Keira snatched wide a bedside drawer, seized an eraser pack, and dashed to a writing table before colored pencils laid alongside an oversized pad. She ripped open the pack, rubbed an eraser against the pad, and blew eraser bits aside.
CREEEAK…
A bedroom door parted, and eyes glued to the pad, Keira shook her head.
“Lenah,” she said. “Why did you sneak into my home?”
The door opened wide, and Lenah ambled a doorway, snickering.
“Hey, babe,” Lenah said. She crossed the room, sat in a chair across the table, and picked up the eraser pack, examining it. “Your backdoor was open.”
Keira snatched the pack and slapped it atop the table. “I hadn’t asked ‘how’? I’d asked ‘why’?”
“Because you hadn’t given me a Geofrey Park ‘yes or no’.”
“I’ve got a weekly portfolio to submit.”
Lenah sighed. “That’s not a ‘yes or no’, and anyway, that portfolio’s for yet another art class you’ll pass with flying colors. In fact: since you’ve taken all our high school’s art classes, you’re taking this at a community college.”
“Where I’ll earn college credit.”
“Where you’ll go crazy,” Lenah said and slid the pad to herself. She watched Keira’s face redden and start on her feet, but Lenah waved a hand. “Take a break,” she said, and Keira huffed and sat.
Lenah flipped through the pad and paused at a freestanding coat rack drawing entitled ‘Huxley’. She flipped further and halted at a decretive chair entitled ‘George’ and then at a spiral staircase entitled ‘Francis’. She rubbed her chin. “Your drawings jump off the page.” She flipped another page. “And I can tell you love your work. But what I can’t tell is why each portrait’s an inanimate object with a human name.”
“Oh, can’t you?”
“No, but let me guess: because an artist finds life in all things because in all things life can be found, correct?”
Keira’s jaw hit the floor. “Wow, you’ve impressed me.”
“So, I’m right?”
“Not really, but you’ve impressed—you’ve managed to me put forth an artistic theory unrelated to clothes, popularity, or social media.”
Lenah folded her arms. “Just for that, tomorrow night, you have to visit Geofrey Park with my new friend group.”
“No, I don’t.”
“But please, can you?”
“Nope.”
“But a guy I like plans to go, and if you’re there, I won’t be nervous.”
“Tough it out, babe.”
“What if I buy your lunch tomorrow??”
“Nah.”
“What if I buy it for a week??”
“Sorry.”
“What if I saved two months allowance, and—”
Keira slapped a colored pencil atop the table. “Halloween’s two weeks away, and you want me roll with you to some abandoned park at night with your new goth group??”
“They’re not goth. They just like wearing all black.”
“Well, I’m sorry, but there’s nothing you can do or say…”
“But I said, ‘They’re not goth’!?”
“Case closed.” Keira flipped several pages and sketched.