Work Text:
Susie stared at the blank white page. She sat in art class at her usual table with Kris, Noelle, and Berdly. She had been given freedom this class to draw ‘whatever she wanted’ in contrast to the usual firm instructions from their teacher.
At first it had sounded fun, but the more she stared at the paper, the more she realized she didn't know what she wanted to draw. It wasn’t that simple.
She looked around the table. Noelle was drawing a Christmas tree with a stupid looking Santa Claus. Berdly, next to Noelle, was drawing a muscular-looking bird that had a suspiciously similar face to his.
Then there was Kris, next to her, who guarded their sketchbook with their arms so that nearby onlookers could barely see what they were drawing. Susie peered over and Kris looked up at her, immediately closing their sketchbook.
“Dude, can I see?” Susie asked, pointing to the sketchbook.
“No,” Kris said.
“Kris pleaseeee,” she whined. Kris shook their head.
“I promise I won’t judge you man, just let me see!” she insisted.
Kris slowly set the sketchbook down on the table. “Fine,” they huffed, pulling Susie close by her arm and holding the sketchbook between them with their arm as a guard. Susie looked at the drawing, a dark scribble of shapes that seemed to form some kind of scary face with a creepy grin.
“That’s so emo, weirdo.” Susie pushed Kris’ shoulder playfully. Kris shut the book and pouted.
“You said you wouldn't judge me,” they mumbled.
“Sorryyy.” Susie slid back over to her usual seat. “It's actually really good. Still emo though,” she teased.
“Yours is gonna be emo too. You only draw stupid fighting and explosions,” Kris shot back.
“I do not!” she fumed.
Kris smirked. “Well, I’d like to see you try drawing something cute and sweet.”
Susie laughed. “That’ll be easy. Just wait!”
Stupid Kris. Of course she could draw something normal. It wasn’t even a challenge! Now she just had to decide what to draw.
She stared at the blank page. The blank page stared back.
Something cute, Susie thought. ‘Sweet’, Kris had also said. What was that supposed to mean? Like, flowers and stuff? Maybe like what Noelle was drawing? Certainly not what Berdly was drawing.
Maybe she should just draw Kris. It couldn't be that hard, right? Just some brown hair and a yellow and green sweater. That wasn't too bad. Susie, guarding her sketchbook in a similar manner to what Kris had returned to doing a moment ago, picked up the green pencil and began to draw.
Ten minutes passed, and it was NOT going well. It didn’t really look like Kris at all, more like some out-of-context blobs of color drawn by a 3-year-old.
She kept picking up different colors and instruments, but it seemed the more she worked on it, the worse it got. She sighed in frustration. There was no way she was showing this to Kris. Maybe it’d be easier to just take the loss and admit she couldn't draw anything ‘normal’. But she couldn't admit that. Kris would lord it over her for the rest of eternity.
She groaned. There was no good option. Susie had found that, in times in life where there is no good solution to a problem, the answer was to run from it.
So the second the bell for the end of class rang, she shoved the sketchbook in her backpack, making a run for it. Immediately Kris followed her, realizing she was going to hide the drawing. Susie ran down the hall, nearly hitting random students who were walking past, followed closely by Kris, also running. She made it to a single-stall bathroom, thinking she’d be safe, but when she reached to close the door behind her, Kris slipped in. They quickly turned and closed the door, barring the way out with their body as Susie stood flabbergasted, still clutching her sketchbook close to her chest.
“Lemme see,” Kris demanded.
Susie scoffed. “You know damn well I could push you away from that door in a second!”
“C’mon, Susie, I won’t judge you,” Kris imitated her with a mockingly sweet voice.
Susie clutched the book tighter. “No.”
In an instant, Kris lunged for the book and Susie pushed them aside with a shove of her hand, grabbing the door, swinging it open, and bolting down the hallway. Kris stood in awe for a second, then decided they’d have to use other forms of persuasion to see this drawing. One way or another, they would see it.
The two didn't see each other for the rest of the day until their last period class. Susie sat sulking at her desk, thinking about Kris' obnoxious desire to see her drawing and how horrible the actual drawing was. Kris sat at their desk about two feet away, stabbing their eraser with their pencil with their weird little half-smile.
Looking up and noticing Susie staring, they gave her a taunting smile and mouthed “S H O W M E”. Susie frowned and shook her head. Kris took out a piece of paper and began scribbling something in a tiny corner, ripping it off and handing it to Susie.
It read ‘Scaredy-cat’. Susie felt herself grow angry. She was not SCARED. It was just… embarrassing. She shot Kris an angry look then pointedly crumpled up their note. They only grinned wider, writing another. This was really starting to piss her off. When the final bell rang as they walked out of the classroom, Kris slipped Susie one last note. ‘Don’t be a BABY.”
That was it.
“Fine!!” Susie shouted. “I’ll show you!!” She grabbed Kris’ hand and dragged them all the way outside of school into the woodsy area overlooking the lake.
Gathering all her courage, she pulled out the sketchbook and held out the infamous page with the blocky, stupid, embarrassing drawing of Kris.
“It’s bad, I know,” Susie said, face hot with shame.
Kris said nothing in response for a couple seconds until their blank expression grew into a smirk.
“I’m cute and sweet?”
Susie’s face turned bright red. “W-what?!” she shouted.
“I said draw something cute and sweet,” Kris said coolly.
“I didn’t think about, uh..!” Susie hesitated.
“You drew me,” Kris grinned.
Susie slammed the sketchbook closed and put it behind her back. “That’s not what I meant!” she exclaimed.
“Hmmm, sure,” Kris teased. Susie huffed and crossed her arms, trying to hide her embarrassment.
“Whatever..” She looked at her shoes, kicking around some dirt. “Hey, I drew this. Now it's YOUR turn, dumbass.” Susie started to smile again. “You need to draw something cute and sweet!”
Kris rolled their eyes. “Whatever,” they said, clearly mimicking her.
“Hell yeah!” Susie laughed and slapped her hand on Kris’ back. “It’s gonna be fire.”
“If I choose to let you see it.” Kris smirked.
“You better!” Susie grabbed Kris’ hand and the two of them walked home together like always.
As they walked, Kris thought about Susie’s drawing and their new mission. Looking up at Susie, they laughed internally. They knew exactly what they were going to draw.