The Artful Deception: Unveiling the Confession Cards

Steve grimaced and grumbled as he carried the remaining lighter supplies.

The whole school was participating in a fundraising event that was scheduled for the upcoming Saturday. Principal James was fully invested and had even offered to finance the items they were going to sell out of his own pocket. Sarah and Alex had been staying late every day to plan the event, going home tired and drained.

They were determined to make this event an absolute success. The tickets for the event were already on sale to the public, and 65% of them had already been sold. Sarah anticipated that more spontaneous visitors would come by the lively event on Saturday.

The students were making final adjustments to their booths, and to encourage them, Principal James had organized an interclass competition. The class that raised the most money would receive a prize.

"After this experience," David clicked his tongue. "We can safely say that Joe doesn't have a single artistic bone in his body. None." He shook his head, and Joe scowled, flicking paint at David.

"Hey, I'm putting in a lot of effort here!" he exclaimed, feeling exasperated. He cast a critical eye on the flower he was attempting to depict and winced. Was it really so difficult to render five identically-sized petals?

David delivered his verdict with a somber tone, "That's not going to sell."

Joe's face twisted into a grimace. "I may not be able to sell it on its looks alone, but with my charming personality and uncanny ability to persuade people, I'm sure I can still make a sale," he retorted with a smirk.

"Sure, do that," David agreed. "And also assist Henry and Philip in selling theirs. No one would want to buy theirs."

"HEY!" both boys yelled from the other end of the classroom.

Aerospace and Sarah's class had decided to sell handmade craft cards and photo frames. At first, it seemed like an easy idea, but it turned out to be a difficult challenge due to the lack of art skills among many students.

Alex was capable of drawing moderately well as long as he had a reference to follow. He picked up one of Sarah's completed drawings, raised his eyebrows in amazement, and let out a low whistle. "Wow."

Sarah looked over and saw what he was admiring. "What? Do you think I'm the reincarnation of Picasso?" Sarah laughed, shaking her head as she cut some colored paper.

"Meh, not to that extent," Alex grimaced. "You can just draw. Very well," he muttered, pouting slightly. Sarah shook her head and continued working, smiling lightly.

Alex quietly took the card she finished.

"Where are you going with the card I finished?" Alex was caught off guard by Sarah's question. He halted in his steps, turned around slowly, and grinned sheepishly, "Referencing purposes?"

"Picasso, aren't I?" Sarah teased, laughing. "Admit it!"

"No!" Alex protested, running away to the other end of the hall. "NEVER!~"

At that moment, the Aerospace members were busy helping to decorate the booths. Although they weren't assigned to do anything meticulous, they were certainly helpful in lifting heavy stuff. Their class booth was located at the center of the fair, and the Aerospace boys had a great idea of how to attract the most customers.

The booth was coming together beautifully, with pastel colors and all, making it a sweet and inviting place to sell handmade crafts.

Alex chuckled as he watched his friends argue, and he sat down on the ground, attempting to mimic Sarah's strokes. She had drawn an adorable kitten with just a pencil, and it looked just like the one from the school. She had truly captured the kitten's spirit, especially in the eyes.

They glimmered playfully, as though an actual cat was staring back at you.

Alex attempted to mimic her drawing, stroke by stroke. He captured the basic outline and started filling in the colors, but regardless of how many times he drew the eyes, his version looked different from hers.

"Looks like writing isn't the only talent she possesses," Alex muttered to himself.

"Alex honey, did you draw that? It's so adorable!"

Alex glanced up to see Deliah smiling at him. He blinked in surprise and noticed that she and her friend had come to their booth to take a look.

"Why is Aerospace trying to decorate the booth?" Yvonne rolled her eyes. "As long as all seven of you stand directly in front of the booth to promote your goods, I give you a maximum of two hours. You'll be able to clear everything out."

"Agreed!" Brad chuckled. "Well put!!!" Nancy shook her head, laughing, and grabbed a random card. She made a face at the amateurish drawing and shuddered. "I believe you'll require a lot of persuasion if you want to sell things like this."

"Hey princess!" Brad pouted as he moved closer to her. "I'm the one who drew this!" He pointed to the drawing. "Can't you tell? It's supposed to be a romantic setting. This is the beach and this is a boy and a girl. They're supposed to be us, you know?" he grinned.

Nancy burst into laughter and choked. "So, this green stuff is the tree, and these two circles and the bunch of lines are supposed to be us?" she giggled. "Oh, Cupcake..."

Deliah sat down next to Alex, a little too close for his liking. She leaned over to look at his drawings. "Did you draw this? It's amazing, honey. I never knew you could draw so well," she giggled.

