The Art of Life

by Carter, Sarah

  Holding the broom away from me, Jeremy says, “You are not the maid Isabelle. You do not OWE me anything. I will never let you do a single chore if you have that attitude.”

  “This place will become a pig sty if we live by that rule,” I state seriously. “Now, give me the broom.”

  “No,” he states holding it even farther away. I jump at it and he spins. It’s a game of keep away for about ten minutes. Finally, he holds it completely above my head. “I am quite a bit taller than you. You are never going to get it.”

  I cross my arms. “Then you sweep the floor. It’s dirty.”

  “Fine,” he playfully snaps. I watch him start to sweep the floor. “See, I can clean.”

  “I see that, very good, you get a cookie for today,” I retort.

  He laughs. We spend the rest of the day doing pretty much nothing. There are a few movies we watch and I make chicken parmesan for dinner. It is just us and that makes me very happy.

  The next morning we get ready like we do every day and he takes me to school like every week day. Jeremy gives me a kiss on the cheek, which makes me smile. I walk into school and see my….friends. We talk and so on. Then while I am making my way to my locker for lunch, I am taken off guard. “What in the world are you doing here!?” I yell in happiness.

  Josh gets up from leaning against my locker. “I am being the dirty old guy in the high school.”

  I walk up to him and hug him. “That’s great, but seriously, what are you doing here?”

  “I had an early lunch with Kent at the restaurant and he told me to bring you something because I said I had nothing to do,” Josh replies, he whips a bag out from behind his back. “So, here’s lunch.”

  “Awesome!” I yell, snagging the bag from him. “What is it?”

  Josh smiles. “A salad and a bacon cheeseburger. I figured French fries would not be good reheated. Where can we eat?”

  “Probably outside, I don’t think you are supposed to be in the high school. So, let’s go out onto the front lawn,” I say, pointing down the hallway.

  We walk and all the girls we pass turn their heads and look at Josh. No matter what he says, I know it’s boosting his ego. We find a place on the lawn and sit down. Well I sit down, Josh lies down on his back propped up by his elbows. “So, I have decided I do not miss high school. I kind of miss having girls around all the time. So many to flirt with, with so little time.”

  “You guys are ridiculous,” I say, opening my salad. “I wonder how you get into a room without banging your heads together because they are so big.”

  Josh just roars with laughter. “I am going to keep my perverted mouth shut on that one.”

  “Yeah, keep it to yourself. Jeremy wouldn’t be happy with you if you were being a bad influence on me.”

  “Oh, if I were going to be a bad influence, I would take you to the tattoo parlor and get a tattoo with me tonight. I am getting more work done one my side,” Josh states.

  Leaning over, I say, “I wanna see.”

  Josh lifts up his shirt. I see a dragon up his entire side. It’s halfway colored in. “Pretty cool, huh?

  “Totally, tattoos are bad ass. I want some tulips when I get one. Whenever that will be,” I say, taking a bite of my salad.

  “What’s stopping you?” Josh asks.

  Scoffing, I reply, “I know nothing about that stuff. I also have no money.”

  “Is that the only thing that is stopping you?” Josh inquires with a grin.

  “Pretty much,” I answer. “Why?”

  A devilish smirk passes over Josh’s face. “If I pay for it, will you get your tattoo this afternoon when I get mine?”

  My jaw drops. “Are you kidding?”

  “Not at all,” Josh says excitedly. “Come on, do it, don’t be a chicken. I am the one picking you up from school today anyway. We can do it and it can stay between us. Come on Isabelle, you know you want to.”

  Taking a deep breath, I think about it. “Alright, I will do it. Can it be my own drawing?”

  “Totally,” Josh says. “Draw something up, the size you want it, and then you have to think about where you want it.”

  “Somewhere concealable, maybe my hip right here, right under my waistline.”

  Josh’s eyebrow goes up. “You are going to have to pull your pants down a little bit for that.”

  I think about it for a minute. “I have cute underwear on, so that’s fine. Let’s do this. Oh! I am so excited!”

  “Awesome!” Josh laughs. “Just don’t let Jeremy see, ooorrrr does he see that area on you?”

  Blushing really bad, I say, “No, he doesn’t see that area.”

