The Ways We Become Undone [ON HOLD]

Chapter Twelve

My art teacher, professor Arnold Luther, was a bastard. For some reason that I didn’t understand, Luther was giving me the big fat U on each of my human study assignments. U for unsatisfactory was written in his hurriedly scribble and that too in bright red pen, which made it more agonizing to look at. But what hurt the most was that while I was receiving U’s, Celine was receiving O’s for outstanding on her anatomical drawings when it usually took her a good hour or two to draw one arm. Looking at all these factors, it made me conclude that Arnold Luther indeed hated me. I presumed that since he was a twenty something grumpy dude who probably didn’t have a girlfriend and didn’t seem to enjoy his job, he was venting out some particular anger at me.

After class one day, Luther stopped me. Said he wanted to have a word with me. Celine motioned to me that she’ll wait for me outside and then left.

I walked up to him. “Luther.”

“Professor Luther,” he corrected. In the past few weeks that I had seen him, he looked more and more tired. Dark circles were forming under his eyes and stubble was growing in place of his former clean shaven face. “Anyway, I want to talk to you about your work.”

“If we talk about my work, will I get an answer as to why all of it is unsatisfactory?”

“Yes.” He leaned back in his swivel chair, making the wheels screech across the floor unpleasantly, and picked up my sketchbook which was still in his possession. He flipped open to a page. “I do enjoy your work. But the only reason why you’re not getting the grades you deserve is because you aren’t following the rules and techniques that I have been teaching you guys for the past few weeks.” He tapped a finger at his jaw line and chuckled. “At first I thought you’d realize why I have been giving you U’s but I guess you didn’t.”

Upon hearing him say this, I felt like an idiot. But I was also quite angry that he had not told me this sooner. There was only one and a half week left until the summer semester finished and I was going to fail the class for not drawing correctly.

“So. Is there no hope now?” I asked.

Luther handed me back my sketchbook and drummed his fingers on the desk. “Usually, I would say no.”

“Of course.”

“But…”

“But.”

He smiled. It felt weird to see his smile being directed toward me, of all people. “I’ll give you an extra credit assignment.”

“I’m assuming that’s a good thing,” I said a bit hesitantly.

He laughed and it made me feel intimidated. “You can look at it that way. But I do grade extra credit stricter than regular projects. Much more stricter...So, are you still up for it?”

I gnawed on my lower lip. Did I really have another choice? Unless I wanted to fail the class, which I didn’t—I mean how could I even fail? It would be an enigma on my artistic abilities. But on the other hand, Luther looked ready to heave upon me the hardest of all extra credit assignments just for the sake of his own pleasure.

Finally, deciding that I could handle the bastard, I agreed.

Luther grinned at me in return. “Lovely. Now let me tell you what your assignment is.”

**

I saw Peter the same exact day. Actually, Celine was the one who saw him first before I did.

“Do you know him?” She whispered to me in a way that made me feel like I was involved in some sort of sultry affair. “Because he’s looking at you.”