The Artist's Shadow

Chapter 8

Jaftha looked around him, staring at his classmates who were all staring intently at their History teacher. He was asking questions and everyone was trying to avoid being called on to answer. Mr Adams seemed to realise this and sighed as he stopped talking before walking over to his table.
"Since you're all staring at me like I am a dancing donkey, I will let you guys work on these questions yourself. Everyone will partner up and one of you will come up here and take a list of questions you and your partner will work on. I have a couple of textbooks on the table which I will hand out but I want it returned at the end of the period. " The class groaned when they heard about the list but it was immediately replaced with excited whispers when they heard about partnering up.

Jaftha looked around and noticed Alicia was in the same class. She seemed to be in some heated discussion with two of her friends who were looking at her like she was about to off herself. Jaftha felt a sense of dread as all three turned to stare at him, they however quickly turned around as they saw him looking. Great, he thought, they were probably trying to convince her not to partner up with him. Jaftha shook his head and turned to stare at his textbook, it didn't really matter if he didn't have a partner,Mr Adams liked him enough to see past it. He was tapping his fingers on the table wondering how much money he needed to disappear from Darten City.
He spared a look around the classroom only to realise everyone had already partnered up expect for him and Alicia. He slightly raised his eyebrow as he saw her shadow fall over his desk,he looked up at her and she gestured for him to pull out her chair to which he did after making sure she saw his eye roll.
"Thought I was gonna go solo on this one?"he said but it came out more sounding like a question. She flared her nose before fixing her books on her table
"Well you thought wrong." Jaftha bit his lip to stop the smile from appearing on his face and stood up to get their list and textbook.

By the time they were halfway with their questions the bell rang and the teacher raised his hand.
"I'll be expecting those lists completed tomorrow." The class filled with yells and Jaftha laughed softly as he saw Mr Adams mimic the class with a smug look. The class walked out everybody making plans to finish it after school. A throat cleared next to him and he turned towards Alicia who was placing her books into her bag.
"I have a study period now,so I'll try and complete it up in the library. " She said as he placed her bag on her shoulder.
"We can probably do it together than since I have a study period too." He said hoisting his bag on his back. Alicia nodded and started walking out the door causing Jaftha  to follow. It wasn't a rare occurence to see the two of them walking together because everyone knew they teamed up together when there were school projects to be done. Two of Alicia's fellow cheerleaders fell in line with her causing Jaftha to fall behind them. The two immediately started talking about some story they heard.
"I heard they are planning on closing it and to gradually let people back so they can see where the problems were." The one on the right said and the left one sneered.
"Please,everyone knows those filthy gangmembers are involved. They are probably 100% for like 90% of the drugs that circulate there." Jaftha watched in confusion as the two girls turned away from the library doors without even an answer or something from Alicia. He would never in his life understand cheerleading dynamics.

They chose a seat at the back near the history section and silently continued the paper. It was always like that, they never talked unless it was needed and in this case, Alicia looked for the answers and Jaftha wrote it down, then they switched.
"Do you need anything?" He asked her after a while when he noticed her looking at him every second minute. She shrugged and shook her head before paging through the textbook.
"Did your father really do it?" She asked and he stared at her frowning.
"Well he confessed didn't he? Plead guilty? It has been all the news could talk about since it has happened. " He said and watched her nod her head before giving him a look out of the corner of her eyes.
"But did he? People always confess when the odds are stacked against them,no?" She asked and Jaftha shook his head as he thought back to his father.
"Not always." He murmured and continued writing.

When they finally finished, they still had a few minutes left before the period was over. Alicia packed up her stuff again and murmured something about meeting up with someone before leaving the library leaving Jaftha sitting there staring at the table.

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The rest of the schoolday went by uneventful and Jatha was excited to go home and sleep. He had a hard time falling asleep since the events that took place on Friday.
"Jaftha,Mr Adams is looking for you in his class. " His teacher called out and he nodded as he moved past the students already leaving the classroom. He dodged the elbows and kept to the lockers as everyone seemed to be in a hurry to get home. He entered Mr Adams class just as the last student left.
"Ah! Jaftha! Please,come sit so we can discuss business." Mr Adams said smiling at Jaftha as he gestured to the seat across from his.
"Business?" He asked and Mr Adams shoved his phone across his desk and Jaftha picked it up at Mr Adams insistence. The phone was opened at the gallery and the picture was a screenshot of a field filled with flowers,in the background was a large farmhouse. Confused Jaftha looked up from the phone to his teacher who was staring at him in an excited matter.
"You see,Jaftha, 25 years ago I went on vacation with my family to this beautiful farmhouse a couple of towns over,it had this beautiful field full of flowers and the next day, I woke up and across the room I am in this beautiful woman emerges. Months went by, then suddenly a year passes and the next month I am married to this woman. We never took a picture and a when we went back eventually there had been a devastating fire. So I was wondering if I could hire you to paint me a painting for wife's anniversary gift?" Mr Adams finished off with an an uncertain look and Jaftha smiled as he nodded.
"I'd love too,Mr Adams. I'm just gonna need a better picture of the farmhouse and how big you want it to be." He said and Mr Adams took a note from the notepad and started writing down everything he could remember.

After they finished working out the price and payments,Jaftha left the classroom, walking through the empty corridors. He was excited to get home and start on the painting, it had been a long time since he has drawn anything someone else. They were having a party to celebrate and he wanted to present the gift to her then, Jaftha prayed that people would be in awe and start contacting him for more jobs because he needed the money for next year.

He waved at Mrs Hill who was driving out of her driveway as he passed her house and laughed when she pretended to want to hit him. He entered through the gates and walked up to his frontdoor as he looked around. There was still a level of unease that sometimes that crept up on him whenever he stood by his front door especially since those people that tried getting into the house has still not been caught. Jaftha entered his house making sure to lock the door before moving into the kitchen. He was starving as he looked through the fridge and cupboards for something quick and easy to make. He grabbed two packets of ramen and threw it in a pot as he threw himself a glass of water. He went upstairs as the water heated up, dressing himself in a short and an extra large shirt,he decided to do the laundry. He filled the washing machine with all the dirty clothes and switched it on before going down to the kitchen.

All the material he needed to draw the image Mr Adams had in his mind was laid out infront of him. The party was in three weeks and he knew he could have it done by then. Jaftha worked in a process, when people hired him to paint them a piece he would first draw the image, colour it then he would paint the piece. Rereading the note Mr Adams gave him put him into perspective and he dragged his drawing book closer as the image came to mind.
Nothing was better for him than getting ready to draw. He vowed to make it the best painting he had ever made so he could get more customers because more customers meant more money which meant New York next year.