A Productive Art Class

Authors Note: This is just a note to let you know I will be taking a break until the 1st of September, this is mainly just to allow me to catch up on some things and keep it so that my weekly chapters won't have any hickups.

John entered the bustling studio and made his way over to his seat, which was when he looked over to Alison’s vacant seat. John got an unsettling twinge; Alison was literally the first person in class every day and her absence reminded John he’d never received a text from her the previous night letting him know she was home safely. In a panic, John pulled out his phone and opened their text chain when he saw an unread text.

< A: Hey, Moira just got me home safe and sound. Don’t worry if you message me and I don’t reply. I spotted Vanessa in the window, so I think we’re probably gonna be hanging out for the night. >

John let out a long loud sigh of relief. ’Well… at least she got home safe, last night was a bit hectic. She’s probably just running late or something.’

While students continued to enter and take their seats, John pulled his portfolio out. He flipped through some of his past pieces until June cleared her throat and addressed the class, “Okay, everyone, we’re going to continue with the current assignment. I want you to choose a new medium to try and compare with the ones you’ve used before. The subject is your choice and can be as simple or complex as you’d like. Also, feel free to incorporate the media you have already used for this project, but remember that the focus is your new one.”

The busty teacher turned to him. “John, I had the kiln room cleared in order to have you and Alison work on your project there. Unfortunately, Alison called in feeling under the weather, so you will be alone today.”

John nodded and began gathering his things. ’Maybe she’s avoiding me? I’d get it if she was; yesterday was a lot and I hadn’t planned for her to ever see the Abyss. Maybe it is best for her to not be involved with me though. A girl as sweet as her doesn’t suit all this shit and I already got her hurt once…’

He walked out of class and across the hallway to the kiln room. As always the room felt dry, the kiln was still standing in the corner but all the fired clay had been removed and now there was a small table with two chairs sitting side by side.

Slumping into one of the chairs, John pulled out his phone.

< J: Hey Alison, I heard you weren’t feeling well. Are you okay? You aren’t avoiding me, are you? If you are, you don’t have to. Just tell me to keep my distance and I won’t bother you or anything. You were in danger yesterday and it was all because of me, I couldn’t blame you for not wanting to get involved with that. >

His phone instantly lit up and Alison’s name crossed the screen. He swiped the answer button and raised the phone to his ear.

“What? N-n-no! I’m not av-avoiding y-y-you, I swear! I just w-woke up this morning not feeling gr-great, I have a m-migraine and I’m f-feeling fatigued. I think the ex-xcitement of yesterday just caught up with m-m-me after getting some sleep. I’ll be fine, I p-p-promise.” Alison’s voice was soft and sounded slightly weaker than usual.

John’s emotions were an odd mix; trying to reach some kind of equilibrium, he took a deep breath. ’I’m glad she’s alright. I hope she feels better soon… Would it have been better if she would have said she wanted distance though?’

“Okay. Well, make sure to get well rested then. I think it might be a good idea if we talked about what happened yesterday.” John paused for a second. “I don’t think I want you involved in that stuff because it’s dangerous. Don’t worry about it now, we’ll talk about it maybe tomorrow or something or maybe I can get to you before Vanessa is home and we can have a quick talk before I have to tutor her.”

There was a long pause before Alison spoke again, “You’re t-t-tutoring Vanessa… Since when?”

John sighed internally. "Uh. Last week, I think it was the same day I ran into you on the way to tutor her. Miss Sharp kinda strong-armed me into tutoring her in Spanish. We kinda got an ear full in class today, so we’re having another session later and then Thursday too. Vanessa was extra bitchy in class today, so I feel like I’m gonna have my hands full trying to maintain a session.”

There was another long pause and John felt like he should say something but Alison spoke again. “I g-guess it’s not like I c-can help her in Sp-panish. I think she o-only chose it because she wanted t-to show off how she could l-learn a language herself and d-didn’t want to choose one I c-could speak. If she’d chosen Fr-rench, German, Norwegian, Mandarin or J-Japanese, I could have he-elped… If you want a l-little advice, maybe think of some kind of r-reward for doing w-well, it’s how I usually get her to f-f-focus.”

John chuckled at the humblebrag. “I think the only reward I could think of is her being rid of me. Anyway, please get some rest, maybe take a bath? Or have a nap? Or something to eat.”

“I w-will,” Alison said before hanging up, shortly followed up by a text message.

< A: I hope to see you later x >

John smiled looking down at his phone at the solitary kiss at the end of Alison’s message. “Not looking at naughty pictures of that little minx of yours, are you?” John jumped out of his skin as June’s voice cut through the silence of the room.

June let out a giggle. “Sorry, sweetie. Didn’t mean to scare you.” Her voice was almost a purr.

John smiled a little. “Uh. no. It’s fine.”

“If it’s fine, then what was with the face, sweetie?” June questioned, walking up and leaning over the desk allowing John a nice view of her generous cleavage.

An uncomfortable expression crossed his face. “Well, it’s a little weird to hear someone call me sweetie. It’s what my mom calls me.”

“Oh? From your reaction, I’ll take it, you’d rather I find something else to call you?” June’s lips curled into a smile.

“If you don’t mind?” John awkwardly scratched the back of his neck.

“Not a problem. So…” June walked around hugging John from behind, pressing her chest into his back. “Do I need to comfort you? Alison isn’t exactly known for taking days off, so I can only assume something happened yesterday?”

John felt a twinge of guilt. “Well, yeah, kind of, but that’s who I was talking to before you came in. She doesn’t seem upset or anything. She said she was just a little overwhelmed.”

