a study of cara evelyn

six

We took a snack break soon after.

Of course, the protest was still in progress, but Cara, James, Christina, Raymond, Leah and I walked to a nearby park. After arranging an array of delicacies such as cheese sanwiches, muffins and lemonade, we munched down our lunch and discussed our views on the education system. Soon after, we separated into our own little individual chats.

"Would you rather laugh at sad things or cry at funny things?" Cara asked, stirring her lemonade.

"Um, laugh at sad things."

At this, Cara tilted her head sideways. "Why?"

"Why?" I echoed, trying to come up with a reason. "I don't know."

"Yes, you do, otherwise you wouldn't have chosen that option." Cara replied, cleverly.

"There's not a lot of sad things around me, and a lot of funmy things happen. So if I picked the second option, I'd get exhausted from all the crying."

She chuckled. "That's definitely one way to think about it. Your turn."

"Favourite movie?"

"No, Austin, pick a good question. Give it some thought."

"If you had thirty seconds to broadcast a message to the whole world, what would you say?"

Cara actually pondered on that for a while. I felt good about making her think; I hadn't felt that kind of satisfaction until now.

"Guys," Raymond said suddenly, standing up. "We're heading over to the protest. You can join us after you've finished eating."

I was beginning to stand up, but Cara pulled me back down. I saw Raymond jogging towards the protest, followed by James, Leah and Christina. I looked over at Cara, confused.

"Let's go somewhere else," she smiled. "away from here."

Cara guided me through several of her favourite spots, stopping everytime to explain to me the history behind each place.

We passed a rustic home with weeds growing in the front yard. Cara pointed at the various wood cravings on the fence, and the hole next to it. She explained how this was her first house before her parents decided to move and how her friends had sneaked it one night, after everything was packed. They hung out till four in the morning, because it would've been the last time they'd be together before she moved to New York.

"We carved our names here, see?"

Cody, Anahi, Damien and Cara

We walked along the streets until it was well after seven o'clock. She talked about the things she did with her friends before she moved to New York.

I was quiet most of the time, absorbing everything she said like a sponge. I was captivated, of course, mainly because she grew up in such a different way than I had. Things she had done at the age of fifteen, I had yet to do at the age of nineteen.

Finally, we made it to our last stop. Cara guided me through another dark street until my feet touched gravel of an abandoned factory, also known as Cara's favourite place ever ("well, in Chicago, that is").

It was a very old, broken down factory with chipped off wood and fading bricks. Nothing about it seemed appalling, not even for a vintage aesthetic. But Cara's face glowed with joy at the mere sight of its graffiti walls. Upon closer inspection, I found out that tbe graffiti wasn't traditional hard to read calligraphy, but actually paintings.

"I've tried to track down the artist for years, but I'm no closer than the day I found this." Cara held my hand and pulled me around the corner. "Here, I call it Une Étude Chez Les Femmes, A Study In Women."

It was a collage of women, drawn in a sketchy but formal manner that depicted almost every kind of woman there was- every race, every body type, every social class, decade, emotion and more than you could imagine. The painting was massive, stretching from the very top of the ceiling to the botton where it touched the floor.

"Its amazing." I breathed out. "The detail, the perspective, the raw emotion."

"The lines are so simple, the tone has such amazing contrast, the pallete is the perfect balance of naturalism- this is the study of women!" She said, almost out of breath.

"It's beautiful," I said, grinning. "But only in an unconventional kind of way."

At this, Cara beamed. "Exactly. Unconventionally Beautiful; A Study In Women."