.

Andy set back and chilled out and waited for the teacher, he didn’t look around too much there was a group of girls and a few people sat alone, plenty of time to get to know everyone the thought.

The door quickly came into the room, her sunset hair reflecting in the light as she walked towards the back at one of the empty seats. With a smile, she set her books and things down on the desk and looked towards Andy. "Hey ya," she greeted him and sat down in the seat.

Andy hadn’t been in college that long, literally a few minutes he was just sitting back when a female voice interrupted his thinking.

“Hey ya.” As this girl greeted him she sat down near him.

Andy proceeds to greet the girl back “Hi, how you doing? Names Andy.”

He looks her up and down, it’s September but she is wearing sunglasses, the look suits her through so Andy doesn’t probe further.

He was glad he had put some effort into the way he looked today, he was usually scruffy and happy enough with that. This year though he decided to make an effort, he had been out and gotten a hair cut a few days before and decided that for the year a gelled hair look was best, his hair was short on top through the gel had spiked it up and made him feel better about him self.
A neat pair of jeans and a plain blue t-shirt he had brought the day before. He supported and old pair of his trainers, they used to be white when they were new but the years had turned them to a faded grey colour, Andy didn’t mind though they were comfortable.

Sitting back into his chair once more Andy beings to stretch. He has been used to long mornings in bed through out the summer holiday so he is still adjusting to being awake when at this time he is normally asleep.

"Kari," she responded and pulled out a pencil and a sketch book form the bag on the floor next to her. Flipping it open, she continued to work on a sketch of a small girl hidden inside of an open flower. "So this is your first year?" she asked, tipping her head a little as she looked over him, taking a few small notes while tapping her pencil on the corner of her sketch page. "Or first year here?"

She reached up and shook her loose bangs a bit, messing them up as they hung in her face. A few people looked over and watched her, a few making faces of disgust while others were just laughing, none of them bothering to try to hide it. But Kari, who they were watching, didn't seem to care.

Yawning and trying t o wake him self up Andy rejoins the conversation. “Both I guess, first year and first time here, you the same?” Peering across to her table Kari has since brought out her sketch book and begun continuing with a picture she has been working on. “Nice sketch, im not very good at drawing people, give me a nice landscape at it will look like a photo, ask me to draw a person and you would be better off getting a baby to draw it.” Andy smiles though trying to break the ice over his limited drawing skills.

Shacking her had Andy leans back a bit, fearful of being hit by a stray bang as Kari shakes her head to loosen her hair and let it fall. Sniggering could be herd from the back of the class, Andy wasn’t sure if it was due to him backing away from this girl or just her abrupt way of lowering her hair.

“You new here then, there were quite a few party’s over the summer. Never saw you at any of them though.” Andy tries to hide a yawn escaping while he stretches. “Think these early morning are going to kill me, could never be a teacher, up every day to be at school for this time it’s madness.” Looking down at his watch it was 8:30 but seemed like it had been hours since he left the comfort of his bed.

“Recon our teacher will be some evil slave driver or some young person who actually understands the younger generation?” Sitting back into his chair Andy chats with Kari some more, glancing out of the window every now and again. Just looking to see if he can spot any more familiar faces as he did that morning.

Keri laughed softly as he spoke about his art skills and shrugged a little. "This is my second year in college. But I had to move away so when I moved back, I got shoved back into the classes I had last year." She quickly glanced towards some of the laughing people and watched them a few seconds as their laughs quickly died away and looked away from her. It was like she was some kind of poison or something.

"I normally don't go to parties," she said, looking back at Andy. "No one invites me and if I do go anyway, they end up ether avoiding me or just glaring at me the whole time. It's not worth in in the end." She shrugged again. "You'll get used to it. You'll just have to go to bed earlier. Except on the weekends. Then the parties around here go almost nonstop."

Thinking a minute, she smiled and nodded. "This teacher is an old guy who's nearly insane. He's so much fun but beware of flying chalk. I'll warn you now."

“Don’t go parties!” Andy exclaimed the idea was madness, he wasn’t exactly a party animal but would always make the effort to turn up to a party, more so if he had been invited though.

