The Art of Life (4 page)

               
I
shift my weight and look around the neighborhood.
 
It’s nice, quiet.
 
A girl I knew in elementary school lived near
here, one of the last friends that I had.
 
She moved away in middle school.
 
I have a few people at school that I consider my friends, but I keep to
myself for the most part.
 
My mom is a
huge hindrance.
  
You add in my oddities
and we have a problem.

               
“Hey,”
I hear shouted next to me.
 
I jump and
see Jeremy.
 

               
“You
scared the crap out of me!” I yell.

               
He
just laughs.
 
“Awesome!”
 
Pulling on the other helmet, he says, “Where
do you want to go?”

               
“Why
are you doing this?” I ask hesitantly.

               
Jeremy
stops and tilts his head.
 
“What do you
mean?”

               
“I
mean……look at you and then take a good look at me.
 
Guys like you, don’t hang out with girls like
me.”

               
Rolling
his eyes, he moans, “Get on the bike.
 
I
want to take you someplace.”

               
“You
didn’t answer me,” I state, not putting on the helmet.

               
“I
will answer your question when we get where we are going,” he replies, climbing
onto the bike.
 
Turning, he pats the seat
on the back.
 
“Come on.”

               
Against
my better judgment, I get on the bike.
 
“Where are we going?”

               
“You
will see,” he says, as he revs the engine.
 
We take off quickly, and I squeak a little.

               
I
watch as we head down one of the old highways.
 
Jeremy turns left down a dirt road, and now we are in the middle of
nowhere.
 
Great, I am going to die.
 
I just got on a bike, with a stranger, and am
now in the woods.
 
I am so going to
die.
 
Hopefully, it’s quick.

               
We
make it to a dead end, and Jeremy stops the bike.
 
“We need to walk the rest of the way,” he
turns and says.

               
“Are
these my last steps?
 
I mean, do you have
an axe hidden somewhere in the woods?”

               
That
makes him burst out laughing.
 
“Listen, I
don’t plan on harming you.
 
If you feel uncomfortable,
I can take you home.”

               
Shaking
my head, I say, “No, no, I am fine.
 
Lead
on.”

               
He
puts the bike on its kick stand and puts the helmet on the seat.
 
“Gently, put the helmet on the ground and
come with me.”

               
“Alright,”
I reply.
 
I lay the helmet carefully down
and walk over to him.
 
He nudges his
head.
 
I stupidly start to follow him
down a path.
 
We walk in silence for a
while.
 
“Where are we going?”

               
“You
are impatient aren’t you?” He chuckles.
 
“We are almost there.”

               
Suddenly,
the path leads into a small clearing.
 
The river runs straight through it.
 
It’s gorgeous, and I say as much.
 
“This place is beautiful.”

               
“I
thought so,” he replies.
 
“When I am
bored, I randomly drive down roads.
 
You
would be surprised on what you come across.”

               
“This
is cool,” I state.
 
Jeremy walks over and
sits down on the grass.
 
“Why did you
bring me here?”

               
Shrugging,
he says, “Why not?”

               
I
walk over and sit down opposite him.
 
I
take my backpack off, setting it on my lap.
 
“I feel like I am in a movie or something.”

               
“Why
do you say that?”

               
I
stare at him for a minute.
 
“Really?
 
You are
asking me that?”
 
He just looks at me
with a perfect smile.
 
“You said you were
going to answer my question.”

               
“Yes,
I did, didn’t I?
 
You want to know what I
am doing.”

               
“Yeah,
that would be nice,” I reply.

               
With
his pretty brown eyes, he looks at me.
 
“You remind me of someone that I was really close to, and I want to help
you.”

               
“I
think I am beyond help,” I state.

               
“What
is your problem with yourself?
 
You seem
like a great person.”

               
Groaning,
I say, “I have more awkward issues than normal people.”

               
“Let
me help with that,” Jeremy retorts.

               
My
eyes nearly roll into the back of my head.
 
“How are you going to help me?”

               
“What
do you want your life to be like?” He asks.

               
That
makes me think for a minute.
 
I
sigh.
 
“I wish I had more friends.
 
I wish that I at least looked like a normal
girl.
 
There are a lot of things that I
wish.”

               
“Well,
those things I can help with.”

