What I'm Working On

PAGE SEVEN(Four panels)

PANEL ONE: Big panel, closer on Cherry, we can see her from the front now. She is astonishingly beautiful, with slightly wild hair that almost looks like fire when the light hits it (which is a bit of foreshadowing; it will eventually be revealed that she can actually create and control fire). She has big green eyes, and she looks impossibly sweet. Her body is average; she's not stick thin, nor does she sport a giant chest. She's the ultimate girl next door.

CAPTION: Cherry Ashford was, by general consensus of nearly every last person at the Farraday Academy, the most breathtakingly gorgeous girl to ever walk the halls.

CAPTION: Her features were sharp and soft in turn, long dark hair framing her face like liquid ruby, eyes of jungle flora and a body that was modest in its perfection.

PANEL TWO: Close on Marcus, his chin resting on folded arms, gazing at her over his book. We're looking straight on from his eye level.

CAPTION: However, even the careful and categorical appraisal of her individual features (such lists had been compiled with such frequency that it may as well have been a class) did little to illustrate what truly made her special.

PANEL THREE: Cherry from the side, reading her book.

CAPTION: It was her aura, the way she carried herself, that elevated her to a level beyond normal beauty. She was sweet but quiet, unassuming in a way that made her mysterious and unknowable.

PANEL FOUR: Cherry walking down one of the school's halls. Boys are leaning against lockers, gazing longingly, perhaps even on their knees in reverence.

CAPTION: It went without saying that she drove every boy in the school mad, though most had long since given up the idea that she would grace them with her presence for more than a passing second. She had never been known to date anyone at the school in her two years there.



PAGE EIGHT (Four panels)

PANEL ONE: Several girls seated around a table. They're all gossiping, looking interested but agitated. They're talking about Cherry.

CAPTION: The female population of the school had initially formed a torrent of jealous rage against her, but it gradually tapered off.

CAPTION: Soon she faded into obscurity, an object of beauty that existed always in the background, a flower that unobtrusively made the entire garden more vibrant.

PANEL TWO: Marcus walking through a busy hall. It's during classes, so everyone's in the school uniform. We're facing him at eye level, so we can see from his perspective how short he is. The other kids are somewhat blurred or featureless as well. We're seeing his world, one he's basically alone in.

CAPTION: Marcus Ellenbee was not much different from Cherry, if her meteoric rise to an almost mythological status was completely discounted.

CAPTION: Rather, from the moment he entered the academy, he had seemed to blend smoothly into the wallpaper, never drawing much attention and not wanting for it.

PANEL THREE: Marcus is in the library, reading a huge old book. Behind him, we can see some other guys that are pointing and laughing, mocking him just loud enough to hear.

CAPTION: The sons and daughters of the rich and brilliant were more inclined towards cerebral warfare than they were locker stuffing and book scattering.

PANEL FOUR: The same angle, Marcus is now there alone and we can see that it's nighttime. He's gotten through a good chunk of the book.

CAPTION: In the end, Marcus found it far easier to ignore, and so he lived out his days in relative peace with some acquaintances but no close friends.

CAPTION: There seemed to be an invisible wall separating him from his fellow students, something that disabled the two parties from ever connecting on a meaningful level.