“Well you can make it your mission this year to go to some parties. If no one invites you then I will, and if I do you have to go, that’s the rules ok? If all the parties around here are none stop then I should have a good time here.”

A small level of excitement could be herd in his voice at the prospect of up and coming parties. Andy was going to probe further but was stopped by the entrance of an elderly man. He entered the room and he looked a bit out of place. He was hunched over a little and kept his head down, he wore a cardigan open at the top and done up from the mid section down. The cardigan was blue and his shirt beneath a pale blue he tie was a light purple and this trousers fitted the bill as well, being of a pale blue come cream colour. He looked like he had come back from the 50s. He looked small and frail, his hair was receding, craftily disguised by a terrible comb over. He had more hair on his mustash than he did on his head. The man looked like he should have been in an old foke’s home not teaching art.

Andy leans over to Keri, he whispers “Good god your right, I bet he could launch a piece of chalk at least two meters!” Andy proceeds to remove a note pad from his bag. “Im gone hold on to this, my sturdy shield.” He then places it on the table and sits back and lets the teacher introduce him self.

Kari softly giggled and turned towards the teacher. "Oh he will," she told him. "He's psychotic. Believe me."

The man in the front of the room gently pushed his glasses onto his nose and slowly looked around the room. "I will be your Professor. Call me Professor Mari." He picked up his attendance paper and slowly scanned it then looked around again. "There's a few...familiar faces in here," he continued.

The teacher introduced him self and then began to take the register. Going though the names Andy was glad he wasn’t top of the list, he hated going first. Andy wasn’t one for speaking in front of a group of people he didn’t know, it was far from his comfort zone. He only had small groups of friends so never needed to engage large crowds.

Oddly though he was a shy person he didn’t seem to mind talking to Kari, perhaps it was more so because of the first day positive thinking, things maybe be different as the day came to an end. Not that he wanted it too though, he quite liked her odd and different look and the fact she was in some ways similar to him.

The teacher continued to address the class, commenting on how he knew a few faces. Andy just glazed over for a minute staring at the old man, trying to figure if he was the psychotic teacher from hell Kari made out.

The first section of the class was more a formality, the objectives and achievements of the year and what the class would need to be doing to pass. Andy scribbled some crude notes, not that he would ever look back on them or even be able to read then judging by his hand writing. Through out the whole of the summer he hadn’t needed to use a pen or write anything, so after 20minutes of trying to keep up Andy gave in and decided to just listen to the teachers babble. All the while nursing his wrist which had not been used to the strain of writing for so long.

‘Get on with the drawing’ thinks Andy, that’s what he was here for, not a lecture about what they will be doing.

Kari didn't even bother to write anything down. Instead, her pencil was being put to use in a better manner, or so she thought. Her art work was coming along and she smiled as she pulled out her pen and began to carefully ink the outside lines, making sure that it still looked good as she worked. A few times she looked up at the teacher, just to figure out what was going on then looked back down and went back to what she was doing.

The class carried on and Andy soon noticed that as soon as he had lost interest with taking notes Kari had since given up a long time ago.
30minuites more progressed and nothing really much was achieved by the days class. Watching the clock tick closer to the end of the class was the old thing keeping Andy awake.

A few minutes before the end the teacher addressed the class. He was going to give them till the next day to produce some level of drawing picture, sketch or painting ect.
‘Just filling time because he hasn’t planned anything.’ Andy thinks to him self.

A brief dismissal and the class abruptly hurried to the door to hastily distance them selves from the boredom they had endured that previous hour. Following the crowd outside as soon as the people were clear of the thresh-hold of the door they were gone.

Kari was walking off slowly, Andy quickly caught up hoping to engage her in some conversation. “Hey wait up, sucks we have some work to take away on the first day aint it?” Continuing to walk with Kari Andy will try and get some information about her. “Do you have any more classes today or are you done? Im hungry have been dying for some food since class started, want to come get some? Im going any way im a growing lad after all.” Passing Kari a cheeky grin he waits for her reply.