               
Looking
at him, I ask, “How?”

               
“You
will just have to trust me, okay?” Jeremy replies, with a big grin.

               
“Why
should I?” I ask.

               
“What
in the world do you have to lose?” He retorts.

               
With
a little bit of a scowl, I say, “Nothing, really.”

               
“Good,
we will get started right now.
 
Tell me
about yourself.”

               
What
do I say to that?
 
“I keep to
myself.
 
I have a really crappy home
life, which I will not get into.”

               
“What
do you like doing?”

               
“Drawing,
I am an aspiring artist, I guess you could say,” I whisper.
 
Yanking my bag from me, he jumps up.
 
I quickly follow.
 

               
He
spins out of the way and opens it up.
 
“Aha!
 
Just as I
suspected,
a sketch book.”

               
“Give
it to me,” I cry. “Please!
 
No one has
ever looked at that!”
               
Turning back to me, he
says, “You have never shown anyone your work?”

               
“No,”
I snap, grabbing my bag back.
 
“The only
art anyone sees is in class, which I would say that is my reprieve from school,
but Sonya is in the class too.
 
She pays
more attention to making my life hell, than to class.”

               
“What
hour is that?” He asks.

               
I
take a deep breath.
 
“Last period,
which starts the beginning of my stellar evenings.
”

               
Jeremy
looks at me.
 
“You make your life sound
like it sucks.”

               
“It
does.
 
It sucks really
bad
,”
I groan, plopping myself back down on the ground.
 
“You have no idea.”

               
“I
will give you this advice.
 
Appreciate
life, you only have one.”

               
Looking
up at him, “Can I have somebody else’s?

               
He
snorts.
 
“I am going to make sure you
want yours.”

               
“I
am so ridiculously pathetic,” I sigh.
 
“I
can’t even talk to boys.
 
Of course, I
have never tried.”

               
“Why not?”

               
Now,
he has to be stupid.
 
“I look horrible.”

               
“I
don’t think you look horrible,” Jeremy replies, sitting back down in front of
me.

               
“Then
you shouldn’t be driving us anywhere, because you are blind.”

               
Jeremy
falls over laughing.
 
He lies down and
puts his arms behind his head.
 
“Beauty
is in the eye of the beholder, and you need to give yourself more credit.
 
If you want to look different, then make some
changes.”

               
“That’s
the thing,” I sigh.
 
“I have no idea what
to do.
 
I couldn’t tell you how to do my
hair, or how to dress.
 
Do you see what I
am wearing?”

               
“Yes,”
Jeremy says, “I think you have your own sense of style.”

               
“Yeah, if you like people who dress blindly in the dark.”

               
Staring
up at the sky, Jeremy sighs.
 
“You are
going to be a lot of work.”

               
“I
do not need to be your charity case,” I snap.

               
“I
didn’t mean it that way, calm down.
 
I
meant, boosting your self esteem.
 
You
need to see what I see.”

               
Crossing
my arms, I sarcastically ask.
 
“And what
do you see?”

               
“This great girl who seems to be a nice person.
 
I don’t think you need to do anything with
yourself, but if you want to, I will help.”

               
“Okay,”
I grumble.
 
“I can’t believe I am doing
this.”
 
There is a pause as we stare off
into the distance.
 
“Honestly, the one
thing I want most of all, is to stop being picked on.
 
I always thought if I took all the bad things
away, they would just leave me alone.”

               
Jeremy
sits up and looks at me.
 
“I promise
Sonya will not pick on you anymore when I am done.”

               
“How
are you going to guarantee that?” I ask.

               
“Just
trust me.
 
Anyway, I heard some great
advice once.
 
High school sucks.
 
It’s hard.
 
But, it is only four years of your life.
 
When you are a teenager that is a lot, but when you graduate and you are
no longer in high school, you will rarely have to see those people ever
again.
 
You can do whatever you
want.
 
You can move somewhere else.
 
It is four years, just four.
 
Once they are done, a whole new world opens
and you don’t have to remember or think about high school if you don’t want
to.”

               
Trying
not to smile, I say, “I only have a year left, and I just turned 18.
 
So, I guess I won’t have to wait that long.”

               
“When
was your birthday?”

               
“Not
last Saturday, but the one before that,” I sigh.
 
“I hate my birthday though.”