Chapter Nine

The days before the Sim City Student Art Show seemed to drag by. Melody hated school picture day. It was a ritual every year, even at her old school, but this time at least it wasn't in front of a cheesy, fake background. She even got to keep on her glasses, as Liesel felt they were a part of her. Sarah disdained picture day, too, but for a different reason. She was the type who hated to sit still for a second. "Couldn't you get a professional to do this?" Sarah thought.

The only one that seemed to like picture day was Tracy Flick. Her perfect mane of blonde hair glistened in the sun-enhanced artificial light. And the student body president didn't mind having her likeness preserved for posterity.
Inexplicably, however, both Melody and Sarah were friends with her. Perhaps because underneath her facade of confidence and smarts, she was different, too -- an outsider -- just like they were.

The awkwardness that had developed between Melody and Sarah had spilled over to their biology partnership. Neither of them actually wanted to use the Operation game-style apparatus the teachers used in lieu of dissecting frogs and the like to teach anatomy. And they tried desperately to avoid the sticky subject neither of them wanted to discuss. "So," Sarah began, standing over the machine and wanting to forget they were actually in biology class, "did you finish your painting?"
"It's almost done."
"When can I see it?"
"I need to put finishing touches on it, and then I have to turn it in to Ms. Simms so they can bring it to Von Dough for judging."
"Melody, seriously, you're gonna win. I'm telling you. You're gonna win that contest. You're fated to win that contest like you were fated to come to this school."
"I didn't want to enter the art show in the first place. I paint because I like doing it, not because I'm out to be famous or anything."
Sarah decided to change the subject. "Have you told your parents yet?"
"Told my parents what?" asked Melody.
"You know -- about me."
Melody glared at her. "What about you? Have you told your parents about me?"
"Oh yeah, they've known about you from day one. My parents don't care. As long as I stay out of their way, they're fine."
Melody whispered, "I can't talk to my parents, Sarah, you know that! Especially not about, you know, that night."
"You can't pretend it never happened, Mel. You're gonna have to face it sooner or later."
As Melody made the incision, she realized that Sarah was right, again. She was going to have to face the truth sooner or later. And it was not going to be pretty. Adding insult to injury, she hadn't told Sarah her other big secret, either.

While Stephen was at work one evening, Wanda dialed her neighbor and friend Lisa Ramirez. She had been asking Lisa for advice on how to deal with Melody since Melody became a teenager and began acting the way she'd been acting.
"I think Melody is keeping a big secret from me," Wanda began, her halting voice sending chills down Lisa's spine.
"Wands, are you sure?" asked Lisa. "How big a secret?"
"It's big, Lis. Real big. I feel it in my bones. I just wish she'd hurry up and tell me."
"Well, there has to be a reason she feels like she can't tell you, whatever it is. But if it's as big as you say it is, you've got to keep pushing. But don't push to the point where she pushes further away. Believe me, Wands, when she's ready to talk, she'll talk. Just be there for her when she is."

At last the fateful evening had arrived, the night of the district student art show. Melody stood in front of her painting, trying to breathe and trying not to think of what might lie ahead, but inside she was a ball of nerves -- especially when she learned that Darren Dreamer, yes THE Darren Dreamer, was going to be the judge. She wanted to make a good impression on him and not be a babbling buffoon. She was so nervous she didn't see the other boy standing in front of his framed oil and watercolor portrait of a redhaired woman. Suddenly, next to him, her unframed canvas seemed insignificant.

Melody's heart beat about six thousand times a minute as Darren Dreamer approached. "And, tell me, young lady," Darren began in his baritone, "what is this piece? Is this someone hanging on to a telescope?"
Melody took a deep breath while Darren examined the portrait. She thought again of what UberGieke had told her, that there were going to be skeptics who didn't believe. She sensed Darren was one of them, and that on top of extolling the merits of her painting, she would have to make him believe and feel its subject.
"It's called 'The Abduction," she began, trying not to think of Darren hanging on her every syllable. "It depicts an individual's abduction by an unknown force...the person in the painting is trying to hold on to what remains of her earthliness, but the force is too strong, and she is possessed by it."
After Melody finished, Darren began to speak. "Clearly yours is among the more interesting paintings I've seen in awhile, from either amateur or professional. You've shown a mastery of color and light and an eye for detail. And your choice of subject matter makes it all the more fascinating."

A few days later Darren met Liesel at the Artists' Quarter, his place downtown where artists could both paint and sell their works to fellow artists and collectors. "Have you decided on a winner yet?" Liesel asked."Actually, the most intriguing submission I've gotten came from one of your students, Miss Hanover -- a Melanie somebody --"
"It's Melody. Melody Tinker."
Darren nodded apologetically. "I'm sorry. But what I was saying is, it's a real piece of work." He continued. "Her level of detail is astonishing. It's almost as if she's describing something that happened to her or something she wants to have happen to her. And the way she talks about it --"
"She's very passionate about her art," Liesel told him.
Darren continued his sentence. "Miss Hanover, the way she talks about it is almost scary."

"So, have you found out yet who won the student art show?" asked Mallory Tessacka, a new freshman, in the dorm cafeteria.
Melody answered, "no, not yet."
"Don't worry about it," reassured Sarah, "you are so totally gonna win. I'm pretty sure there isn't a single other artist at that show who's as talented as you are."
"Yeah, but when I showed my painting, the judge was looking at me like I was crazy."
Mallory stopped. "What DID you paint?"
A couple of days later Melody's painting was still hanging in the Von Dough gallery -- but this time, with a first place ribbon on it.