Watercolored Jealousy (Short Story)

Watercolored Jealousy;

     Lily Casio walked down the cracked, old sidewalk. She had just gotten out of school, and was walking toward her sister, Grace's, stop. She was two grades below Lily, and they were dropped off forty five minutes apart. As she walked down the road, Lily remembered the exciting news the principal had given her that same day. She had been entered into an All-State art contest. Her principal said only the top three students from every school in the state had been invited to compete, and Lily was so proud of herself.

     She had entered her "We All Grow Up" painting that had taken her four months to complete, and she used every hour of every day to work on it. It was a watercolor painting of a young girl in a brightly colored raincoat, with a colorful hat that was too big for her. It looked like she was about to jump into one of the puddles on the ground that the rain had left behind. It showed the wind directing the willows, and the leaves being blown around in Autumn's wake. In front of the girl was an old battered house that you only could see the door and one window.You also saw a few gutters, and the rain guzzled out of those onto the muddy grown with water jumping up at impact, the splashing sound effect finding itself in everybody's imagination. The mother was in a well-fitting brown rain coat, with no hat. You saw the outline of a hood behind her, but it wasn't really visible. It was for the viewer to infer, but Lily had meant it to look like she was beckoning her daughter inside, from the cold storm.

     Lily smiled gleefully as she thought of this, and she started a skip on her way down the road. Pretty soon, the breeze turned to a hard wind, and Lily pulled down her straw hat. It was 'hat' day at her high school, and she had decided to go cow-girl themed, with her high black leather boots, her faded pale blue jeans, and a loose plaid shirt, gray and blue squares complementing her gray-blue eyes. Soon enough, the clickity clack of her boots against the pavement faltered, as she reached the sign that with all capital white letters said, 'WHITE CREEK AVENUE'. She looked the sign up and down, the wind making it sway like it had a life of it's own. The white school bus came down the narrow road slowly, but still yet over the speed limit. It crawled on the street, finally reaching the sign with a screech. The door swung open, the stop sign flew out, and out stepped the eighth graders. Grace was the last one, and she turned and waved to her bus driver.

     "See you tomorrow, Grace." Her bus driver smiled with a happy heart.

"You too, Ms. Papier!" Lily and Grace silently walked side by side, both of them pulling their jackets closer together. Lily's sister's school didn't believe in dressing up, so her regular apparel was her long, willowy dark ruby shirt, and her black leggings. Her ankle boots clicked against the road, her long, auburn hair flowing freely over her shoulder.

     "Do you know why her name is Ms. Papier?" Lily sighed.

"No, Grace, I don't."

"It means 'paper' in German, I think in French as well. In school they taught us that our names are what our families' occupations were. What do you think paper means? Paper maker? Paper cutter? There are a lot of possibilities." Lily sighed again, but then her eyes brightened as she remembered her news.

     "By the way, I got into the All-State Competition!" She smiled brightly, but her sister's gaze stayed distracted.

"Grace?" Grace snapped up in attention to her sister.

"Oh, yea..um cool? Good job, Lil" Lily stuffed her hands in her pockets, using all of her energy to push back the tears, threatening to fall and show her weaknesses. She had done so well, and Lily was so proud of herself. Why can't anyone else be, too? They walked back to the house in silence, and as soon as they reached the driveway, Grace ran up the yard to hug her puppy, that was yapping outside tied to a tree, waiting for his mistress to return home. Lily walked past her sister, and went up the steps. She went straight to her room, and went into bed to take a nap. A few hours later, her door creaked open.

     "Hey," whispered Grace. Lily opened her eyes and rubbed the sleep away from them.

"Hey, what's up?" Lily yawned, making Grace yawn. They both laughed quietly.

     "I'm sorry about earlier, I didn't really know how to respond. It is really great that you made finals," Lily smiled genuinely at this.

"It's okay, Grace. I was just worked up. The excitement and happiness is overwhelming." Grace nodded.

"I know. I'm honestly sorry... can I see your painting?" Lily giggled. The entire four months she had worked on it, she hadn't let one person look at it. She dug around in her backpack, and took out the package. She took it out of the quilted bag, and tore open the plastic wrap, gently taking out her masterpiece. Grace gasped.

   "Lil, that's amazing!" She screeched, her hands flying up to her mouth as she ventured closer, taking in the skill and mastery.

"It is, isn't it?" Lily sighed.

     "You did really good, Lil. Also, mom said to come down for dinner. She's serving lasagna." Lily smiled.

The two girls walked out of the bedroom, the painting and all its beauty perched on the end of the bed. Lasagna is Lily's favorite meal.

      "I guess she knew it was a special day," Lily said as they descended the stairs.