In a small town somewhere among the fields, within a tiny orchard and under a tree, a young girl sat alone, with tears flowing from her eyes.

The sound of the other children playing amongst the green somewhere made the loneliness far more hurtful than it already was.

"I hate them…" She whispered to herself. "I hate all of them." She glared at the grass, remembering the mocking she got simply because of her name.

"Why am I named like this…?" She struggled to speak through tears. "What even is a Boudicca?"

The girl grabbed some dirt and threw it somewhere along the grove. "I hate this…I hate my name." She grit her teeth and listened to the cheers and laughter of her fellow children near her. "I hate it."

Suddenly to her right, the bushes rustled and out came another young girl, plopping onto the dirt face first with her hands reached out. Out of her palms fell a bunch of pencils and some pieces of paper.

"Ouchh…" The other girl murmured from the dirt as she stood up, revealing her clothes now stained with mud. "GAH! Mom's gonna kill me!"

Then she finally noticed the crying Boudicca in front of her, who was flabbergasted at this girl's strangeness.

"What were you doing over there?" Boudicca seemed to have forgotten she was crying as her shock over this girl falling over took over her brain. "And who are you?"

The young dirty girl looked proud as she pointed towards a tall tree off in the distant part of the orchard. "I was up at that tree and I was drawing some stuff." She then grinned as she puffed her chest. "My name is Autumn and I'll be a world renowned artist one day!" She cheered.

"That's so--hey!" Boudicca was caught off guard as Autumn sat herself in front of her. 

"So what are you doing here…?" She trailed off on the last part as a way to ask for the crying girl's name.

"I don't want to say it." Boudicca sniffled.

"Why not?"

"I hate it."

"It can't be that bad." 

"It is."

"Hmmm…no." Autumn smiled as she inched herself beside the girl.

"What?"

"I said it's not that bad."

"You haven't even heard it yet!" Boudicca frowned.

"And if I did, It's not gonna be bad." Autumn smirked and the girl pursed her lips before looking back down at the dirt. "So are you gonna say it?"

"Boudicca." The girl mentioned her name sheepishly. What followed was silence. Boudicca felt pissed, she knew this was coming. She knew her name was weird, and that this girl won't be any different than the others. She looked up to glare at the young girl next to her but what caught her was a brightened and awestruck expression.

"That's sooooo coooool!" Autumn squealed. "I read about her before!"

"You have?"

"She's this warrior queen who fought for her homeland and is considered a great hero." She jumped up and did a pose. "She is so cool…you have a very awesome name, Bou!"

"Bou?" A wave of heavy relief flushed all over her chest as she gazed upon Autumn who smiled so wonderfully down at her, telling her how her name was amazing.

"Yep!" She then squatted back down and leaned in close with a giant grin plastered on her face. "So then, Bou. What are you doing here? Not with the others?"

Boudicca clenched her arms and looked away and answered her question with a grumble. "I don't like them, they make fun of me."

"Hmm…" Autumn thought for a bit and suddenly had a eureka moment. "Ah! What if you drew some stuff with me?"

"Huh?" Boudicca panicked. "I don't know how to draw though?"

"It's okay, I'll teach you! Cmon!" The girl grabbed her hand and dragged her through the bushes laughing. "Let's have some fun over here instead!"

"Ah-ah…" Boudicca struggled with words but a new feeling formed around the young child's chest. "Sure!" She gleefully agreed. 

The two girls ran to the end of the orchard and sat under a large mango tree. The two of them laughing, giggling, and drawing all the things about the world.

It was a vivid yet fleeting memory.

And…

"MS. BOUDICCA!" A scream echoed throughout the auditorium as a chalk came flying straight to her face. "If you're not interested in the lessons regarding architecture, why did you even take this class!?"

"I'm so sorry!" Boudicca snapped out of her dream and apologized profusely to her college professor. 

"Now, who wrote about the limitations of modern architecture by tackling its orthodox planning and its primitive ideals. How complexity is overtaken by such simplistic forms?"

