#human!penwright

I drew/wrote some hard, harsh dialogue with ickle and mudpie tonight so I wanted to relax before bed by drawing Ickle after she decides to be more honest with herself and others. Li'l Penwright and ickle at the bottom there

"Hmm.." a low hum escaped from the young Latina girl's nose as she nibbled her pinky and stared a few seats down at the new kid who had recently transferred into her economics class. He had a taste like Christmas; specifically like a charred log on a fire, cinnamon, and a hint of peppermint. She had originally thought he tasted like fall, but when some members of the football team tried roughing him up and he defiantly stood his ground and sworn to fetch the nearest teacher, his subtle peppermint flavor came out strong and stinging. She couldn't get enough of it. Maybe-- "Nicole?" She snapped her eyes back to the teacher. Theirs flashed to the new kid. They smiled slightly, and Nicole flushed pink in the ears. They saw. "Yes, ma'am?" "What happens to unemployment when the federal budget is down?" Nicole peered at the board and back at her book, turned to the chapter on Inflation. The diagram on the board showed a roughly-drawn graph with two lines, both similar in trajectory and pattern. She squinted through her frames and gave a sheepish reply. "It goes...up?" Makes sense, less money we have, the less companies will risk hiring new people, right? Plus when things weren't going well at the shop dad had to lay off some people... It was a guesstimate, but it looks like she was right. The teacher turned back to the board and wrote more on the subject. "That's right--next person, read the next paragraph." As her classmate continued the reading, Nicole felt a pair of eyes on her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the new kid looking at her, and she couldn't help but look back. For a tiny moment she felt her heart flutter from the eye contact: he had deep blue eyes, the softer twin to her own turquoise blues. Her eyes quickly took in his features: jet black hair, with some strands sticking to his forehead like he had sweat them stuck in PE, glasses, angular face, and thin lips. She touched her lips with her pinky again before her eyes met his again. Her internal clock went off, and she looked away sheepishly, visibly apologizing for the unexpected intimacy. Offering an apologetic smile, she looked back and noticed he was smiling a bit himself, and his posture opened slightly. For the rest of the class she kept feeling like she was being looked at, but every time she looked over at him, he was looking up at the professor. It drove her nuts, and she apologized internally to her teacher. Economics is important to know, but it was hard to focus when someone who tasted like your favorite holiday was sitting so close, and had such a cute smile.