chapter 51 *Wingspan*

Looking at this one piece i could tell Wesley didn't rush putting together the image of a two dimensional castle.

The castle was surrounded by grass that was covered in snow with a bridge that cut straight across the paper and stopped short of trees that made up one edge of the page.

i got the perception Wesley preferred old school free hand drawing. 

wesley could draw anything and his ability to display attention to detail showed as he shaded in select pieces of brick to the blacked out windows that were uniform and of different length and size yet they each seemed proportionate when compared. 

the piece was magnificently sketched right down to the high arches illustrated on top of the window frames. it was just...so beautiful. and expertly done.

thanks to the angle in which the focal point was framed around looking at the replica i was able to imagine that i was in the illustration, placing myself as Wesley, standing in his shoes on the snow with a line of trees to my right hand side. 

still picturing myself in Wesleys mind at the time that he drew it, i look up and ahead at the familiar structure that had obviously meant a great deal to Wesley otherwise he could have drawn something else entirely. 

situated directly in front of me was the largest and oldest castle built nine hundred years ago.

"wow. its the Windsor castle." i say admiring the slanted roof knowing that i would never get my lines that straight.

although i held Wesleys work in high regard i didn't know what exactly it said about him. that he was into old buildings, probably.

"you're a fan of the royal family?" i ask signing my initials in the corner away from the actual drawing. 

i gave him a five. if i could i would have put down a hundred but students had a one to five point grading system. our comments would be taken into account when mr. honeycott looked at them and finalized the grades in his student assignment chart.

Wesley shrugs his shoulders and took his 'look book' back once Mason had finished admiring it. "not particularly." Wesley said to me nonchalantly.

it didn't surprise me that Wesley was neither chovanistic nor boastful. when it came down to physicality and individual achievement Wesley was not a mundane human being. 

Why, if i'd harbored a fraction of the talent Wesley had i would boast to any one who dare remain silent and listen.

Mason clears his throat.

we both look at Mason, confused.

"why dont i go next?" he says. for whatever reason mason decided to forgo the humble approach and went straight to a display of self advertisement.

Mason stands up holding his notebook in front of him like it was a billboard or something.

Mason's strokes were bold and precise yet vividly colorful thanks to the little snippet of the boy/ girl cartoon. 

in that piece i could definitely see the type of person Mason interpreted himself as being. which was still more than i could say for Wesley.

looking at the large paper mason held there was a multicolored cartoon that caught my eye of a boy who saved a girl in distress from a one legged hostile thing with a cardboard box over its head. they sat on top of what i thought to be either a shark or a pink airplane behind an ugly silver-ish building that looked run down and unused.

"what is it?" I ask turning my head slightly in hopes of getting a better view.

unfortunately there was a lot going on at once. although it showed character it was difficult to stay focused on one thing for long. unlike wesley's which was more simplistic in nature and didn't make me squint my eyes just to re-focus my vision every five seconds.

mason grins proudly. "isn't it obvious?" he boasts pointing at the thing. "its a building with graffiti of my favorite words and a few last minute inconsequential characters because i always wanted to draw a characture of a brother saving a damsel in distress." mason discloses generously.

well, i thought he was ingenious for putting the colorful train on the wall of an old building. so, essentially, it was art captivated within art. brilliant. maddening but brilliant. 

"they're sitting on a shark." wesley pointed out, a proud grin shooting ear to ear. 

he understood and could appreciate what his good buddy came up with, whereas i had a difficult time piecing the jumbo mess together to where what i was looking at internalized in my brain and made sense of what it was.

huh. i had wondered what that large pink thing was supposed to be.

"i know!" mason smiles right at wesley his eyes shinning with wonder like even he was amazed by what he came up with. "pretty sick, right?" mason sits down and passes it around for me and wesley to post a grade on.

since five points was the highest anyone could get that's what i wrote down. once done initialing my name i hand it back to mason and they both look at me expectantly.

at first i wasn't sure why they were staring at me but then it dawned on me that i would have two proficient artisans crtisisizing my work. Gah! 

in my not so proudest moment i embellished a quick story about a girl taking a day off for recreational pleasure who stumbles upon the best Cuban coffee after a long day of shopping. i had to cringe at the end because of how it sounded. 

Mason whistles, clapping. "that was delightful. beautifully told and original! it almost made me forget how much you suck at drawing."

Wesley smacks Mason on the forearm with his pen that was uncapped which left a mark on masons bare skin. "don't be rude." Wesley chides him like one would a younger brother.

mason turns to me and smiles kindly.

it was hard to take Mason seriously because he liked to joke around with everyone all the time. 

besides, my elementary poster kind of was pretty terrible. the smiling girl in the pink dress had circle hands and a flower beret in her pony. i had to put squares for her feet just so she wouldn't go barefoot on the sidewalk. i made a circle for a sun and shaded the background light blue and traced clouds with dark blue. its an exact replica of what i would have done in fifth grade.

mason passes my drawing book to Wesley and slouches forward, looking at me sheepishly. "in case you pursue other options i would highly recommend that for a living you could read to kids at the library. i could see you doing that because you're voice is velvety and relaxing it would most likely doze them right off to sleep." he suggested, a hand raising in the air as he said it. "No one would remember how horrible the story was."

i pretend to stroke my chin at masons non-essential advice and tried not to be on the defensive. "Hrrmmm. I'll take that under advisory." I grin generally.

mason points at the open page in my book like it were evidence of a crime. "even though my niece could have made that i gave you a passing grade for entertainment." he grinned wide and high.

i laugh at the elementary stick figure i drew. "thank you." 

as mr. honeycott circled the room he came by our table to collect the 'look books' as he called them. 

i resisted the urge to put my arms over my head because the art teacher would eventually get to mine and i didn't want to see the comment he would make. 

reading his suggestions were the worst of it. 

"to draw is an art form that can be beneficial to help make meaning out of negative events and open up the dark areas of the mind to reveal the rich tapestry that is your life." he said holding out the plastic bin where he kept the sketch books, one a different color for each class. this one was white. 

we each placed our individual ones inside of the bin that he carried around with him not saying a thing until he left.

"so." mason said once the teacher was out of sight and started citing another quote to the students who sat at the next table over. "i was thinking, why dont we all meet up before the movie starts?"

Wesley nods in thought. "i see what you're suggesting but what to do in the mean time?" Wesley ponders aloud.

"chill. what else?" mason says not missing a beat.

"what do you think?" Wesley asks me.

i didnt see why not. "sure, okay." i shrug my shoulders and nod my head. sounded like a good idea although i wasn't sure what we were going to do while we waited.

"agreed." wesley goes along with it.

mason smiled big and wide. "wonderful."