Chapter 6

As anticipated, Mr Marek completely ignored Sera the next week in school. This was easy enough to do without people noticing as the class was large enough that he could simply concentrate on other students. He still gave brief critique and guidance for her work, but the absolute minimum.

Watching him spend much more time with others, and being more relaxed and friendly with them, was really hard. Mr Marek wasn’t exactly the sort of light-hearted teacher who joked around, so on the rare occasions he smiled it was devastating. But he never smiled around her.

Sera was crushed even though she had expected this. She found it almost impossible to stop trying to sneak a glance at him in class and catch his eye, but she tried to discipline herself. She didn’t want Mr Marek to realise she cared.

Lois and Joel saw how things were and tried to buoy her spirits. Lois had of course told Joel all about the nightclub.

"It’s very pointed, his ignoring you," Joel said. "That means he’s not actually indifferent, he’s just trying to be."

They were currently supposed to be blending pastels to represent shadows in different coloured lights. Sera was finding it hard to concentrate on the fruit bowl in front of them. She found herself thinking about how the light hit the art teacher’s skin: the shadows under his cheekbones, the changing grey of his eyes.

"Or he’s trying to send me a message that he truly doesn’t want anything more to do to me," Sera said.

"I doubt it. He wouldn’t have danced with you otherwise, he looked like he wanted to devour you. Like he was wrestling with himself. After all, if word got out that he was fraternising and dancing with students in a club, he’d be in serious trouble," Lois pointed out.

Somehow Sera wasn’t sure that Mr Marek would really care about getting fired. Presumably he did need the teaching position or he wouldn’t have taken it. But she suspected he was the kind of person to simply walk out rather than beg and plead to keep a job.

"God this is dull," Joel said. He loathed still life. "It was bad enough having fruit and flowers every week with old Billings."

Lois picked up a fuchsia coloured pastel and started colouring in an implausibly pink hue on the side of the banana she had drawn. Unlike the other two she had no ambitions in anything art related as a career. She had only chosen art because the other two were doing it, and it seemed like less effort than Chemistry or History.

"Fruit and flowers is what they say in the record industry to mean hookers and cocaine," she said.

Joel was curious. "Which is which?"

"No idea. My sister mentioned it. Someone she trained with did the styling for a music video."

"Anyone famous?" Joel asked.

"Not that I’d heard of. I suppose they might be eventually," Lois said.

"You should get a signed photo then."

Joel fell silent as Mr Marek’s gaze swept over them. "I trust you’re managing to get some work done amid all the conversation?"

No one dared speak after this. Instead they concentrated furiously on the shading, Lois decided to turn half of the pineapple blue. When the art teacher’s back was turned, she whispered to Sera: "I wonder if he commands his partners to be quiet in bed while he gets his work done?"

Sera felt her face flame at the thought of it and had to swallow a giggle. She briefly glanced at Mr Marek only to find him looking at her. She hadn’t felt self-conscious in front of him in the bar, and previous lessons had been fine. But something in his expression reminded her what he had seen of her.

Was he remembering it too? For a second she felt completely exposed, as though he could see beneath her clothes. She bit her lip, trying to regain her composure.

Mr Marek held her gaze for a moment, then moved on. The spell was broken but Sera was sure she had felt a connection.

In Thursday’s evening class Mr Marek was coolly professional towards Sera, but civil enough that his coolness didn’t attract attention or remark. It was harder to hide these tensions in such a small class.

They were sketching a female model this time. Sera noticed how professional the art teacher was: he ensured the models were comfortable, adjusted the electric heater, and kept a careful eye on the clock so they could take their scheduled breaks.

She wondered if he would ever join them in sketching so they could get an idea of his style and proficiency, but she didn’t dare to ask him.

"That’s beautiful, quite arrestingly lovely," Jasper commented on Sera’s half-completed work as they all stopped for a rest and recharge. "Don’t you think so, Elizabeth?" he said, as Elizabeth stood next to him.

"It’s wonderful, you’re very talented," Elizabeth told Sera, who felt embarrassed but pleased. She had not done too much with the figure this time, deciding to focus instead on the head and shoulders.

The model was quite an ordinary looking woman, around fifty, of average build with a bob of dark hair. Yet Sera had picked out a charm in her face and an intelligence in her eyes that the others - focused as they were on the entirety of her body - hadn’t included.

