Free Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley Page A

himself. I draw a speech bubble and words about art inside.
    I draw Ed next to him, to pass the time. It’s weird but he wasn’t as hard to talk to when I couldn’t see him. Maybe he should have put his hand over my face on our date instead of over my arse. Maybe we should both have been blindfolded. Things would have looked strange, sure, but they might have turned out differently.
    One of my favourite paintings is The Lovers by René Magritte. It’s of two people kissing. Both have a sheet wrapped around their head. Everything’s so normal in the painting: her dress, his suit, the soft blue of the walls behind them. The only weird thing is that their heads are wrapped so they can’t see each other and they’re kissing through cotton. Maybe it’s not so weird, though. Maybe kissing blindfolded like that is the easiest way to start.
    I’m a little jealous that Jazz doesn’t need a sheet over her face to avoid first-date awkwardness. I pushed my way through the crowd to tell her I was going Shadow-hunting and she was spinning her disco around Leo like she’d known him for years. ‘I’m leaving with Ed,’ I shouted into her ear.
    ‘What?’
    ‘Ed,’ I shouted louder. ‘He and I are going to find Shadow.’
    She pulled me from the dance floor away from the speakers. ‘You don’t mind if I stay?’
    I shook my head. ‘You don’t mind if I go?’
    ‘Keep your phone on,’ she said. ‘I’ll text and let you know how the night’s turning out.’ She waved and went back to dancing. A slow song came on and Leo looked unsure for a second before she turned circles around him. She moved without a flicker of doubt in her body. Maybe I’m wrong but he looked flickered with doubt to me.
    ‘What if you meet Shadow and he’s not into you?’ Jazz asked me once. The thought had crossed my mind a million times. Some guys like me. Some guys don’t. But I have the feeling that Shadow will be one of the guys who do.
    Knowing that I might finally meet him sends zings to all the right places. Ed and I will find him and he’ll be painting something amazing. After the introductions Ed will go back to the party, or to see Beth, and I’ll be alone with Shadow. I don’t know what I’ll say first. Maybe just, ‘I like art.’
    ‘Me too,’ a voice says.
    I look over my shoulder and see a guy. He’s older than me, by a year or two, and he’s wearing a suit, but not the uncool kind. It’s almost silver. The combination of sharp suit and scruffy hair really works. I spread five fingers on the grass.
    ‘It’s kind of loud in there. You mind if I sit?’ he asks.
    I shake my head. ‘I needed some air too.’
    He lies next to me and props himself up on his elbow. His hair falls over one eye every now and then and every now and then he flicks it back. He catches me staring and smiles. I smile. We look at each other, look away, look again.
    ‘Are you waiting for someone?’ he asks in a way that makes me think he’s asking if I’m waiting for a guy.
    ‘Just a friend. I’m waiting for a guy called Ed. Just a friend,’ I say again. And then in case he missed it I say, ‘We’re not together, Ed and me. We’re about to go searching for a graffiti artist called Shadow. Have you met him?’
    ‘I haven’t. I kind of know Ed. He’s friends with Leo, right?’
    ‘Yep.’
    Some kids stumble past us, kissing as they move. ‘They make it look like an Olympic sport,’ he says. ‘We should hold up signs from one to ten to grade them.’
    ‘All the people in the party are getting very high scores.’
    ‘Tell me about it.’ He looks at me and away again. He traces a finger along the grass, making slow patterns.
     
    ‘I like drawing,’ he says when he catches me staring. ‘So how come you want to find this Shadow guy?’
    ‘I like his art,’ I say, and he makes more patterns. There’s something going on. I don’t know what but there’s something.
    ‘Where will you look for him?’
    ‘The old train yard and the