The Art of Forbidden Romance (Student x Teacher)

Chapter 6

Thursday and Friday blurred by as I worked at the cafe. Since I was paying for my own college, I only took Mondays and Wednesdays off for school. I barely managed to squeeze all my classes into two days this semester but somehow it worked out.

Angela, the other manager at the cafe, agreed to switch shifts with me Sunday so I could close. I spent Sunday morning at the arboretum, trying to redo my painting. The gardens were busy as usual for a weekend, but my willow tree pond was quiet as always. Just a few elderly people came by and watched me painting before continuing their stroll. Chuck's words on trying to paint more loosely and 'life-like' echoed through my head the whole time. By the time I was finished, I felt like my painting just looked messy.

Work on Sunday night was uneventful, and before I knew it I was home, getting ready for the new week of classes. Mel and I vegged out on the couch, watching one of her dating shows before we both decided to call it a night. Mel reminded me of course that we had my favorite teacher tomorrow before she snuck away to her room. It took me a while to fall asleep, I kept thinking about my painting and how disappointed I was with it, and what Chuck would think. I tossed and turned in bed for what felt like hours before I finally fell asleep.

I woke up an hour before my alarm and lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. My stomach was in knots already. I felt my face heat up as I thought about my last interaction with Chuck and how I destroyed his clothes, and my painting. I groaned and rolled out of bed, deciding I might as well make myself productive since I'm not going to go back to sleep. I took a quick shower before Mel woke up and got ready for the day. Since I had a painting class today, I put on my normal painting clothes - a band tee and some paint-stained jeans. I tried brushing my brown hair into submission, but the unruly waviness wouldn't listen to my brush. I threw my hair back into a ponytail and slipped on a baseball hat. After washing my face I slipped on my new glasses, they had finally arrived over the weekend. The oversized metal frames fit nicely and nearly covered my whole face.

"You gotta dress cuter sometime," Mel said as I made my way into the kitchen. "How else is Chuck going to notice you?" I rolled my eyes.

"He's not supposed to notice me," I said, grabbing a Red Bull from the fridge. She sighed. "And I have painting today anyways, it's not worth looking nice if I'm just going to make a mess out of all my nice clothes."

"I mean, I get it," she said. "I'm just saying, like dress cute sometimes. It's nice to see you in something other than band shirts and jeans."

"I know," I said. "If I have a day when I'm not painting in class I will dress nice."

"You mean a day with Chuck when you're not painting, right?" she said. I rolled my eyes at her.

"Yeah, sure," I said, walking out of the kitchen.

"You know I'm just messing with you!" She called after me.

"Yeah, yeah," I shouted back. I grabbed my backpack off the floor in my room and grabbed my regular painting kit. I snagged a canvas from the corner of my room and sighed. I had my portfolio class today and I still couldn't figure out which theme I was doing.

"I'm leaving, I'll see you in class," I called to Mel as I headed to the door. "Sounds good!"

I managed to snag a parking space near the art department this time and had extra time to kill before Chuck's art history class. I walked to the art department quad and found it fairly busy with students all chatting and hanging out before class. There was a free bench under one of the trees and I sat down, pulling out my sketchbook. I had to figure out my first painting for today's portfolio class with Andy. I doodled mindlessly on the blank page, thinking about relationships. My last relationship had been 3 years ago, and it didn't end so positively either. I pushed the negative thoughts out of my mind and tried to think about the nice parts. Although it ended badly, it wasn't all bad. I sketched a rectangle onto the page and stared at it, waiting for inspiration to strike me.