Artemisia

Red

There is no doubt in my mind that I am killing it at being a transfer student. In the last few days, I have gotten all my work done two weeks ahead of schedule and have had the time to check out clubs.

Granted getting two weeks ahead of schedule meant cramming all my work into the first three days of school and facing some major burn out for the day after, but hey what's done is done. What's more is that I finally have some time to look at all the clubs at the fair in front of the quad. I would assume more than half of the students were there in hopes of joining or getting recruited into a club of choice. Or in my case, looking for some free items such as t-shirts and lanyards. Although, I honestly wouldn't mind joining any club at all.

As soon as I saw familiar faces I went up to their table. Gwen was manning her table with Lawrence next to the archery targets. They were demonstrating as a few other people were handing out flyers.

"Hey Alice, how's it going? Looking to take a whack at archery? I'm sure you'll be a natural at it." Gwen said with a knowing smile on her face.

I wouldn't say that I would be a natural, but my mom did bring me up learning a lot of things. And I mean a lot. My dad didn't have many options growing up since he had immigrated to Britain when he was about nineteen. Since he was deprived of that, he wanted me to at least be able to do some extracurriculars.

Luckily, my mom knew how to do just about everything, from being a housewife to being a total badass. She taught me just about everything ranging from martial arts and sword fighting to needlework. Sometimes we still practice, but most of the time, I go off and do my own thing so she can focus on her work.

"Sure. Why not?"

Lawrence prepped me up with a bow and thank god we were doing this in such a wide space. They set up safety precautions in case someone was stupid enough to walk behind the targets while someone was shooting so there really was nothing to worry about.

"Have you ever done this before Alice?" Lawrence asked me as he picked up a quiver.

I attached it to my side without any problems and he backed away to give me a little bit of space.

He sighed with a grin and said, "I will assume that you have done this before. Alright, rules for this challenge is get at least three anywhere on that target and you win a t-shirt. Have at it."

I was a regular bow and arrow that anyone would see in shows and movies. For me, I was much used to a modern compound bow that was made of metal, but I loved the intricacies on the design of the bow that I was holding. It felt right.

I attached the nock of the arrow to the bowstring, drew it back and released it with minimal effort. I hit the bullseye. That felt liberating. I felt like Merida from Brave for a split second there, but then I realized that if I wanted my t-shirt, I would have to hit the target two more times.

Low and behold, I was able to hit the bullseye two more times. I guess it was just luck, or the target was close so it would have been easier.

As soon as I had finished I noticed that there was a crowd gathering to see what was going on. Gwen came up to me clapping and Lawrence could only applaud me as well.

"That was amazing," she said. "There is no way that this is your first time huh? And on top of that you used my bow that was customized to my height and strength. That is really impressive. You have to join our club and try out for the club team. We would be so happy to have you."

"I would love to." I responded, reaching over to Lawrence who was holding out a t-shirt.

Gwen gave me a clipboard where I wrote my phone number, my name and my email address before handing it back to her.