100 Years to Live (Completed)

Chapter 9 : Orange

They say that life is not fair. I say it is.

Because no matter what, my life always evens out between the good and the bad. Before, I was just an artist of a freak who occupied the lower parts of the social ladder. I was a hardcore loser. But I had Ethan by my side and that was all that mattered. And I was happy.

Then, out of the blue, Clarence comes along, picks me off my feet, and takes me to his world. A wonderful, glorious, popular world. I went through one of those miraculous transformations you only see in movies where the nerd becomes the cheerleader, the dork becomes a sexy quarterback, and an artist freak becomes welcomed and appreciated. I got myself new friends, new reputations, and a new, amazing boyfriend.

But life, like I said, is fair. When I got Clarence…I lost Ethan. I can't have two great people at the same time. In order to be with one, I have to give up the other. During the past two weeks, I gave up Ethan. Clarence and I spend every afternoon together and I'm with the vampires more than I am with the werewolves. Which is okay…

…but did I make the right choice? Was it right for me to choose my boyfriend over my best friend?

Lindsey says no; she says I should have picked Ethan. After all, I've known him way longer than Clarence. But Megan says yes; she says I'll end up marrying Clarence someday anyways, so what's the point? Kelly says that it doesn't matter who I pick now because life and destiny will work things out in the end. You gotta love that girl. And Ethan? In the last two weeks, I think he has talked to me…once.

And let's not forget Jonah. The kid is like some bipolar evil genius. He can manage to annoy the living daylights out of me without really doing anything at all, and then in a blink of an eye, he's this friendly, caring guy who seems like he actually cares about me. I never know if he's sincere at first (I have to check his truth ring). Whether he's being nice or not, I just can't get him off my back. And that annoying nickname "Wolfy"? It makes me want to shoot him.

Which makes me wonder…if Jonah is such a huge, negative part of my life, where is the huge, positive part that balances it out?

"Hello Ms. Atria!" I said, as I entered art class that morning.

"Hi Noelle," she called back while she put away some art supplies. "Grab a pencil, we're going to start on your mural today."

"My mural?"

"You know, the one Principal Oakley wanted you to finish in less than six weeks?"

"Oh snap." I had totally forgotten about that. I guess first love can do that to people.

Ms. Atria smiled knowingly at me, "I couldn't help but noticing that you haven't started yet."

So we headed out to the empty white wall by the gym. Ms. Atria told me to "let the creative juices flow" and "draw something close to heart" and "close my eyes and draw what I see". I put my pencil to the blank wall…

…but the creative juices didn't flow, I couldn't think of anything close to heart to draw, and when I closed my eyes, I didn't see anything. This could be harder than I thought.

One thing I could feel was Ms. Atria's eyes on me. I turned around and she smiled weirdly, continuing to stare at me. "You're not leaving me, are you?" I ask.

"Not until I see what you plan on drawing."

So I face the wall again and sketched a big circle. "That's…um…it's a moon!" I improvised.

"Oh," she smiled.

"Yeah," I continue winging it, "and I'm going to draw…like…a wolf! Yeah, a wolf howling at the moon."