The Artist

Alright, arts today. Let’s see what I can draw,” I said, excited, while also knowing what Jake was about to do. Yup. I thought, there he was, walking up to me so smug.

“What’s up, Aiden?” he said.

“Nothing,” I responded quickly, trying to get away and get on with my day.

He noticed my discomfort and tried to keep the conversation going long enough to embarrass me in front of his friends. “You sure?” he said.

Well, it worked, because a couple of seconds later they showed up. And before I could say anything, one of his friends pushed me and I almost fell over.

“Will you guys mind your own business?” I asked angrily.

“Nah, it’s a lot funnier to mess with you than to just sit around in class all day.”

Jake is constantly tormenting me for no reason. He makes me mad. So I punched him.

His first line of thought was to probably just beat me up or something, but then the teacher walked in, and he immediately snitched.

“Aiden punched me after me and my friends made an innocent joke! I got a black eye!”

I tried to negotiate, but it was too late. I got sent to the principal’s office. While I was sitting there, thinking what to do to get Jake back, I saw a poster for an art contest.

“Whoever wins gets $100!” Huh…wait! If I win that art contest, I can rub it in Jake’s face WHILE doing something I love! Perfect!

Then the principal said, “Alright, it’s been thirty minutes, now get back to class! If I see you in here again today, I WILL be calling your parents!”

Well now I’m practically walking on eggshells. Whatever! Does it even matter? A hundred bucks is on the line! Wait, when is the competition? I looked at the bottom of the poster and saw that it said, “The competition starts on February 2 at 11 am Eastern.”

What?! February 2? That’s in ONE DAY! I had to start quickly! I asked if I could stay in for recess and draw, and the teacher said yes. So I started sketching, trying my hardest to come up with the BEST idea! I theorized how I would win. And I came up with something… a piece of art where every piece of art was combined. It was landscapes, pottery, abstract and more! But how would I create the ACTUAL pottery, AND learn how to draw a detailed landscape using smeared lines?

“Hey, recess is over, head to lunch!” the teacher said.

Darn. What will I do now? I have basically NO progress! I should learn pottery first. Abstract art is easy, and there’s only one piece of it, anyway. (It’s the decoration above the painted river by the way.) Are there any classes for pottery, anyway? I didn’t know, but I had to find out. To my disbelief, I saw a poster for it!

But to my horror, it started on the ninth! Guess I’ll just have to scrap it. Then I realized I was talking out loud. We’re not supposed to do that.

“Principal’s office, now!” the teacher said.

Oh no. The thing the principal said raced through my mind, “IF I SEE YOU IN HERE AGAIN TODAY I WILL BE CALLING YOUR PARENTS.” The thought was so loud it felt like it was yelling at me!

I opened the door to the office carefully. I sat down and waited. Without a word, he called my parents. He pointed at the door to signal me to get out and go to lunch.

My mom said, “Jake had been messing with you, and I don’t stand for that! Also, the contest has been delayed to the 9th because there’s bad weather for half of the week, so, yeah.”

“YESSSSS!” It felt so perfect! I felt like the main character in a poorly written fourth-grader’s story that needed a convenient plot point to continue the story in the first place! Wait…

I fist bumped my Mom, and was about to run upstairs to think about bringing the project back to life when…

“Hey, young man, you’re still grounded for three days. I BETTER not see you doing anything but homework and sleeping!”

“Ok, ok,” I said half sounding like I didn’t care and half sounding like it was terrible. Well, then. I guess I’m gonna have to wait.

2.05.25

I woke up and immediately went to my art table and grabbed my paint, pencils, and the old paper with the sketch from recess on it. I woke up early at 5:00 to start. Also, if you want to know about Monday, here’s what basically happened in 10 seconds: Apparently Jake got expelled for trying to beat up a teacher and everything else was normal from there. (I was happy, by the way.) But today was the day of planning and creating. I got home and started the project until it was over halfway done. Then I fell asleep, ready for tomorrow.

After school, I worked on it and finished it. I was relieved. And just like that, it was the 9th. I was surprised it happened so fast. After school I, grabbed the project, and my mom took me back to school.

I was in awe. The school looked so much more professional than usual. The competition was so tense! I turned it in and waited. I think I actually saw some college students looking at our drawings. I think only 60 people were allowed in the competition and about 56 came. Fifty-six contestants! Then came the announcement of the winner… me!

I thought it was some other kid named Aiden. But it was me! I happily took the money and waved at my mom. I won! I’m an ARTIST!