petrichor

Weirdo

Lena

When Lena woke up this morning her head was on two things:

1. The assignment Mr. Harman gave her weeks ago and

2. Will her work be good enough for him to give her a decent score?

For days she was busy trying to decide what she should make. Mr. Harman said she could make anything varying from painting, statues, even a video and she wanted it to be perfect. The topic was about "the essence and the meaning of life." as he called Lena also wanted to make sure that she put the most effort into it.

Four days before today, she finally had an idea of what to make. It wasn't that hard, but it was time consuming. It's either gonna be the most cliché piece of art ever or I'm gonna work hard on it and make it a masterpiece. Finally, after visiting Natasha in the hospital yesterday she was able to finish it. "Oh, yeah, this is gonna be good." she nodded to herself, looking at the results.

"What you got there?" her dad asked when he saw her carrying a big sized rolled up paper. "Oh, it's work." Lena replied.

"Work about?"

"It's an art project. I'm supposed to present this to the class today."

Aris who was eating pancakes showed interest, "I wanna see it." he demanded.

"No, 'because you can ruin it just by staring at it." Lena shot him a glare that was meant to be a joke.

She went to the fridge and poured some milk into a bowl before putting in cereal, a crime, but she liked it that way. "Cereal destroyer." Aris muttered beside her. "I don't care." Lena replied simply. She looked at the clock on her phone, the bus wasn't arriving until a few more minutes. Usually that wasn't a problem for her, but yesterday Pandora told her to arrive earlier because she wanted to see what she made.

"But you're riding the school bus, how can you not arrive at school the same time as me?"

"I'll be using my bike, duh." Pandora answered. "I mean I already got started but I might need some advice."

"Okay, I'll find a way."

Hank, Lena's dad looked at her piece of work again that was placed on the couch in front if the TV next to her bag. "looks pretty big, honey, are you sure you're okay bringing it to the bus and all?" he asked, "It could get damaged."

Lena shook her head, "Nah, I don't think so. That's why I wanna hitch a ride with Aris." instantly, her brother who was peacefully eating almost choked. "Ugh, what? No way, I've morning classes to attend." he refused.

"Aw, please." Lena pleaded.

Aris was still on his stand, "No! I'm gonna be late if I have to go to your school first."

Lena was about to throw hands when Hank quickly broke their argument. "Be quiet." he ordered. "Aris start the car, Lena, hurry up so your brother won't be late."

"But dad---"

"Aris..."

"Okay, okay." Aris finally relented. Lena smiled at him triumphantly. Ha, I won. Her face read. Five minutes later they already hit the road.

Lena never had a problem with making artsy stuffs. She liked drawing, from drawing cartoons to comics, and she liked the attention she sometimes got from her family or from Pandora and their other friends, but when it comes to showing her work in front of many people, which essentially means public speaking, Lena couldn't guarantee that her legs weren't going to shake.

Every time she had a task that involved talking in front of the class, she'd always rush through it, or her voice would be so quiet, only the front row could hear her. It was a problem she always had, but after meeting Pandora and joining the support group, Lena started working her way out to become more confident.