14 days

ten

"We'll be painting with watercolors today. You are free to paint whatever you'd like." The teacher announces as she hands out paintbrushes and paint.

"What are you painting?" Ashton asks, clearly nervous.

"The most beautiful thing in the world." I reply.

"And what might that be?"

"A city." I beam, picking up a blue.

"I'm painting a bird." And then Ashton giggles.

"Lovely." I purse my lips and begin sketching out a rough outline.

Half an hour later, Ashton makes an odd noise next to me. I turn to look at him and he's making an obviously disgusted face at his painting. I lean back to try and see it, but the angle we're sitting at just doesn't make it possible.

The teacher hears Ashton and hurries her way over to him. "Is there a problem, sir?"

Ashton shakes his head quickly. "No, miss, I'm fine."

The teacher ignores him. "Oh, here, let me help you with that." She picks up the paintbrush and starts directing him on how he should be painting.

Ashton rubs his temples in frustration.

"What were you trying to draw, exactly?" The teacher asks.

"Uh, I'm an abstract artist."

I couldn't help out, I tried stifling my giggles but I couldn't quite. Ashton shot me a glare.

"Weren't you drawing a bird?" I interrupt.

The teacher nods, giving me a smile. "Oh, I see how it could be a bird. Here, let's do this." The teacher readjusts his easel and the angle she moved it to is absolutely perfect. I can see his drawing clear as day.

Just then, the teacher's phone rang, and she answered the call, walking away.

His supposed "bird" looked like an absolute mess. The head was far too oval, the beak far too long. The eye was too small for the head, and the bird was sticking out its neck farther than physically possible. And the body? Too tiny compared to the head, although the shape was wasn't too bad. It didn't have any legs.

I burst out laughing, as his painting skills weren't great either. The bird was a bright green with an ugly orange beak.

Ashton looks at me and then back at the picture, and he starts laughing too. We couldn't contain ourselves. It was just so awful.

The teacher frowns, glaring at us, mouthing "keep it down".

That just made us laugh harder.

"Please frame that." I say, wiping tears from my eyes.

"In your house." Ashton says, laughing uncontrollably.

The teacher then hangs up the phone and stomps over to us. "You two- you're excused."

Ashton's jaw drops and he stops laughing, grabbing his masterpiece. I grab mine as well, but I'm trying to hide my giggles as I rush out the door.

"We aren't doing pottery today." I announce when we're out of the teacher's earshot and sight.

"I don't think we should either." Ashton says, sounding serious.

His mood drop makes all my laughter go away and I frown. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong? We just got kicked out of the art studio!"

"I thought it was pretty funny. Didn't that feel nice though? May never happen again."