Birds chirping, trees and grass dancing along with the wind, flowers gracing their beauty. It sure is a sight to see, but my eyes only land on the woman in front of me. "Ellie! Look here," she said with her sweet and loving voice. I was about to call her when, beep beep beep, my alarm went off. I finally woke up from my dream, annoyed that I didn't get to know her name again.
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I'm Catherine, a 17-year-old girl who kept dreaming about a stranger. It all started when I was 13, a strange dream kept appearing in a sequence — like a movie series. At the start the woman's face was blurry, but through time it started to clear up. When I finally got to see her face, I was stunned. She was ethereal, her blonde hair flowing gracefully, hazel eyes that could drown you, fair skin and plump lips, everything about her was perfect. The moment I saw that look, with no hesitation I decided to make her the muse in my paintings.
Today is the first day of school for my senior year. I was one year away from attending a university that specialises in art. I got up from my bed and prepared for school. I went to the kitchen and started cooking breakfast. After all my preparations, I walked to school and started a new chapter of my life.
As it was in my previous years at school, I didn't socialise much and just sat in the same spot where people wouldn't notice me — but don't get it wrong, I still had good grades in performances. I sat alone and started sketching to pass the time. It has always been like this, but today was different.
"Hello, can I sit beside you? I'm Stella, by the way," said the brunette in front of me.
"Sure you can, I'm Catherine," I replied.
"Nice to meet you, Catherine," she said with a sweet smile, but it kind of looked like a smirk.
I brushed it off, thinking that maybe I just saw it wrong. I got my things from her chair and signalled her to sit down.
Throughout the whole day, Stella would talk to me and ask me things. I didn't mind it and asked her the same things, the bell then rang — it was finally time to go home.
I got home and slumped on the bed. I was so tired after socialising that much with Stella. Though she got my interest, she's fun and loud — not exactly what I'm used to. I got up again and prepared to sleep.
I started to drift off to sleep.
"Ellie! Look what I painted, well, it may not be as good as yours, but I can say I'm very proud of what I did." The elegant blonde was talking to me.
I didn't expect to dream of her tonight. I wanted to talk, but I couldn't. I badly want to ask who she is, "Ellie, what do you think?"
I finally got to talk, though it's not my own words, "It's pretty impressive for a beginner, just a few more practices. You did very well, E-"
My words were cut off, and I woke up. I cursed and slapped myself for not getting to know her name again.
On my way to school, I kept thinking about the woman, now I know that her name starts with E, but that's it. I went to my locker and organized my things. My thoughts were once again cut off by Stella.
"Good Morning!" She smiled and waved at me.
"Good Morning to you too," I said. I wonder why such a jolly person like her would want to approach someone as quiet as me.
"Are you ready for the 2nd day of school?" Stella asked.
I closed my locker and started walking with her, and I answered, "Yeah, I guess."
We chatted on the way to our room, and class started. The bell rang for lunchtime. Before, I usually would stay in the room and sketch the dream I had, but today, "Hey, wanna have lunch with me?"
Stella looked at me in a way that she was pointing out that she wasn't going to take no for an answer, "Sure..." I answered.
At the Cafeteria...
We sat down in a corner, "So... what do you have as a hobby?" She asked before taking a bite of her lunch.
"I draw and paint, you?"
She looked at me and said, "Wow, that's a cool hobby; I don't have one; I just do random things to pass the time. Can I see some of your drawings?" I nodded and gave her one of my sketchbooks — the one with random drawings, not the one for my dreams and the stranger.
"Whoa, this looks so good! Why don't you join competitions?" She asked and I answered, "It's not my thing, and I only do it to release emotions I can't speak or show." She looked at me with understanding and smiled. We talked about the things we like the whole time.
A week passed, and we got to know each other better; she already got me interested in her on the first day, but as time went along, she kept getting more and more interesting than I thought she would be.
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It was just our first week in school, but I felt like dying already. Is it this hard to be in the last year of high school?
"Arghhh," I groaned as I remembered that tomorrow was Monday again. The second week of our school year is going to start tomorrow, yes, the second week, yet it feels like a month has already passed. We've had a lot of assignments and tests in the first week.
I prepared my bed and got ready to sleep. As I was in my thoughts, I remembered the woman again, "Will I see you tonight again? Will I know your name now?"
I sighed and thought, "Probably not, you don't show yourself that easily."
I then drifted off to sleep.
"Ellie! Look what I found! It's a seashell," the blonde said. Again, an unfamiliar voice replied to her, but it was mine from the dream, "It looks pretty, maybe we could use it in paintings." A dialogue that was never mine but resonates with the thought in my mind.
"You always manage to connect things with art, don't you, Ellie?" The girl said with a chuckle right after, and then I replied, "Well, yes, art is something precious that connects with everything, Es-," the name was cut off again by that annoying alarm clock.
"Es, huh? That's some improvement, I guess. How come it took 4 years to get those 2 letters?" I said in my thoughts while scratching my head and getting up.
Like the usual routine, I'd get up from bed, stretch my body, wash up, cook breakfast, and leave the house. I've been living like that systematically with no errors, it would start and end the same, like a robot.
I just arrived at school and I'm already feeling tired. I fixed up my locker and closed it, and by the time it closed, someone popped up beside me.
"G'morning!" The brunette greeted.
"Oh hey, Stella. Good Morning to you too." I replied.
We talked about how our weekend went while walking towards our classroom. She talked about hanging out with her previous classmates while I talked about my paintings.
She then asked, "So you did nothing but paint?"
"Yeah," I answered.
We went inside our classroom and sat down in our seats. We were about to talk more, but our teacher arrived. During one of our classes, Stella and I got paired for an art project, she squealed, "Yey! We got paired!"
"Are you that happy?" I asked. "Of course! Who wouldn't? I'm so lucky I got paired up with an artist!" said Stella, who was looking at me with her hazel puppy eyes, excitedly. I chuckled at her statement and rolled my eyes playfully. She then hit me on my arm playfully while pouting. When I saw that look, all I could think of was "..cute."
I shook off my thoughts and asked her, "So, when do you want to start the project?"
She focused on me and stopped pouting, "We can start next week, since the deadline is next month and we still have other projects that need to be passed this week."
I nodded my head while listening and agreed with her. "Sure, we can do that, just say when you're free. By the way, where do you want to take the project, my house or yours?" Stella thought for a minute, and I waited for her reply.
"We can do it at my house," she said with a mischievous grin. I cast aside that thought, thinking that maybe he was thinking of something else while saying that. "Alright then, it's decided."