"Uhhh… Isn't it Robert Venturi, sir?"

"That's…" Her Professor blinked at her, realizing her answer. "That's…correct. Good job Ms. Boudicca, just don't sleep in class again."

"Phew." Boudicca sat down and relaxed again on her seat. She felt thankful she had at least read up on her notes and topics beforehand. Still, why did that memory from such a long time ago pop itself back from the pits of her mind. "Wonder what she's up to now…." She murmured to herself quietly while listening to her professor go off in class.

It's been 16 years since that happened and it's been 8 years since she last saw Autumn. It wasn't exactly a good end to their friendship as well.

It was a long story, that Boudicca did not feel getting back into right now. She felt horrible thinking about it. Those memories engrained themselves as carvings on her mind, difficult to ever remove.

Autumn was her closest friend and the only person she ever found herself deeply attached to since then. Ever since they fell apart, Boudicca just felt like she was wandering aimlessly.

She stared at the pencil between her fingers. The days of her sketching things out, planning the forms and figures, and finalizing shading…No.

She shouldn't think about that.

She gave up on art long ago. Even still, she can't help herself in doodling on her textbooks the most random things.

She drew a pig riding a tank shooting at a wolf. She giggled to herself, finding her drawings funny.

Bou sighed, a heavy sting panged on her heart as once more, memories flooded her mind, this time of Autumn crying and yelling at her and telling her to go away, with Autumn's effort ripped and shredded behind her.

Bou might've clinched too hard and snapped her pencil in half. "Shit." She blinked, realizing what she just did and immediately began looking for a replacement.

Why was she thinking about all of this? It's so uncharacteristically strange of her. Boudicca had kept to herself throughout most of her highschool days even now in her college years.

Her mom often worried for her, always choosing to be alone, but Bou couldn't really connect at the same wavelength with other people.

The only reason she even entered this college is because her Dad worked as a history professor here. Otherwise she wouldn't even know where to start looking for a school to apply for.

Her father and mother always expected her to go to art school and pursue it further and further but how could she?

After what happened, she never wanted to touch another canvas again.

She bit her lip. 

Again, she was thinking about it all over again. If it wasn't for that dream earlier, she wouldn't be so up in arms about what happened between her and Autumn.

Suddenly the bell rang and class was over. Boudicca's final class for the day had reached its end.

She walked down the steps and her professor promptly stopped and called for her. "Ms. Boudicca Chamberlain?"

"Yes?"

"Fantastic name, mind you." The Professor smiled and complimented her before clearing his throat.  "Ummm…Are you Theo's daughter?"

"Oh uh…yes!?" Bou answered nervously, wondering if she got in trouble. "Am I in trouble?"

"Oh god no! Hardly." The Professor chuckled. "Although, sincere apologies for earlier, Ms. Boudicca."

"Oh. It's fine. That was my bad." She smiled anxiously.

"Anyways, I am here to address something regarding your papers…"

"What about them?"

"Did you make these sketches yourself?" Her Architecture professor gawked. "These columns look fantastic and these designs are phenomenal…why didn't you say anything if you're amazing at this?"

"I… didn't even want to take this class."

"But you're a prodigy!" Her Professor was delighted. "Why waste your talent?"

"I'm sorry, I just don't like drawing that much. I only took this class since it was available for my schedule and…" Her voice was a bit distraught.

"Are you sure you don't wanna try pursuing this? Even if not Architecture, you have a future in fine arts, young lady." He smiled. "Why did your father put you up in an engineering school?" He scoffed.

"That's…not the case I–"

"Ms. Chamberlain, I can help you transfer to Bayward. It's a fantastic arts school and I'm sure you'd do well." The Professor reassured her. "I can send a letter to their University and I'm sure they'll be happy to look at your works and maybe even–"

"NO!" Bou snapped. She covered her mouth with her hands. "I'm sorry…I didn't mean–"

"It's…okay." Her Professor sighed. "I'm guessing you have your own reasons as to why you don't want to but…here." He handed over a business card. It read the professor's name, Mason Lowrey, and a bunch of other information regarding him and his job.

