Across From Me

Fifteen

It was the day of the art show, and Clementine was about one minor inconvenience away from having a breakdown

Which Beth could understand to an extent. Because of all of the preparation beforehand and it being Clementine's first time participating in a school-run competition like that. Beth felt her panic at that moment, because the first time is never fun, whether you win or lose. Beth will never forget that 3rd-grade spelling bee...what a disappointment.

They had been focusing on finishing several works of art for the past 2 weeks. Since then, Clementine had enlisted the help of Beth several times. But Beth never got to do any actual painting or drawing, but she did get to help in finding ideas, cutting things out, and doing general scrap work. She enjoyed it though, as she got to hang out with Clementine, and that was always something unique every time.

Beth hadn't really spoken to Minnie since the day they had their talk. It wasn't exactly awkward, but the two of them had little idea what to talk about. Beth's mind always froze up in those scenarios, she became rigid and fearful and then blurted out things she was embarrassed about later.

They were good at talking shit about their 2nd-period teacher with each other though. The few times they did end up talking.

"Did you make sure you have all the paintings and everything?" Clementine suddenly asked, snapping Beth out of her thoughts. She had been surveying the chaos, figuring it would be best to stay out of Clementine's way because Beth had this uncanny ability to make things worse when she would be trying to help. 

Beth nodded, trying to give her a reassuring smile, "Yes I counted all 4 of them, and made sure they were the correct ones. You best be sure I remember them." Clem calmed down a little at that statement. Nodding at her as a thank you, Clem went back to brushing her hair.

The competition required four unique pieces of art that had a hidden meaning behind them. Beth and Clem had talked about ideas they wanted to try out but had no message behind them. They had many messages but no ideas. But, eventually, they settled on 3 other ideas. Yet for some reason, Clem avoided telling Beth about the first painting, and what its meaning was. Beth didn't mind much, if it was personal, it was personal.

The other three were simple ideas, Beth liked to think. One of them was how the opinions of others can change the way you view yourself. The painting had many different shades, tints, and tones of blue and purple, each eye drawn in detail which pointed to the blocky figure of a person in the middle.

The two others were similar in idea, but not execution, as following the rules of the competition.

Beth thought they were pretty impressive. But Clem thought otherwise. Several times wanting to throw them out and not do the competition at all. Or she wanted to start them over hours before they had to submit. But from an outsider's perspective, nobody could see the small mistake in the corner of the painting, and if they did, they didn't care. Beth believed art was something that was felt and not seen. But Clem thought the opposite, which is what made it so difficult to calm her down. As she already had this ingrained belief in her that her painting was ugly, and that nobody would like it.

The two arrived and set down their stuff. Clem desperately needed to go to the bathroom, so they set their stuff down where they would put their paintings up to present them. Beth followed Clem to the bathroom, while Clementine's mother, who was a very kind lady, Beth found, went off to talk to Clem's teachers.

Naturally, Beth and Clem ended up messing around. While washing her hands, Beth thought of maybe one way to get Clem's mind off of everything. While thinking about this, she suddenly felt a droplet of water land on her face. Confused, she looked at Clem, who had a mischievous smile on her face.