58 New Friend

Without waiting any longer, Greyson walked over to the painting exam station. He continued looking around wondering what the level was like. To his surprise, the paintings were much more high level than he previously assumed. The amount of talent in the painting association was surprisingly high.

"Hey~Grey, looks like you also paint?" A young girl's voice spoke out.

Feeling a chill down his spine, Greyson recognized the owner of the voice right away. Slightly scowling, he forced himself to smile politely before turning around.

"Ah, Natalia, what a surprise..." He feigned happiness as much as he could.

"Hmmm... well that's no fun, I was hoping you would be a bit more surprised." Natalia's mouth formed a cute pout which caught the attention of the surrounding boys. Uncomfortable with the attention, Greyson tried to speak a few words politely before walking away. Only, to his chagrin, she continued to follow.

"Yes, do you need something from me?" He finally asked while turning to face her again.

"What can't a walk with you? I want to be friends, that's what. Am I not allowed? Do you hate me?" With glittering tears in her eyes, Natalia gave him her killer puppy dog look. The crowd suddenly looked at Greyson with envy and hate. However, unbeknownst to the crowd, Greyson could clearly see the evil mischievous look in her eyes behind the feigned sadness. How many times had he also taken advantage of his looks and given this "pity me" expression. He wasn't falling for it. She was obviously trying to purposefully give him a hard time, but he was not going to let her get away with it that easily.

"Yes, I don't like you nor do I want to be friends with you. Why, can't I feel that way? Are you forcing me to become your friend? You've been following me around all day, could it be that you have developed some sort of obsession with me?" Shooting back sharp rhetorical questions, Greyson looked back at her with a knowing look. Stunned, Natalia forgot to keep the pitiful expression and the tears quickly dried while her cute expression cracked slightly.

"Urk... No, how could that be? I just thought we would get along, but if that's how you feel then it's fine. Hohohoho, well I will see you around I guess." She continued smiling gracefully, but if one looked closely they could see her gritting her teeth in hate. Forcing a laugh out, she waved goodbye and walked out of sight.

That brat! That brat! THAT STUPID JERK! Once she was away from the crowd, Natalia started stomping her feet angrily after suffering such a loss. She would for sure get him back...

...

Slightly sensing her irritation, Greyson was inwardly cracking up. Hmph! Serves her right, that entitled princess! How could he not know that she has been continually giving him a hard time? She obviously knows all about her fans that would envy him to death for having caught her attention. At the same time, though, the only reason he came off so aggressively was because he could also see that she wasn't actually that bad of a person. Otherwise, she would have tried using her background to intimidate him like all the other annoying noble children.

"Uhm... You... you shouldn't have spoken to her like that... You're going to get in trouble with those other noble children who like her." A timid voice suddenly spoke up behind him. The kid's volume was barely enough for Greyson to hear him, so the rest didn't notice him. Turning around, Greyson locked eyes with a jumpy looking child. Looking closely, the child was around ten probably. He was dressed in rather simple clothes compared to the gaudy nobles that matched his slightly introverted posture. The atmosphere around him was anything but threatening or arrogant like normal geniuses.

"It's probably fine. She is not as bad as the others when it comes to retaliating her grievances. If anything it has become a little game between us to get one over on the other." Smiling happily, Greyson explained a little. Normally he wouldn't bother, but he had a good first impression of this boy. He had said something just in case Greyson was not aware of the situation and looked worried, most people would just watch while laughing at other's misfortune.

"O-okay, well, if you say so..." Hearing Greyson's words, the young boy just nodded while still looking uneasy.

"What's your name?" Curious towards this younger talented child, Greyson couldn't help but keep the conversation going.

"N-name? Ronan Whitefield. And you?" Ronan stuttered nervously.

"Greyson. Just Greyson, no last name. Nice to meet you."

"Uh ye-yes, nice to meet you too!" Finally smiling a bit, Ronan's face lit up. He was a rather good-looking boy with black hair and grey eyes, but he was pale and scrawny like someone who had not gone out of the house a lot.

"Are you a painter, as well?" Greyson asked.

"Yes, I am. I assume you are a painter, too then?"

"Yes! How long have you been learning?"

"Well my parents are both famous painters, so they have been teaching me to paint since I was born. How about you?"

"Me? Well honestly, I started learning three years ago."

"Oh, I see, three years... Wait, what?! Three years? Are you sure you want to take this exam, then? Oh, I don't mean to insult you, it's just that this exam is really hard to pass without years of experience. Most of these kids have been learning since birth until now." After slightly freaking out, Ronan quickly backtracked after realizing how rude his words sounded. Greyson, however, had taken no offense. He knew that Ronan hadn't meant to disparage him. Three years truly was not a lot of time to claim to have learned something. This was another reason that Greyson felt slightly worried about taking the painting and music exams. But, he rarely sincerely challenges himself so he wanted to put himself in a less certain situation to get a handle of his skill level compared to the other talented people of his generation. Maybe he won't get first, but he was still fairly confident he would at least pass.

"Three years? What an embarrassment. A mutt like you should just keep your head down and quietly pass the exam without trying to overreach yourself. What could you possible understand about painting in that short of a time. You should just spare yourself the shame and get lost." One of the kids near Ronan and Greyson overheard their conversation and spoke out with clear disdain on his face.

"You! You shouldn't say things like that!" Turning slightly red, Ronan still put effort into raising his voice to sound tough. However, he still came off very weak. The effort, though, was very appreciated as Greyson felt comforted to see someone defending him. He quietly smiled before his face turned completely cold as he glared at the boy who had spoken up earlier.

"What are you looking at?" The boy sneered.

"At the idiot who is talking to himself like some mental case." Greyson slowly spoke.

"What do you mean, I'm obviously speaking to you!"

