No Freaking Thanks

Chapter 3

When the five met up at the studio, it was packed because the place contains a working area reserved for the students that have roughly the same area dimensions as a basketball court (50 feet long by 84 feet wide, to be precise) along with an eighteen-foot height. Each desk is 30 inches long by 20 inches wide, and someone needs a 30-inch-by-30-inch space for their chairs. Between the desks, a 15-inch space is a must. That would mean someone needs to line up thirteen desks and leave fourteen 15-inch spaces within each of the twenty rows, thus housing the maximum amount of 260 people. This could give someone a dystopian vibe: the huge crowd, the big screen to display the instructions, the number of people organizing the event; they were kind enough to play some music (as long as the context and lyrics are mild). Some participants brought in their own phones and headphones to listen to their own playlists.

Interestingly, Hayden brought in a compact CD player that has a sleek look and Bluetooth connectivity. What made the device more interesting is the ability to connect up to four headphones—wireless or not. As expected from the Darrell siblings, their mother and her friends gathered around to listen to Daughtry. The two wished that Hayden should explore more songs, more artists, more genres. Having to listen to the same band/artist endlessly does make a tiring experience, and one would wish to never hear anything from that band/artist again. If one were to ask the four about their tastes in music, they will bring up the following examples:

Terry: songs ("The Safety Dance", "Killer Queen", "Get Lucky", "Animal I Have Become", "Word Crimes"), bands/artists (Queen, "Weird Al" Yankovic, Daft Punk), genre (alternative metal, techno, parody)

Joy: songs ("East Northumberland High", "Sold Out", "Hot N Cold", "Dancing Queen", "Pour Some Sugar On Me"), bands/artists (Hawk Nelson, Def Leppard, Miley Cyrus), genre (pop and glam rock)

Jared: songs ("Don't Stop Believin'", "Separate Ways", "Down Under", "Shape of You", "Cliffs of Dover"), bands/artists (Journey and Ed Sheeran), genre (classic rock and pop)

Vince: songs ("Panama", "Rock You Like a Hurricane", "Amerika", "Rockstar", "Before He Cheats"), bands/artists (Van Halen, Carrie Underwood, Rammstein, Nickelback), genre (country, glam metal, heavy metal)

For today's art event, everyone gets to paint a honeybee on a zinnia. During the session, some organizers began giving out complimentary snacks such as cheese, crackers, almonds, and raisins along with drinks like root beer and red wine. One organizer decided on ordering pizza from the local pizzeria that serves delicious pizzas and provides a dozen classic arcade titles.

Vince first wondered if he was going to keep the picture realistic or go crazy by making the colors patriotic with an abundance of red, white, and blue. He looked around to see Jared coloring in his bee an orange color and the stem green. Terry and Joy were doing theirs in cool and warm colors respectively. He wondered if he was going to use black or purple for shading. He remembered back in his high school's art class, the art teacher would dock anyone's points if their painting was shaded with black because, in her eyes, anything will "look hideous with black for shading." For the record, Vince did not attempt at using black for shading. He asked one of the instructors if it is wrong to shade with black, and they replied that it is no big deal. Once the instructor left, Jared tapped Vince's shoulder and said, "Shading with black should be fine if you were to shade anything that is white or any type of gray. I once went through a painting class back in college, and I am sure you have been through this situation before. Not everyone was sure what colors they would replace black for shading, so my instructor gave us a guide. For blue, we would use indigo or purple. For green, a darker shade of cyan. For orange, red. It was confusing at first even for me; in the long run, we can make paintings a lot prettier. So, one day, if you want to paint the American flag, be sure to use purple, sky-blue, and indigo to shade the respective colors." Vince took the Mormon's advice and started painting the petals in order: yellow, orange, red, purple, and blue with green and dark cyan being reserved for the stem and sepals.

Joy wanted to use warm colors because it reminds her of her Tinder date, who happened to sit next to her. He is Devin Gatsenburg, a man with a dream of becoming a tycoon for custom-patterned footwear with over $75,000 currently donated to the associated campaign. He promised that the patterns will not be restricted to specific genders, so a man could wear cherry-blossom cargo boots, a woman a pair of Damascus heels, or a transgender person two shoes donning the fall camo inspired from Modern Warfare 2's. However, there is a catch: Devin will not incorporate product placement or politics into the shoes, so it is best to not expect that one conservative code as a pattern. The two promises are not what had Joy interested in the man; the third is Devin wanted to ensure that the workers will get paid a starting wage of twenty dollars an hour and have an option to work the fifth day in a workweek.

Joy thought, "He is a dreamy guy dressed in all brown—the chocolatey type—and made promises for a healthy work environment. Running a business like that must be bussin'. Respectfully." She imagines the two as a queen-bee-and-drone duo doing it on the flowers like it is Woodstock. To make the dream feel "really good," she began to listen to Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar On Me" and Toto's "Africa" through her headphones.

Terry only focused on painting his piece while listening to Queen's greatest hits. No reason to go through his social media timelines.

The event was a wonderful experience: everyone made good connections by sharing their favorite music, movies, and other forms of media; ate slice after slice while guzzling down their drinks; and complimented on each other's paintings. While Jared and Vince went home by Uber, Terry had to drive his sister and mother due to their drunken state. Upon arrival, they get dressed for bed. Joysnuggled in with a bespectacled cephalopod plush around her arms. Hayden checks her inboxes for the last time of the day. Terry stretched his body a couple of times before dozing in his underwear and started dreaming something whimsical.