Colin

“Hi Michael.”
“Oh, Rachel. Hi.”
“Have you got any fags?”
“Em. Yes. Here.”
“Great. Thanks. Are you going to college?”
“Yes. I was just getting ready.”
“Great. Are you getting the bus?”
“Yes. Yes, I was planning to.”
“Great. Let’s go.”
Rachel was from Wales. She looked like a hippy, but then so did I.
She was pretty, but in a way that made you thought nobody else would think she was pretty. Just me.
“Here comes the bus.”
“Oh. Michael!”
“What?”
“Can you lend me 20p?”
“Yeah. Sure. There you go.”
We got on the bus.
“Have you got another fag?”
“Yeah. Here.”
“Thanks. So. Have you met anyone nice at college yet?”
“ I don’t know. I met this one girl, but I think she’s a bit weird.”
“Really? Why?”
“Well we went to Planet X and she just completely freaked out.”
“Planet X? We’re going there on Friday. What’s it like?”
“It’s good.”
“Do you want to come with us?”
“Yeah. Okay. Who’s going?”
“Me and Jennifer and Dave.”
Dave was the guy whose name I couldn’t remember before. The mathematics guy.
We got off the bus and Rachel said, “ Well, I’ll see you later.”
“Yeah. Have a good day. What do you do in Fine Art anyway?”
“You seem to be able to do pretty much whatever you want. But I mostly just draw pictures of my family.”
“Yeah? Is that a picture of one of your family you’ve got there?”
“Yes. This is a picture of Colin.” She showed it to me.
“That’s a picture of a cat.”
“Yes. And here’s one of my mum. And here’s one of my dad. And here’s one of my brother.”
“They’re really good.”
“You know, I’m not that sure about doing Fine Art.”
“Really? Why? You seem to be pretty good at it.”
“Everyone else isn’t drawing pictures of things. I don’t really understand what they’re doing. They all talk about it, and it all sounds very impressive, but I don’t think I can fathom it. There’s this one guy who just picks things up off the street and then glues them together. When he talks about it, it all sounds very meaningful, but I don’t really get it. Do you think I’m stupid?”
“No. And I think that picture of Colin is brilliant.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Well, thanks Michael. I’ll see you later.”