The cool wind on a hot summer day hardly came around; and Olivia was thankful for it.
The artist had been at school all day, trying to finish up her work early so that she didn't have to rush to finish it up later in the week.
Even till now, she still wasn't done. It was around 6PM when she finally packed up her paint and her brushes before leaving the school compound.
•••
Olivia dropped her bag in a corner of her room and placed her paint and brushes on her desk. She place a blank canvas on her easel and sighed in content.
Grabbing a tank top and a pair of shorts, the green-eyed girl walked into the bathroom to wash up. She turned the water on and waited for it to heat up, fetching a towel in the process.
The girl stripped out of her clothes and got into the shower under the steaming hot water, letting it relieve all the stress that had accumulated over the past week. Olivia sighed heavily as the water ran down her back.
She got her strawberry-scented shampoo and washed her hair, proceeding to do the same with her body with her all time favourite milk body wash.
She finished her shower fifteen minutes later, feeling that it was kind of a record as she usually spent about half an hour drowning in her own thoughts.
But she couldn't afford that tonight. She had work to do.
Olivia dried her hair and put on the fresh clothes she had taken from her wardrobe. She wrapped her hair in the towel, hoping it'd soak up the dampness of her thick curls faster.
After pouring herself a glass of wine and setting up her workstation, she grabbed the hair dryer and her brush from her dresser. Plugging the device in and unwrapping the towel, she let her jet black hair free.
Her hair didn't take long to dry. When she was done, she kept the hair dryer and placed the brush back on her dresser.
Olivia sat down at her desk, opening a bottle of blue paint, The girl grabbed a paintbrush, dipping it in water before dipping it once more in the paint. She let the tip of the brush gently graze over the canvas, forming the background — the sky. She had always loved painting the sky, because it had so many shades of blue and white — signifying the many different meanings it held.
'Each to their own', she always said.
•••
"Thank god, I'm finally done," Olivia sighed in relief, holding her painting in front of her to relish its beauty. She didn't like to be cocky, but she had to admit it was a great piece of art.
The green-eyed girl placed her artwork back onto the easel. She placed the cap onto the different bottles of paint she had used, screwing it shut to prevent anything from spilling. She then grabbed the paintbrushes and the container of dirty water she had used into the bathroom, pouring the water away and rinsing everything in the sink.
Olivia felt the heat getting to her more than ever now. It didn't help that she had really, really long hair. She placed everything back on her desk and grabbed the remote for the air conditioner, turning it on setting the temperature to a low 18°C. She laid on her bed, taking deep breaths.
Staring at the ceiling, the artist slowly fell asleep.
•••
Olivia awoke to the sound of her alarm blasting through the tiny speakers of her phone.
The girl muttered profanities under her breath and reached out to grab the device that was sitting on her bedside table, a futile attempt to disable the alarm.
Instead of grabbing it, Olivia's arm accidentally knocked the phone and pushed it over the edge, causing it to fall onto the carpet — thankfully — no damage done.
That was until the green-eyed girl started cursing again. She bent over to retrieve her phone from the floor. The alarm was still going off, so Olivia quickly unlocked her phone and snoozed it. She checked the time and gasped. 7:30AM.
"Oh hell no," she swore.
She was going to be late for school.
Quickly getting out of bed, she messily folded the blanket and straightened out the covers.
She opened the wardrobe, wasting another five minutes trying to pick out an outfit to wear.
"Late or not, I still need to look good,"
Finally settling for a pair of ripped jeans, a crop top and a leather jacket, Olivia found herself checking her phone for the time. She only had twenty minutes left to get ready, have breakfast and get to school that was approximately half an hour away on foot. She prayed her car had a tank full of gas — she was so busy she could barely remember if she'd filled it up — and that she didn't have to walk today.
Olivia ran over to the bathroom, turning the water on and waiting for it to heat up as she brushed her teeth and washed her face.
She stripped out of the clothes she had worn the previous night and threw them on the floor before getting under the hot water and taking a quick shower.
She got out quickly enough and dried herself off. She threw on her clothes and walked back out into her room.
"Okay, let's see what you've got," Olivia mumbled to herself as she grabbed her brush and combed her hair, trying to make it presentable. She also applied makeup; not too much, but just enough.
Olivia ran down the stairs, surprising herself when she didn't trip over her own feet. She ran into the kitchen and grabbed a granola bar, tearing the wrapper off while trying to put on her shoes at the same time.
She grabbed her keys — thank god she was in college and could drive — and left the house.
Out the door and into the car Olivia went, slipping the key into the ignition and starting the engine.
"10 minutes," she checked the time on her phone. "Yeah, I can do that," the girl put on her seatbelt and drove off to campus.
•••
When she arrived, Olivia found herself staring at an empty field where the students' cars should've been parked at.
'That's odd, where are the students?' she thought to herself.
She shrugged it off when she checked her watch, realising that — miraculously — she still had some time before classes began. She must've set her alarm a little earlier than intended.
"Huh, so I went through all that for nothing," she scoffed.
Quickly parking her car and switching the engine off, Olivia pulled the key out from the ignition and dumped it into her book bag. She grabbed the bag from the passenger seat and got out of the car, slamming the door shut and cursing when she realised she needed the keys to lock her vehicle.
"It's too early for this shit,"
She fumbled with the zipper of her bag and finally managed to get it open. She found what she was looking for among her textbooks, worksheets and pens.
"Well, that's that," she chucked the keys back into her bag and walked towards the large building.
Olivia had been studying here for just a little over a week now, but still managed to feel starstruck by simple things such as the outer appearance of the school.
She pushed the front doors open and entered the empty building.
The green-eyed girl walked along the empty hallways, pass the empty classrooms, taking in everything she was looking at.
When she walked past one of the girls' bathrooms, however, Olivia heard a sniffle come from inside. She pushed the door open gently and walked inside.
"Hello?" she called out softly, not wanting to scare the girl.
She heard the sniffling stop abruptly and gulped. No one came out of the stall.
Olivia didn't know what to do, so she opened her bag again and ransacked through it.
She pulled out all the food she had inside.
Not knowing exactly why she did it, she handed a bottle of water, a bar of chocolate, a granola bar and a banana to the crying girl.
She held the food under the door and waited for the girl to take it from her hands.
The green-eyed girl froze when the girl on the other side of the stall didn't take the food from her.
After a while though, she felt soft, slender hands wrapped around hers as the girl took the food from her. Olivia felt a jolt of electricity pass through her body.
"Hey," she started. "Don't cry anymore, okay? We don't know each other an all, but I...I feel concerned, I guess. I-I'm Olivia, by the way."
Olivia didn't expect an answer. She hadn't expect the girl to even try and give her a response.
Boy was she wrong.
"I'm Emma," Olivia heard a soft voice come from the other side.
She felt her breath hitch in her throat.
The voice sounded like heaven.
Yes, Olivia was attracted to girls. She wasn't afraid to accept it, but she was afraid to admit it.
Two years here. Two years. She had to keep a low profile just a little while longer.
Little to no one at school knew her, basically. She intended to keep it that way.
She didn't want to get bullied again.
The sound of someone standing up snapped Olivia back to reality. It sounded like Emma was grabbing her bag, the buckles knocking against the door and producing soft banging sounds.
Olivia panicked and suddenly felt very self-conscious. She ran out of the bathroom without a second thought, not looking back.