The bright haired girl smiled as she looked towards Andy and shook her head. "I don't have any more classes today. Only one for the rest of the year," she told him with a small shrug. "But food sounds really good right now," she added with a nod. "Wanting to get some with me? Or are you just trying to be a jerk and trying to tease me?"

The grumble in his stomach turns his brain to food, then he notices a small smile on Kari’s face. Obviously this girl wants to come along.

“Only one class for the year lucky you! I have another one it’s on a different day. My parents said I couldn’t just take art need to have a fall back qualification they say.”

Trying to remember when his other class is Andy’s mind goes blank much to involved in thinking where and what he can get to eat.

Taken back by Kari’s comment Andy follows up.

“Course I want to get food, especially with you.” A small smile breaks through before Andy continues to question her thinking. “Why would I ask otherwise? Don’t really come off as a jerk do I?”

Somewhat confused at Kari’s assumption of him Andy waits before walking off with Kari, if she thinks he’s a jerk then there are plenty of other people he can talk to.

"No you don't, but I've had it happen before, believe it or not," she told him, shaking her head slowly. Walking in step and time with him, she smiled and adjusted her jacket over her shoulders. "So there's a few placed on campus to go to. Should we go to one of them or wanna go off campus for food?" She shrugged her jacket on more and shifted her books carefully. "It doesn't matter to me. I'll leave it to you."

Grinning Andy decided to tease Kari. “So a lot of guys ask you out for food then? Quite the dark horse aren’t you?” Walking in time with her he continues, moving from teasing to a more serious matter. “Lets go off campus, I need to go into town, got to find somewhere to work while im studying. Need money to go to all these parties, unless you want to sponsor me?” With one more smile Andy proceeds to lead the way into town.

“Anything you want to eat in particular? Looking around I feel like I could eat all the food in town and still have to go back to campus and raid the canteen there.”

The streets were common to him, he had grown up just outside of town so always used to come here at weekends to hang out, a nice change of scenery from the local parks.
Though he could tell you where any shop bar or restaurant was he couldn’t name a single street or road. When you’re a kid all direction derive from the nearest sweet shop and names of streets back a back seat.

“So where do you live, I man you’ve been to college once left and come back. You get chased away the first time or something?” Looking across to Kari as they walked side by side through the town looking for some where to eat.

"They do it as a joke," she told him, scowling at nothing in particular. But she seemed to ignore it from there and laughed at his next remark. "Oh please, I'm still looking for a sponsor."

She slowly looked around the streets and they talked and walked and shrugged. "There's a good, cheep Chinese place on the next street over if you want that. You can get a lot for a little. I swear that's their slogan to," she added with a laugh. But she shrugged and looked towards Andy a bit. "My dad moved my family to Britain, where they still are. But I got away so I could come back here for school. Despite how I look, I've never been chased out of any where. Well...Wal-mart once...but that was my friend's fault."

As they neared the end of the street Kari recommended some where and Andy wasn’t to fussed, at this stage food was food. Cheap prices and lots for your money always a bonus to the hungry student.

“Chinese it is then, im so hungry right now, they are going regret having an all you can eat sign when I get there!” Exclaimed Andy, getting slightly excited at the prospect of food.

“So all your family is away, do you have to live alone? I live with my parents, not the best of arrangements though, they drive me mad some times. Your friend sounds like a loon, they don’t even chase shop lifters out of Wal-Mart.”

Closing down the street the restaurant came into sight and Andy’s mouth began to water. The restaurant wasn’t overly inviting, you could tell the place just banged out meals pretty quick. Looked as though at one point some one had intended to make this business work, but when you start making a profit upkeep normally gets forgotten.

Andy grabbed the door for Kari and allowed her to enter first, if her parents were in England she had probably met a few English gentlemen so Andy put him self on best behaviour. The restaurant was fairly empty a few people dotted around where eating but it was still early, not quite lunch time so plenty of places to sit.

