| Fan Fiction |
by Take_Flight
“And if there’s mistake, don’t erase. They are there for a reason, am I right?” Taemin looked up from his drawing with a beam.
A few of the students in the Art Studio laughed at him. “You’re such a suck up!” Dana told him, her eyes on the drawing paper in front of her.
“No I’m not” Taemin retorted. “This shows that I’ve been paying attention in Art class, unlike you”
Dana stopped drawing and glowered at him. Nadine clapped her hands to get the students attention. “Okay, that’s enough. If you want to fight, take it to the Headmistress’s office. I won’t have time to entertain you guys”
“Oh! Speaking of the Headmistress, did the Council like our proposal?” Yee-Jin asked. Almost everyone in the room stopped drawing when they heard Yee-Jin’s question.
Nadine grew nervous as twenty-three pairs of eyes looked at her, eagerly waiting for her answer. “Okay, there’s good news and bad news, which one do you want to hear first?”
“Hmmm…well, either way it’s ok since one matter will lead to another but then I much prefer if you start off with the bad news, but then..hmmm” Everyone, including Nadine, stared at Taemin who was mumbling to himself.
Dana snorted and shook her head. “We’ll start off with the good news” she said.
“Okay, good news. The Council likes your proposal and they think that’s its excellent to have students like you to contribute ideas in order to have a better learning environment. However, Headmistress Chae—
“I knew it!” Taemin suddenly cut in, banging his fist on the desk. “She rejected the idea didn’t she?! I knew she was always a spoil sport!”
An eraser flew across the room and hit Taemin squarely on his forehead. A few students gasped white others guffawed with laughter. “Who threw this?” Taemin questioned the room, picking up the eraser and looking furious.
“Doesn’t matter. You deserve it” Dana was saying.
“Class, settle down. And Taemin, I can assure you it won’t be an eraser flying to your face the next time you interrupted someone talking, get it?” Nadine told him leaning back onto her desk.
“It was YOU?” Taemin asked, rubbing his forehead with a pained expression.
Nadine shook her head. “I know who it was, but I’m only giving you a warning” She secretly gave a wink at the young boy who was sitting in front of her. “So, can I continue?”
“Yes ma’am” Taemin mumbled.
“So as I was saying, everything is going in order but Headmistress Chaeyoung says that the school cannot afford to get the materials stated. Including the excursion trips” Nadine told them.
“What? Why? If they can afford all those apparatus for the Science geeks and let the Math freaks take part in Math Camp every year, why can’t the Art students deserve the same?” Yee-Jin asked.
“Because the schools’ biased that’s why. They were never interested in the Art scene” someone commented.
“That’s not true. Headmistress Chaeyoung is on our side and would like to make this subject a permanent curriculum. At the time being, it’s only an elective and she told me that if the 23 of you wants to make this work, we got to have funding for it. Or else, you’ll be stuck doing still life drawings all year, and I’ll probably go somewhere else to teach after that” Nadine told them.
The whole class started talking all at once, some looking outraged at the decision made by the authority. Nadine knew this was going to happen. When the Headmistress had wanted a short tea session with her after meeting up with the Council, she knew it was bad news.
“Students who have been coming for your Art class are doing it on their own will. Since your classes are conducted mostly after school, there won’t be a necessity to spend so much money on elective studies. There are people asking why the students can’t simply stick to pencil and papers for the rest of the year” Headmistresses Chaeyoung had told her.
“Because then they will be stuck in a world of boredom. Art is a broad topic and the ideas that the students had suggested are impressive. I understand this school emphasis more on academic studies, but Art is considered a subject as well; and if the students fare in the exam—
“Wait Miss Arena. I think you’re going a bit too far. No one said that there will be an Art exam in the first place. I mean, what will the students be doing then during the exam? Sit for hours sketching out an object?”
“No actually, students will be given the exam paper three months earlier to prepare their coursework—
“Aaah. That’s when you’re getting it wrong my dear. The education system in this school here works in a different way. Iseul High is considered one of the top schools here in the district and we focused one hundred percent on academic studies only” the older woman had told her, emphasizing the last word.
“But you told me that you have the students’ interest at heart, why is it so hard to grant permission to make the subject a part of the curriculum? There are students who are gifted in this area Headmistress, and you should have seen the look on their faces when we were sitting down and brainstorming ideas and ways on how to broaden up their talent. I can assure you Headmistress, these kids won’t get sidetrack with their studies, just because of Art. Iseul High students are smarter than you think and if you could give the Art students a chance—
“I will Miss Arena. This is why I decided to let you have this class ongoing for one year. But I’m afraid to say that there won’t be any money provided for you and your students. I’m really sorry, but that’s what I’ve been told. They said it will be a waste of time and effort if they decided to assist you” the Headmistress had explained, looking a bit regretful.
Nadine had went straight to the hospital after that and poured her guts out to Ri In. She had felt defeated but Ri In told her to get a grip and stop being a sissy. After the teary-eyed moment, Nadine had gone home and started doing research on companies that are able to help them. So far, the results were zilch.
“So that’s it? No money?” Yee-Jin asked. “And not to mention the unfairness of the entire school towards us” someone added.
“How much do we need?” Taemin wanted to know.
“A LOT. If you look around the room, ninety percent of the equipment here needs to be thrown out. They are either too broken or too useless” Nadine said, crossing her arms.
“Can we ask our parents to help then?” Dana asked.
“No, definitely not. That will be too much trouble. All we need to find is a solid company that gives us funding for the entire year. I will write up a report once I found one. IF I found one” Nadine admitted. She didn’t mean to sound dejected but she’s been spending the entire week trying to look for resources but it all failed.
“Don’t worry Miss Arena, we will all chip in!” Yee-Jin said, grinning. Dana nodded. “Yeah, we’ll show everyone whose boss”
Nadine chuckled. “Alright then. Inform me once you have the good news. But promise me one thing, when the whole plan is successful, don’t get sidetracked and keep getting good grades for the other subjects’ araso?”
“Don’t worry. We got that covered. Right guys?” Taemin addressed the whole class.
Nadine watched in amazement as the students started discussing amongst themselves. All of a sudden she missed being sixteen. They all seemed so hyper and enthusiastic and it looks as if nothing could stop them from doing what they love the most.
“And it applies to me as well; I shouldn’t stop reaching out to my goals. These students inspire me to be a stronger person and I thank them for that” she wrote in her diary that night.
Nadine then switched off the lights and easily drifted off to sleep; something in which she hasn’t been able to do these few weeks.