At the end of the class, Julie rushed over to the window to get her shirt. It had dried by then and Julie was overjoyed to finally have some cover. She couldn't quite tell, but it looked to her like her new friends had prevented her shirt from being stained. She put it on before thanking Mary and Serena. "Hey, what's your next class? Serena asked. "Uh, I have art class next with Ms. Schiwolski." Julie replied.
The girls looked at each other. "Really?! Us TOO! haha, we're going to be besties." They giggled. Julie smiled. "Wow, I've been so unlucky, but at least maybe I'm starting off new with some new friends." Serena and Mary giggled for a different reason. They didn't even have art this semester, but they knew Ms. Schiwolski had terrible eyesight and frequently lost her glasses. That didn't impact things too badly though because Ms. Schiwolski believed in a free art. She believed in letting students work with whatever medium they felt most comfortable with. As such, she was super lax with grading. She was the the kind that played music during class that was like buddhist yogi flute stuff, with the running of a creek or rain in the background.
The classroom was filling when they arrived. On the way in, several students looked at Julie quizically, or stiffled a nervous giggle to see Serena, or Mary do a silent 'shhhh' motion with their finger, so they didn't say anything. As a result, Julie felt as though maybe she hadn't been spotted yet. True to form, Ms. Schiwolski was perched on her desk, squatting down and working a pottery wheel like an old Babushka. Her glasses were off, which was just as well because her eyes were closed. "Welcome class!" She started after a moment, eyes still closed. "Welcome to Art. I am your teacher, as you are mine. We will not bother with things such as names, which define us. Here in this class, we will let our art define us. Over the quarter we will..." Julie listened attentively from where they had sat, against the back wall with the drying racks nearby.
As she did so, Mary and Serena whispered quietly to each other, looking over Julie's outfit and deciding how they were going to do this.
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