Christian ignored the door as it opened again early that morning.
"Mr. Thomas?"
He just kept drawing.
"The workshops await," Dr. Morton said with a sigh.
"They can wait a bit longer," Christian mumbled, rushing to finish what he was working on.
"They run on a schedule, Christian."
"Well so does my creativity."
The doctor raised an eyebrow, before making his way over to Christian's bed. Christian backed up into the corner, keeping his work hidden.
"Come on Chris, you can't stay in here forever," he said softly.
"I don't have a choice, and I know that," Christian's voice rose, "just give me a second."
The doctor opted to wait, and found it was only seconds later that Christian put the paper and pen down and looked up.
"Okay?" his eyebrows rose.
"You know... you're going to have to adjust to our schedules, rather than your own," the doctor warned as he made for the door with Christian close behind.
"Well until such time as that occurs, you'll forgive me for living by my own terms."
The doctor just shook his head as he led Christian from the room, and they made their way through to the workshops. Unlike Saturday morning when there'd barely been a few people scattered here and there, each 'class' had an average of five to eight people now inside.
A few glances were thrown in Christian's direction as he made his way past windows to get to where a chart resided on a wall.
"Have you decided what you'd like to focus on yet?" the doctor asked as he looked the chart over.
"Nope," Christian mumbled, straightening his jacket.
"Have you even thought about it?"
"It wasn't exactly high on my list of priorities," Christian scowled.
The doctor sighed again before looking the chart over.
"Generally you can only have a maximum of eight people in a class. If you miss out, you'll need to go at a different time. The kids you see in here now are here because they want to be - they got up earlier to take the classes they missed out on or had another interest in, and the workers donated their time. The actual schedule doesn't start for another ten minutes or so."
"Hooray."
The doctor turned to him suddenly.
"You'll need to take an interest in this," he insisted, "whatever you choose is going to greatly affect your time here. And whether or not you utilise it to its full extent."
Christian just stared at him.
"Now, we've noticed you like to draw. There's room in the art workshop if you're interested in that."
"You mean I just draw all day?" Christian smirked.
"There's that," the doctor looked pained, "or you could branch out into painting, computer graphics, clay work, printing... anything, really. If you want to do it, we have the means."
"How long do they go for?"
"Each class runs for four hours - generally 8-12, then there's a half hour lunch break before afternoon activities."
"Afternoon activities?" Christian folded his arms.
"For example, in between your counselling sessions on Wednesdays and Fridays you'll be having literacy classes Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays."
"Thankyou Leroy," Christian mumbled, rolling his eyes.
"He didn't have to do this for you, you know," the doctor tried to reason.
"Oh yes he did," Christian scowled, "he had to make it known that he found a flaw."
The doctor fell silent, not wanting to rattle his cage too early on as much as he disagreed with him. He didn't know the extent of Leroy and Christian's relationship after all. He looked up at the chart again, and ticked off one of the boxes with the supplied marker.
"I'll put you into the art workshop," he decided, "see how you go. If you don't like it, we'll find something else for you to do. Being Monday, your first literacy class will be starting at 12:30pm in that room over there."
He pointed one out that was a lot smaller than the others.
"You're required to sign in and out of every class you participate in, mainly so we can keep track of everyone's wherabouts and what rate they're advancing at. Basically this means..." he pulled out a sheet of paper as a guide, "you sign your name here and copy down the time you arrive and depart. The person in charge of the class will have a different sheet each day so you don't need to worry about dating it."
"I can comprehend dates. I'm not that deprived," Christian scorned.
"Well until we work out exactly how deprived you are," the doctor said decidedly, "I'll still be as flexible as I can just in case. Now, are you ready?"
"Where is it?" Christian sighed.
"Behind you," the doctor pointed, "the tutor is Mr. Davies. He's rather strict with schedules, and takes his classes very seriously."
"Pity he's doing them here then," Christian pointed out as they moved toward the door.
There were about four other people in there... the tallest and thinnest had dark hair and dark eyes, with extremely pale skin. He looked rather sick, but he didn't seem to act it. The second was almost a foot shorter, with red hair and a rather plump build. The third looked like a little geek - with black rimmed glasses, freckles, and who wore flannel.
"How old are these kids?" Christian asked.
"Oldest is Shane Brunner, seventeen. Youngest - Nathan, the red head - he's thirteen. I think Shane's going to be relocated in the next few days to another workshop he wanted to do so it'll just be the three of you."
"What are they in for?"
"Why don't you ask them yourself?" the doctor smiled, before opening the door.
The occupants of the classroom looked up, Mr. Davies looking over the top of his glasses.
"Mr. Davies, sorry to interrupt," Dr. Morton apologised, "but you have a new class member."
"Ahh yes..." the older man bookmarked the book he was holding as the three teenagers just stared across at him.
Shane was leaning against the opposite bench, rolling some clay around in his hands.
"Mr. Thomas, I presume?" Mr. Davies came forward and extended his hand.
"Mr. Davies," Christian's eyebrows rose as he shook his hand.
"I'll warn you that I take no disrespect for my teachings, and if you play up too much you'll be out of here before you can say..."
"Don't give me a reason to make your life hell and I won't," Christian reasoned, "ok?"
The tutor looked him up and down for a moment, before nodding.
"Fine. The folder to sign in and out is always on the front desk. Use it. What are you interested in? We only fire up the kiln every Tuesday and Thursday..."
"He draws alot, we're going to go from there," Dr. Morton answered for him.
"Two guards the norm?"
"For now, yes. We'll most likely cut down to one in the next week or so."
Mr. Davies nodded.
"Well, take a seat Mr. Thomas," Mr. Davies indicated a nearby desk, "don't distract the boys and they won't distract you. Today's topic is nature. Find your inspiration ond go to work."
"When the class is over, head to the canteen area," Dr. Morton instructed Christian, "I'll meet you there and we can talk."
Christian watched after him as he left, before glancing at the guards and taking the seat Mr. Davies had offered - in the back corner, away from the other three. He soon came over to the desk, weilding some paper.
"All art tools are across the back wall," he pointed out, "you can tilt the desk back and there's a lightbox for tracing if need be. Otherwise, just go for it. Mondays are a free-for-all, so show me what you can do."