It was the day of the art contest, and students were just entering the school. It was held in Sunny Coast Academy that year, instead of Golden Oak High, where it was normally held. The school looked fabulous, covered in charts and posters made by the school’s best artists and graphics designers, except for Ashton and Angelina.
Ash was walking in, in his black backpack filled with art supplies for the contest. He walked around, searching for Angie, calling out her name. Unfortunately for him, as he was walking, he felt his chest smash into something, and nearly fell to the ground, but managed to keep his balance. He looked up and saw a boy a little bit older than him. He figured he had bumped into this person, and smiled at the boy, who was suddenly yanked back by another dark brown-haired girl wearing the same outfit, but paired with black leggings.
He looked into the boy’s nervous brown eyes. He was fairly tall, however, just an inch shorter than Ash. He dressed in a simple white t-shirt, with the words ‘Golden Oak High School’ written on it in block letters. He’d paired the t-shirt with black ripped jeans, unlike Ash, who’d paired it with simple dark blue ones. He slipped his hands into his pockets, and shrugged. “It’s alright. It’s not a really big deal. I’m Ashton, by the way. You are?”
“I’m Quin,” the boy said softly, shaking his head so his bangs fell in front of his eyes and shielded them from the focused, unwavering gaze of the boy in front of them.
“Nice name. And you are?” he gestured to the girl standing next to him, holding his arm.
“I’m Quinn.”
“You’re both called Quin(n)?” he said, chuckling slightly. “That’s so cool. I’ve never met somebody with my name before.”
Quinn turned her head towards Quin, smiling at him reassuringly before letting go of his arm as Ashton asked them a few questions about what it was like having the same name. “Is it exactly the same?”
“Not exactly,” Quinn answered, glancing at Quin.
“They’re spelled differently.”
“How’s yours spelled?”
“Two ‘N’s.”
“What about his?”
“One ‘N’.”
“I’ve never heard of that variation before. Anyway, that’s cool,” he said simply, straightening up. “Well, I have to go find my partner now. I hope we can talk again soon.”
And with a hurried wave, he smiled lightly at them and moved past Quinn towards the gate, where she saw three girls standing around, laughing together. One wore a yellow t shirt exactly like Ashton’s, one wore a light blue one, and the other a light green. He ran toward the girl in the yellow t-shirt, and yelled, “Boo.”, giving the blonde girl a jump scare. She turned around to see him.
“Oh… it’s just you, Ash…” she said, “where were you for so long?”
“I met our competitors. Well, technically I bumped into them while looking for you.”
“One of them is called Quincy… or Quentin, or something, right?”
“It’s funny. They’re both called Quinn, but the girl spells it with two N’s, and the boy spells it with only one N.” Ash said, with a small smile.
“Tell me more about them on the way to the auditorium.”
“No time, you can see them for yourselves.”
She shrugged it off and kept walking. She was wearing her usual side sling bag, and Ash, his black backpack. Both were filled with art supplies for the contest. They were walking side by side, discussing everything as they were headed to the school auditorium. They received several ‘congratulations’ wishes from Sunny Coast and Golden Oak students alike. As the wishes died down, they just kept walking, silently.
“My angel of light…
I was all alone with the love, of my life
She’s got glitter for–”
“That sounds really good,” Angelina commented, cutting him off. “you should definitely sing more often.”
Ash blushed. “Oh, that? It’s just a random song stuck in my head all morning. I was listening to it on my way here.”
“What’s it called again?”
“It’s called golden hour.” he replied, brushing his bangs off his face.
“Oh, okay. Show me the plans again, Ash,”
“They’re in my sketchbook, which, by the way, I think I put in your sling bag on Monday. I can’t seem to find it anywhere.” he replied nervously.
She opened her bag and dug around for the little brown notebook with ‘Seize The Day’ written in modern calligraphy. It was an all-too-familiar little book for a few weeks now. After a bit of searching, she concluded, “I don’t know. It’s not in my bag. Don’t tell me you lost it!”
Ash thought for a bit. An awkward silence befell them. They just kept walking, not saying a word to each other.
The two of them exchanged glances every now and then. They wanted to argue about the missing sketchbook, but they knew they had bigger fish to fry with the contest. They kept trying to whisper to each other about the original plans and strategies, but neither could remember them. Angie sighed. She thought and thought and thought, but it was no good. She had nothing.
Until, she glanced at her phone for the time, and saw her wallpaper which said, ‘keep calm and carry on’, with a picture she drew on her own in the background, and a crown above the fancy font. She smiled and looked around at her surroundings, at the charts around.
“Can you pass my water bottle? It’s in the side pouch.”
Angelina pulled his bottle out and smiled at it. It was the same plastic bottle he had used since first grade. She had seen it many, many times in the past. The paint had peeled off a quite a bit since the day she first noticed it. She handed it to him nonchalantly. She looked at one particular bit of paint which hadn’t already been peeled off.
And that was when it hit her.
|•|•|•|
“Hailing from Golden Oak High, we have Quinn Williams, and Quin Wilson,” the announcer called out, trying to stifle a laugh. “Facing off against Angelina Wylde, and Ashton Winters from our very own Sunny Coast Academy. Please give a round of applause for the participants!”
The crowd cheered and clapped. Golden Oak students were seated at the right side of the auditorium, holding up posters, and chanting, “East or West, Oak Trees are the Best!!”, while Sunny Coasters were all cheering, “Ashton! Ashton! Ashton!”, much to the annoyance of Angelina.
The two teams walked onto the stage and started off with their drawings. The canvas, oil paints and necessary supplies for using these paints were already provided, so all they had to do was paint. A camera kept projecting all that they were doing onto a big screen, for the audience to see. The cheers kept blasting, almost distracting the painters, but no, they were determined to make it to the end. Ash and Angie were used to it, in fact. Sunny Coasters were very enthusiastic about the smallest things, from big, inter-school competitions to free periods. The two of them included. But one thing they weren’t excited about was being paired up.
They had to work together as a team and create a collaborative piece that reflected their vision and style. They agreed to put aside their differences and cooperate for the sake of the school and their reputation.
They spent hours during practice, brainstorming, sketching, painting, and refining their work. They argued, compromised, complimented, and criticized each other. They learned more about each other’s personalities, preferences, and perspectives. They discovered new aspects of each other’s art and themselves. It was almost as if they were becoming friends, an idea which both of them couldn’t bear to think of. She didn’t mind though, because as much as she hated to admit it, it was fun working with him. She had finally got to know for certain where his strengths and weaknesses lied, and figured, maybe she could use it against him some day.
They realized that they had more in common than they thought. They realized that they enjoyed working together and being together more than they realized. It was all gone… with the loss of a little brown notebook, it all fell down.
Regardless, Angelina had an idea. A beautifully executed one at that, which had sentimental value to them as well. They were improvising the entire time, Ash drawing the left side, and Angie, the right. They presented their masterpiece to the judges and the audience. It was a stunning portrait of a dragon and a princess, who it seemed, was a dragon trainer. Ash drew the princess, and Angie, the dragon. It symbolized their passion for art, their contrast, and their harmony. 
After the time ran out, both teams submitted their paintings to the judges, and exited the stage for a break. Both schools were allowed to explore the campus, for thirty minutes or so, until the judges were done with the judging process.
(A.N. Shoutout to my friend for allowing me to use the Quin(n)s.)
ns 15.158.61.55da2
