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melaina cambas was born to two people who were never destined to marry. her mother was asian, her father, filipino. the two were like apples and oranges; great apart, but not so much together. the only thing that came out of the tryst that was worthwile was melaina cambas, who was born long after the two had parted. her mother, not ready to raise a child, shipped her off to her ex-boyfriend, who was obviously more mature and much better equipped to handle a screaming baby. despite her abandonment, this was possibly the best thing melaina's mother could have done for her. though melaina's father was well-known for being a straight laced tyrant of a man, melaina found a healthy balance and comfort in his new wife, who treated her as if she had birthed her herself. in fact, until melaina was in school, she didn't realize the odd fact that her sister was her age and her mother was spanish. in fact, it seemed melaina never really noticed much of anything on planet earth. she seemed to float up into the clouds where she stayed, oblivious to the literal things going on in her life.
this was not a trait her father put stock in. when she was young, he put her straight to violin practice, determined to make sure despite her flighty thoughts, her hands would have good stock somewhere. though most kids kicked and screamed to get out of whatever practice their parents had demanded of them, melaina easily took to the violin. she felt it was something that she didn't really have to try with; if she did, she would have become easily frustrated and given up. no, the violin came to her easily, and it was something that made even her father beam with pride. once she felt herself become attached to it, she started to try other things- piano, clarinet, flute. though she became quite good at the piano, no instrument seemed to do as well with her as the violin had, and so her heart remained there. however, this was not the last place she'd seem to find a natural talent.
despite the fact that she never got into coloring on walls, melaina seemed to find an easy pace with painting. she never touched crayons or markers; she thought they were a waste of time. though it wasn't a big deal when she was a kid, it grew into a little something more. her canvases seemed to get bigger, and instead of placing her more angry emotions on those people who probably deserved them, she put them on the canvas, working and working until she was sure that a piece was perfect. her violin was something measured and calculated, something to keep her grounded. her painting, something to keep her up in the clouds.
melaina also discovered a keen desire to write songs, and with writing songs came singing. her voice wasn't bad- it wasn't opera-worthy, but she was good enough to get into the choir in her middle school and, with practice, garnered herself as a good singer. while it seemed that melaina continuously excelled in anything involving the arts, her math and history grades were slipping more and more. it seemed that while she was great at those things that were on a figurative plane, anything in the literal field fell short of her grasp. it was a block she had- she couldn't push herself to work hard on things when other things came so easily to her. while mediocre at best at things that involved any type of studying or common sense, she at least managed to keep her grades at passing.
painting and performing seemed to have given her an odd sense of optimistic euphoria. instead of getting angry with rude exboyfriends or feeling bad for whatever deed she had committed while drunk, she put it out there in her art and she felt free from it. this made her very forgiving, and almost annoyingly optimistic. she could find the good in anyone or in any situation, something that caused scathing remarks from her more angst-ridden peers, and with good reason. no one could be that happy all the time, so willing to float through life without a worry. how she managed it was quite a good question- however, its very likely that it had something to do with her lack of understanding of when people were trying to mess with her.
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