The Painting

Chapter 2

As I marched down to the art room to sign up, I wondered if I had made the right choice. Well, it was too late to go back now. When I walked into the art room, I was taken aback to see how unorganized the room was. There were buckets of paints, and brushes everywhere. One long table went down the middle of the room. Old newspapers covered almost the entire floor. On the walls there were posters with the typical encouraging sayings on it, like " Shoot for the stars!" or " Mistakes are proof you are trying". The American flag hung loosely in the right hand corner of room.

"Hello?" I called out, my voice echoing off the walls. I quickly assumed that there was no one there. As I turned to leave, a short middle aged woman who was covered in paint, came tumbling out of the art supplies closet.

"Ahhhh!" I jumped in surprise. This wasn't something that happened everyday. As I helped the lady off the floor, I inquired her. " How did you get into that closet? Did the art teacher lock you in there?"

The woman gave me a strange look before laughing. " No, silly. I am the art teacher. The name is Mrs. Randall. I was just rearranging the closet," She gestured behind her. I noted that the closet didn't look like it had recently been cleaned. All the papers were pushed to one side of a shelf. Colored pencils were scattered throughout the floor, and pints of paint covered all the other shelves. I wrinkled my nose.The room was so utterly untidy! Then again, it was probably my OCD acting up. I needed everything perfect. Mrs. Randall noticed my stares and chuckled " Can't say I'm the neatest one out there, but I get the job done. Anyway, what were you here for?"

I snapped back to attention and quickly answered " Err... Is signing up for the art club available?" Mrs. Randall's face brightened happily when I mentioned the art club.

"Yes it is!" She chirped. She bustled over to her desk, and sorted through the numerous papers that were tossed around on it. After a minute or two, she exclaimed, "Here's that blasted sign up sheet!!"

Mrs. Randall tossed me a sheet with numerous names on it. The paper itself had a huge coffee spill in the middle of it. I cringed as I signed my name. I couldn't wait to get out of that room. Mrs. Randall looked over the paper, at where I signed my name. " Cassandra Taylor?" She pronounced my name. I nodded. Mrs Randall grinned and shook my hand. "Well Cassandra, I am very excited to have you in the art club, and can't wait to see you there."

I managed a weak smile and squeaked" Thank you Ma'am," before bolting out of that room as fast as I could.

********

Later that night, after I had finished all my homework, I called Randi. As I recounted what had happened earlier that day, I could practically hear her trying ( and failing) to muffle her giggles.

" Wait, so the art teacher came tumbling out of the closet?!?" She finally managed to say.

" Yep" I confirmed, while taking out my secret sketchbook and beginning to draw. Randi broke into another fit of laughter. I rolled my eyes, waiting for her to stop. When she finally did, I continued.

" I don't know if I should quit or not. The room is really really unorganized. Don't even get me started on the closet, and Mrs. Randall herself should really take some organizational classes in my opinion. " There was a pause on the other side of the phone. " Hello?" I asked, as I reached for an eraser, and erased a mistake I just made..

" YOU ARE NOT QUITTING, YOU HEAR ME LADY???" Randi's voice came thundering in. I was so shocked that I stopped sketching. Usually, Randi was cheerful, and outgoing, not demanding.

" Why?" I challenged her. " Why can't I do what I want?"

I could hear Randi sigh. " I know this is your choice to make, but you are super good at drawing. Like terrific. The art club would be great for you to start your artist career. Anyway, you have to have at least something to do after school. You're going to regret that for the rest of your life that you didn't do much when you were a kid. I guarantee it. And just because Mrs. Randall is scatterbrained doesn't mean that you should quit." She ranted

. " Okay, Randi," I groaned, defeated. "You're right. I won't quit." I could almost hear Randi smirking, glad that she got her way.

" Cass!" My mother shouted from downstairs. "Come eat your dinner before your brothers do it for you!"

"She's not kidding!" My oldest brother Todd chimed in.

" Look," I told Randy. " I gotta go. See you at school tomorrow"

I hung up, slipped my sketchbook under the mattress of the bunk bed, and went down to dinner.