Matthew looked down at his sketch pad for what he thought was just a few seconds, because the next time he looked up at the fountain, someone was sitting in the edge. He stared at the girl, bent over her own notebook and writing. He watched her hair billow around her with the small breeze that blew every few seconds, and strangely he found himself turning to a clean page. He hardly drew people, they were difficult and nothing like buildings and landscapes, but his pencil slid along the page with ease as he drew her face, the slope of her nose, the curve of her lips, and her billowing hair around her.

Matthew stared down at his sketchbook, surprised at how well he'd done on the drawing, but as he stared at the face on the page, he felt something stir in his chest that had him standing up and walking over to her. He hesitated though a few steps away from her, looking around the area before stopping in front of her. "Um. Hi." He said, feeling suddenly nervous, though he wasn't sure why. It could be due to the fact that he was a complete stranger who just drew her for no reason other than she struck him the need to, but some women might find that a little creepy.

Matthew felt like it took ages for her to respond to him, figuring she was deep in thought with whatever she was working on, though he felt awkward waiting. He smiled when she finally looked up at him and said hi. "Hi, sorry to bother you," He said, opening his sketchbook and ripping the page he'd just drawn out of it. "Just, wanted to give you this." he said softly, worried she'd look at his drawing of her and freak out.

Matthew wasn't sure if she was being genuine in her compliments, but he gave her a small smile, knowing he was pretty proud of it. "Sorry if it's totally creepy of me to draw you, it was kind of hard not to draw a gorgeous girl." He felt his face flushed a little, but he kept his eyes on her face, knowing that he was being genuine, she was beautiful, and he'd met a lot of women around the world.

Matthew felt awkward, mostly because he wasn't sure how to respond, since this was the first time he'd given his art away. "You're welcome, I’m glad you don't think it's creepy." He chuckled, though held his breath when she said there was one problem, wondering if she was going to start screaming to get away from her. "Ah, see. This is the first piece I've given to someone other than my mom so, forgot to sign it." most of his art pieces were just practice, learning the lines of buildings, so there wasn't a point to signing it, but he took the paper back from her and signed it using his sketchbook. "Here you go." he held it back out to her, hoping his signature didn't look stupid.

Matthew straightened a little when se said it was sweet, wondering if he could have tried this with other girls before, though he was still shocked that the drawing came out so well. He took her hand and shook it, noting where she had placed her new art piece. "Nice to meet you," He asked, looking her over quickly, "Are you going to Mountain Ridge perhaps?" he asked, thinking she was high school age, maybe even his grade.

Matthew perked up a little when she said she was a Senior, "So I'm not the only Senior starting out their last year in a different school," He chuckled, knowing he had a new school every two years for the past ten years, so he was used to being the new kid. "Do you want to join me at the ice cream shop? The seats are a little more comfortable." He suggested as he pointed over to the table he had been at when he first arrived.

“Ah, well. Never mind then,” Matthew laughed nervously, though he knew one of his roommates was also a new Senior too, he had slightly hoped they wouldn’t be the only two. “But that means you can tell me the ins and outs of the school.” He joked, though hoped she had some pointers for him since she’d been attending much longer. He took a seat at the table and placed his sketchbook down, not really feeling the desire to draw at the moment.

Matthew chuckled, "I guess you have a point, I should experience things on my own," he teased, though figured if there was something really bad to deal with at this school, she'd tell him. He stared at her when she talked about the Home Ec class, "Oh, that sounds… Fun." Part of him didn't hate the idea, thinking he'd actually learn something, but the other part of him was terrified of being up front of the class, especially when he didn't know anyone.

“Okay, but if there’s one chef I’d want to teach me, it would be Gordon Ramsey,” Matthew laughed, knowing he’d probably yell at him, call him an idiot sandwich, and fire him from the class, but he’d hope he’d learn at least the basics on cooking. He grimaced at the pudding note, “How can you fuck up pudding.” He of course only knew pudding from a package, but even that was hard to mess up.

(some good good – XD good good)

"There are definitely a lot of chefs out there to pick before deciding to go with Gordon Ramsey," Matthew remembered watching Iron Chef for hours with his grandma when they were visiting his grandparents one hot Florida summer. He felt like he was going to melt just like the food on the show. He shook his head, not needing to deal with sitting on the toilet all day, thinking a colon cleanse would just be the death of him instead of helpful, though a useful excuse would be nice. "I might grab one or two for test days." he joked, not really wanting to actually go through with the deal to get a day off of school, but with his mom he'd never been able to lie about being sick unless he had a fever or was actually vomiting. "Ah, yes. I have art, but it's with a Mr. Ruth?" he wondered if he should see if he could switch teachers, though he figured it was already too late.

Matthew chuckled awkwardly, looking down at his hands as he thought about his mother, over in Germany, taking care of the last of their things after the death of his father. He cleared his throat, glad for the topic change, "That's good to know, I was afraid he'd be the worst and I wouldn't be able to change classes." Though if Mr. Harts was the low bar kind of teacher, it might give him more time to draw what he wanted instead of class assignments. "Maybe I should have picked his class then, work on my art." He joked, knowing he'd need art classes to go into what he wanted for a career.

Matthew nodded his head, wondering how often he could take advantage of his daughters coming in to draw what he wanted. "Oh, I like to play and watch sports, um. Video games," He chuckled, knowing that sounded like the typical guy answer, but he liked other things too. "I'm also a huge Harry Potter nerd." he joked, even though he'd gone to Universal all dressed up.

"Ah, so you haven't been sucked in yet," Matthew chuckled, glad she'd read the books and he didn't have to convince her to like he had for people in the past. "What house were you sorted into?" he asked, always curious to find out, though he took a shot in the dark in his head and guessed Hufflepuff. He could be completely wrong and she could be in Slytherin, but she didn't come across as one to him.