Page 25 of The Art of Us

He felt a tightness in his chest that he didn’t know what to do with. He finished up his portion of the mural, adding in the dark- and light-leaf outlines, and when he felt like he’d made it as perfect as he was able, he cleaned up his brushes and paints and climbed off the scaffolding. Cooper was already folding up the scaffolding on his side and took care of Kal’s as well while Kal took the paints and brushes to the supply closet to clean them all up in the sink there. On the short walk, Kal made a decision. No more. He couldn’t keep Ireland’s secret for another minute. Someone else needed to know. He couldn’t keep worrying about whether she was fed or cold or safe. He wanted an adult to worry with him. But he didn’t want to tell his parents because they didn’t know Ireland. They wouldn’t know how to help her.

But Mr. Wasden knew her. He was one of those incredibly levelheaded sorts of people who could find solutions without creating more chaos. Kal walked into an adjoining gallery room in search of his teacher.

Once inside, Kal glanced around to see if he could find his teacher. “Hey, Wasden.” He walked farther into the room. “Where are you, man?” His eyes filtered over the various framed pictures on the wall done by students past. There was some really great work up there. Every time Kal looked at it, hehad the distinct impression he was really in an art gallery. Mr. Wasden had managed to get really beautiful frames from various thrift stores to highlight the beauty of the art. No crummy plastic frames for his students. Wasden wasn’t that kind of guy. Everything he did was intentional. Kal wondered if Wasden would ever consider any of Kal’s work good enough to place on the wall of greatness.

Kal was just about to go check the supply room when Wasden came in behind him, entering from the art room.

“There you are!” Kal said.

“Here I am. Just checking the mural. It looks great, Kal. Seriously. Great. It’s something to be proud of. And the spaces you created for the student body to work within are big enough and provide the color variety we’re looking for to be accessible to everyone. For the up-high stuff, we’ll need to do a separate sign-out sheet from the lower scaffold. We don’t want more than two people on the upper scaffold at a time, so if you’d make those and get them pinned to a couple of clipboards outside the classroom, that would be great.” Mr. Wasden stopped talking and really looked at Kal. “Hey, you okay?”

“No. Not really.”

“What’s up?”

Kal sucked in a deep breath.Here goes nothing, he thought before he let it all tumble out from him, from the first time he saw Ireland stealing leftover pizza to the moment he discovered her living conditions in the woods to all the reasons he worried she was so vulnerable to every nightmare villain in every horror film he’d seen.

Wasden didn’t interrupt. He listened until Kal finally fell silent, having exhausted his every panicked prediction of Ireland’s potential fate. The teacher finally scrubbed the back of his hand under his bristled chin. “And you’re sure that’s where she’s living?”

“Positive.”

Wasden nodded. “Let me do some checking into her file and background and come up with some things that we can do to help.”

Kal nodded. He was still gripping the paintbrushes and paints tightly in his fists. “Okay.”

“Let me take those. You deserve to go home and rest. You’ve done a lot to make this project work, and I appreciate it. So go home and relax. I promise I’ll help Miss Raine, okay?”

“Yeah. Okay.” Kal released the brushes and cans to Mr. Wasden and then left, feeling lighter than he’d been in days, maybe months. Having someone else who knew what troubled him didn’t seem like it should have helped him so dramatically, but it did.

He’d told someone, which was more than he’d done for Brell when she’d become so distant and he knew she was hanging out with the cesspool crowd of their high school. If he’d told someone on her—no, notonher butforher—maybe she would still be breathing.

No spiraling,he told himself.

And, for once, he was able to listen to himself because he wasn’t in this alone. If anyone could help, it was Wasden. Maybe he wouldn’t have to make sandwiches every day. Kal’s dad had asked why they were already out of meats and cheeses and then muttered that maybe he’d forgotten to add them to the grocery list. And when his brother came to visit from college in Arizona and found the pantry empty of all the snack foods, his dad had frowned and said that he was slipping in his old age because he was sure he’d stocked it the week before.

He wouldn’t be able to sustain his pantry pilfering for too much longer. But if Wasden got Ireland help, maybe he wouldn’t have to.

Chapter Nine

Ireland

Ireland showed up early to school Monday morning so she could put out the art supplies on the table in the back of the art room. She’d go in during lunch hour to set everything up and then she’d put them away at the end of the day.

Janice, the school custodian, had unlocked the art room door for her and then helped her get out the supplies. It was strange that the older, quiet woman was there so early in the morning when Ireland knew she had to stay late too. Did she ever go home?Maybe she’s like me. Maybe she doesn’t have a home.Ireland scowled.

“You okay?” Janice asked her as they put water in the squat, heavy cans. Ireland had chosen those particular ones so they wouldn’t be as easy to accidentally knock over.

“Sure. I actually feel pretty good lately.”

“Finally settled somewhere?”

“Settled enough for right now.” That was the truth. Ireland had never felt so settled. As she stepped back and took in the mural that she had helped create, a sense of belonging snuggled down into her soul. Yes. She was finally settled.

The morning announcement several days before about the mural had caused a general buzz in the halls. There were already pieces of student art painted directly on the wall, filling in the spaces that had been framed for them by the tree, the mascot, and the ocean. Ireland had never taken part in a school-wide activity before and was surprised at how energizing it had been.If someone could see her aura at that moment, they would describe it as a glow of pride and a feeling of inclusion.

More than that, she couldn’t stop thinking about Kalvin Ellis and felt like her cheeks were going to fall off from smiling so much. She liked the boy who believed he’d time traveled to pick out some ice cream with the younger version of himself. Likereallyliked him.

She went through the week saying hi to people, smiling at them in the halls, and feeling like she belonged simply becausethe tree trunk outline that she’d painted stood tall and proud on theart room wall. On Monday, Kal was abnormally quiet inthe first class, but she’d felt too buzzed with satisfaction to let his evasive mood get her down. Something must have happened over the weekend to kill his usual good humor. When she saw him again as his art class ended and hers began, he avoided looking her in the eye. “Are you okay?” she asked.

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