Avery POV

Once I pulled myself together, I took a quick shower, dried my hair, and got dressed. Grabbing my phone off my dresser I checked my messages. At least Micah kept it charged for me. There were at least forty missed calls from just my parents and brothers alone, and even more texts from them asking where I was. I felt guilty, I've been so consumed with myself and that guy, Kai, that I failed to even think about how much I've worried my family the last few days.

 Well, there's nothing I can do about it right now anyway. Scrolling through my messages I found my text thread with Amy. There was a wide range of messages from her, starting with thanking me for at least considering it, to asking if there was anything she could do to make me more likely to help her out. The last message she sent was at 11pm on Sunday,

I don't know why you're ghosting me like this, but it's not very cool at all. If you were going to pull this little stunt all along the least you could have done is just refuse me outright instead of saying you'd think about it. Way to be an ass. Thanks.

I am so not looking forward to this phone call with her. Looking at the time I noticed it was 3:30pm, with a little over an hour to spare I decided to rip off the bandage and give her a call.

"What do you want, I'm busy."

"Amy I'm so sorry, I promise I did not mean to intentionally ignore you like this."

"Oh great, you just accidentally ignored me then. Awesome, shows just how little you actually thought about this."

"No, that's not what I mean. I started my heat cycle last Thursday and it got worse early Friday morning, my inhibitors stopped working and I've been out of it. I'm sorry."

Please don't ask any questions, I really do not want to deal with going over this whole story with you.

"Are you okay now?"

"Yes, I am. My cycle is pretty much over and I'm back to my usual self."

"Okay, whatever. It's in the past now anyway. What did you call about?"

"I wanted to tell you that I will help out on Tuesdays and Thursdays with your elementary classes, if you're still needing someone to help."

"I found someone else who can help, he's a freshman at Elsum U and studying art. I posted an ad for a temp part time job, and he applied. You snooze you lose man, sorry."

"…I'll do it for free."

"Fine… If I don't have to pay you. I'll tell him the job description changed and it's the high school classes I need help with. I was thinking of getting an extra set of hands on those days anyway so I can move around as little as possible. Be here in an hour you little shit."

I braided my hair over my shoulder and slid my phone in my pocket. I ran downstairs and found my wallet and keys on the kitchen counter. I could see that Micah's car was still parked outside, but I couldn't find him anywhere. Not wanting to get dragged into some other serious conversation I wrote a note that I would be back later and slipped out of the house as quietly as I could.

I got to studio around 4:15pm and walked inside, only to be greeted by a still slightly hostile Amy.

"H-hey there, Amy… Ugh, I got here early! As you can see… Anyway, um, what can I help you with?"

"You aren't helping me with anything. I only came here to drop off the spare key to the studio. Keep it while you are helping me out. Classes are every Tuesday and Thursday from 5:15pm to 7pm. If the weather starts looking poor, I usually end class early like we did last week. Have fun."

"W-wait, what?! That's it, you're just going to leave?"

"Why, you want me to hold your hand? You already know what you're doing. Use the time you have left to set up for the class. What, you don't think you can handle it after all?"

"No, it's fine. Thanks Amy."

"No problem, Avery."

Man, talk about a hostile work environment. Either way, I don't really have any plans for class today. I guess I will just set out the same supplies we used last week and let the kids do what they want. I came here as an excuse to begin with, but I can't slack off. I'll just say I am evaluating their current skills if Amy asks, and then have an actual plan for Thursday.

Once it hit 5pm kids started coming into the studio and finding their seats. Some pulled out their homework to work on while waiting for class to start, while others borrowed the studio phone to let their parents know they made it safe. The younger ones were dropped off, and some of the parents who didn't seem to have anything else to do either sat in their cars or at the back table near the coffee bar. I hadn't recognized any of the kids that came in yet, but after a few more minutes I heard the familiar cheers of some of the students.

"Mr. Hansley!!! Guys Mr. Hansley is here!"

A steady crowd started forming around the desk at the front of the room, and some of the kids started introducing me to the ones I hadn't met yet.

"Okay guys, lets calm down, hmm? Why don't you all go sit down and I can properly introduce myself to everyone?"

I forgot how much I enjoyed working with the kids, maybe this won't be so bad?

"Okay everyone! My name is Avery Hansley, as I am sure you have heard by now. You can call me Avery if you want, though most of you prefer calling me Mr. Hansley. Either one is fine and I won't take offense. I'm going to be in charge of your art class for the next couple of months, okay?"

The kids seemed very excited, and I started feeling bad making them entertain themselves for the day.

"This all happened very suddenly, and I am sure you are excited for the class to get started. I was thinking of having today be a free day so I could see what level you all are at before making any plans for the class. However, if any of you have ideas on what to do today, raise your hand and let me know."

"Oh! Me, me! I do!"

A young girl who couldn't have been older than seven or eight years old raised her hand enthusiastically.

"Okay, you there with the pink dress and pigtails, what's your name?"

"I'm Mikayla, and I have a great idea for today's class! What about dreams!"

"That could be interesting, what do you mean by dreams?"

"Well, I was thinking that-"

Mikayla got rudely cut off by one of the older boys, he was around eleven if I remember correctly, who I had known while volunteering here before.

"Dummy! This is an art class, and Mr. Hansley is here to teach us about art and how to make different things. This isn't some coloring club to do whatever you want!"

Mikayla's face turned red, and I could tell she was about to start crying. Oh great, what an amazing start.

"Now Brandon, you know that we do not use words like dummy in this class. I expect you to apologize to Mikayla before the class is over, is that understood? Now Mikayla, do you want to talk more about what you were thinking?"

"N-no, I'm okay."

