Francy's p.o.v

Outside sunshine fell over my garden making the living room bright. Sun rays and shadows were playing on the walls and over the table.

The veranda doors were wide and open letting the fresh air in along with the scent of the lilac tree in the garden.

Remi and I had been running all morning to get things done on time but we finally did it.

The table was set with different decorations in the shades of pink and lilac that Remi and I had made ourselves.

The setting theme was pink and lilac and despite the worry that it might look too childish we managed to level it up and make it elegant, classy and aesthetic.

The tea party was going to a blast.

We had placed the tea cookies, the teacups and serving trays in an aesthetic order. There were mini sandwiches, fruits, cookies, cakes and other snacks.

We sat down and began the party.

I was munching on a piece of bread with marmalade spread with strawberries on top. Every time it would get too sweet I would just sip on a tea with a bit of milk in it and mmmmm right back to the next bite.

Remi was enjoying a cupcake while stirring the spoon in her tea.

After we ate at least a bit of everything on the table, Remi was getting ready to read our favorite online paper. We had subscribed to it together and every month they had the most aesthetic issues we had ever seen a magazine do.

It featured the best elegant fashion moments, articles on relationships, friendships, and family, advice from professionals on high fashion, DIY section, high school and university students posting their works like art pieces, digital paintings. stories and poetry or music. They would choose the best one and then feature it. They also had tips and tricks to get better at your craft, competitions, voting moments and special additions. Best of all it was worldwide and there were translations for many languages.

Remi started reading the first article. "Elena Pavlovic, the 16-year-old Serbian sweetheart, who has won the affection of girls around the world with her elegant fashion statements has launched her own line. She's going to be collaborating with Yves Saint Laurent and would take inspiration from old Hollywood glam. She's been taking over the fashion industry as the youngest online star to design for a huge label and gain respect in the industry. We expect great things from her."

"She's gonna have her own line?" I freaked out. "I want her clothes. Remi we have to start saving money and make sure we buy at least one piece of clothing from that line."

"I'm so proud of her. A year ago she used to post her designs and style just for fun and now she's going to be a star." Remi sighed. "I love happy endings."

She scrolled down the page to read the next article.

"The Japanese are known for their tea Ceremonies, manga and their incredible flower arrangements, but what the world did not expect was 18year old Haruka Sato and her marvelous cooking skills that got her world recognition, especially her famous outwardly cupcakes. World-famous chefs had all come to love her and gave her enormous praise after last week's humanitarian party where they were invited to attend and she had prepared the food, including the cupcakes. What was once a delicious snack for bridal showers and children.."

Remi and I looked at each other and then the half-empty plate where we had the cupcakes on. Right..children..

Remi cleared her throat and continued reading. " children..uhm.. Now it has become an exquisite dessert to be served in high-end restaurants."

"Wow." I reached for another cupcake in front of me and licked the cream off. " I wonder if hers tastes better than these. These are good cupcakes."

"I wanna try hers. " Remi zoomed in on the picture. "They look really good."

I stuffed the rest of the cupcake in my mouth and waved my hands while chewing to try to articulate what I was going to say.

I swallowed the bite while Remi patiently waited. "I'm going to add Japan to our travel plans list."

Remi saluted the idea.

She suddenly stopped and stared at the screen. She scrolled up and down and then looked at me.

"Oh my god Francy, listen to this."

I dusted the crumbs off my hands. "Go on."

"They're saying; As the magazine does this annually, we are launching our most artistic competition this time of the year. Every one of our subscribers is invited to join the challenge. The artistic competition includes artists of any kind whether it's musicians, painters, designers, writers.. And we're giving you the opportunity to submit your most creative work. The winners will get numerous prizes including a monetary award and a surprise at that too. Since there are many of you, we have basic rules we follow every year."

Remi cleared her throat. " The rules are simple. First, you need to come up with an idea for your project and pitch it to us. If we like the idea we're going to sponsor you to make that idea a reality with whatever you need. For example: If you're a writer we'll get you an editor to guide you, if you're a musician we'll put you in a studio, and so on.

No fees come out of your pocket. Then you have to do your best to make it the best project you've ever done. The second rule is that you record the process in which you've done your project as the winner will get featured in our magazine and our readers will want to know details. Rule number three is that you have to have the project done in two months from the moment of entry into the competition. If you have a grand idea to pitch to us, we have the email down below."

Remi placed the tablet down. "This sounds like so much fun."

"I know." I smiled. "I would kill to be able to join."

Remi gave me a smirk. "Then let's do it."

I nudged the teacup away and leaned my elbows on the table. "What do you mean enter? Girl, we're neither musicians nor writers."

"No painters or designers." Remi agreed. "But.. we are artists of a sort. I mean we like doing crafty, creative stuff. I like taking pictures, dressing up, making DIY things and collecting postcards. Maybe I'm not the best at it but you...You like aesthetic stuff, redecorating rooms, creating jewelry ... I mean we can probably create something interesting."

"But we have to come up with an idea and pitch it to them. That means we have to plan and write a summary and persuade them why it's a good idea. I'm not good at that."

Remi pointed at herself. "Girl.. I had a journalism class and was in the politics club as extras. You know how eloquent I can be. The best part is I have to pitch it to them via email. No public speaking required. I'll deal with that part and you come up with an idea."