  “Good, then we are all set. I will call the tattoo parlor when I leave. Now, finish eating,” Josh urges.

  When I finish, I give Josh a hug and kiss on the cheek. He waves and walks away. I walk back into the school to go to my locker. I find Eric standing there. “Hey,” I say.

  “Hi,” he says, but with a look of concern. “Is everything alright?”

  “Yeah,” I answer, slightly perplexed. “Why?”

  “Jack told me about Saturday night, and I wanted to make sure you were okay. Jack said it looked like Jeremy was going to kill the guy.”

  My eyes get big and I quietly exclaim, “Oh! No! It was a good thing! That was Howard, that was the guy who assaulted me.”

  “They caught him? That is great!”

  I nod and smile. “Yeah,” I whisper. “It should finally be over. I feel a lot better.”

  “Isabelle!” I hear yelled beside us. I turn to see Jack. “Is everything alright?”

  “Yeah,” I reply, looking at Eric out of the corner of my eye.

  Jack just looks floored. “Jeremy seemed like he was going to shove that guy through the wall.”

  “Yes, obviously someone has anger issues,” I hear yet another person say. I turn to see Sonya. She smirks. “He’s a little barbaric, don’t you think, or was he drunk?”

  “You don’t know what you are talking about,” Eric interjects, stepping in. “Just leave it be guys.”

  Sonya rolls her eyes. “She has you wrapped around her finger now, too?”

  “What?” Eric snaps, looking slightly confused. “No, Sonya, you have no idea what you are talking about.”

  “Yeah,” I add on. “You just need to keep your mouth shut this time. Jeremy was not drunk nor is he BARBARIC.”

  She crosses her arms and looks at me condescendingly. “I knew he would have issues. Everyone thought he was so perfect. Better watch out Isabelle, sometimes guys can turn on girls.”

  “You stupid….” I yell, jumping at her.

  Eric grabs a hold of me and says, “Isabelle, you don’t need to do this.”

  The hallway has now died down and everyone is staring at me. Sonya laughs, “What, are you taking after Jeremy now? Do you both have anger issues, is that what attracts you to each other?”

  “You want to know what happened!? Huh!?” I scream. “You want to know who that guy was!?”

  “Isabelle, you don’t have to do this,” Eric whispers.

  Cocking her eyebrow, Sonya snidely retorts, “Who was he Isabelle, someone else you threw yourself at?”

  “NO, YOU STUPID WITCH! He was the guy who assaulted me!” I yell at the top of my lungs. Sonya shuts up pretty quickly. Twisting I get out of Eric’s grip. I walk up into Sonya’s face. “Yeah Sonya, let me give you some real ammo, let’s air my dirty laundry out for everyone to hear. Is everyone listening?” I shout. “Because if I don’t tell you, Sonya will, because that is the way she is. A few weeks ago, I was home, in my room, doing my homework. When my alcoholic mother’s boyfriend walked in, and threw me down on my bed. Yeah Sonya, on my bed! Are you following this!? He tried to rape me, but my mom came in and stopped it. But you want even MORE ammo for your arsenal against me? My stupid drunk mother blamed me!

  Yeah, she said the same thing you did, that I threw myself at him. So, is that what you think? Huh? I want to be assaulted on
my own bed, in my room, in my house!? You talk crap about Jeremy, but do you know what he has done for me? He has taken me in, given me a real home. He cares for me like no one has before. I am sorry that you have grown up with the picture perfect life, but I haven’t! So, you want to make fun of me a little more for it!? Go right ahead. Here is all my baggage out for the world to see!”

  I take in one deep breath and then growl, “I am tired of you picking on me. You made fun of those scarves I wore, but do you know what, I had to wear them! I had to cover up the bruising that jerk left behind when he choked me. YES, I said CHOKED me. I nearly blacked out. I didn’t want anyone to see, so I covered it up. I didn’t want anyone to know, but obviously I had to tell the whole world to protect my friend! Jeremy is the most loving, kind person I know, and I will not tolerate you bad mouthing him! You would be so lucky to have a guy like him in your life, but that’s the problem isn’t it, SONYA? You like Jeremy and you are jealous, which drives you to pick on me even more. So, GO AHEAD, pick on me, but I have Jeremy and you don’t. So KISS MY ASS!”