Looking around there were larger tables in the centre of the restaurant for bigger parties and around the edges booths that could hold about 4 people, 6 if you fancied the squeeze. No one came to seat the pair. “Lets just grab that booth over there keep our selves hidden, don’t want them to notice us because of you and your Wal-Mart fiasco.” Andy lead the way to the booth and jumped inside, forgetting that he was ment to be the gentleman and seat the lady, but now matter.

“Looks like we beat the rush, though I don’t think we are going to get any service anyway, we don’t look the wealthiest of people. I’ll leave you to pick something, you want a drink? Im going to grab one, enquire about an all you can eat too, see if I can con them out of all their food.”

Kari followed behind Andy, smiling the whole time and enjoying how he was acting. Yes, she had met a few gentlemen who had tried to attract her, but not many of them had won. "I live in the dorms," she explain with a small shrug. "It's not much, but it gives me a room to sleep in."

She moved into the booth and watched Andy. "Oh they'll always serve us," she told him. "Not a lot of people come in here, so when they get people, they'll get to us quickly. But all their food...that'll be a bit tough."

Moving in a sitting down Andy decided to kick back and wait for someone to come to them. He was a paying customer after all so really deserved to be waited on had and foot.

“Living in dorms, bet that sucks I get to live at home, cheaper for me, providing I can find some work.”

Grabbing a menu Andy flicks though quickly, he’s not to fussed about what he eats anything will do.

“Anything you fancy, we could always have anything from the sharing section, look like you get more for you money there, and I promise I’ll be fair and split it with you 50/50. Your left over’s are fair game though if we do.”

Passing the menu over to Kari Andy sits back and looks around. Not much of a view to enjoy in here, not exactly a 5 star establishment.

“You seem to know a lot about this place, it some where you normally come?”

Andy just attempts more small talk with Kari, trying to hold off any awkward silence for as long as he can until they are eating. Doesn’t matter if things are quiet when both people are eating, no one feels out of place.

Kari slowly nodded. "It does a bit, but I'm used to it. It's better then being at home." She took the menu and slowly looked over it before, she nodded and agreed. "My left overs are yours," she told him with a smile and handed it back to him. "We can go with that option."

She shrugged a little and slowly looked around the dinning area. "I come here at times. It's fun and they have a few parties around the times of the holidays. Those are really fun."

Someone came and took the order and them left them to it, Andy was glad Kari wanted to go halves with him, he just hopped she wasn’t a big a pig as him.

“Who do you come to the parties with then, you have a few friends who go to college?”

The pair indulges some more over their food and made small talk. Time seemed to by flying while he was with Kari, luckily neither of them had a class to get back to so it wasn’t a problem.

Talking some more after they had finished up Andy moved back onto the conversation about their art and the work that was due in the next day.

“What you going to do for that art thing we have to get in tomorrow. I think he’s just doing it because he doesn’t know what to set us to do for the first few weeks. I mean everyone in that class must have 100s of drawings they could just had in, not exactly a challenging task.”

Kari shrugged and smiled a little. "I'm not quite sure," she said and looked around a little. "I'll probably do something quickly tonight to hand in tomorrow. What about you? Do you have anything?"

A deep sigh from Andy as he slumps back into his seat and slides down a little. Distancing him self from the now empty plate. Taking a sip of his drink and placing it back down he looks across at Kari.
“Im not sure what I’ll do either, I have a few works in progress so If I get drawers block I’ll finish up one of them and that can go in.” Watching Kari’s face she is obviously not accustomed to Andy’s new terminology so he expands.

"Drawers Block is like Writers Block but for artists. It’s a proper word, honest, either Google it or try typing my name in, both lead to the same place as I am the creator of suck a decisive term.” Andy proceeds to boast hopping to get a smile out of Kari.

“One day to do a drawing is pretty harsh though, I can’t think he will fairly mark it, if he does at all. All teachers are lazy like that. I bet he gives us work to do in a week and then doesn’t mark or look at it until the end of the semester.”

The girl also sat back but shrugged just a bit. "He normally does grad it, actually. And he gets it back soon. For this, he's probably testing how well we can do something in a short amount of time. A lot of the teachers do that here."