Story Of A Girl

Ever since she drew her first star on her fathers worksheet, Evelyn clung to art. Ever since she took her first photograph of her family in front of the Alamo, Evelyn clung towards photography. Ever since Jr. High, when she joined Mr. Miller’s art class, she clung towards that art class.
But, the next day after her misconception with Frank, she was shaking in her school shoes at the end of the hall. She bet her lip nervously and clutched her notebook closer to her chest. Yesterday, her giggles fell in line with the sound of the bell. Today, she winced violently as the sound penetrated her eardrums.
She almost fell over when an angry shoulder into hers. She looked p, expecting to see the back of Frank’s head, and gasped lightly when she saw the bright red hair that belonged to Muffie Peterson. She straightened up and tucked her dark hair behind her ear. She took a deep breath and walked towards the room. She pushed the door open and her emotions mixed as her eyes went to her desk. Was there and emotion of relief, horror and sadness? Because she had it.
“Linnie,” Mr. Miller said, walking towards her. “I tried to talk to him into coming. I’m sorry.” He took hold of the hand that was covering her wide open mouth. “Look, it’s not the end of the world. By Friday, I’m sure he’ll be here.”
“It’s Tuesday.” She whispered, her teary eyes still on the empty and dead-looking table.
“Linnie, I-You-He’s-Frank’s a good kid, okay. He’s not one to-I’m sure by Friday he’ll be fine.” He patted her shoulder and went back to his desk, head hanging slightly.
The rest of the week went by slowly and blurry for the chocolate-eyed girl. Every morning she would run into the art class to meet an ashamed Mr. Miller and a painfully empty desk. No one hated Evelyn so much and it was hastily eating away at her. She began to feel more rotten and spoiled with each agonized day. She lost sleep over a hatred she had never acknowledged.
By Friday, she’d lost all hope of ever seeing Frank again in her rotten life. Her shoes dragged across the linoleum as she pushed the door open.
“Good morning, Linnie.” Mr. Miller said, a smile in his voice.
“Good Morning, Mr. Miller.” She muttered. The sound of happiness in her beloved teacher’s voice slowly sunk into her brain and her head snapped towards her desk. A large smile hit her dead features as she looked at the brunette boy sitting at the table. The pale face of Evelyn Stewart slowly came to life.
“I told you by Friday he’d be back.” Mr. Miller smiled at her, happy to see his daughter-like-student getting herself back.
“Thank you, Mr. Miller.” She smiled at him. She happily made her way to her table. “Hi.” She nervously said to Frank. He glanced up at her before ignoring her. A small frown made it way back to her face. She suddenly remembered that they weren’t friends. Awkward-ness filler up inside her stomach as she sat next to him, but not enough to murder her joy of Frank actually being here.
“Alright, everybody - besides Frank and Linnie - finish up your assignments for the week. You two,” Mr. Miller pointed to Evelyn and Frank, “just chill out since neither of you have started the assignment.”
Evelyn nodded while Frank gazed out the window. Discovering that Frank wasn’t going to even glance at her, Evelyn pulled the sketch pad from her bag. She glanced around the room, thinking of something to draw. She turned her attention to the silent boy beside her. Her eye-brows furrowed as she looked at him.
Was it something she did and just not remember? Was it something she said? Was it something her friends had said? Was it because she had a nice house? A nice family? Money?
And the burning question that she was determined to figure out: Why did Frank Iero hate Evelyn Stewart so badly?
It was then she realized what to draw. She drew what she figured her heart looked like: slightly cracked, black with a light red outlining. Even though her drawing was filled with despair, she couldn’t help but smile as she drew the curve for her damaged drawing. Drawing had been Evelyn’s passion for her whole life, not to mention she was amazing at it.
As soon as the bell rang, Frank jumped from his spot, ready to get away for the weekend, despite his absence all week.