  Suddenly, the whole hallway bursts forth in applause. It doesn’t faze me. I stare Sonya dead in the eyes and don’t flinch. I can’t quite place the look on her face. It’s like anger and embarrassment rolled into one, with a dash of tears on the side. She shakes her head, and says, “You are so dramatic.”

  Jack steps forward and says, “Do you not know when to shut up? Are you really that stupid?”

  “I never,” Sonya says, obviously flustered.

  “Listen to me, Sonya,” I snarl in anger. “You can pick on me all you want. I am used to it, but so help me God, if I find out you start picking on someone else, I will ruin your life. Do you understand me?”

  Her jaw drops. “Are you threatening me?”

  “Nope, just warning, threatening will come later,” I retort.

  Sonya huffs and turns around to walk away. It takes me a few seconds and then I finally breathe. I turn around to face my locker. Eric wraps his arms around me and stands there. Jack comes up on the other side and says, “Are you alright?”

  “I think I am going to hurl,” I whisper.

  “Maybe you should get out of here,” Eric replies. “I can take you somewhere.”

  I shake my head, “No, I need to see today through. If I don’t, this all will not have mattered. I need to stand my ground with her.”

  “I am sorry,” Jack mumbles. “I am sorry you had to go through that.”

  Turning to look at him, I reply, “Thanks.”

  Suddenly, the bell rings. “We need to get to class,” Eric says. “Unless you want to leave.”

  “Nope,” I say. “I am fine, better than fine actually.”

  “Okay,” he replies. “Let’s go then.”

  As we walk down the hallway, people smile and nod at me. Okay, that’s not the reaction I was expecting. It’s hard to not smirk. The rest of the day flies by. I don’t know if I am on an adrenaline rush or what. When art class comes, I am dying to see Sonya, but she is nowhere to be found. The class bell rings and she never shows. Her two sidekicks are in class though. They keep looking at me.

  So, finally, I turn to them and snap, “What?”

  Nervously, Daniella says, “You know, we don’t agree with her all the time, and we know she is super jealous about Jeremy. We are sorry for what happened. She went home because she didn’t want to face you, if that makes you feel any better.”

  I snort and laugh. “That is kind of funny.”

  Daniella smiles back. “We thought you would get a kick out of it. Don’t let her get to you. She picks on us, too. It’s what she does. I don’t know why we put up with it. The older we get the older it gets. We are sorry if we ever hurt your feelings.”

  “Thanks,” I say. They smirk and go back to what they were doing. I take out my sketchbook and with new inspiration, I start to draw.

  At the end of the day, I nearly sprint outside. Josh is standing next to his car, grinning at the girls again. I run up to him and jump into his arms. He goes, “Geez, hi, happy to see you, too.”

  “NO, today was EPIC, I told Sonya off!” I gleefully exclaim.

  “Sweet!” Josh shouts. “Tell me about it in the car. We have appointments to get to.”

  So, on our way to the tattoo parlor, I tell him everything. At the end, Josh smiles and says, “Good girl. Jeremy will be proud.”

  “I can’t wait to tell him,” I sigh, looking out the window.

  “Yeah, tell him about that, not this,” Josh replies, as he pulls up to the shop.

  I take in a deep breath. “I am nervous. Is this going to hurt?”

  “Oh yeah, probably,” he laughs. “I will hold your hand though. I told Jeremy I was taking you to my parents’ for dinner, and he said alright. So, we have time.”

  My heart is nearly pounding out of my chest. “Okay,” I squeak, “here we go.”

  When we walk into the tattoo parlor, it isn’t what I expected. I pictured some big biker, and dark walls, weird people sitting in the corner. Not this place, it’s all black and white tiled. Everything is super clean. A girl with full sleeves is sitting behind the counter. She smiles, “Hey Josh. You ready for me to finish you up?”

  “Yup,” he replies. “And I have a new recruit.”

  She eyes me up. “Are you 18?”

  “Yeah,” I answer.

  “I will have to see and make a copy of your ID,” she states.

  Putting my backpack down, I pull out my wallet. “Here,” I say, handing it to her.

