Do you know your neighbor? Anya Slepyan

Brooks Spears is my neighbor/alphabet friend in English class. It seems weird to me that we have actually known each other (kind of) for six years because we went to the same middle school (Winburn!). We also rode the same bus for all three years, but never really talked or interacted during that time. Part of that is because we always had different friend groups, and middle school is also notorious for self-enforced gender segregation. In middle school, Brooks was friends with Silas, who I was always just a bit afraid of.

Anyways, Brooks is cool because he tolerates me eating goldfish every day, doesn't laugh at my poncho (out loud, at least), and always has sassy things to say/write. He also makes faces at people across the room a lot, which was initially very confusing for me; when they reciprocated with their own weird looks, I thought they were directed at me. They weren't.

Another thing I notice about Brooks is that he is constantly sketching. Almost every time Brooks gets a paper, he turns it over and starts drawing immediately. He mostly draws super-hero type things, and they're REALLY good. Even though Brooks makes me feel inferior because of his creativity/artistic talent, he makes up for it by muttering funny things under his breath all the time. I only hear what he says about a third of the time, but it is always amusing whenever I catch it.

I would characterize Brooks as a charcoal-grey ish color, because of all his sketching. But personality-wise he is bright orange because of his sense of humor. In five years, I see Brooks graduating from an art school, and interning for Marvel/DC Comics/an animation studio.