I've never been good with my words. Finding the correct sentences to get my thoughts across is a challenge for me. I never thought of art becoming a hobby of mine, either, let alone something I'd go to school for. Art used to be something I did on assignments every now and then. Something small, a one-off thing. I considered it to be a tool to escape boredom; it was nothing more than an ability I possessed. Not until the fourth grade at least. It was 2018, about halfway through the school year. My class had a new student, who had transferred from another state; her name was Dakota. Her father worked in the army, so she never stayed in one spot for long. Despite that, she was pretty outgoing. Soft-spoken, and yet she took the limelight when noticed. A kind and understanding girl, a real beauty for 4th grade. She had soft blonde hair that reached her shoulders, a rounded face, and the most beautiful eyes. Delicate and fawn-like, something out of a fairytale. I became friends with her almost instantly. We had similar interests and both brought out the best in each other. She was an amazing artist. My elementary school didn't exactly have artists; not too many kids cared about art outside of our weekly art class. Dakota’s art was advanced, based on fantasy creatures like fairies and dragons. The first time I saw her drawings, I was mesmerized. I didn’t know it was possible to draw that way.

It was nearing the end of the day, and we had nothing else to do in class. I glanced over and caught a glimpse of an elf sitting pretty on lined paper. The elf took up the whole page, a body shot from her legs to her head. The line work was phenomenal, and it was clear Dakota knew her way around a drawing. Everything sat perfect.

I thought about that drawing for a while. The day after, I stumbled my way into asking her to teach me how she learned to draw. It took me a long while to get the hang of the basics, about five attempts to get anywhere close to what she had accomplished. Yet I was more than happy to be learning. She was patient with me despite my struggles and even offered to keep teaching me through the school year. To say I was ecstatic would be an understatement. And, over time, my art improved with her input. Whenever we had free time she’d teach me something new.

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