"Oh? If I remember correctly, no one was speaking to you. Isn't that right, Ronan?"

"Huh? Oh, yes!"

"So it appears you just suddenly spoke out and barged into someone else's conversation. Were you feeling lonely since no one was bothering to speak to you, so you felt inclined to force your way in? You should mind your own business if that's the case. Just because you don't have enough talent to pass the exam after only learning for three years does not mean that everyone else is as incompetent as you."

"What did you say?! Incompetent?! Well then why don't we go up and take the exam together? If I make a better painting, you have to kneel down and apologize!"

"No, thanks."

"Hmph! You're just a coward who is all bark and no bite. Scared you will lose and embarrass yourself?"

"How many years have you been learning to paint?" Greyson suddenly changed the subject.

"8 years! Why?"

"So you have been learning to paint for 5 more years than me and yet you want to have a competition? How ridiculous. Are you so untalented that you need to compete with people that much more inexperienced than you to win? Well, sorry, but I don't have time to waste with trash like you."

"Trash?! YOU..."

"Ronan, let's just go. It's our turn to take the exam anyways." Without even waiting for the other boy to finish, Greyson started walking away since the last batch of testers had finished.

"Uh, ok-okay." Still in shock over the verbal battle which just occurred, Ronan was slightly dazed as he followed Greyson over.

"Hey, wait, you..." Feeling completely humiliated, the boy angrily followed as well.

Ronan and Greyson sat next to each other with a canvas placed in front of them while the other boy sat behind them.

"Well let's just see how good you are to act so arrogantly!" He snorted.

...

"Greyson, will it be okay?" Ronan whispered over.

"What? Him? Yeah, it's fine. I don't really care about those kinds of annoying people anyways."

Before Ronan could get another word in, the head examiner started to speak about the exam topic and rules.

"Ahem! Using the tools that are provided in front of you, we want you to paint according to what comes to mind when thinking of the topic which will be revealed. The judges will look at your painting after a time limit of two hours. Obviously this is barely any time since we are restricted by the exam allotted time and amount of people who need to be tested, so the topic will be simple and it's not expected to be perfection. We are grading more from the feeling we receive from it. Can your painting inspire us? That is how we will be grading."

"The topic will be 'Peace.' You may begin." He ended while flipping over a time keeper.

As he finished speaking, Ronan finally concentrated and the entire atmosphere around him changed. From the airy and shy kid, he changed into a serious and solemn demeanor once he picked up the brush. Next to him, Greyson witnessed and felt this abrupt change and started to look forward to the end result.

"It seems he is a lot more talented then he lets on." Happy in the face a competition, Greyson started concentrating as well. Peace... What would be good to paint? He thought about when he felt most at peace and the answer came to him surprisingly fast. When he was in meditation, all other things on his mind disappear and he can only breathe along with the world. It is an inexplicable feeling of returning to nature. But, how would he paint that? After a moment's hesitation, Greyson suddenly began moving while shocking the other contestants around him as he splattered black paint all over the blank canvas until it was all completely black. Although the other contestant were shaking their heads not knowing what Greyson was up to, he continued concentrating. Soon he picked up the seven colors of the elements and creating sparkling dots all over the now black canvas. At first the dots were so tiny that it would be impossible for others to understand what they mean, but as time kept ticking on closer and closer to the two hour mark, a large path began to take form. One long curvy strip across the canvas that was made from tiny dots of the seven colors of Greyson's elements. He wanted to draw what he saw while he meditated which was a stream of the elements coming into his body.

As the surrounding people and the judges continued to look, the more they were amazed. It was an extremely beautiful yet tranquil painting. Simple, yet charming. Just a wave of color in the night sky, however, they really did feel absorbed and at peace looking at the simplicity of the painting. What a way to encompass the topic! Even the head examiner was nodding his head along seemingly impressed. Greyson finished a little early as his painting was not extremely difficult, the only reason it took longer was the heart that he was trying to put into his painting that would convey the peace he was drawing. He could see the nods of approval and took a breath with relief. Finally finished, he felt a weight off his shoulders and took the time to look over at Ronan's drawing. The minute he laid eyes on the painting next to him, he could not take them back.

Noticing Greyson's attention to his neighbor's painting, everyone else was naturally drawn over as well. More and more people began looking in Ronan's direction before the head examiner finally yelled.

"Stop, time is finished!" With his words, Ronan finally placed down the brush leaving his masterpiece out in the open.

It was simple. Just a cottage with a tiny plot of farmland behind it. A little run down but just so warming to look at. His painting was so life-like that Greyson could almost swear the tall grass plains around the house were swaying in the wind. It was breath-taking.

At this point, Greyson couldn't help but feel ashamed of his own incompetence. He had lost out in painting ability. However, it was less upsetting and more humbling as Greyson liked Ronan and appreciated his talent. His ability to breathe life into his paintings was amazing, Greyson was still stuck in the canvas. Others would look at his painting and feel the emotion, however, that was it. They still saw the painting as just a picture. Ronan's paintings gave one the feeling of stepping into the scene that they have drawn.

"Ronan, it's amazing! I have really been humbled by your ability." Greyson remarked smiling.

"Oh no, I'm not that good. I should be at this point thinking of how much time my parents spent teaching me. You have only been learning three years and you already can paint at this level, you will soon catch up to me." Ronan looked flustered by the compliments and denied them modestly.

"Me? I will most likely never catch up."

"Huh? Why would you think that?"

"Because I am not dedicated enough. I have too many interests and other things to learn and do other than concentrate on painting. I think this is why I will probably never be able to catch up to the you who will focus solely on improving your painting ability."

Greyson knew best that he split too much time between the three occupations to overtake Ronan in painting. He was not saying he wouldn't improve, he would just not improve as fast as Ronan was assuming.