Fragments of Arcadia: You Are Strong

VII.

Evangeline was fidgeting behind the main desk as the day went by. She had her sketchbook beside her, a few pages torn out from her trials of the mural. She just wanted to get home so she could continue trying to come up with a rough sketch with the school. Her leg was bouncing, her fingers tapping against the desk and she let out a small sigh.

"You won't finish it."

"I know."

"He'll be disappointed."

"I know."

"You're ruining your chance."

"I. Know."

"You're never going to come up with an idea."

"I KNOW!"

Evangeline yelled at herself inside her head. Her fingers were shaking and she balled them into fists, trying to bring herself back under control. The past couple of weeks had been terrible on her. She couldn't escape herself or her head. All she wanted to do was cry, but she had done enough of it lately. She placed her head on the desk and just let out a deep breath.

"Evangeline?" A familiar voice asked.

"Oh no," Evangeline thought to herself as she looked up.

Looking down at her was Mr. Everett.

"You okay?"

"Uh, yeah."

"I'm here to return the books," he said sliding the books to her.

"Okay. Are you returning them or do you need more time?" She asked as she pulled the books behind the desk to her.

"I'm returning them, just needed to make copies for class."

"Okay, I'll get these put into the system for you."

"I see your sketchbook is out, are you working on the mural while you're at work?"

Evangeline momentarily froze, her stomach sank.

"I—I'm tryin."

"How far have you gotten?"

Time seemed to stop as she felt the world come down on her.

"Do I tell him the truth?"

"Will he be mad?"

"Will I lose the gig?"

"Am I going to disappoint him?"

Mr. Everett noticed the look on Evangeline's face. He understood the momentary thousand-yard stare, breaking eye contact, and head tilting down slightly. He knew what was going through her head.

"If you haven't, that's actually good."

"It is?" Evangeline said confused as she snapped back to reality.

"It is. I hate to take away your creativity but I do have a request."

"I mean, it is a commissioned mural so of course you can make one."

"Of course. Do you remember the old playground?"

"Definitely, I got sick on the merry-go-round."

"We've been trying to get money to renovate it. It hasn't been replaced since you were there."

"Oh wow."

"We thought we were going to get the funding, but the board of education denied it."

"I'm sorry to hear that."
"I'm hoping that if you could incorporate the playground into the mural, that they'd fund it next