Broadshaire School of Arts; the dream of every artist, dancer and musician. When Mary-Kate Thompson gets accepted for a transfer after struggling all year with a loss of a family member, she gladly leaves her life in Australia behind and travels acr...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
The aroma of books emitted from the shelfs, a euphoric feeling blooming in Mary-Kate's chest. Back when she was little, when her mother was still on the hunt for a job in her field and worked as an assistant in a bookstore near her home, she almost always took Mary-Kate with her when her brothers were away and her father was at work, waiting for the time she would have to walk her to her ballet class of the day. She always hated the idea of leaving her daughter alone in such a big house, even if they lived in an incredibly safe neighbourhood. Mary-Kate absolutely adored it though, helping out in any way she could or lounging on the big, brown chairs while reading her book of the day, watching people come and go.
Since then, books had been a steady and ever growing free time activity of hers, never finishing a day without at least trying to get some reading done whenever she could. The fact that she had been getting less and less time for reading in her free time wounded her spirit, but all the free time she had had was consumed by practise. And when she wasn't practising, she was resting.
Mary-Kate's eyes settled on the book she was looking for, her fingers wrapping around it carefully, pulling it out of its place to study it. The cover was soft under her touch, her fingers tracing the engraved name lightly. Ava Monroe-Balma. The name was written elegantly at the bottom of the cover, Antonio's last name letting her know she had indeed found the correct book, allowing for her search to be over.
Ever since Charlie told her about who Antonio's parents were, Mary-Kate couldn't get this book out of her head. She had given into the temptation of looking them up, coming across his mother's book in the process, and his father's insane talent and now countless galleries filled with his work. She had to admit she was in awe, for not only did they manage to stay true to what they loved to do, they made a profession out of it. And a highly profitable one.
Pictures of them and stories she read online and in articles as she was fully submerged into the rabithole that is the internet, made her heart swoon. A love story written for the ages, a love that was so intense it swallowed them whole in the best way possible. Mary-Kate wasn't embarrassed to admit she wanted that. But she was doubtful about whether or not her ambitions wouldn't get in the way of her search for such love. She wasn't the type of person who would ever set aside her career and the life she was working so hard for to satisfy someone else's dream, and not many people were on board with such plans.
Mary-Kate checked her watch, her mind calculating how much time she had at her disposal before she had to be at Broadshare for her first class of the day. With half an hour still to go, Mary-Kate held the book close to her chest as she moved around an incoming body, moving towards the register where a young woman typed away at the main computer, listing new books that she had received to put in the shelves. When she noticed Mary-Kate waiting for her patiently, she smiled and removed the stacks on books from the surface, allowing for her to hand over the book.
"Great taste." She smiled and continued with the price, Mary-Kate reaching in her back pocket, handing over the desired amount. "You're going to love this."
