1.2 | Je T'aime Encore ✓

01 | art class

01

a r t  c l a s s

Anita gripped her paintbrush tighter in her hand as she tried to do a tiny fit of shine on her still life of the bowl of fruits. She had paint smeared over her hands, her oversized sweater sleeves rolled up and her hair in a messy bun.

Normally, the tall, Indian girl would be wearing black, skinny jeans and a designer, silk tee-shirt, but today was the last day to submit their artwork for their portfolio. This portfolio was a matter of life and death for Anita. Well, not really. But, if she wanted to ever accomplish her dream, she would have to have the best artwork so that her teacher would choose her for the trip to France.

Every year, the art teacher would choose two of her students to come with her and present their artwork at the Louvre. And this year, Anita hoped that she would make it. Mostly, because this year she fit the age and class requirements, but she also felt that her artwork was more polished than ever.

After putting the final touches on her project, she put the painting in the drying rack and smiled at Ms. Laurent as she exited the room. Her art teacher smiled back at her, almost like she knew something Anita didn't. Anita didn't like that. Ms. Laurent waited until the only other student, Josh, exited before leaning over conspiratorially. "So, I looked at the rest of your portfolio along with everyone else's. Yours and Josh's are by far the best. Yours are marginally better than his, and I probably would've chosen Leon," Anita winced, forgetting her art teacher didn't know that Anita and Leon were ever together "But, he moved. If your still life is up to the same standards are your normal work, you'll definitely be coming with me to France."

Anita's heart gave a little skip, and it took all her willpower not to jump up and down, screeching in happiness and hugging Ms. Laurent. Ms. Laurent looked at Anita and took Anita's dark-skinned hands in her pale ones. "I know how hard you've worked for this, and I know how much you wanted this, and I'm so glad that you were able to accomplish this." She gave Anita's hands another squeeze and smiled at her. "The results are going to be posted to see who can come soon. I'm guessing after your paint dries, and whoever got in will get an email along with all the forms. Good luck, darling!" She said, before turning back to her computer.

Anita turned and started walking away, a smile starting to grow on her face. She undid her bun, and shook her hand through her black waves a few times, before adjusting the strap on her bag and trying to contain her excitement.

Somehow, she managed to accomplish this incredible feat and was able to contain herself before reaching her dorm. Once she got in, she closed the door and put her bag down before celebrating herself. She decided that it would be okay to eat a pint of ice cream and binge watch "The Big Bang Theory." She was so occupied celebrating herself that she almost forgot about her French class.

Today they were reviewing conjugating -er verbs, but Anita couldn't focus. Her mind kept drifting to getting the art results, and she already knew how to conjugate the verbs. She was rapping her pencil against her desk rhythmically, while humming and tapping her foot at the same time, trying to distract herself. Finally, after what seemed like an hour of torture, her teacher dismissed them and Anita shot out of her seat and checked her email while hurrying out of the classroom.

There was nothing in her inbox. Anita tried not to let her disappointment show as her stomach sank. Maybe her still life wasn't as good as she thought it was. Maybe she added in too much detail, or maybe not enough. Maybe she did something wrong, that Ms. Laurent didn't like. It made her feel sick. Inside her dorm, she spotted the pint of finished ice cream on her couch next to the TV remote, and she felt even worse.

After dropping her stuff on the kitchen table, she stormed to her studio, the former spare bedroom which nobody used anymore. It was the perfect place for a studio because it had a wide, open space and a huge, open window, the perfect place to look out of for inspiration.

She sat at the empty easel for a second, thinking about what to paint, before getting out her palette and squeezing colors onto it, and mixing them.

She kept painting and mixing for 2 hours, trying to capture the New York City skyline as well as she could. She was perfecting it, adding details when necessary, mixing just the right amount of orange and yellow and red for the color of the sky.

When she was done, she felt great. It was almost like she had painted all her stress away, and now was free from worrying. And she had an amazing painting of a city skyline that she could use for the exhibit if she was chosen.

If she was chosen.

Anita didn't know if she got in yet, though, because the email wasn't sent yet. Or, because it was sent and Anita just didn't get in.

Sighing, she put her phone on her table before going to wash the paint off her body and take a shower. She came out 20 minutes later, just as her phone pinged.

Curiously, she picked it up and opened up the email that was just sent.

It was from Ms. Laurent.

Something, something, something, something else, blah blah blah. Until somewhere around the middle of the second paragraph.

"We are pleased to inform you that you have been chosen for the trip to France."

There were more words and sentences after, but Anita kept re-reading that one line, as the smile on her face grew.

She got in, after all.