An Artist and a Drama Queen

“Nobody's ever gave a damn about me! But those days are over! But from now on, everybody will take notice of me because everybody will look at me! Soon there will a new order everywhere! No need to panic now! Who doesn't love an extreme makeover? Nobody here ! Hahahaha! Soon everyone will be just like me!” He kept talking shooting at civilians.

She ran toward Firefly with a punch. Firefly side swiped her. He hit her in face with his elbow. She ducked into a roll. Her partner Glazier kicked at Firefly's stomach as she aimed for his back. They just needed a distraction to ground the Firefly for just a couple of minutes. The city shook as the Firefly laughed. She hated villains just like this. They are used for their anger from their mediocre life and destroy the city getting other people around them hurt in the process. It wasn’t their halt a psycho was possessing them like a demon as a skin suit and manipulating their emotions. It sickened her down to her core.

This fight would be easier if this guy wasn’t good at fighting in the first place. She wouldn’t have so many brises. 

“You alright?” Her partner asked standing in front of her.

She stood up her leg hurt a bit. If she finished this fight now. She’d be fine. A little sore but all in all fine. “I’m fine.”

He looked at her before nodding. “Got a plan?”

“Ye-”

-

I leaned against my hand with a sigh. That isn’t working the way I wanted it. It was boring and cliché. The villain monologed too long why wouldn’t the hero just to attack them. It would akin to being mugged and the mugger explaining why he is doing this and not running way or fighting back. The hero saying cliché things back. I got them all from animes or action movies too which makes so much worse! Can’t I come up with anything by myself. I spun my pencil on my hand. Maybe if cut the action B-plot all together that would save me trouble of creating a miscommunication between the protagonists. No that wouldn’t work at all I need that miscommunication because they can’t fall for each other yet. They need to be friends first so I can’t cut the B-plot. Goddamn it!

I jumped as my teacher stood in front of me. “I’ve called on you three times now.” I quickly looked at the board seeing the math problem.

“Oh… um is it 27?”

“That is correct. Do you want to explain how you arrived at that answer.”

“Not really.” I could hear the giggles of some my classmates. I groaned.  

“Try to pay attention, okay?” She said sweetly patting my shoulder. 

“Yes ma’am.”

My math teacher sighed before going back to the board and explaining the problem. “Alright now back to the problems at hand we need to…”

I prayed for the bell to ring. Math is my last period and then I get to go home and work on my comic some more. I jumped when something heavy landed on my shoulder. I shuddered and let out shaky breath after seeing who it is. My best friend in the whole world since we were like five. She really hit her girly girl stride in middle school but still loved playing in the dirt or beating me at video games, which wasn’t hard to do.

“Why do you always have to sneak up behind me.” I harshly pulled on the zipper on my backpack.

She laughed. “Yo literally sit in the front row next to the door. Who doesn’t walk by you?”

“The teacher.”

She gave me a look.

“What.”

“That’s dumb answer and yo know it.” 

We walked out together trying to stave off the crowds. Some days it wasn’t too bad. Fridays were the worst, that being today. Dear lord it was bad. You think in a high school with over 5000 kids you have more than one entrance and parking lot but nope. Apparently it was for ‘security’ purposes that everyone have to one entrance and one lot. Great. I’ve never felt more safe.

“Come on, slug, it ain’t that bad.”

“By not that do mean there aren’t any threats of bodily harm, death threats, near misses, or crashes?”

“Yes!”

“You are a way more than a bottle half full type of person today aren’t you.”

“And you are a ‘my bottle is empty but I refuse to refill it because it’ll empty anyway’ person.”

“Did you hear that?” She raised her eye brow ducking under someone’s raised arm. “It’s my back and the knife you just shoved into it.”

“Drama queen.”

“No,” I playful swatted at her, “I can’t possibly take your title from you. That’s just rude.”

She scoffed putting a hand on her chest and a look of horror on her face, “You traitor-” She caught a flying can of soda. “On your right.” I jumped on to a tree planter. For some guy to fall on his ass where I was standing. It looks like he was shoved by the crowd. He jumped back up and drove back into the crowd. 

“I hate this place.”

“I know. How’s the comic?”

“Fine. Needs better dialogue though and costumes. I keep having everyone wear the same clothes and hair styles every day. Easy to draw but boring to look at.”

She snapped her fingers. “Just make it uniform school. Everyone has to wear the same thing in the story and then when they leave they change into clothes appropriate to their character.”

“That songs do-able I guess. What about hair?”

“Well I heard some schools don’t allowed dyed hair and harsher ones don’t even allow nail polish. I’d die going there.”

“Yeah I bet their education is top notch though with all money. Almost home free if we don’t get hit.”

“Yep. So you can go super strict or super mellow with uniform policies.”

“Or I can have guidelines of policies and have some adults follow them, some who don’t give a shit, and some who are hypocrites.”

“Saying a little too much there huh?” She waggled her eye-brows.

“Just a little side plot and side characters, no one will actually care about uniform policies of a fake world I’m building.”

“My sweet summer child, yes yes they will.”

We laughed. Seriously people take fanasty characters wayyyyy to seriously. We hit the lot. From the parking lot we could see the streets and even if we couldn’t we could guess the situation like it normally was. The streets were still backed up to hell. Th traffic was at a stand-still to the point we didn’t even have to wait at corners to cross. We just walked in between cars knowing they weren’t moving for at least ten minutes. Even if home wasn’t as close as it was being only five blocks away. If it was a mile or two, I’d still consider walking it since traffic is this bad rather than driving. “What kinds of homework you got today?”

