The loud bell-interrupting her thoughts- signaled that school was over.  She put her books into her locker and grabbed her backpack.  She walked through the throng of people and walked to the detention room. She signed in and walked over to her friends.
“Stevens, glad you could join us!” yelled Zach when she walked in.
“Of course I couldn’t let you rot in here  alone. What kind of friend would I be?” ,She said, sitting down grabbing her sketchbook.
“What did you do this time?” asked Tony.
“Apparently when you walk into class late you’ll get into trouble.” Elizabeth said while doodling in her notebook.
“Well, you came in the middle of the period; of course you’ll get in trouble..” Ryder said laughing.
‘“But-” she was interrupted by Mr. Cruz who told them to stop talking that; it’s detention no time to talk.  So for the rest of the hour they sat in silence.
She walked home since she didn't live that far, and her brother Craig had soccer practice. Her dad already had his bags by the doors. She walked upstairs and got started on her homework. In the middle of working she got a text from the guys saying that since her dad was leaving that she should throw a party; of course she was, and it was gonna be epic.
  Her dad hugged her and her brother before he left. She was going to be home alone since Craig was going over to a friends house. After they left she started setting up for the party.
“Hey where do we put these?” asked Tony. He and the guys were setting up, while Elizabeth and Samantha invited people.
“Food and drinks go in the kitchen, decorations go in the living room, and balloons come to me,” she explained.
Her and Samantha finished blowing up the balloons and the guys were still bringing in boxes.
“Hurry up. Samantha and I are gonna change we’ll be down in a minute.” She pulled Samantha upstairs and went into her room. Samantha wore a pink floral sundress with white flats. Elizabeth wore black jeans and and plain light blue shirt with some black converse. They went downstairs after they were done.
The house was already packed. People were dancing and the room was dark, but you could still see. Three hours went by and more people were arriving, then the lights came on and the music stopped. People looked around trying to find out who stopped their fun.
“EVERYBODY OUT NOW!” said a booming voice; she knew it was her dad. Everybody left in a hurry.
“Hi dad.” she said putting her cup down on the table.
“Really Elizabeth,” she cringed at the sound of her full name, “ I leave you home for the weekend and you throw a party?” he sounded really upset.
“Well in my defense you only left for a couple of hours.” she chuckled.
“This isn’t funny anymore; you’re gonna be running my company. You need to be more serious I let the hair and art hobby slide, work with me here.” Great, more about the company.
“But I don’t want to run your company,” she yelled. 
“It’s not up to you,” he yelled back.
“Why can’t Craig run the company.” she said with a lowered voice.
“You’re going to Preston, next week.” he said.
“No, that’s not fair. I’m supposed to go to Yale after I graduate that’s my dream college.” a pool of tears hid behind her eyes. She hasn’t cried since her mom died. It was in a car crash drunk driver hit her straight on.
“Yes it’s already happening. They expect you on Monday you’ll be staying for a while so pack a lot,” he said, putting a hand on her shoulder she quickly moved and brushed past him.
She grabbed her suitcases and put them in the trunk of her car. She gave Samantha a bear hug, and the guys gave her a group hug. She pulled away and laughed because they were sad for no reason. Samantha was the only one crying. She waved from the front seat of her dad’s car, while her brother rode behind them. 
She took a deep breath and pushed open the schools’ door. She made her way to the office. They gave her a key to her room and a schedule. Her room was a light blue color, it had a king-sized bed, a bathroom with a large shower, and it had a walk-in closet, but inside was a uniform. They had to go to the auditorium to meet with the principal.
“Welcome student,” she began, “my name is Ms. Donovan. This school is where young boys and girls will learn how to run their families’ companies. She continued but Elizabeth zoned out. After she was done talking they went back to the dorms but she bumped into somebody.
“Sorry,” she squeaked from the floor.
“No, it’s fine are you okay?” Elizabeth said extending her arm to help Vanessa up. They introduced themselves. When Elizabeth got to her dorm she jumped on her bed and went to sleep.
It was the first day of class and they had to be there at seven. The uniform was business attire, but she didn’t want to dress like a grandma. She wore blue jeans and a white shirt and black converse. She walked into her first class which was Communications. The room had a dome-ish shape and was set up like a movie theatre. She saw Vanessa and she took the seat next to her at the top. The bell rang and the teacher came in.
“Ms. Stevens long time no see.” said the teacher setting down his briefcase. The whole class turned to look at her.
“Same here Hank,” she said.
“Dad already forcing the family business on you?” he asked writing on the whiteboard.
“Unfortunately,” she said under her breath.
“You know Chase goes here right,” Chase is Hank’s son also known as the jerk who broke her heart freshman year.
“Rebecca's actually gonna let her run his company,” she laughed; after that he started teaching. Apparently Chase is the coolest guy that goes to Preston.
After school ended she and Vanessa went to her dorm room, and worked on her art portfolio. There was only one problem about it. How was she gonna send it? She had to call Craig.
