SEVEN

"Can this day really get any worse?" I moaned annoyed as I walked next to Ash's place.

"Yes he can. If you sit here, for example," he growled back and tore the chair from under my nose. I gasped indignantly for air.

"I did not choose to work with you. I would have preferred to work with a cobra with glasses, unless he had littered me with quotes from Harry Potter."

"You sure? Maybe the drama teacher is your dad. Or a distant relative and you blackmailed him so that you could work with me," he recounted, but then fell silent. "Sorry. Didn't mean it."

"No, he's not my father and secondly...", I tried to counter, but was interrupted.

"I didn't mean it, I said." His voice sounded threatening and I was intimidated even more, although it was quite hard.

"It's all right," I reassured him, but he did not listen properly and seemed rather absent with a tense expression. I guess I had officially fucked up with him. But that was not my fault. I wasn't the one who just blocked every conversation and interrupted one.

The rest of the time I shared our work, he just nodded slightly each time and in the end I took advantage of that and gave him a lot more things to do than I had to do. It was my own fault.

After the course he left the auditorium quickly and without saying goodbye, not even a short greeting could be heard. Only the slamming of the door let me know that he had left.

Disappointed and angry, I also left the room and took the bus home. Once there, I opened my laptop and entered the password, or rather the name of my pet. I have never been and probably never will be very creative in such things.

I quickly clicked on my favorite show and spent all evening and half the night on it before I closed it and went to sleep.

°°°

The next morning I stood in front of the mirror and first tried to comb out my bird's nest again. I don't know, but knots always form at night, no matter how much I had combed them before or only went to the hairdresser.

Afterwards I dedicated myself to my teeth and brushed them properly. A typical morning routine, nothing unusual or unique.

Shortly afterwards I shuffled into the kitchen, drowsy, and smeared a honey bread with butter. When I had finished eating, I took off my shoes and left the house.

The cold breeze came towards me immediately. It made my hair stand on end and at the same time I cursed myself why I hadn't put on something warmer and now I had to freeze my ass off for it.

°°°

"Ready?", Joanna smiled at me from the side. The conversation of yesterday was forgotten. She couldn't stay mad at you for long, I knew that. Still, she seemed depressed and I could tell immediately that something was wrong. But instead of talking to her about it, I decided not to go into it further. Maybe she just had her period or didn't want to talk about it.

"No. Not at all," I murmured and tried as best I could to keep my eyelids open.

"It's only school," she laughed.

"No, it's a ghost train full of scary faces where you don't want to get in but are forced to. And when you're outside again, you wish you'd never been inside. But by then it's too late."

"You're really exaggerating," replied Joanna and raised her eyebrows. "It's not that bad."

"If you only knew. After the horror trip I can't rest either, I have to take the next train. Painting flowers on cardboard", I said dejectedly and drove through my hair.

"Seriously?", she asked amusedly, whereupon I just nodded and rolled your eyes.

"You can't paint at all, let alone flowers.

"I know," I sighed. But Ash has already gotten other work, so I didn't want to put it on him as well," I told her. "Although he actually deserved it," I added in my mind.

"Wait a minute. Who is Ash?" she looked at me in bewilderment.

"The one everyone is afraid of."

"No? I don't believe it. He's acting?", she asked me incredulously.

"Apparently yes," I replied.

"I guess you got the shit end of the stick."

"Yes, I guess so. But let's drop the subject. Could you perhaps give me some German lessons?", I asked her honestly, "because without help I would have to repeat a year for better or worse and I didn't really feel like putting up with Mrs. Bennet for another year.

"Sure I can do that. No problem at all." She looked at me with a smile.

"Thank you", I sighed in relief. One problem less.

But instead of this one, a new one was added.

When I came home today and tried to do something acceptable in drawing, I failed miserably. Seriously, even a toddler in kindergarten would have done better than me.

The flowers looked like different sized circles and the meadow below looked more like waves.

Frustrated, I made myself a coffee and drank it in one gulp. Today it would probably be nothing. I really didn't know how I was going to manage it.

If only I had let Ash do the work. Why was I so stupid?

Why did I think I could do something like that?

I'm sure he was much better at it than I was. He got an A in art and was the best in our school.

While he would certainly have drawn it true to life, the others would have to be satisfied with scribbles now.

Or they would have to find another idiot.

Since it was already after eleven, I decided to go to bed and postpone work until tomorrow. Maybe I got artistic skills overnight, although I denied it.