Another day, another art lesson and another reason to want to bash my head against the wall. 

Not because the lesson was boring or anything but because I was so tired from the night before. Not only did I spend half my time at home clean I then was made to babysit for the night. Four full hours of just me and three other kids. My twin brother and sister and my mums best friends daughter. Never underestimate the power of toddlers. 

"Nice work Oracio, good technique." The teacher walked by, eyeing up my drawing.

Tired or not, I had a biro pen sketch to finish and it wasn't going to draw itself. So I yawned covering my mouth and continued filling in the details, constantly looking up at the image I was trying to recreate. It was a wet leaf hanging off of a branch covered in snow. I'd finished the branch and the leaf outline, I just needed the snow. 

Behind me, I could feel Aria's back against mine. Miss had moved the tables around today splitting us up into sections. At the start of the lesson we had two options of work to choose from, we could either do an ink wash painting based on natural forms or a biro sketch. I was never good at working with ink in the past so I stuck with biro, the one thing I could actually do properly. The people doing the ink washes sat at the front three tables because there were more of them while the rest of us got the back two. Coincidently, Aria and I were placed opposite each other. 

I put pen to paper using the stippling method and swirls to create the snow, but for some reason, it didn't look right. 

I sighed and put my pen down again. Looks like I'm not as good at biro sketches as I thought I was. I put my head on the edge of the table. 

"I give up." I sighed. 

Seconds later I felt a tap on my shoulder. 

"You Okay?" Aria said.

"I want to die," I muttered. 

Aria nodded her head in agreement. "Don't we all at some point?" 

"I'm so tired." I groaned.

At this, she smiled. "I can tell just by looking. What happened?" 

"Babysitting." 

"Ah. You don't have to say anymore." I mentally thanked her for that.

"Mmm Hmm. And I can't get this piece of snow to look right." 

When I said that, she promptly leaned over my shoulder and looked at my not-so-brilliant masterpiece. "It's not too bad," she said. "You just used the wrong technique over here. Instead of stippling, try catching and cross hatching the shadows - like this." 

She began working on my artwork, moving the pen swiftly and briskly across the paper. Slowly, it was starting to come together. 

"See?" She said.

"You really are good at this stuff you know," I said I watched her hand move from place to place. 

"Not really, biro pen and pencil sketches are about the only thing I can do half decently." With that, she removed her pen and sat back down.

"You really should stop underestimating yourself like that Aria. You can sketch and paint better than me at least, probably better than most people in this class. You don't have to be so modest all the time." Which, I admit, was pretty much the pot calling the kettle black considering I do that on a daily.

She laughed sheepishly, "Sorry. I'm kinda like this by nature."

Just then Miss Sead clapped her hands, that meant everyone needed to stop what they were doing. 

"I just received an email from the head of the art department. Apparently, there's going to be a rewards trip next week. Some students have been selected to go and watch and some sort of ice skating performance." 

That got our attention. Everyone turned to face the front.

We all watch with curiosity as miss sead readjusted her glasses and peered at her computers screen. She squinted for a while, doing the famous beady eye that old people tend to do when they begin to loose their sight.

"Could the following students leave class now and go down to Mr Ezekiel's  office for further information on the matter." She said again after what felt like a solid half hour.

"Oracio Colfield..."

I was a little surprised when I heard my name called. I didn't usually get picked for these kind of trips. I wasn't a bad kid, but I wasn't anything special either so I usually went unnoticed by teachers and if I ever did get picked none of my friends did so I never ended up going.

"Aria Futhermal..."

My face lit up upon hearing Aria's name. It was lucky day, for once someone I knew was going. I swivelled around in my chair and smiled in her direction while giving her the thumbs up. She immediately noticed and mimicked my actions back at me.

After miss had finished calling out the names we all stood up and left the classroom.