The girl sat there and blew through her nose noisily as she glared dangerously at her laptop’s defenseless screen. It bothered her the longer she perched at the edge of her chair, and she glanced worriedly at the clock on her wall, noticing the day was almost over. The teenage girl stood abruptly and pushed her chair back with much force while clenching and unclenching her hands continuously. She could not understand for the life of her why she simply could not think of a single idea. Pacing around her bedroom did not help she realized, and she quickly sat back down as she thought of how childish she must have looked.
The girl picked up her pencil with a considerable amount of calmness that had not been present moments before. She had thought that if she perhaps wrote her ideas down on paper first, it could help her; it took a mere five minutes for her to know that it had no purpose. Absolutely nothing worked. Everything the girl managed to write down, she quickly crossed out, dissatisfied. With one last attempt, she scribbled something onto the sheet of paper; just like all the other tossed-aside ideas, the girl crumbled the paper into her hands as if she had the super strength to crush a rock into sand.
“Man, did that piece of paper personally victimize you, Grace?” Her younger brother teased by the doorway. Grace swiveled around to meet the amusement that sparked his eyes as she rolled her own.
“What do you want, Drew?” She snapped impatiently, tapping her foot.
Drew raised his hands in surrender as he muttered, “I was only joking with you, calm down. I just came by to see if you were all right, I have been hearing you sigh angrily for the past twenty minutes.”
Almost immediately, guilt flooded Grace’s conscience as she recognized her brother’s genuine concern. “I’m sorry, Drew. You know I didn’t mean that. I’m not sure you could help me with this, that’s all.”
He rolled his eyes. “I’m only a year younger than you, Grace. Of course I can try.”
Grace sighed, giving up. “It’s an English assignment, and—”
As soon as the word English left her mouth, Drew’s eyes had widened, and he rapidly shook his head. “Nope, stop right there. Sorry, sis, you know English is not in my alley.”
Grace had already known that as it had been one of the reasons for her reluctance to tell him, but she saw his deep sympathy, making her smile softly at him. Not a moment longer did Drew leave her room to start his own homework which luckily consisted of only a few math problems. Grace berated herself for putting off the assignment for so long, especially since her teacher assigned it two weeks prior to its due date. Why did she get so caught up with her friends? With every other paper, Grace had hurried home the second her teacher spoke of it to finish it, but this one she had held off for as long as possible; it decided to show its consequences now.
With much effort, Grace stood up, sighing deeply while seizing her mahogany leather boots, thick wool scarf, and parka. She felt utter despondence at the thought that she had gone practically nowhere in the past hour, so she figured it would be good to do something else to try and spark the slightest of ideas. Grace let out a yell to inform her brother of her whereabouts and proceeded to waltz out the front door and down the sidewalk. The frigid air of the welcoming season nipped at Grace’s exposed cheeks, making her drop her head down in an attempt to protect them from the weather’s icy fingers that seemed to prod.
Before Grace even realized, she had meandered to the neighborhood’s impressive park. She shrugged and continued to walk until she found a bench, somehow managing to run into someone on the way. Grace’s rosy cheeks indicated both her embarrassment for her clumsiness, and also the fast approaching winter season. Just the thought of winter stirred warmth in the pit of her stomach, and the more she thought, the more eager she became. Hot chocolate, snow, holiday music, family and friends, love. All of that wrapped in one sounded so appealing to her that she wished that December arrived already.
Now Grace only prayed that those thoughts of winter came as easily as the ideas for her English assignment would. She did not understand why it became difficult for her because her teacher had given almost free reign with the paper. The only idea that it must be centered around was genuine happiness, or something that evoked such a feeling that it could not be put in simple words.
A sudden soccer ball bounded into Grace’s sight which made her jolt in surprise; then came the bundle of energy that inevitably signaled a small child. The young boy gasped, the small puffs of air becoming visible in the frosty air, and his eyes bright with utter excitement. His tousled cocoa brown hair continued to flutter in the slight wind as his eyes drank in my appearance.
“Hi, I’m James! But you can call me Jamie,” Jamie greeted cheerfully, reaching out with his tiny hand.
Grace could not help but grin widely at the boy as she placed her seemingly large hand into his. “Hello, Jamie, my name is Grace,” She replied easily as Jamie started to bounce on the balls of his feet.
Jamie presented Grace with his pearly whites, and Grace let a chuckle escape her as she then noticed that his two front teeth were missing. This boy could not have been older than seven years old. Warmth and unrecognizable compassion flooded Grace as she stared at the adorable boy in front of her, and she realized that in a way Jamie reminded her of Drew.
Grace must have zoned out when Jamie’s little hand waved frantically in front of her face to grab her attention, and Grace smiled in apology, moving a piece of her hair behind her ear.
“I’m sorry, Gracie, but I need to leave now. My mommy probably wouldn’t be happy that I’m talking to a stranger, but don’t worry, I don’t think you’re strange!” Jamie covered up, eyes wide and worried that Grace would somehow become offended at his words.
Grace only laughed at his reaction and said reassuringly, “It’s okay, Jamie. Maybe we will see each other again sometime.”
A few moments later Jamie left Grace’s line of vision, and Grace felt that she already missed the young, exuberant boy’s company. She even admitted to herself that Jamie provided a nice distraction from her stress, which came right from her English assignment. Still feeling as if she was at square one, Grace glanced around the park and tried to find something that could possibly help her.
A reddened leaf swayed itself to the ground from a branch above Grace’s head, making the girl look up. The branch appeared to be desolate with the few stray leaves that refused to let go, and Grace scrunched up her eyebrows. Something spurred inside, and Grace wanted to smack herself at how it had been right in front of her face. How obvious.
But she knew.