"What's this?" Bou stared at the card with blank eyes.

"In case, you change your mind." He smiled. "Sometimes something can happen that'll make us change our minds. So I'm handing this over in case that happens with you."

She shook her head. "No thanks, I don't think I will."

"I insist."

Bou felt like she would never be able to leave the classroom if she didn't take it. "Fine then." She grabbed the card and stuffed it into her bag.

"I'll see you next week, Ms. Boudicca." He gently spoke.

"Yeah…"

She walked out the door and left the building immediately. She cursed herself for sketching out her assignments. Why did she even take this class?

Oh right, this was one of the last few spots left when she decided to go here.

Bou groaned as she walked. 

Right after all those memories regarding Autumn, this happens. It's like the world has something against her today.

She didn't even try that much on the buildings she drew. She only did it for a bit of extra credit to make sure she doesn't fail and now that single choice has set her up in her Professor's eyes as some sort of prodigy.

She wanted to vomit. She hated that word.

Prodigy.

It sounded so absurd and disgusting. Autumn's voice rang like needles in her head. "I HATE YOU, BOU! WHY DID I HAVE TO BE FRIENDS WITH A PRODIGY LIKE YOU!"

Boudicca shook her head to brush off the thought. She hated being a prodigy. She hated being good at art.

And she hates herself for being a hypocrite about it.

She said many times about how she had given up and will no longer touch a brush nor canvas again but her professor's words earlier stirred up something inside her as much as she hated it.

And Bou knows that even if she despises drawing she still finds herself doing it and having fun. She doesn't understand all these things and what it truly means for her.

She just wanted to jump off a roof and maybe that'll tell her something.

This was hypothetical of course, she wasn't being suicidal.

Still, Bayward was the school her and Autumn longed to go together to and to learn together on and finally to pass and graduate from.

It was both their dreams…

Was.

Bou felt her stomach twist and her chest turn cold. Why do these thoughts choose to return to her now?

Why did Professor Lowrey decide to remind her about Bayward now?

Why did Autumn have to come back and haunt her now?

She walked down the city streets and contemplated her confusion on the way to her dorm. She felt like stuffing her face with food but doing so would probably just make her throw it all up later.

Bou never wanted to think about her past again. She just wants to live out her life as a side character and not stand out. She wanted to just stay as a nobody.

As she walked through a park she suddenly bumped into a man which stopped her in her tracks completely. "Watch where you're going!" The man yelled at her and went back to whatever he was doing, which was looking off to somewhere.

Bou glanced up, puzzled at the sight before her. It was a crowd gathering and surrounded a small area in the park. There were barricades that surrounded the circumference and even  some professional looking security men walking around.

"What the heck is this?" Boudicca felt intrigued at the sight before her. She decided to nose in and see what was happening. She excused herself within the mass of people and squeezed until she reached the front of the crowd and before her she saw a picturesque scene.

It was a young woman in the middle of the street, painting on a large canvas what looked to be an angelic scene, as a feminine angel descends and locks lips with a common woman, its setting being the very same park she stood on right now.

But there was something else that bothered her. The way the paint was mixed and specifically how the clouds were drawn… Boudicca recognized that style from all the way back.

Her hair color is different, she's a lot taller now, and even her style of fashion is far from how it used to be, but Boudicca was sure of the way the woman's art was drawn. It was her.

She gulped and through the silent murmurs of the crowd, she took her chance and called out a name on the back of her throat, only a few people would remember. She clenched her fists, maybe the world really was playing tricks on her.

"Otty?" Bou called and the woman's hands stopped from painting.

She looked directly towards Boudicca who was amongst the crowd. Bou was right. She recognizes this face. 

"Bou?" The woman's voice was sharp yet frail.

"Yeah…it's me." Bou pursed her lips. "It's been a while…Autumn."