“Hey Craig how much do you love your only sister?” she asked when he picked up.
“What do you need?” he sighed.
“I need you to mail in my art portfolio and college application,” she said taking a deep breath.
“What will I get out of this other than dad yelling at me?”
“How about I fix up your car and you could use my car,” she said.
“Be there in an hour or two if there’s traffic,” he said and hung up.
She waited on the side of the school until her brothers car showed up. The car stopped and her dad got out of the car.
“You really thought I wouldn’t find out?’ he said angrily.
“That’s why I did it; plus I thought that you wouldn’t find out this fast.”  Elizabeth said.
“Why can’t you listen to me. Why is this so important to you,” he asked with a worried expression on his face.
Five year old Elizabeth sat in her mother's art room. Her mother painting on the big canvas in the middle of the room. She looked outside of the big window on the side of the wall.
“Did you know that art is the best way to talk in the world. Words cause war but art causes peace. I hope that one day art will have a special little place in your heart.” she said showing her the picture she was painting. It was of the daisy field in the backyard.
“I hope it does too.” said Elizabeth's dad walking into the room.”I have to go back to the office something came up, but I’ll be back for dinner. Love you guys.” said her dad giving them a hug.
She snapped out of her thoughts and answered.
“Art is what makes me happy. Why can’t you see that, ” she walked away, not wanting to hear his answer.
She ran into the building where she saw Chase; they talked and he gave her a perfect way how she was going to get into her dream college. At her old school talent scouts who would help students get into great colleges. But how would she get there? They should come to them.
“I have brought you six here today to help me get into art school,” said Elizabeth standing in front of Samantha, Vanessa, Tony, Ryder, Zach, and Chase.
“Yeah, we know that, but what’s the plan?” asked Ryder.
“Well, since the scouts are there, we need to bring them here,” Elizabeth said.
“I know this is a stupid question, but why can’t you just go over there,” asked Chase.
“Her dad won’t let her.” said Vanessa.
“Speaking of my dad he needs to be distracted, and we need someone to get the scouts. It has to be timed perfectly because I’m using that wall over there as my canvas.” she said pointing to the wall on the left side of the school. Vanessa and Samantha were going to get the scouts, Chase and Zach were distracting her dad, and Chase and Ryder were helping Elizabeth paint. She started to sketch it out in spray paint. They worked until the sun came up. It was a picture of the ocean and the cliff in one. It had waves crashing, and birds flying around the cliff.  They stood back and stared at the beautiful artwork on the wall. Then cars started to pull up in the parking lot and people come flooding out.
“Elizabeth, ” screeched the principal.
“Yes ma’am how may I help you?” she said, hiding by a crowd of people.
“Did you do this?” she said, walking towards me making the crowd part like the red sea. She didn’t even have to answer. “This is-” she was interrupted by one of the scouts.
“- true art. It’s brilliant, beautiful. This is what we’re looking for.” she said walking up to Elizabeth. “Hi I’m Alexis Sanders.”
“Believe me I know who you are. You’re amazing, ” Elizabeth said shaking her hand.”Do you really like my painting?” Elizabeth asked.
“Yes I do.”  Alexis smiled. They had to wait for a while before that put in the finalist to get the scholarship. She finally got the letter she sat in the middle of her room with my friends. She read the paper; it said:
We are happy to inform you that we have accepted your application to Yale. You are going on a full scholarship for academics and the arts. With early your appliance we hope to see you on our campus soon.
       
       To whom it may concern,
      Yale Administration.
“I got accepted to my dream college,” she screamed. They all celebrated with her. She was finally going to be happy. But what about her friends new and old what about her family. Of course it was gonna be a hard decision. After they all celebrated and left she went to her favorite spot, it started out as a great finding but then it was just a place to go and think.
“Mind if I join you?” Elizabeth looked behind her and saw her dad, she moved over and gave him some room to sit. “So I heard about the scholarship.”
“Yeah I was planning on telling you, but I just didn’t know how you tell you.” she said staring  down at her hands.
“Are you sure that this is what you want to do? I mean I don’t want you to just do this because of your mother.” her dad said.
“Yeah I mean she brought art into my life but it’s my decision to go to Yale. I’m not just going because mom went.” she said.
“Yeah I understand that, but I just want to be happy doing what you love.” he left after he said that and she sat there for a while.
This week was graduation and it was a long ceremony people were crying others were laughing it was fun. Samantha was valedictorian and she was having a hard time giving the speech because she was crying. After the graduation we went out to eat,  and Elizabeth left early to pack her bags. 
She put her bags through baggage check and boarded the plane. She looked at her plane ticket and sat down in her seat where, she say her friends and family. They were all waving and crying, except the guys they were just trying hard to hide it. She stared out the window until they were out of sight. She looked forward and wiped a stray tear from her cheek.
“Art here I come.” she whispered to herself.

The End