Art Class 

 ‘...The bell rang, its noise echoing off the school halls and spilling into the classrooms, signalling to its hungry occupants that it was indeed time for lunch. Action erupted in the classroom, the children eager to grab their lunches, trade moshi monster cards and pick on those they deem not as cool. However, all movement ceased when a loud, booming voice cut through the noise - ‘The bell does not dismiss you, I dismiss you!’ the Art Teacher cried. Then, it was still for a beat - intense eyes boring into the teacher, awaiting the signal. ‘Okay’ she simply said and with that, the commotion resumed - kids crawling over and under one another, grabbing for whatever slightly resembled their own bags and pouring out into the hallway. As the last of the children filed out and the hubbub died, young Tom just simply went over to the scattered coats and rogue shoes and plucked his own spider-man lunch box up - wandering back over to his seat by the window and propping open his tin. ‘Are you sure you don’t want to go and eat with the other kids?’ the Teacher asked, grabbing her own coat and lunch box, already halfway out the door. But Tom just shook his head, eager for the Teacher to leave and for him to get some peace and quiet. ‘Alright then’ she sighed, walking out of the classroom. The boy let out a big breath, back with his own company at last. He peered into his box and a smile spread across his face at what he saw - cucumber sandwiches, with no butter, and squished together so much that it was paper thin - his favourite. He gazed out the window, watching the other children chatter and chase one another. Tom found it quite hard to talk to the other kids, he often found himself with nothing to say - or didn’t think the others would find what he did say, interesting. Although he wondered why this was, for the most part he was quite happy on his own. He preferred the quiet and calmness of the art room, a vast difference from the chaos outside. Tom finished his lunch and popped his box back in his bag. Afterwards, he found himself walking over to the big metal almost clothes-horse-like contraption that held all of their artwork. He found his own at the back, shifting the others so they weren’t lying on top of his. He was proud of his work, he didn’t want any of the others to touch his and smoosh it all. Tom felt he had improved with his art, this time, he had painted a castle with a big ring of water around it and he was definitely going to put it on his bedroom wall when he got home. Tom loved art, it was his favourite subject in fact. Although he felt he wasn’t particularly good at any of the other subjects they taught, he always looked forward to art class, feeling more himself when he was here, creating. Tom sat back on his seat, pulling out his latest read - Percy Jackson, which he had just gotten from the library and was already halfway through it! However, something caught Tom’s eye. Out of the window, he saw two young boys - from his class, he realised, they were exchanging cards of some kind, laughing and pushing each other. Tom felt something in his chest that he didn’t like, it felt like it was being squeezed, he tried to ignore it and continued watching the boys - and a thought popped into his head, one he had never thought of before. Perhaps he might like someone, a friend, maybe, to talk about books with, or maybe they could just sit in silence and read together. Tom contemplated this and for the first time, he realised, he possibly felt a bit lonely…’