Sea Eyes(OPEN)

Was there anything Salica hated more than ballet shoes? Could they even be considered shoes? They covered her feet, sure, but it still hurt like hell when you tried to walk on gravel in them. Wasn't the point of shoes to keep your feet from getting cut up by the ground?

"At least this hill is grassy," she sighed, as she started up the side of the hill. It was a rather steep, though, and she couldn't see the top. That was why is surprised her so much to hear a shaking-sounding 'Hello?' from somewhere on top.

"Um, hi?" she called back, making her way up higher, towards the crest of the incline. A boy came into view as she climbed, and she was slightly puzzled at how absolutely terrified he looked. It wasn't like she was some heavy-weight muscle-clad career, come to beat him up or anything; in fact, she was quite the opposite! She was just a stringy girl straight out of dance class, come to climb down the cliff on the other side of this hill to the secret little beach at the bottom. But then again, perhaps he was just surprised, like she had been. “I didn’t realize anyone else was up here. Sorry for, uh, scaring you.”

Now that she really took a good look at this guy, she was sure she’d seen him somewhere before. Probably at school, he looked to be about her age. But then again, blonde hair and green eyes weren’t an uncommon sight in District 4.

Salica raised an eyebrow at this boy, who was quite obviously trying to pull himself together. She wasn't used to being around such skittish people; most of the people she usually hung out with were alot like her, blunt and outgoing, and perhaps a little on the obnoxious side. This boy, Christopher, seemed so far from any of that, it wasn't even funny.

"Well, since you introduced yourself so nicely, I guess I should do the same. I'm Sali-" she stopped herself before she could say her whole name; she hadn't realized she'd been about to give it away. "Er, Sal. Sal Howard. And it's nice to meet you, Chris." She didn't think he'd been keen on shaking hands, so she didn't offer, but instead threw one of her toothy smiles at him. She was about to turn away, back towards the cliff she'd initially come to climb down, because Christopher didn't seem like the kind of kid who liked to stand around talking with strangers, until she spotted the canvas under his arm. Salica had never really been into painting herself (she was terrible at anything that had to do with paint) but it always sort of amazed her how other people could take a blank canvas and create something so beautiful.

"Whoa, hey, did you paint this?" she asked, pointing to the canvas. She tipped her head sideways to get a better look. "You painted that just now, didn't you? That's amazing!"

There was no denying it, this guy was good. He seemed shy as hell but he was a good painter. Salica had never known any artists before; she'd always thought that artists were crazy, spontanious people with paint smudges and aprons, which was clearly not the truth. The only color on Christopher's face was the blush he wore from her compliment.

"I'm serious," she said, "you could probably make money off a talent like this!" She handed the canvas back to him, her attention only slightly diverted by the noisy flock of birds nearby. What were those, ravens? She was used to seeing seaguls and albatroses, but ravens? That was certainly something out of the ordinary. "Sorry I snatched that from you," she said, turning back. "I guess I get a little over-excited sometimes."

When Salica had left the dance studio, the sky had been decently clear, the sun had even been out earlier! But as she looked at the sky now, the sun had disapeared behind fast-moving, dark clouds, and she could feel the wind starting to pick up. "Oh, crap; you don't think it's gonna rain, do you?" she asked, right as a large raindrop landed squarely on her nose.