I started getting tingles. Did this tea have any rum in it? Did I want to do this? Absolutely! I was dying for another creative project.

"Okay. Let's do it!" I rose up and slammed my hands on the table. "Let's win this."

"Wait wait!" Remi got up. "We have to do this properly. Let's clean this up and bring out the big guns."

"Got it."

I pulled my hair up in a ponytail. It was time to get to work.

***

Cleaning up the mess we had done with cooking and the used plates and cups were all clean and back in their place in 30 minutes.

Instead, now we had made a new mess of papers, laptops, tablets, notebooks and marker pens.

We were sitting down on the ground in the middle of the living room. I mean the table was just not enough. We had everything around us on the floor and we had snacks and empty coffee mugs abandoned next to us while we were trying to brainstorm an idea.

We had Remi's Marshall speaker next to us playing chic French songs to inspire us.

This was tough.

"When is the deadline?" I asked Remi.

"Next week. Don't worry. We have few days, don't worry." She said scrolling down Pinterest to come up with something..

"I hope so. I want to come up with something of quality not just enter."

"I know." Remi nodded.

Suddenly my phone rang with the video call sound. I picked up the phone as soon as I saw it was from Rehan. My sweetest, weirdest and youngest brother.

"Brother!!" I whined when he turned on the camera.

"Sister." He whined and then gave me a giant grin. "How are you? How did the party with Remi go?"

Rehan left to go to Turkey in March with his idol, a scientific researcher and adventurer Redwood. He was supposed to go back in two weeks, but then he got invited to go to Belgium. Mom and dad were furious that he wanted to stay longer and demanded he got back. But suddenly the school called them and told them they were willing to make an exception with Rehan as long as he took regular exams online and talked to the teachers for extra credits. He was a bright kid in science and they trusted he knows what he was doing.

I was sure he had done some experiment that brainwashed our school but Rehan wouldn't tell.

After that mom and dad calmed down and decided to let him go for two more weeks, but now he was traveling somewhere else and he had yet to tell my parents.

"The party went great. In fact, Remi is still here." I pointed the phone at Remi and she waved. "Hello.."

"Hi." He waved back. "What are you guys up to?"

"We decided to sign up for an art project competition," Remi answered.

I turned the phone towards me. "Yep. But we're stuck with the idea. I might have to get Remi to a sleepover."

"Hey, we have school. Mom's gonna kill me." Remi complained.

"But the project.. I will never come up with something." I whined.

"Oh come on I'm sure you will," Remi said encouraging me.

"I agree," Rehan said. "You just need to go somewhere to get inspired, you know."

Remi snapped her fingers. "Exactly. Like wouldn't it be great if we can sail away somewhere to some desolated place and quiet our minds? That would work."

"Or if we can go shopping." I smiled. "That always gives me energy."

"Or you can go on a road trip or something," Rehan said.

As we started numbering these things, suddenly an idea popped in my head. It wasn't fully formed I just had a tingle. A spark that got my body reacting and my brain working.

"Oh there's a look." Rehan smiled.

"Hey .." I looked at Rehan. "Do you remember that old house grandma used to have in the countryside?"

"Yeah?"

Grandma from dad's side used to live there as a young woman. Then she moved in the city with grandpa and dad and the house was left abandoned ever since. Dad would go every two months to check on it and clean it a bit and I think the house was still intact.

"What if.." My head had a million thoughts go through it. "What if the house was our art project. Like we do a make-over to the house."

Remi gasped. "Oh my god. That would be great. We can come up with a concept, make the house livable and your family can use it as a weekend house. No one goes there now and it's sad. We can make it a sob story."

I gasped too. "And we can.."

Rehan laughed. "Okay since you guys are onto something here, I'm gonna go and call you later Francy."

"Okay." I sent him a kiss and we hung up.

"Francy this is a great idea. Do you think you can get permission from your parents?" Remi asked.

I hesitated. I mean.. They were already on edge with the whole Rehan thing. Do I even want to go to them with this crazy idea without any plan?

"I might. But I need solid information. How are we going to do this, how long will it take, the money that we would get as sponsorship? I need details first."

Remi nodded. "But they're not opposed to the idea, right? Like no emotional attachment?"

"No, no no. grandma hates that house, she says it's too kitsch even for a woman like her. And this grandma rarely hates anything." I said.

"Okay.. Let's come up with a bunch of ideas for it and then submit this idea. If we get accepted then we can tell your parents."

"Okay.. let's being then." I grabbed my pen and started writing. "What would we need?"

"Well, how many rooms are in the house?" Remi asked.

I tried to think about it. "I don't know. I only know it has two floors so. Let's take into account a kitchen, a living room, a dining room, a bathroom and a bedroom. There might be more, but we won't know until I ask dad."

Remi nodded. "Write that down. Note that we will need money for paint or papers depending on the wall..."

I kept writing as Remi was talking. I was so excited my heart was going to beat out of my chest. I really hoped they would agree to fund our project.

Besties, don't forget to vote on this chapter and give it a comment or two.

I hope you enjoyed this longer chapter. Things are heating up.

Chapter 5 coming on Wednesday. ❤