The Almost Apocalypse

"Hey! Can you lend me a hand?" A girl's voice called out, startling me from my dark thoughts. I jerked my head up, my fingers loosening on the trigger of the gun hidden in my pocket. I met eyes with a red haired girl, and then looked behind me when I realized she was staring in my direction.
"Yah, you in the hoodie. A hand please?" She called. I frowned, realizing that I was the only one currently in a hoodie. I reached up pulling said hood further over my eyes and ambled forward.
"Whadoyouneed?" I mumbled. Seriously? Why did this random girl pick today of all days to notice me? No one ever noticed me in a positive way. Anger flicked through me as my hand tightened on the trigger once more. Had I just stupidly walked into a trap? Even after all this time? What was it going to be? A slushie down my back? A trip down the stairs?
"Your hand of course." She said like it was obvious. She grabbed the one that had been messing with my hoodie and jerked me forward. "Our model is sick today and my class needs someone to model hands today." She flashed me a brilliant smile. "Hope you didn't need to do something for the next three hours."
I blinked, tensing, my steps staggering. "Th-three...HOURS?!" I said in a half strangled shout.
Her grip didn't weaken as she pulled at me. "Sure, it's not that bad. You sit there, we stare at your hands, and I'll buy you lunch afterwards. Sound good?"
"I...uhh..." Art? Modeling"I couldn't help but think this was a trap. Ending with me covered in plaster. But she offered lunch....nobody had offered me lunch before.
She pulled me indoors of the art building. "I really appreciate this." She flashed me another smile. "I'm Emily by the way. What's your name?"
"Ah..." I lowered my head. "Jesse."
"Jesse. Nice to meet you." She suddenly stopped. "Here we are!" She said gesturing with her free hand to the metal door. She turned to me, ducking her head so she could meet my eyes that I'd been trying to hide under my hood. "I really appreciate this." She said sincerely. "You won't regret it!"
"I'm not---"
She cut me off by pulling me into the classroom. My nose wrinkled automatically as I was assaulted with the smell of oils and paint and...clay? It definitely had the look of an art class room. Oil paintings against the far wall, a section that looked like it was for pottery. It definitely was one of the more hodgepodge classrooms I'd seen. That...and the twenty or so students sitting at tables in a semi circle around one single chair.
"Laurie!!" Emily happily called out, dropping my hand. "I found a volunteer! His name is Jesse!"
Twenty one pairs of eyes swiveled to meet me. I flushed, looking down at the ground. I didn't recognize anyone here. So the chances of this actually being....real were getting higher.
'Laurie' was a woman with bright blue hair, Skinny with pale skin, red contacts, and even redder lipstick. Almost I wondered if she walked out of one of the oil paintings hanging about.
She glided up to me like a Queen. "Hands." She demanded, holding out her own. "Both of them"
I stared at her, hesitating before reluctantly, I let go of the gun hidden from view and held both hands to her.
She took them, surprisingly gentle, and studied them, flipping them back and forth so she could see every angle. "Interesting." Her fingers traced the faint scars, and I flinched attempting to draw them back, but she held on tightly. "You'll do." She smiled, soft and gentle. "Remove your hoodie, wash your hands there in the sink." She jerked her head to said sink. "And then sit in that chair. We'll begin in a few minutes."

-Inspiration from....random thoughts after news casts and murder shows....