“Today is English, German, history, math and 30 minutes of music practice. You?”

I shrugged. “Math, computer arts, I finished everything else in study hall.”

“No fair. I knew should’ve put in an extra break besides lunch in my schedule.”

“Too late now.”

“You’re so mean to me. Where’s my cute best friend who would never insult me.”

“She died after the third time getting hit in the head with mother fucking can of soda!” She patted my back.

“It’ll be alright.”

“Who throws soda what the fuck!”

“Dumbasses who wish to waste their money.”

“Then just give it to me like. Fuck! I want soda stop wasting in on throwing at someone’s head and hitting me instead.”

“How about I beat you at video game and we can let to all this anger.”

I looked at her. “You just want someone to taunt after winning. I have all your receipts.”

She nodded her head pretending to be some wise person. “That is nice to do, yes, but you do need to let go of this anger.”

“Fine but only if it a Party game and no GoKarting then at least I’ll have a chance to win and not have sore throat from screaming at the tv.”

“You do that enough with those dramas you watch.”

“Seriosly she was right there telling him she loves him and like an idiot he didn’t see. The fuck. They circle each other like sharks!” 

“And they say I’m the girly one.”

“I don’t own twenty different shades of the same color.”

“They are not the same color of pinks. Blush and passion are two different shades for an artist you should know this.” She poked.

“Yeah well I don’t care about make-up.”

“Ohmyigod, I said I was sorry. It was one foundation.  It doesn’t mean they’re all bad.”

“It looked like I went face first in poison ivy and itched like it too! I’m never wearing it again!”

“Now you’re being dramatic toddler.”

“I’m gonna kick your ass at Party.”

She shrugged. “You own the game and that hasn’t happened yet.”

“I hate you.”

“No you don’t.”

“Go home and do your homework by yourself.”

“Wait no! Don’t leave me to suffer. Math all by mahself I need a nerd!”

“Shoulda thought about that before insulting my gaming skills.”

“As non-existant as they may be,” she laughed. I huffed stomping away. I trend on to my block. “Nooooo, wait I still help with math. I needs mah nerd. Helps meeeeeeee. Plezzzzzzzz.”

“No.”

“Pleeeeeeeeeezzzzzzzzz.”

“No.”

“If I get pizza then will you help me?”

I thought about, “With black olives.” She made a face, “and mushrooms.” She looked like she was about to die. “Oh I am not done yet.”

“Kill me. By the gods strike me where I stand.”

I looked around. "That may actually happen." She shoved me laughing.

Home is where your bed is. Mine happened occupied by both a monster and fluff ball.

“Yo guys are so welcoming you know that. Aren’t dogs supposed to greet their family at the door. You lazy asshole.” The mutt just raised his head before flopping back down to continue his bath by the monster.

“Awww! They’re so cute!”

“Yeah until someone’s fluffy ass tries to suffocate you either in the middle of the night and in the morning.”

“Why in the morning?”

“She wants outside.”

She hummed. “Gotcha fam. Food, work then I kick your ass into next Sunday.”

I rubbed his ears and plastered the monster’s face in pets until it purred. “Uh-uh.”

She ordered two small pizzas a pepperoni for her and a combo for me with black olives, mushrooms, onions, pepperoni, peppers, sausage, spinach, and tomatoes for my ‘demonic ass’. Between the two of us we had ten note books, ten worksheets, and three books opened.

“So what you were thinking about during math today?”

“Huh? Oh an action scene for my comic.”

“Yeah? Well you wanna tell what you thinking about then.”

“No it pretty cliché and boring. The none characters have nothing of value to say and don’t progress the story along at all. No meaningful character beats, no ah-ha moments, no nothing. It’s all just cliché things I heard from animes or movies, you know. I’m thinking about cutting out all fighting scenes together.” I sighed. I may have to rework the whole plot and characters if I do that.

“No! Just because it’s cliché doesn’t mean it can’t work. Hell I love cliché. I love fairy tales and happy endings all of that lovey-dovey fluff.”

“Again glass half full.”

She waved around her pencil before scribbling something down. “That’s not what I mean. I think you should draw it fight scene and all with the crappy dialogue and then later. When the times comes edit it. Rewrite. Redraw it. Whatever. Get a beta or something. Figure out what you want to do with the story. I’ve been told making your characters talk is really hard.”

“They always come flat or just really boring. Or worse Mary Sues, what if I’ve made a Mary Sue!”

“You-”

“What if I actually write a grim-dark story.”

“Yeaaaaaaah that’s not possible, with your cutesy fluffy rom-com action story.”

“It could happen.”

“And the moon can fall out of the sky and the sea could float into space. All very possible things.”

“You’re a bitch.”

“So you’ve said but not the point. Fight scene go.”

“Math homework go.”

“Now you’re just stalling.”

“Et tu, Brutus.”

“My name’s not Brutus.”

She banged her head on the table. “Dishonor! Dishonor on you, dishonor on your cow!”

I rolled my eyes, “Okay okay, whatever.”

“Good now tell me the scene.”

“After you finish your math.”

“You are trying to kill me just sink the knife in.”

“Stop being dramatic, drama queen.”

We chuckled. I picked my slice of pizza watching her eyes widen with absolute disgust. “Remind me why are we friends.”

“Simple, I kicked you in face with a dodgeball.”

“Right,” she rolls her eyes, “because that makes perfect sense.”

We laughed. Neither of us finished or homework and got detention the next Monday. I feel we very productive weekend.