Chapter 5

Darcy squeezed her fists into tight little balls as she turned to face Josh. She watched the others move out of earshot before letting her anger out.

"What the hell was that?" she hissed, trying not to make a scene. "I'm grateful you lied for me but there's no need to be a dick."

"Oh," Josh scoffed. "Don't pretend you didn't like it. You're such a bad liar."

Blood rushed to Darcy's cheeks as she tried to summon a response—some counterpoint to argue—but the simple fact was... he was right. She had liked his touch. What she didn't like was his sneering face as he looked down his nose at her, as if she were a simple and worthless creature. Something to be used and made fun of.

Unable to find the words to explain this without seeming pathetic, she shook her head, feigning indignance as she slipped away from him and stormed away to chase the others to the next class. 

The design room smelt like glue and paint-thinner; the kinds of chemicals that would either get you high or give you a headache if you breathed them in for too long. The teacher looked like she was suffering from the latter, rubbing her bandana encased temple as she shuffled around the benches and grabbed a metal pole.

"I'm gonna get some of these windows open," she said to Darcy, wafting herself with her hand. 

Darcy smiled at the woman, unsure if she should introduce herself. With bright green hair, red lipstick, and a yellow bandana the woman was a glaring clash of bright colours. Her round face beamed a smile as she put the window pole down, and Darcy knew straight away she was going to like this woman.

"We are just starting to create our designs, but since you're late you have a little bit of catching up to do. But no worries, we will make sure you get there," the woman said. 

"Oh," she offered a small and chubby hand. "I'm Hannah."

"Darcy," Darcy said, shaking the woman's hand. Her mind dredged up some saying about handshakes—having a limp handshake was about the worst thing in the world according to someone in history. 

'That's only for job interviews,' she scolded her brain, but still did her best to not let her hand feel like a limp piece of asparagus.

"We are also doing group projects, so it's great you turned up," the woman went on. "Even though Josh was happy to do his alone, I'm sure you'll appreciate the help, right Josh?" 

"Great," Josh said in a flat voice, emanating zero enthusiasm. "Whatever. I'll fill her in on the details later."

The smirk on his face as he said, 'fill her in,' made her teeth clash together and her eyes narrow.

'Who does he think he is?' she wondered.

As the teacher gave her the brief and resources, Darcy deliberately sat near Ryan. He looked over and offered to help her out if she needed anything, but aside from that, he kept to himself. He barely even looked at her.

"He's cute, right?" Angela whispered, sliding up beside her and pulling her book out of her hands to snoop on her designs.

"Who?" Darcy asked, feigning ignorance.

Angela tutted and rolled her eyes. "He's just not very confident."

She did her best not to stare at him, not wanting him to know he was the topic of their conversation. 

"But why... he's so..."

"Cute," Angela finished for her. "He lost lots of weight not long ago. He was bullied in school, and I think it will be a while before he realises how amazing he looks these days."

Darcy swallowed the lump in her throat as she thought about the overweight kid she used to pick on. The names she used to call him circled her brain, whispering in cold voices. Oddly, that whispering voice sounded a lot like her mothers. Her mum was always putting down people she considered to be overweight. The phrase, ‘big fat waste of space,’ was her mother’s top tier insult.

‘And I’m the same as her,’ Darcy realised. 'I'm a bad person.'

"I mean, obviously I have Dean, but... I can look," Angela said and laughed. 

"Dean?" Darcy asked.

"My BAE," Angela cooed, pulling out her phone to show a picture.

"Cute," Darcy said, looking at the pair. "You're a cute couple."

"You and Ryan would be a cute couple too," Angela said. "I'm a bit of a serial matchmaker."

"Oh, no," Darcy shook her head, arguing weakly. If Angela wanted to set her up with Ryan, she wasn't going to put up too much resistance. In fact, she could probably do with the help considering how shy he was around her.

When she looked over him his face was creased in concentration with his tongue poking out just slightly. He glanced up, looked embarrassed for a moment before smiling at the pair of girls. 

"I'm really bad at this fiddly stuff," he said, edging closer to them and putting an end to their discussion. "I don't know why I made such a complex design."

He was creating a bracelet with a pattern of gems in blues and greens. If it wasn't designed for a woman, it would be perfect for him—bringing out the colour of his eyes.

The brief was to design a piece of jewellery with influences from another culture. Looking through the travel books and guides, Darcy wasn't sure what to create.

'And I'm already behind,' she thought. 

Eventually, she decided to go with a Chinese design—choosing a pattern with a koi carp and using scales as the background. She knew her drawing of the bracelet would look more impressive than the finished object. They always did.

"That's great," Hannah beamed as she got to work. "See, you've almost caught up. I have total faith in you."

These words made Darcy smile though they pulled at her insides. It occurred to her that her parents had never said anything similar. They'd both been so disappointed when she'd picked Art and Design over Maths. 

"But you aced further Maths. You got an A star!" her mother had cried. "Why on Earth would you want to piddle about with doodles for the next three years when you have such an amazing mind?"

So far, Darcy didn't regret her choice. If she ever decided that accountancy was her one true passion, she could always take another course in the future. 

By the time the double lesson was up she had completed all of her planning, including a mood board, and had just started creating the template for her piece.

As the others were saying goodbye, she asked Josh about the group project.

"We have to research and give a talk on one of the famous designers from the list we were given. I've already chosen Rei Kawakubo," he told her.

Darcy nodded as though she knew who that was, feeling ashamed that she didn’t. She was better at the practical side—drawing and coming up with designs. The theory side was just a necessary evil she had to endure.

"So... when do you want to erm... work on it?" she asked, assuming they would be doing it together.

"Later," he said. "I'll send you what I have over messenger, and you can use it to write the talk. Okay?"

"Shouldn't we... meet in the library and do it together?" she asked, frowning.

"Ugh." Josh screwed up his face. "Don't mistake my kindness earlier for forgiveness. I don't like you and I don't particularly want to spend any more time with you than is absolutely necessary, so we'll do it over messenger as I just said."

The words were spoken gently but blew through her like the frosty debris of an avalanche. She nodded dully before he turned and walked away, left mute by his verbal battering. 

"Well... I guess he still hates me," Darcy muttered to herself. “This sucks.”

$ Chapter