Calling Creativity

The earth without "art" is just "eh".

-

I remember the conversation like the words had just left my mouth.

"This is the weirdest thing I have ever heard in my entire life." Morgan squawked. 

"What? I think it's cool. I'm so going to transfer there."

"Please don't turn into some peace loving, hippy, art freak." 

Morgan & I were laying on our stomachs in the center of her waterbed. She was flipping through the latest issue of Teen Vogue and I was flipping through the Active Arts course catalog. It was the only high school in the city where art classes still existed. Not only that, the staff used art to teach everything, from English to chemistry. How could it get any better than that?

"Aren't you afraid that after you graduate, you're going to be seen as a joke? This school just opened and it doesn't even sound credible."

"Can you please stop? I've done tons of research on this, so have my parents. I'm excited and this is something I really want."

"Thea, I'm just saying. That's why all the arts programs got cut from schools in the first place. They're not important."

"I think they are."

Morgan started to say something else but I tuned her out. Art isn't important? Everyone listens to music, a lot of people like to read or draw, paint even. If people aren't encouraged to express themselves, all of those things would slowly disappear. Maybe it wasn't the most popular idea to attend a high school that was going to focus on creativity but I couldn't see how education would be effective without any imagination. I was going to do this. I may not have been your stereotypical theatre geek or well trained dancer but I wanted this. I knew my education would shape who I was going to become. 

"Hello? Earth to Thea."

I sighed and looked up at her.

"Welcome back to this planet. Anyway, look." She pointed down at one of the course listings. Chemistry Applied to the Artist. "Are you kidding me?"

I flicked her sparkling blue fingernail off the page. "Hey I like your nail polish."

"Thanks, it's new. I saw it on some fashion blog last month."

"I bet the person who made that color was probably extremely creative. Probably very successful too, since everyone is buying it."

Morgan huffed and rolled her eyes at me. I closed my course catalog and bit my lip in an attempt to hide the smirk taking over my face. 

"It's your junior year. Are you really going to drop everything and transfer high schools for a few art classes?"

"Would it really make sense for me to stay at Ceder? You know the teachers there suck."

"Maybe but scouts are all over the place, handing out scholarships, trying to get us into their college." 

"They wouldn't notice me Morgan. I'm not an athlete, or a straight A student." 

"You could be."

"Or I could be something more, something different."