Clarke was a little bit surprised when her art teacher, Mister Thompson, didn't show up. Instead there appears to be a new art teacher. Miss Cole, a woman who can't be taller than she is if it all. She has a petite waist, a tanned skin, freckles and dark curly hair.
"Miss Cole, can you have a look please?" Clarke asks politely, gesturing at her painting.
Miss Cole looks at Clarke's painting, then at the bowl of fruit the students have been painting and then back at her painting. "Any particular reason why you painted the bonsai tree?" she asks with a hint of curiosity.
"Well, I noticed everyone else is painting the fruit," Clarke answers, hesitantly. She pauses, but when Miss Cole nods she's encouraged to go on. "You never specified that we had to paint the fruit. Everyone just kind of assumed we would have to paint the fruit, but I wanted to capture that bonsai tree on my canvas. Artists don't always color within the lines. They dare to color outside the lines, to be creative. Hence I painted the tree."
"Your explanation is interesting," Miss Cole replies, studying Clarke's painting. "I want to show you something," she says, beckoning Clarke to follow her.
Clarke puts her paintbrush down and follows Miss Cole to the front of the room. She knows her art teacher has been painting something as well and she's surprised when she sees Miss Cole also painted the bonsai tree.
"I think you will have a bright future ahead of you," Miss Cole says with a friendly smile.
Clarke traces Miss Cole's painting, noticing how the color shades aren't identical to the ones she used. "C.C," she reads at the bottom right of the painting.
"Costia Cole," Miss Cole clarifies. "Artists put their signature on their work."
Clarke freezes and wonders if this is Lexa's ex. Her girlfriend hasn't said much about Costia, so she's not sure if this woman is in fact Lexa's ex or not. She suddenly feels like she wants to throw up because what she does know is that Costia said awful things to her girlfriend.
"You look a little pale," Miss Cole says, putting a hand on Clarke's shoulder. "Are you alright?"
"Um yeah, I'm fine," Clarke answers, taking a step back. "Are you replacing Mister Thompson permanently?"
"Mister Thompson is ill," Miss Cole answers. "I will be leading the art program until he returns."
Lexa opens a bottle of wine to pour a glass for Ontari, although she would have preferred to give her water or soda. "It is nice of you to join me for dinner," she says as she pours the wine.
"Save the pleasantries," Ontari grumbles. "You and I both know that dinner isn't why you asked me to come over, so cut the act and get to the point."
Lexa sighs at the obvious anger in Ontari's tone, which isn't very promising. She doesn't want to end up upsetting her cousin. "You're right, dinner isn't the reason," she admits. "Although I do appreciate having you here," she adds.
"Hopeless," Ontari mutters. She grasps the glass and empties it in one go. "I'll need more."
"No, you had a glass," Lexa replies, not planning to keep giving Ontari a drink. "What happened with Roan?"
"He went off his rocker," Ontari answers, scoffing. "I can't really blame him because I knew he wouldn't like it."
"He wouldn't like what?" Lexa asks calmly as she takes her seat. She has no idea why Roan and Ontari shouted at each other, but perhaps if her younger cousin talks to her she might be able to help.
"I'm surprised he hasn't told you or Anya," Ontari says, peering into her empty glass. She sighs and snatches Lexa's glass away to drink from it.
Lexa should have known Ontari would rudely take her glass when she denied her a refill. "He hasn't," she says, deciding not to comment on her glass having been taken. "I am asking you what happened."
