Act 1 | Chapter 19

This was it. It was finally the day I had been waiting for. The Bate's High Art contest. It was a cold winter's day, with a light snowfall, but that wasn't going to let me down. My painting was done. Every bit of it. Weeks, upon weeks of hard work, and careful planning where about to pay off. I made sure to dress up in the best clothes I had. Sadly though, that was only a pair of jeans and my favorite hoodie, but who cares. I heard Riley's horn honk once, and I knew she was here. Before I left, I took one last long look at the painting. It was of Riley. A close up on her face, while she held up a beautiful white dendrobium orchid. The brushstrokes that made up most of Riley's hair and the leaves blended together, slowly blending the two colors and making it look like one was becoming the other. Her hair, while not completely purple, was as purple as I could make it. It came off as more of a blue, but I didn't have much more paint to work with, that and I'm currently low on cash. The detail in Riley's face was done carefully with my fan brush and a couple of ones where there were hardly any bristles on it. I was able to get nice, and thin lines with those ones. The color of the skin, the blending of her hair and the flower, it all looked too perfect. The only inaccurate thing was her hair. In real life, Riley's hair was shorter, but the way I did it, made it look more artistic, so I didn't care.

When this was all over, I planned on giving this to Riley. Why wouldn't I? It was a painting of her, for her. Though the college would take the painting for a few months to display, after that, she would get it. I put on my winter coat, and carefully grabbed the painting. I had a cloth covering it, in case any snow decided to fall and potentially ruin my artwork. My parents were already gone for the day, and my brother had left too, though I didn't know, or cared where he was. I made my way downstairs, and out the front door to greet Riley. She was already waiting for me, with the two back seats of the car pushed down for the painting to rest on. Riley helped me slid it into the car, and the two of us climbed in.

"You ready?" She asked me, sounding a bit excited.

"Um, yeah. I'm just nervous."

"Don't worry, Zoey. You'll do fine!"

"I hope."

The drive to the school felt as though it took forever. I was excited with anticipation. My painting was ready, the speech I had to give was ready, everything was all set and good to go. Now the only thing I had to do was present and hope for the best.

"I'll see you in a bit," Riley said as I walked to the auditorium while Riley waited outside with the line of people to get in. Mr. Mcvay was already in there with a few other students who were entering. He was helping them hang the art pieces on stage for everyone to see once the curtains raised. The auditorium was a massive amphitheater, with several rows of velvet red seats, and a stone-cold grey floor. Lights overhead had been repositioned, and the operator's booth above had a couple of people working on some last-minute adjustments. The stage was made from solid wood, much like the one from my favorite pizzeria.

"Mr. Mcvay!" I practically yelled, walking down the center aisle and over to him.

"Hello, Zoey." He looked up at me, "Glad to see you've decided to enter the contest still!"

"Yup! I finished it last night." I lifted the tarp off my painting to show him. "What do you think?"

Mr. Mcvay spent a good while looking at it, but as I saw a small grin form on his face, I knew I had done well.

"It's astonishing! How long did this take you?" He asked in surprise.

"Weeks. But it's all finished now."

"Wonderful. I'll help you set it up." He led me over to my spot on stage. A wooden post was placed with a nail through it. The painting hung onto it, and he straightened out, before taking a step back to look at it.

"Looks perfect. Go on and take your seat in the auditorium." He explained. I nodded and turned to leave, but he stopped me one more time, "And Zoey, good luck." I smiled at him and walked up to the center aisle again. People had already started flocking in and taking their seats around. There weren't any reserved seats, so it was on a first come first serve system. I sat a little more towards the top, and Riley soon found me and took her place beside me. Her mother, Hope, walked in behind her.

"Hello, Miss Blackmar." I greeted her.

"Good morning, Zoey." She said back, "You ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

The show began a few moments later, once everyone had taken their seats, and the lights dimmed. Mr. Mcvay stood up on stage, alongside two other teachers from Bate's University.

"Ladies and Gentlemen." He began. I nervously sat in my seat, my heart starting to beat faster. "For twenty years, I have taught at this school. I've seen some of my favorite student's come and go over time, and once again, my favorite yearly tradition has come around. Today, Bate's University will be giving out a full paid scholarship to their university, to whoever wins today's competition. Students have worked tirelessly for weeks on end, preparing themselves for this big day."

I looked at Riley and let out a nervous sigh.

"The assignment tasked to these young students was to create an art piece of someone you look up to. Someone who inspires you. In a few short minutes, we will call each participant up to the stage to explain to us who they chose to paint, sculpt, or draw, and why. Once that is over with, we judges will look over the art pieces and rate them, while everyone else steps outside. We will have a two-hour intermission to do this. This way, your parents can go out to lunch if you wish, and come back with high hopes that your child could have potentially won. Now. Let's begin shall we."

The parents and students in the crowd all clapped as Mr. Mcvay. The curtains rose up, and everyone's art was finally on display to the world. Sculptures, drawings, and paintings all lined up against a series of wooden posts and stands to hold the pieces, each one labeled with the artist's name. One by one, students were called up, and one by one they presented their pieces. Some did their mothers, others did their fathers, and a few did some inspirational figures. Finally, it was my turn, and Mr. Mcvay called me up to the stage.

"Zoey Morgan." He said into the microphone. I nervously stood up, as Riley wished me good luck. Walking down the aisle, I could feel the hundreds of eyes all watching me. I climbed the stairs onto the auditorium stage and turned to look back at everyone. My painting was beside me and a spotlight shining onto my place.

"Whenever you are ready." Mr. Mcvay said and sat back down at his seat off to the side of the stage. I gave him a nod, and closed my eyes, taking a long and deep breath. My heart kept beating faster, and faster. Finally, I opened my eyes and looked out at everyone.

"For this contest, I choose to paint my best friend, Riley Blackmar." I looked over at her amongst the crowd, "I've known her for over ten years now, and in that time, I've gotten the chance to know her. She's a beautiful person and has always been by my side. She's inspired me over these years to try new things. Before, I wouldn't have dared try new things if it wasn't for her. She pushed me out of my comfort zone and showed me all these new things in the world, and it turned out that was a good thing." I took another deep breath, "The things I once feared no longer scare me. She helped me with that, and those things turned out to be something that I enjoy very much. We've spent so much time together, and Riley's always protected me and cared for me, and I'm thankful for that. She's my only friend. The only person who has ever bothered or tried speaking to me. I... love her for that." Once again I took another deep breath. I could feel tears starting to swell up in my eyes. "Riley Blackmar is my best friend, and I wouldn't be standing here today if it wasn't for her. That's why I painted her. Because she's an amazing friend, that has been by my side for all these years."

I wiped the tear from my eyes and looked out to the crowd as they all clapped. Everything seemed to slow down in that one moment. People were looking at me, cheering for me. I've never felt that before. To stand on stage and have people clap for something I did.

"Thank you, Zoey. You may take your seat again." Mr. Mcvay said, clapping. I nodded and gave a small bow before climbing off stage and walking up the middle aisle, back to Riley. She was still clapping, and from what I could see, she too had been crying. Her eyes were red, and tear marks ran down her blushing cheeks. As I sat beside Riley, she once again pulled me into a tight hug, squeezing me.

"Thank you." She whispered into my ear as the next contestant was called up.