Chapter 34: Words Of Encourgement

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Early in the morning, Erick and Arianne are in their school. Arianne is sitting alone on the bench under the tree, looking quite stressed out, then Erick approached her.

Erick: "oi! It's too early to show me that face."
Arianne: "h-huh?"

Raphael and Marcus came running (only Raphael). Poor Marcus, he's trying to catch up with Raphael.

Raphael: "Guys!!!!! I haven't seen you in a few chapters."
Erick: "uh.. chapters?"
Marcus: "Arianne, are you alright? You seem to be troubled about something."
Arianne: "h-huh?"
Erick: "you're starting to zone out again."
Raphael: "did something happen? Erick, what did you do?"
Erick: "hey, why me?"
Arianne: "it's not you.. it's about the Arts competition."
Erick: "did Grey said something related to that?"
Marcus: "who's Grey?"
Erick: "Grey Allen, he's uhh.... an old friend of mine."
Raphael: "wait, Grey Allen? As in the Grey Allen?"
Arianne: "what?"
Raphael: "he's a very famous artist! At the age of 8, he first made his first masterpiece."
Marcus: "I-I don't know if this is true but, I heard that he might be one of the judges for the Arts competition."
Arianne: *her jaw dropped with her eyes open wide*
Erick: "looks like you've mess with the wrong guy."
Marcus: "why? Did something happen between them?"
Raphael: "there is?!"
Erick: "what did happened last night? Did he say something to you?"
Arianne: *trembling voice* "w-well he... he asked me to be his partner for the Arts competition.. he told me that we should team up to create a piece."
Raphael: "and you rejected his offer? Dude, really? He's a very famous artist. You're lucky because he wanted to help you, unlike other unlucky people who tried to convince him to be their partner."
Arianne: "but it's a contest."
Raphael: "you would have a better chance on winning the contest, with a help from a professional artist."

She went silent for a minute. Marcus asked Arianne if she's okay, but she didn't respond. She's slowly making a fist, her body starts to quiver. Erick glared at Raphael meaning look at what you've done. With a trembling voice, Arianne finally speak.

Arianne: "so what's the point of choosing me as a representative?"

Tears start to roll down to her cheeks. She gritted her teeth in pain, and clenched her fists.

Arianne: "on my perspective, a contest is a chance for someone to show their best efforts. And that's the reason why I agree to be the representative. I wanted to show my best, I wanted to let my schoolmates know that I'm a good artist too. What's the point of winning if I didn't even give a single effort for the artwork which is made by some professional artist. Do you know what I mean?" ,"if all you wanted is to win, then choose other great artist from our school, because I quit."

Those were her last words then she left, leaving the three guys.

Erick: "nice going, Raphael."

Erick left to follow Arianne, and the two guys are left alone in the hallway.

Marcus: "you shouldn't have said that."
Raphael: "but I...." *cries like a baby*

Erick follow Arianne's sobs which leads to the school's garden. When he arrive there, he saw Arianne sitting on the bench and crying.
He sit beside her and tries to calm her down.

Erick: "hey.."
Arianne: *sniff* "w-what?"
Erick: "you look ugly when crying."
Arianne: "geez, thanks for the heartwarming compliment."
Erick: "are you really gonna quit?"
Arianne: "m-maybe.... I'm afraid of losing the competition, I mean everybody's probably expecting me to win. I-I can't do it, I'm weak.. I'm already a loser."
Erick: "stupid."
Arianne: "huh?"
Erick: "you're not weak. I saw you working hard on your research for a theme, you even rejected Grey's offer, a help from a professional artist. You're not weak, you're brave. You're brave enough to take the responsibility of a representative for the arts competition, even if you know you might not be the grand winner."
Arianne: "E-Erick..."
Erick: "and you're gonna back out now? Did you forget what Grey said? He's expecting you to show him a masterpiece, same to our schoolmates. Are you gonna ruin their expectations?"
Arianne: "Erick..."
Erick: "what?"
Arianne: "I didn't expect you to say something like this to me.... Do you think I can do this?"
Erick: "I wouldn't be saying this if I knew you won't be able to create something very special."

A bright smile was brought back to Arianne's blushing face. She wiped her tears and thank Erick.

Arianne: "Erick... thank you."
Erick: "hmph.." *slight smile*
Arianne: "wow.. hehe.. I didn't expect this to happen, words of encouragement from Mr. Grumpy face."
Erick: "heh, you suck at insults."

They both laughed together. Then Erick face Arianne, with a heartwarming smile on his face.

Erick: "you can do this okay, just do your best."
Arianne: "yes! I will."
Erick: "Even if you won't take the grand prize, you're still the winner.."
Arianne: "aww.. that's so touching."
Erick: *with a low voice* ".. for me."
Arianne: "w-what? I-I'm sorry, I didn't hear you... did you say something?"
Erick: *blushing after realizing what he just said, looks away from her* "n-nothing, I just said goodluck."
Arianne: "oh hehe, thank you."

Then it went silent. You can clearly see on Arianne's face that she's happy, because her cold-hearted crush (Erick) just said something so sweet for her. While Erick, on the other hand, can't stop blushing in embarrassment because of what he just said early.

Erick's mind: (what the heck did I just said?! "You're still the winner for me..". What's happening to me? What the fuck, Erick?! Oh no, I think I'm crazy. Please.. I hope this is not what I thought it would be..)

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