Innocent Bliss

Confused Bliss

Confused Bliss

Lexus' POV

It had been two weeks since my first lesson at the prison and even with all my classes and senior activities coming up, I was still thrilled to be apart of this experience. Since my first day, I had been back later that week twice. I talked over the guidelines and assignments I would work on with the inmates with the warden. He was thrilled with my idea of doing two sessions of 7 instead of 14 all together, of course it would be less time for them but 30 minutes was enough to learn at least one new item of art. 

I had agreed to a set schedule because of the fact the inmates can't really work with 'ill show up whenever I can', so my days were set to Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. I would be there from 5-6pm and if anyone else wanted additional time since it had been shortened, I offered to hold an after session from 6-7. This meant that when they would get their dinner at 6:30, they could come to the art room and work on whatever they'd like.

However, I did give the warden more guidelines on the inmates. I was willing to help them but I knew that not all were willing to be helped so I made sure every inmate that would attend my class had good behavior(for more than 4 months). After I had told him this he had given me a list of inmates that had not been on good behavior but were in the class.

To my disappointment, and I was confused as to why believe me, Axel was on the list along with 2 others.

I told the warden I wanted to keep them in and if I had any problems then they would be removed.

Since my first Saturday I had been back a total of 5 times. It was Saturday and the time was about 4:46pm. I had finished my homework when I got home but there were some problems in math that I had a few issues with. I was taking an entry level college course at my local college every Monday and Wednesday from 8-9:50am and the rest of the day I would go to my high school and take my other core and elective classes. I was top of my class and yet even I had problems with homework. I brought my textbook and notebook with me to finish the problems later in my after session.

Sighing contentedly, I walked over to the front of the room where an officer stood still as day. Sometimes that got really weird but I had learned to ignore it and keep about my business.

Suddenly the door was popped open and 3 more guards were in the room, taking their positions. The number of guards had gone up since the incident but I just ignored them for the most part. About 5 minutes passed and I was all set up when the door swung open and in marched the first 7 inmates which were from last names a-l. And of course, it would include Axel.

Since my first day, I noticed something off about him. He was no longer flirty and often times never really wanted to look at me. Although he did pay attention and acknowledge my lessons.

However whenever I would attempt to get near him, he'd shift in his seat to keep himself from me. Almost like he wanted me nowhere near him. I found this completely odd because how does one go from 'Im single' to not even glancing in my direction. I mean I was thankful that he was no longer trying to approach me in this play boy manner but seeing him so serious didn't sit so well with me.

I wasn't too offended about this and just went about my business during the sessions. Recently we had been working on shading, the first of techniques I had learned when I started learning about art. Each inmate would draw 11 boxes, the first would be left blank and the last would be shaded as dark as possible. The boxes would lead up to the darkest box with a 10% difference.

This technique usually helped with learning how to shade the correct amount. Many inmates took the assignment seriously, trying as much as they could without being too interested. It was kind of like a class full of students in detention, some did the work, some would bs it, and others plain straight would not care enough to do it. There were only two that never did anything in each class. As long as they didn't cause trouble then I didn't really care. 

"Okay so you all have been working on shading for a while now and you've been doing a great job! Our next step is 3D figures. Not so much actual objects yet but just shapes. We will be starting with a cube." I gently pulled out a sketch I had made of a nicely shaded 3-dimensional cube.

"So the goal is to get something like this. Start off with the shape, Make sure it is actually measured correctly and then bring it up so I can approve it and you can begin shading" Looking around, I gave a final smile and set the paper on the chalkboard as an example. Everyone started working while I pulled out my Math 110 textbook and began solving the logarithms assigned. 

After about 15 minutes, I set it aside to walk around and look at everyone's work.

So far most had at least a line on their paper, which was good because even though they didn't cooperate completely, they at least did some sort of work.

Other inmates had the first square drawn and it looked pretty good for the most part. Not being able to help myself, I walked to the back to check their papers and was shocked to see the assignment completely finished on Axel's paper. His cube was perfectly shaped and the detail on his shading was exceptionally well. To say the least, I was impressed.

His eyes connected with mine and I let my eyes show the surprise he had given me from his work. 

He quickly glanced away and continued to ignore me.

This was going to be a longgg class, that's for sure.