“Frank, Evelyn I’d like to talk to you both. So just, hang around for just a second.” Mr. Miller said as he saw Frank inch his way towards the door. As soon as the rest of the class was gone, Mr. Miller closed the door. “Frank, sit down.” He nodded towards the seat by Evelyn. Frank screwed up his face as he sat next to her for the second time that day.
“Is there something wrong, Mr. Miller?” Evelyn asked, concern coating her features. Frank crossed his arms and silently mocked her while keeping his face turned toward the left.
“Yeah, kinda.” Mr. Miller said, staring at Frank. “This week’s assignment was mainly bout getting to know your partner. On Monday, Frank had a temper tantrum.” He held up a hand when Frank opened his mouth to argue back. “And, he was gone the rest of the week. It’s the first week of school and I hate to do this, but I’m going to make you guys do that assignment this weekend.” He paced in front of them.
Frank jumped up. “Mr. Miller, can we do this next weekend, I already have plans for this weekend.” He gathered his things. “So, as much as I would love to spend my weekend with Miss Perfect, I have places to be and people to see.” He began to walk to the door.
“Frank Iero, I’m not joking. Sit down.” Mr. Miller said, crossing his arms.
“But-”
“Sit. Down.” He pointed to the spot next to Evelyn. Mr. Miller was usually the exciting, fun art teacher. So, he was rarely angry. But, when he was, it was best to just listen to him. Frank groaned loudly and walked back to his seat. “Tell me Frank, what is so important about this weekend?”
“Me and some of my friends are going camping. We were gonna o it in the summer, but Neil had to go to Canada to see his grandma.” Frank muttered, crossing his arms.
“I guess that means Linnie’s going with you.” Mr. Miller shrugged.
“What!” Frank shouted, jumping from his seat. “No way! That bitch isn’t coming with us!” He pointed an angry finger at her. “This is supposed to be an all guys trip, anyway. I’m sorry Mr. Miller but, were gonna have to ‘get to know each other’ some other weekend.”
Mr. Miller grabbed Frank’s arm and dragged him away from Evelyn. “Frank, I hate to be the bad guy right now, but you listen to me. If I have to push back this assignment just for your little camping trip, the assignment won’t get done. And when the assignment doesn’t get done, I can’t give a grade for it. By pushing this back, it’ll push your grade back. Both yours and Linnie’s. But, I’m gonna make you a deal. I was hoping to avoid this, but I’m gonna offer this.” He let go of Frank’s arm.
“You take Linnie on this trip. You come back next Monday and you tell me she isn’t as bad as you thought. I’ll give you an A for this assignment.”
“What?” Frank asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Frank, she’s like a daughter to me, okay. I hate seeing her in any sort of pain. She is in pain because you hate her. You hate but you don’t even know her. I don’t like it when people - not just Linnie - are judged. So, you take her on this trip, get to know her, come back and tell me she’s not so bad. You refuse to take her on the trip and I’ll fail you for this.” Mr. Miller sighed. “Well?”
Frank looked over his shoulder, back at the curious girl. Her brown eyes were wide as she stared at him. “Does she have any nicknames?” He asked, sighing deeply.
“What?”
“Evelyn,” He paused, liking the way her name rolled off his lips. “does she have any nicknames. I seriously don’t wanna say her name. It’s to long and I’m to lazy.”
“Me and her sister call her Linnie, her friends call her Eva.”
“No Evie or some shit like that?”
“No, it’s to original. And, she’s not very original.”
Frank thought for a second. He snapped his fingers and turned around. “Easter, I’m gonna call you Easter.” He pointed to her.
She smiled. “That’s new.”
“I know.” He rolled his eyes. “Come on, we have to talk about this weekend.”
“You’re letting me go with you?” She asked, beaming at him.
“Yeah. Now, lets go.” He was already annoyed with how peppy she was. “We can leave now, right?” He asked, looking at Mr. Miller.
“Yeah. Sure. Go ahead. Have a good weekend.”
“Yeah, whatever.” Frank muttered, walking out the door, not bothering to wait for Evelyn...