Welcome to the Fifteen Minute Novel. Each morning I spend fifteen minutes writing on a singular story line. Each morning starts with the last line of the previous day. The goal is to get a (very) rough draft out of the simple story idea and to avoid letting the story idea languish in limbo forever, actually writing it out. This is the third year I have done this writing experiment and each year I learn just a little bit about myself and the way I write as well as creating a framework for the story. But without further ado…
Day 147: Upstairs, Gwen put everything away, changed for art class and made herself a quick sandwich.
Upstairs, Gwen put everything away, changed for art class and made herself a quick sandwich. In truth she picked at rather than ate her sandwich and ended up shredding more than she consumed before she gave it up and threw it away. She brushed her teeth and checked her bag. Thinking it was close enough to time, she went back downstairs to wait for Sebastian.
Thus far everything was going smoothly. She came here without a plan and found something she liked better than the accounting classes she was taking. She was starting to find a new place. It didn’t matter that those in her art class never really talked to her, she liked drawing and was happy just going to the class. Kelly and Nico, as well as the others who saw her at the party were content to ignore her. Now, she suspected she wouldn’t. She knew Michael was right and she could always drop the art class, but she didn’t see why she should have to.
‘I like the art class,’ she thought. Gwen knew she was never going to be an artist, but she liked drawing and didn’t see why she should leave the class just because she wasn’t a part of their group.
‘And there are only a few weeks left of the summer class,’ she thought. A part of her wanted to sign up for other classes and if she was staying in town, Gwen wondered if that wouldn’t be a good thing to do. She figured as long as she enjoyed it, there was no harm. Now that she was mostly sure she was staying it would be nice to go.
‘But not if they make the rest of this class a misery.’
Sebastian pulled up to the curb and stopped. Gwen got in and tried to ignore the nervous butterflies in her belly. She talked to Sebastian about things going on in town. He had recently gone to a roller derby and thought she and Michael might enjoy going for one of their events out.
Gwen kept up the conversation and as she thought Michael would enjoy the roller derby she made a note of it. She tried not to let her nerves show as the car pulled up. She got out of the car and walked up to the museum. She had the docent flash the card at the security system and she followed the hall and stair to the classroom.
As usual, the others made it there before her. Unlike her first arrival in class, there was no milling around. By now each of them had their designated spaces and Gwen smiled politely at the others as she went to hers.
“So,” Kelly said as she started to take her sketch pad out. “You are staying with your grandparents for the summer?”
“Longer probably,” Gwen said.
“And why is that,” Kelly said.
“Because I like it here,” Gwen answered.
“And they wanted you to come to the museum thing?”
“They did,” Gwen said. “And in two weeks I will be going to a dinner thing, and then a week after that to another sort of thing.” She set her sketch pad on the easel and pulled out her box of charcoals. “Do you have a problem with that?”
Kelly snorted. “We didn’t know you were one of us,” she said. “You should have said.”
Gwen made a non committal sound and put her bag on the floor. She looked to her sketch pad and turned to a fresh clean page.
“We would have been nicer to you if we knew,” Kelly added.
“But since you didn’t you just ignored me,” Gwen said. She looked at Kelly. “You know, I’m fine with that.”
Ten til Midnight 