Alex Perez dribbled the soccer ball, running back and forth on the field. Diana watched her silently. She had seen Alex play a couple of times, and each and every time she was shocked by her level of skill. The girl was talented, that was for sure. But that did not change the fact that Diana was dreading having to paint her. The whole reason she was out on the soccer field right then was to arrange a time each week with Alex to do so.

For the past thirty minutes, Diana had been sitting at the empty bleachers watching the soccer girls practice. At first she had just played games on her phone, but had quickly gotten bored with that. Surprisingly enough, watching Alex play was pretty entertaining. The other girls on the team were pretty good too, but it was clear that Alex shone amongst them all.

A couple more minutes passed and Diana could tell that practice was over. Most of the girls had dispersed from the field and were now heading for the locker rooms. Diana quickly got to her feet, jogging to catch Alex before she went in.

"Alex!"

Diana couldn't tell if Alex genuinely had not heard her or if she had just chosen to ignore her.

"Alex!" Diana called out once again, louder. She had caught up to the girl, but kept some distance between herself and the sweaty girl.

Alex Perez turned around, a soccer ball balanced underneath her arm as she did a quick scan of the girl that had just run up to her.

"Can I help you?"

Diana felt herself shrink back at the rude tone in Alex's question. She so desperately wanted to turn around, to be on her way. But as much as she wanted to, she knew she couldn't do that.

"We have to arrange a time when I can paint you," Diana said instead.

The confusion was evident on Alex's face, and Diana only felt herself shrink more. Alex didn't seem to have any idea of what she was talking about.

"I have to paint portraits of you," Diana replied flatly. "It's for-"

"I know what it's for," Alex said, interrupting her, "I just didn't think you'd be the one doing it." Alex did not hide the displeasure she felt, and it was clear in the expression across her face. This only led to Diana feeling angrier.

"Can't you just like... take a picture of me and paint me from the picture?" Alex asked. This time Diana rolled her eyes, she didn't see the point in not doing so, after all, Alex was making her distaste with the whole situation apparent.

"It doesn't work like that," Diana replied curtly. "I have to paint you, I have to be able to capture your three-dimensional self, the depth..."

"What does that even mean?"

"Well," Diana began, her irritation finally getting the best of her, "according to Google, painting is the process of or art of using paint, in a picture, or a protective coating-"

"I know what painting means," Alex grumbled, cutting her off for the umpteenth time. It was clear that she was not amused by Diana's sarcasm. "Also, it's a bit weird that you have the google definition of 'painting' memorized."

By now they were the only ones left on the soccer field, as all the other girls had gone into the changing rooms. The wind blew around them lightly and Diana could not help but notice how the few strands of hair hanging out Alex's ponytail moved with the air. She also noticed the light pink tinge on Alex's face. Whether that was from physical exercise or just plain annoyance at being in her presence, Diana couldn't tell.

"I've been informed I have to paint a total of three different portraits of you. One professional, one casual and another in your soccer jersey..." Diana stopped talking, waiting for Alex's reply, but the other girl just looked at her. "We need to decide when to meet..."

"Don't you have anything to do?" Alex suddenly snapped at her. Diana blinked, a bit taken back by the sudden occurrence. "Do you really not have anything better to do with your life than paint me?"

Diana's eyes widened in disbelief.

"You think I want to be the one to paint you? You think I volunteered for this? What do you think I am? One of your fucking fans, lol. Get a fucking grip of yourself."

The anger in Alex's expression matched the anger in Diana's. For a brief moment, Diana wondered how this had turned into the both of them going neck to neck with each other. But of course, she shouldn't have been surprised. It was Alex Perez after all. She was insufferable.

Alex took a step forward, and Diana instinctively took a step back. Alex noticed this and smirked. Immediately Diana's heart began picking up in her chest. For the second time, she wondered if she was going to get beat up.

Alex towered a good few inches above her, Diana was straining her neck slightly, looking up into her face. Alex took another step forward and Diana mirrored it with another step backwards. She could smell the taller girl now, could smell the light scent of sweat wafting off her. Diana was so certain she was about to get beat up by Alex. Nobody was around, there was no teacher to stop it. Even if there were people around, odds were that nobody was going to step in, nobody would stop it. Diana wouldn't be able to defend herself. She was skinny and weak. Whereas Alex was an athlete. Her strength was apparent in her toned arms and build.

Alex took another step forward, this time Diana didn't move backwards. There was no point in delaying the inevitable.

"You're such a fucking loser, you know that?" Alex said to her, cocking her head slightly to the side. Her voice was low.

