𝙾𝚌𝚎𝚊𝚗 𝚘𝚏 𝙴𝚖𝚘𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚛𝚝𝚢-𝚘𝚗𝚎

I walk through the classroom door, the smell of incense wafting out.

Visual Art.

A break. It's the meditation between the onslaught of other subjects.

"Eden," Ms Clark says before I take a seat, "Come, talk to me."

Ms Clark walks into the store room and I follow.

"Do you want to take a break from your final today?" she asks me.

"I'm fine," I laugh lightly in reply to Ms Clark, "I'll be okay."

"You can always come in here at lunch or recess; chill out, put some music on, doodle on a piece of paper."

"I'm not prioritising art right now, Ms Clark," I reply.

"Oh well," Ms Clark smiles, "No offence taken; no one prioritises art."

"I would," then confess, "But I'm failing all of my other subjects right now."

Ms Clark's eyes blink behind her red cat-eye frames. Then her eyebrows move together and up.

I point my thumb over my shoulder, indicating that I'm off to work on my final.

I set up my things at my seat then I hear Jade a few seats down.

"Mr Rizzo told our class this morning about you walking out," Jade begins, "He gave us the option of watching the movie or not. How are you feeling today?"

"Urgh! It was so pathetic!" Seraphina called out from across the classroom where she was collecting her art supplies.

"I'm totally fine now," I smile at Jade, "I was just stressed and that triggered my outburst —"

"Her hissy fit was so pathetic! I was just napping and meditating the entire time," Seraphina says to Jade as she sits down a few seats from me. Then she lifted her siren eyes to meet mine, "I don't have a hissy fit in the first five minutes."

"People might look back on my meltdown in a few years and laugh at 'that loser girl Eden'," I say to Jade in an attempt at lightening the mood. Ignoring Seraphina.

Jade laughs lightly in response.

Seraphina finally directs her gaze at me. "Literally," she says.