"Mm..." Shadow nodded mournfully. "I almost forgot how luxurious it is not to have any parents to scold you...no offense to you. I just...I was not close with my parents."

Maria nodded some and laughed a bit. "No offense taken." She smiled before taking out a sketch book. It had art class written on it. It looked like a quarter of the pages were filled up already.

Shadow watched her, curiously. "A fan of art, as well?" It seemed he was also a fan. Other students were beginning to arrive, and more were heading into the classroom, along with the teacher.

Maria shrugged some. "I guess you can say that. I've just always been good at art." She slightly explained as she started flipping through the pages. Some of them were drawings of real people, but most of them were drawings of wolves, fairies, elves, and other supernatural creatures. "I find things that are strange the most fun to draw. Regular people are boring."

Shadow peered at the drawings as she flipped through them, eager to see if she had her interpretation of a vampire in there somewhere. "I can draw, if I put my mind to it...but I have issues focusing...so, I'm rarely able to stay on task."

Maria laughed a bit and stopped on an unfinished drawing. It looked like it was going to be of a person or something. So far she hadn't drawn a vampire. "If I'm bored than usually I can really focus and draw what ever pops into my head." She began working on the drawing. There was still ten minutes before class would start.

"Let's see..." Shadow mused. "What haven't you drawn yet? A demon? A fallen angel? ...A vampire?"

Maria laughed a bit. "I've actually drawn ten different demon looks in my other notebook. All the angels have a seperate note book too. I just started this notebook yesterday, and didn't give it a specific theme like I normally do." She concentrated on working a bit. "Though I have never drawn a vampire in any of my books. How one is suppose to look just hasn't really came to me."

Shadow inwardly grinned. "Well...I've always thought of them as elegant, intelligent creatures...rarely discovered, because they hide themselves so well..."

Maria laughed some "elegant beauties that hide within darkness, but possibly not of it." She hadn't thought about her words when she spoke them. It had more like she had just seen a painting and couldn't help but express her comment on it. The bell rang just then for class to begin, but Maria paid no attention to the teacher, she was suddenly very engrossed in her drawing.

Shadow half-paid attention to the teacher and half-daydreamed. He was already bored with this teacher--she had a very droning voice.

The teacher didn't even bother with trying to get Maria's attention. She had known that Maria, when focused on art, could not be pulled away from it. It seemed to Maria that time just flew by while she drew. Soon her drawing was that of a male with long black hair according to her shading. He was wearing a mixture of old fashion and new clothes. He appeared to be tall and thing, with a paler complexion. His eyes were drawn so that they seemed to hold ancient wisdom in it, but along with that was sadness. The guy was slightly smiling though, with one fang showing. In the back ground, was a night scene. Though in the distance there was a camp fire and other people in the forest that his guy was in. The moon was also full in her drawing, reflecting off the lake in the distance.

Shadow watched her absently, noting things that were dead on the mark and things that were far too untrue. Being a vampire himself, he was an expert on his own kind...

Maria soon finished the picture. She couldn't help but look over at Shadow then. "What do you think?" Carefully she slid the sketch book closer to him so he could have a better look. One thing that Maria probably should have noticed was that her one friend that was in this class, currently wasn't.

Shadow studied it, then smiled. He nodded, pushing it back to her. "The hair should have a softer, silkier look, from what I've gathered. But it is perfect..." His words were a soft whisper.

Maria tilted her head a bit at his suggestion. "True. It would make sense to match with elegance." She began to fix the hair when there was suddenly a loud noise coming from the parking lot. It sounded like a bomb had gone off. "All students report to the gym IMMEDIATELY" came the principle's voice over the loud speaker. Maria picked up her stuff before standing up to walk out of the class room with the rest of the class. "I wonder what that was......."

"I hope your friends haven't tried anything...especially on my car," Shadow hummed as he stood up, slinging his bag over his shoulder. "I have security cameras on the rearview and side mirrors...they would be incriminated immediately..."

Maria frowned some as she followed the rest of the class out the door, staying by Shadow. "And if the car was all burnt up? What good would camera's be?"

Shadow chuckled. "Custom Jaguars are interesting cars. If the engine blows up, the body of the car stays intact, for the most part. If the bottom of it blows up, the rest of it stays mostly intact. The body of the car is mostly indestructible, though the paint may have to be replaced. I have some lesser-quality cameras inside...tiny ones. There's one on the dashboard...near each window...on the rearview mirror...and there are two outside, on the side mirrors. I saved up to install them two years ago, when my car was broken into and my radio was stolen."

Maria looked a bit fascinated. "I didn't know that they made cars like that." They were almost to the gym when two more explosions were heard. Maria flinched some at the noise and most students began to panic.

Shadow seemed perfectly calm, and he stretched. "Perhaps you should check the parking lot cameras?" he suggested idly to some of the teachers standing by. "Now that would be an intelligent idea..."

The teachers merely shook their heads and worked on trying to keep the students calm. Maria walked into the gym and sat down along the wall. "It's the job of the principle and other supervisors to investigate things while the teachers watch the kids and try to keep things calm."

Shadow shrugged, yawning. "I still say they should have all the staff look into it..."

Maria shook her head some. "and let the students panic and roam free? Or even crowding around the scene and another bomb goes off? I doubt that would be the smartest idea."

Shadow chuckled. "No, no...I meant push all the students into the gym or auditorium, first...lock the doors. Then investigate..."