"If you draw like that, I imagine you could be very successful," Jasper said. "It’s not even that you’ve flattered her, for it’s all there. You’ve simply picked out all the right notes. It makes me view her in quite a different light."

Barry came over and was frowning as he gazed at Sera’s sketch. "I’d say that was not bad at all."

Given Barry’s own huge talent this felt like great praise. It put pressure on Sera not to mess the drawing up by overworking it in the second half.

When they resumed, Sera felt Mr Marek come and stand behind her. For a while he said nothing and she tried to ignore him while she added some chalk highlights to the model’s collarbone.

"It’s complete as it is. You can stop. Start again," he told her.

"Start again?"

"Try a second sketch, from another angle if you like."

Sera wanted to ask him more about what he thought of her drawing. "Complete" didn’t really convey whether he liked it or not. To her chagrin she found that she desperately sought his approval. Just one positive word from him would have eclipsed all of Jasper’s praise.

For the second hour she decided to do a regular life drawing of the whole body rather than a portrait. What she was learning was definitely helping with her portraiture. She had a much better understanding of the neck and shoulders as a structure and the angle of the head. It was weirdly analytical to think of the human form this way but it gave her portraits far better perspective.

Sera wasn’t able to join the others that night in the pub as she had a massive essay to get done by the next day. She also suspected that Mr Marek wouldn’t go, to avoid her. And if she was being really honest with herself, the main reason she wanted to go was in case he also went.

Outside it was dark with the sickly amber light of a street light shining down by the bus stop, when it suddenly started to rain quite heavily. There had been dampness in the air before and some drizzle, but Sera hadn’t anticipated this. In fairness, she didn’t tend to check the weather forecasts.

But there she stood, getting increasingly cold and soaked, having missed the last bus by five minutes and having to wait twenty more for the next one.

A car drew up alongside and the window wound down. It was Mr Marek who had just driven out of the community centre car park and around the corner. He obviously hadn’t gone to the Norfolk Arms either.

"What are you doing?"

Sera thought that was obvious. "I’m waiting for the bus."

"I meant why are you standing there in the pouring rain with no raincoat or umbrella?"

Before Sera could answer, he spoke again. "Get in, I’ll give you a lift."

"It’s only a few minutes away," she told him. This wasn’t true but he didn’t know that.

"For God’s sake, Sera, just get in the car and I’ll drive you home."

Once again she found herself powerless to resist his instruction. Slipping into the front passenger seat, she was tempted to make a joke about getting into cars with strange men, but seeing the grim set of his jaw she thought it wiser to remain silent.

"So?"

Sera was confused. She repeated it to him. "So…?"

"So where do you live? Or do you just want me to drive around in circles all night?"

Actually she did. Just being with her art teacher was a thrill, even if he clearly couldn’t stand her. Still, at least he didn’t hate her enough to let her drown in the rain.

Sera gave him directions, privately fretting in case he thought it was too far. "You could just drop me on the corner. I have to walk back from there when I get the bus anyway."

Mr Marek turned to glance at her. "That would save all of thirty seconds. It’s hardly far in the first place."

He should be relieved then, Sera thought, not to have to spend any longer with her than his chivalry had demanded. "Thank you."

He said nothing but continued to drive. Sera tried to concentrate on the road ahead, giving him directions when required, but couldn’t resist flicking her eyes to his profile.

He was so devastatingly handsome. His features were literally perfect: strong, well sculpted, utterly masculine. Sera longed to paint him. She wished she had Barry’s skill: she could visualise how his oils would perfectly capture the angles of Mr Marek’s face and the set of his jaw.

All too soon they reached her street. Despite being dark and shadowy from all the trees at this time of night, it was a good neighbourhood and relatively safe to walk alone in, even at night.

While Sera undid her seatbelt and gathered her art things together, Mr Marek got out of his side and opened the door for her. She was astonished at the courtesy, given it was still raining, and stammered her thanks.

"My pleasure," he told her, in a way that made it sound anything but.

Before she turned from him to go up her driveway his eyes raked over her, down her body and back up to her face. He must be thinking how much like a drowned rat she looked, as her hair had been soaked from just the couple of minutes she had stood in the rain. Sera felt self-conscious and at a disadvantage. She briefly wished she was wearing one of Marisa’s power suits and heels so she would feel more assertive.

"Goodbye, and thank you," she told him.

Mr Marek said nothing, not even "see you in class", so Sera left him for the warmth and dry of her home.

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