"Oh, this?" Alex made a face at the card Deliah was holding. "That's made by your sister."

"Oh, Sissy?" Deliah nodded. "I should have known," she said, recognizing her sister's art. She looked at his version of the kitten. "Well, yours doesn't look too bad either, Alex honey," she cheered.

"Well, yeah, if you didn't see hers," Alex chuckled softly. He took Sarah's card from her hands and gazed at it fondly. "Damn, I'll never be able to beat this reincarnation of Picasso."

" Picasso's reincarnation?" Deliah chuckled. "That's adorable, honey."

Alex shrugged, grinning as he examined Sarah's drawing.* I'll show Picasso that I can make a better card than hers.* he thought to himself.

***********

When Alex arrived home, he dumped a handful of cards onto the table. He had taken a few from Sarah's completed pile without her noticing and brought them back with him. As he shuffled through her finished pieces, he shook his head in amazement. "Wow, this girl is really talented," he murmured, furrowing his brow.

He came across one of the last cards that caught his eye. It had some paper flowers that looked particularly unique, unlike anything he had seen before. The color combinations she used were always pleasing to the eye, cute and pretty.

Alex stared at the card for an unnecessarily long period of time, scratching his head. "This card looks... familiar," he muttered. He furrowed his brow, wondering where he had seen it before.

His eyes widened, and he rose from his chair, making his way to his desk drawer. He opened it and picked up the first card on top, a lovely pink card that Deliah had made for him.

"Hey," Alex frowned at the flower pressings on Sarah's "card."

"Didn't Deliah make this? But the flower pressings..." he glanced back at the one he took from Sarah. "They look the same."

Alex scratched his head. "And Deliah told me she wasn't good at art." He peered at the confession letter Deliah had given him. "Did Sarah Johnson also make this for her sister?" he murmured, lost in thought.

**********

"Hey, I need to talk to you," Sarah didn't bother looking up as she crossed off items on her To-Do list.

"Are you stupid? The fair starts in half an hour. We don't have time to talk."

Alex frowned and grabbed her arm. "We'll make time if we want to. I need to talk to you," he insisted. "Can you please follow me? Or I'll drag you along, not caring if you scream the whole way. I mean it."

Sarah sighed and nodded, setting down her things.

No one suspected anything was amiss when the two left together, considering they were the main organizers of the entire event. It seemed natural that they had important matters to attend to.

Alex ushered Sarah into an empty classroom and let out a sigh, running his fingers through his hair. Sarah looked at him with anticipation. "So, what's up?"

Alex chewed on his lip as he approached her. "I need an explanation. It might seem silly to dwell on this, but I've been thinking about it all night long..."

Inquisitively blinking, Sarah unconsciously leaned in closer. "What is it?"

"Well, this." Alex revealed the two cards. "Can you clarify?"

Upon seeing the confession letter she had created for Deliah when she wanted to confess to Alex, as well as the card she had made the previous day, Sarah narrowed her eyes and took a sharp breath. So this was where they ended up... Sarah mentally berated herself when she realized she had used her special pressed paper flowers for both cards. How could she have been so careless?

"Why?" Sarah nervously licked her lips. "What's the problem besides the fact that you took this card I made?"

Alex didn't flinch. "That's not the problem. Can't you see? You made these two cards, didn't you?" he asked. "Deliah's confession letter, you made it," he stared at her.

Sarah shifted uncomfortably. "I didn't, okay?" she lied. "She meticulously made it and put in all her effort, and-"

"Don't lie," Alex interrupted. "You're a terrible liar. I can see right through you." He sighed. "I just want to know who made this card. Is it that difficult to answer?"

Sarah stared at the ground and kept her mouth shut. *Oh no,* she thought to herself.

"Sarah Johnson," Alex warned

Sarah sighed and blew her bangs away. "I made it," she whispered softly. "Deliah wanted to confess to you, but she said her art skills were not good enough. So I made the card."

Alex felt a little disappointed and betrayed as he looked down at the card. "If she liked me, shouldn't she have made the confession card for me by herself? No matter how bad it turned out?"

"Don't let it bother you," Sarah muttered. "She likes you, and that's all that matters."

Alex nodded. "I understand. But I just wanted to know."

Sarah pointed her finger at him. "And don't let Deliah know that you know she didn't make the card. It would upset her."

"I won't," Alex promised. "Nothing will change. I just..." he stared at the two cards. "I just needed to know."

"Alright," Sarah nodded and walked away, getting busy with the upcoming event.

Alex gazed at her retreating figure and closed his eyes, feeling mentally exhausted. "I just needed to know. And I don't even know why."