June let out a soft chuckle. “Ah, I can understand that. Maybe I pushed a little too hard with the modelling, she is a shy girl after all. Well, try not to dwell on it, she will be alright after a little time. I’ll speak to her when she comes in tomorrow. So, what happened?”

“Well, there’s kind of a lot to tell, I suppose,” John confessed.

The young teacher pulled away from John, leaving a cool spot on his back. She dragged his chair back a little before climbing into his lap, facing him and showing off her black lace underwear. “You don’t mind if I make myself a little more… comfortable, do you?”

John felt a little heat cross his cheeks, and he nodded. Taking a deep breath and smelling June’s jasmine and freesia perfume, he tentatively reached his hands around and placed them on her ass, before getting a little courage and adjusting his hands to more firmly grip her soft behind.

“So? I’m all ears.” She smiled, looking into his eyes.

“Uh… oh, yeah... Well, we headed out and took a bunch of photos. Then we walked around the museum; it was really nice having her company. We got a hot drink and cake in the cafe, and it turned out her grandma works there.” John smiled remembering the date. “The people were all really nice, it was actually quite quaint.”

There was a moment before John continued, “Then we started to walk back through the city and I told her about Ellie and the relationship. She seemed a little down but we called Ellie up and Alison seemed to react a little more positively… That’s when things went a little south. The call cut off and something bad happened, it wasn’t between Alison and I, it was something else… I'd rather not go into it but I thought it might have pushed Alison away. From our conversation a moment ago, though, I think she’s just genuinely not feeling well. So, I thought I’d visit her later. We can talk, and if she really is put off, then I’d rather things not be awkward between us. And don’t worry, I don’t think she’s upset about the modelling thing.”

June nodded, and gave John a slightly worried expression. “I get it if you think you can’t talk to your teacher about bullying. But if something happened outside of school while you were with someone, you really shouldn’t keep that to yourself. In fact, you could potentially go to the police about it.”

John shook his head. “No, it wasn’t anything like that. And hopefully, it’s resolved. So nothing to worry about anymore.”

June let out a sigh. “Okay, fine. But seriously, you can talk to me if you need to. I think our relationship has moved a little past student and teacher, don’t you?”

To accentuate her point, June leaned forward, wrapped her arms behind his neck and pressed her lips against his. John reciprocated, allowing one of his hands to trace up and down her back while the other squeezed her butt, eliciting a light moan into his mouth before the two pulled back and stared into each other’s eyes.

“I, uh… you know… I guess we should talk about that, right? What do you see between us?” John asked; he couldn’t help but reach back and rub the back of his neck after starting the potentially awkward conversation.

June rested her cheek on her hand in a faux bashful manner. “Oh my, what a serious question.”

John sighed. “Up to now, things between us have been quite, uh, sexual. And I guess I was just wondering if that was all there was to this? Or if it was more?” His face suddenly reddened. “I mean, uh, I’m not asking you to be my girlfriend or anything. U-unless you want me to, uh, but… I, uh…”

June let out a cute giggle. “Shhh. No, my intentions had never been just sex between us, John. In all honesty, I’d spent a long while fantasising how I might seduce you and how things between us would be.”

June's smile turned slightly sad. “Unfortunately, Ellie gave you a bit of a confidence boost so my fantasies fizzled out somewhat… You are in an open relationship so that means that our physical relationship is fine… but I’m not about to try and strong-arm my way in and break you two up to get what I want.”

John smiled before leaning in and pecking her on the lips. “Was that your way of admitting that you would want to be my girlfriend?”

June rolled her eyes with a laugh. “Yes, if the situation was different, I would have hoped we could get into a relationship together.”

He leaned in once more, pressing his lips against hers and allowing his tongue to invade her mouth, lapping at her tongue and pulling back again. “I’ll talk to Ellie,” he said with a smile.

June blinked in confusion. “I… what?”

“Well, I might have asked Ellie about being in a relationship with more than just her for Alison’s sake. She didn’t seem all that conflicted with the idea but I think we will still need to talk, and she’ll likely want to meet you in person,” John explained.

June gained a sultry smile. “Well, I do owe her a sexy threesome, now don’t I?”

John laughed awkwardly, and before they could continue their conversation, the door handle to the room began shaking; luckily it had been locked. A knock came soon after though, and letting out a quiet sigh, June dismounted. “Sorry, John, seems I have to go be a teacher again.” Her voice was hushed but clear to John, then she raised her voice so that the person outside could hear, “So, feel free to try out any media in here. It’s going to be a little harder not having Alison to work with but I believe in you.”

With a wink, she opened the door, ushering the student back to the classroom. Alone in the room, John looked around. The room was sparse and there weren’t a lot of media to choose from, but John did notice something he’d wanted to try.

There were several metal cases and inside were: a butane burning pen, several tips, a metal ruler, and some shaped metal jigs. There was also a sponge, a small fire blanket about the same size as the five or so wooden boards inside and finally a sealing spray to finalise the piece.

He hadn’t ever used wood burning tools, so it took a short while to get semi-comfortable with them. He’d pulled out the camera, and using a landscape reference, he attempted to use the new medium.

He still found it a little tricky and he was quite unhappy with the end result, but the bell rang signifying the end of class. Knowing that it was unlikely anyone was going to use the wood-burning equipment, John packed it all away inside of a carry case and stored it in his inventory. In his haste to clear up, he hadn’t noticed that he’d knocked the metal ruler to the ground, so he reached down and stored that in his inventory too. Then he headed out of class, smiling and waving at June as he passed her open door.

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