"Sigh, okay everyone. How about we do this, let's go over my expectations for this class and lay out some rules that everyone can understand, okay? The first rule is we don't say words like dumb, stupid, bad, ugly, or untalented. It does not matter if you are talking about a person or art. Second, all ideas should be respected whether you agree with it or not. This is a place to have fun and be yourselves, whether you agree with what was said or not."

"What are the other rules?" I heard one of the kids say.

"Well, that's about it for now. Be kind to everyone, their art, and the art supplies. If you can do that then we will get along well."

Now that everyone seems to be settled down, I decided to give them a prompt for the day.

"Okay everyone, today we are going to make a piece of art. Mikayla, I do not know if this is what you meant, but I liked the general idea. You can choose to either paint or draw, but I want each of you to make something that represents a dream. It can be an imaginary dream you had in your sleep, or about a wish that you want to come to true, or something you want to happen one day."

Brandon raised his hand shyly. I felt bad for the kid, he was just excited to see me back and couldn't contain his excitement, but he went about it the wrong way.

"Yes Brandon?"

"Are you… Going to draw one of your dreams too?"

Suddenly all the kids that knew who I was got excited, and they couldn't contain the sound of their laughter while shouting "Yay! We're going to see Mr. Hansley draw again!"

"Well, I wasn't really planning on it, but if you really want me to then I can draw something also."

With that out of the way class started. I helped the younger kids put into words what they wanted to draw and paint so they had a better vision of what to create, while I answered more art related questions from the older students, like the difference between oil and chalk pastels and the best way to use each medium. After I got all the kids on the right track I decided to grab some paper and a pencil and try to draw something per the kids request. Here I am, drawing for the sake of others again.

A dream, huh? The only thing that really comes to mind is that alpha I met, and aside from his eyes, lips, hair, hands, and… Other bold features, I couldn't picture him clearly. The prompt given was a dream anyway, not a memory. I couldn't think clearly with him on my mind, and it felt weird to be drawing again after recently declaring that I was going to stop.

Deciding to start with some scribbles and random lines I began doodling, hoping that I would come up with some sort of idea. Suddenly a bright green meadow flecked with wildflowers came to mind. I decided to start drawing out this landscape, and to my surprise I rather enjoyed making it. It feels like it's missing something though… I decided to draw myself laying on a fluffy picnic blanket.

My drawing looked so peaceful. Though I had planned to just say whatever I ended up drawing was my dream, this turned out to be something that I truly did long for. A quiet peaceful day, laying on a comfortable quilt and basking in the warm sunlight. The slightly sweet scent of the flowers tickling my nose as it gets carried off by the breeze. I never dreamt of a scene like this before, but it felt like a bliss that I wanted to experience more than anything.

Why does this seem so familiar, though? I had never basked in the sun in the middle of a field like this before, in fact the thought has never even crossed my mind. Wait… I think I know why. This scene that I just created, it illustrates how I felt when I was surrounded by Kai's pheromones. The realization cut through me and allowed my frustrations from earlier to resurface. Closing my eyes I took some deep breaths to try calming myself down.

"MR. HANSLEY!"

"Agh! What! Jeez you startled me. What's going on Brandon?"

"Class is almost over, we were trying to get your attention but you weren't hearing us! Oh, were you that focused on your drawing? Let me see! WOW! Guys, come look! Teacher, this is so beautiful! Is this your dream? Post it on the back board so we can all see!"

"Okay, slow your roll there Brandon. First things first, everyone write your names on your artwork. Then line up and go post them on the back board, if you need help ask someone who is taller, and if they are busy then you can come and ask me. I will put mine up there when everyone finishes, and you can take a look. When you're ready to leave you're free to go, and next class we will take turns talking about what everyone made."

After the last kid left I put away all of the art supplies and then walked over to look at all of the kids' pieces. Some of the artwork had a higher skill level than I expected, but I could tell that every one of these kids created their own masterpiece from the bottom of their hearts. Some of the seven- and eight-year-olds took the prompt literally and drew a scene of themselves sleeping in bed with a smaller image created in a little dream bubble.

A couple of the kids drew darker images, presumably a nightmare. Some drew what they wanted to be when they were older, and one of the kids drew a portrait of their mother as an angel flying down from the sky and holding her hand. Oh, that's right, her mother passed away last year.

It made me remember that for a lot of them art is a cathartic tool that helps them express themselves. At the bottom corner of the board was the landscape that I drew myself lying down in. I only looked at it briefly before taking it down, then locked up the studio and headed home.

Micah's car was still there, and I was actually relieved. I went inside and saw him with his head down at the dining room table.

"…Hey, Micah. Can we talk about earlier, please?"

He lifted his head up and looked at me with sad and tired eyes.

"Oh, you're home. Yeah we can talk, do you want to do it here or in your room?"

"My room, if you don't mind."

Like a mantra in my head I kept telling myself to stay calm and just explain things properly to him. When we got to my room I sat down on my bed while he sat in the nook of my window.

 "I drew something today, I wanted to show it to you. And… I wanted to talk to you about it. Please just listen to everything I have to say, okay?"

 He took the drawing from my hands and looked it over before glancing back up at me.

 "You drew? Wasn't it not too long ago that you declared you were going to step back from art?"

 Taking a deep breath, I shared with him how I was feeling about art, and why I decided to take a step back from it. I caught him up on me helping out at Amy's studio for the time being, and that the kids insisted I draw something with them.

 "How does all this relate to what you want to talk to me about?"

 He was being rather blunt with me ever since I got home, but his words were still light and sincere. I can tell that he hasn't been sleeping well, and it's all because of me.

 "It's about… Kai. I know what you said earlier, but please, just listen to me, okay?"