  “Isabelle….hmmm, alright Isabelle, what do you want done?”

  “This,” I say, taking out my sketchpad. I rip out the picture and hand it to her.

  The girl’s eyes get big. “Did you trace this?”

  “No, I drew it myself,” I laugh.

  “This is amazing,” she retorts. “Do you have anything else I can see?”

  That makes me slightly nervous. I look over at Josh. He smiles, “Renee is not going to make fun of you. She is an artist too, if you think about it.”

  With a heavy sigh, I hand my sketchbook over to her. Renee smiles and sets it on the counter. Josh leans forward to look, too. She opens it and seems to carefully look at each drawing. “These are great,” Renee finally says. “I would love for you to do some work for me. I mean, the way you capture people. My clients would love that. I would pay you.”

  “Really?” I ask, probably too eagerly.

  “If this is really your work, yeah,” Renee replies. “Who is the hot guy?”

  Josh groans, “That’s Jeremy, her significant other.”

  “He is not my boyfriend,” I snap.

  Snorting, Josh says, “Yeah, but he is still your significant other. Jeepers, you two might as well be married.”

  “You say that like it’s a bad thing,” I mutter.

  “No, no,” he exclaims. “Not at all Isabelle, it’s not like that. Whoever comes along is going to have some fierce competition with you two.”

  “Whoever he is,” Renee quips, “He is hot.”

  I smile. “Yes he is.”

  “Enough about my friend’s looks, let’s get inked up,” Josh says, rubbing his hands together.

  Renee hands my sketchbook back over. “Who is going first?” She asks.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I see Josh pointing at me. “Her.”

  My heart starts pounding again. Renee takes my sketch and says, “Alright, let me trace this. Take her in back and have her use the bathroom, and then lay down on the table.”

  Nudging his head towards the back, Josh says, “Come on babe.”

  We go back there and I do use the bathroom. My hands are shaking I am so nervous. Am I really going to do this? Yeah, yeah you are. When I get out of the bathroom, Renee is sitting by the table. “What colors do you want girl?”

  “Purple,” I say, “a really pretty purple.”

  “Alright, lay down,” Renee instructs.

  It is awkward, but I do. “So, how bad i
s this going to hurt?” I ask.

  “It is different for everyone,” Renee replies. “Where do you want it?”

  “Right here,” I say, pointing on my pants.

  She laughs. “You need to pull your pants down then. I need to have that area clear.”

  “Are other people going to come in here?” I ask.

  “No one comes back here unless I say so,” Renee states. “You are okay.”

  Josh looks down at me. “Do you want me to leave?”

  “NO!” I yell. “Don’t you dare! I am not doing this without you.”

  He pulls over a stool and says, “Okay, I promise to not look as a guy, just your friend.”

  That makes me giggle. “Yeah right, but whatever.” I undo my pants and pull them down on the side. “This feels awkward,” I mumble to myself.

  “Trust me, when I start working on you, that is going to be the last thing on your mind,” Renee says. My eyes bulge and she just laughs. It takes her a little bit to set up. I just get more and more nervous. Finally, after she has cleaned my skin and put on the stencil. Renee smiles. “Okay hon, I am going to start now. Remember, it’s better to breathe, than hold your breath.”

  Instantly, I take Josh’s hand. He puts his other on top. “You will be okay. Yell if need be.”

  With that, Renee starts and I gasp. She stops, “You okay?”

  “Yup,” I reply, “keep going.”

  It takes a while, and is quite a weird experience. Parts of it hurt like nothing I have never experienced before and then other parts aren’t so bad. Josh keeps talking to me through the whole thing. Finally, Renee stops and says, “We are done.”

  I try to look down and say, “I want to see.”

  “Let me clean it up,” she replies, and she does. “Now, go look in the mirror.”

  Quickly, I stand up and then realize, okay, that hurts. Half holding my pants, I walk over to the mirror and look. “Oh my gosh,” I whisper. “It’s awesome.” I look down at the three purple tulips that are now on my hip. They are surrounded by delicate spirals and tiny stars.

  “It looks good,” Josh declares, coming up behind me. “Now, you have to follow her instructions on how to keep it clean and moisturized until it heals. We will stop at the store and get it all for you.”