"And you're a fucking bitch. A glorified one at that," Diana retorted against her better judgement.

Alex moved and Diana squeezed her eyes shut, waiting to feel some impact of some sort.

"I'm going to take a quick shower, I'll get back to you when I get out," Alex said instead, brushing past her quickly.

Diana opened her eyes in shock, watching Alex, who was heading for the locker rooms. She blinked furiously, wondering what had just happened. She was so certain that she was going to have the absolute shit beaten out of her right then.

Once again, Diana headed back to the bleachers. Her head was spinning slightly, she needed to sit down. There was nothing 'quick' about Alex's shower. Diana got the feeling that she had intentionally stretched it out just to annoy her. It was getting late and Diana knew she needed to be at home soon. Her mom was going to flip out.

A couple of the other soccer girls had emerged from the locker rooms, none of them paying any attention to Diana seated on the bleachers. A couple more minutes passed before Alex finally appeared. She had changed into a sweatshirt and pants, and had a duffel bag slung over her shoulder.

Diana rose to her feet as the athletic girl approached, noticing how her hair was still tied back in a ponytail.

"Have you decided-"

"Thursdays, after school."

Alex brushed past her, barely sparing her a glance. For what felt like the millionth time, anger erupted within Diana. Alex had not even bothered to ask if that would be a good time for Diana. It was a good time for herself and that was all that mattered. After all, she simply didn't care about Diana.

For a few moments, Diana considered going after her and giving her a piece of her mind, but let out a sigh as she pushed the thought away. There was no point. She actually could do Thursdays after school. Alex was right, it's not like she had a life of her own.

Diana let out a long sigh and began walking out of the soccer field. She could see Alex a couple of distances ahead of her, heading towards the car park. Diana, as usual, was heading for the bus stop.

At that moment, Diana felt a buzz in her pocket. She reached into it, retrieving her phone to see a text message:

Hey this is Grey,

I talked to the manager, and you've got the job. How soon can you start?

There were a lot of things that Diana dreaded. But family dinners with her father back home had to be in the top three.

It was awkward. The air was tense. There was small, strained talk. Her father was hardly ever at home, always on one business trip or another. He hardly ever called, he was more of some distant figure than a father.

"Didi, could you pass me the soup?" Tyler asked from his position on the chair opposite Diana. Diana did just that, helping him dish the soup into his bowl.

At that moment, she wished she could be Tyler. Young and oblivious to the atmosphere in the room, she wished she could have that 8-year-old ignorance once again.

"So Diana, how are college applications coming along?"

Diana had known that sooner or later her dad was bound to bring up the topic. Sitting next to him at the other side of the table, Diana noticed her mom clear her throat.

"Diana suddenly thinks she wants to go to art school," her mom said, "obviously, that's not going to happen. That's not a real job."

At this point, Diana didn't think she could acquire more disbelief than she was currently feeling. Her mom was talking as if art school was an idea that she had woken up with randomly, not like something she had hoped for practically all her life.

In a desperate attempt, Diana turned to look at her father to gauge his reaction. But what did she expect? He too was nodding along to what her mom had just said.

"Why don't you study law instead? You'd make an excellent lawyer," Diana's father said absentmindedly as he cut into the piece of meat in his place.

Diana almost choked on her soup. "Did you say law?"

Her father nodded as if he had said the most natural thing ever. "There's a community college nearby, you can start there for a couple years."

Diana painfully swallowed the hot liquid in her mouth before laying her spoon down at the side of her bowl. "I don't want to study law. I don't want to study anything that isn't art."

It was her father's turn to choke on his soup, and Diana watched in dismay as her mom patted him on his back until he had calmed down. She knew what was coming, and it wasn't good.

"No child of mine is going to be a measly artist. That's shameful." Her father's voice was grave as he spoke.

"Can you still call me a child of yours? I mean, you're barely even around-"

That was the spark that ignited everything.

"Diana!" Her mother was on her feet, eyes ablaze. "You will not speak to your father like that! Go to your room!"

Diana was already on her feet as well. She had dropped her spoon loudly next to her bowl even before her mom had screamed her name.

So much pain was coursing through her. Hot tears were threatening to fall as Diana left the dining room where they had all been having dinner. She knew there was no way the dinner was going to pass by peacefully, family dinners hardly ever did.

By the time Diana arrived in her bedroom, hot tears were streaming down her face. She lay on her bed, staring up at her ceiling as silent tears fell from her eyes. She was no longer angry, just drained. Mentally and physically exhausted.