Lost Horizons

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

“Saw him standing there by the record machine, knew he must have been about seventeen”-Joan Jett

“Good Morning, kids! I’d start the class by asking how everyone’s summer was,” the art teacher said, as she welcomed the students, “but I’m not really interested, so I’ll just assume you all had a wonderful vacation!”  They laughed at her bold honesty as Sienna watched the teacher write her name on the green chalk board.  It was the first old fashioned chalk board she had seen in the school.  Most of the other teachers used white boards or projectors during their classes.  Sienna had to admit she wasn’t very excited over the prospect of taking art as her assigned elective class.  She wasn’t the artsy type and she was definitely lacking in the creative department.   When Sienna thought of art class, she pictured sitting across from a bowl of fake-looking fruit and a fancy bottle of wine as she attempted to draw it perfectly.  But she knew from the instant she walked into the eccentric classroom that this class would be different.    

“Ooh, I see some new faces this year.  Well for the benefit of those of you who don’t already know me, I’m Ms. Lavender, named after the flower.  And for those of you thinking to win brownie points by bringing me something lavender-scented… please DON’T, I absolutely detest that smell!” she warned the class.  

“There goes my plan,” a kid in the back murmured, causing half the class to chuckle.  It was only the start of class, but Sienna could already tell she would like this teacher, and just might actually enjoy her art classes, scheduled on Wednesdays and Fridays.  What she couldn’t tell was what stood out more, the art classroom or the teacher herself?  Ms. Lavender was taller than average women, seemed to be around 25 or 30 years old, and had the left side of her brown hair oddly shaved off.  To complete the weird look, she wore a long navy blue dress which had pictures of birds that went past her knees, and on her feet she had a pair of tan combat-boots.    

The room, on the other hand, was decorated just as anyone would expect an art class to be: paintings, drawings and pictures hung from the wall on the right and there were several weird sculptures scattered around the room.  The wall on Sienna’s left had various quotes, lyrics to songs, and random paintings on it; however, the wall at the back was covered by a huge blue-green curtain.  Sienna’s curiosity made her wonder what hid behind the big curtain. 

“I see the curtain is way more interesting to pay attention to than me.  That’s alright, I know you’re all wondering what’s behind the mysterious curtain,” Ms. Lavender said.

A boy interrupted, adding sarcastically, “I’m not.”

“No one asked you, Tyler.  As I was saying, curiosity is probably eating at your minds right now.  Well that’s just too bad because I’m not going to tell you; you’re going to have to guess.  That will be today’s assignment.  Set up your easels so you can start to draw whatever you think is behind that curtain.  I don’t want any words, leave that for your essays in English class, I want a drawing,” the teacher instructed.  Sienna noticed a girl raise her hand.

“Yes, Cindy?”

“I’m not good at drawing,” the girl told Ms. Lavender.