Lexie McDonald's Arc

Chapter 1 of 1

Lexie sat on the bench inside the flower-covered gazebo, sketchbook open on her knees. She drew quick lines, then closed the cover, like always. She wanted to share her work one day. She just didn't know how to start. A boy sat on the steps below her. Nathan. His own sketchbook lay open, full of careful blueprints and small machines. He stared at one page like it had stopped making sense. "I know what I want to build," he said. "I just can't see the shape of it. I've been stuck for weeks." Lexie's fingers tightened on her cover. She had drawn that exact shape last night, by accident. Gears curled around a small bird. A frame that held without crushing. She opened her sketchbook. She almost closed it again. Then she tore the page out. She set it on top of his blueprints and stepped back before he could thank her. Nathan looked at the drawing, then up at her, steady and surprised. "This is it," he said. Lexie walked out of the gazebo with her bag lighter, and something inside her finally unlocked.