“Oh– oh, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to scare you Mr Lee.” Walking into the room and approaching Mr Lee quickly, the man hesitated when he got close. “Are you alright? Sorry to scare you, I’m–”

“Skyler, yes? I’m guessing by the paint on your leg you must be the artist.” Mr Lee asked with a tenuous smile, he forced himself to laugh a little. He wanted to trick his heart into calming from his fright, and maybe add a little friendliness to his surely frazzled and tired appearance from before. “And don’t worry, it wasn’t your fault. I scare easily.” Mr Lee reassured his former student, although standing silently in a doorway had been a surefire way to scare someone. “What brings you here, we weren’t scheduled to have that first meeting today, were we?” Mr Lee’s heart rate was gradually calming.

“No, Mr Hayer just wanted me to come and sign something for him before the weekend and I thought I’d look around the school a little while I was here.” Skyler smiled back at Mr Lee, that strange expression leaving his face. Had it been anxiety? Perhaps, but Mr Lee really wasn’t sure. “And it’s glaze, on my pants, not paint. Although I do paint on the side from ceramics sometimes.” Skyler’s face slowly grew a smile as he continued to speak.

“Hayer called you over on a Friday night?” Mr Lee said, standing up. Skyler was about his height now, maybe a little taller even. Maybe he had been back then too and Mr Lee just never noticed. “That guy can be cruel with how he schedules meetings sometimes. A young man like you should be able to be out with friends on a Friday night, especially now since the weather is getting nicer.”

“Oh it’s no worry really, there aren’t many friends I hangout with besides Chloe and she is teaching a class at the studio tonight. Tonight would have only been spent watching TV.” Skyler said, looking away from Mr Lee as he glanced around the classroom. “It’s mostly the same in here.” He commented. Skyler meant it kindly, in the nostalgic ‘I miss the easy days of high school’ type of way– but even knowing that Mr Lee still felt a tinge of hurt.

“Ahh well, taking everything down would be such a hassle.” Picking at the skin of his thumb again, Mr Lee looked down at the coffee mug left on his desk. “Speaking of Chloe, how is she doing. You said she is teaching right now?”

“Yeah,” Skyler said looking back to Mr Lee, the smile on his face slightly dimmer now that the other had asked about Chloe. “She is teaching a date night class at my studio.” He said, with a bit too much emphasis on ‘my’.

“Ah, I almost forgot you are a big shot artist now. Isn’t that exciting!” Mr Lee smiled as his thumb received a break. “To think the first day I met you, you were half asleep from being up late the night before working on some ceramics project. Full circle you’re back here to teach it, hm? How is life for you these days, you own a studio now?”

“Yeah, it’s the one my Aunt used to own actually, I bought it off of her last year and refurbished some of the inside.” Skyler seemed a little happier now that they were discussing him.

“Oh so it’s all really full circle then!” Mr Lee smiled towards Skyler before turning to his desk and grabbing his mug. “Here, walk with me to the teachers lounge. Has Mr Hayer shown you it yet?”

“No, I haven’t seen the room yet either.” Skyler said, following Mr Lee out of the classroom, peering at the mug in his former teacher’s hand.

“Well I can show you them quickly if you’d like. Not much of a better time since the building is all but empty.” Mr Lee said he clutched his coffee mug tightly as ever, Genghis Kahn’s face hidden away.

They walked in silence from that point on, Mr Lee’s eyes flashing around from his mug to the hallway before him, while Skyler’s were trained on Mr Lee’s hands.

Skyler was about half a step behind Mr Lee their entire walk from Mr Lee’s classroom on the back corner of the third floor, down to the teacher’s lounge on the second. Well, he was behind until they reached the door labelled teacher’s lounge where he quickly stepped forward to grab the door before Mr Lee could.

“Oh,” Mr Lee said, his eyes glancing at Skyler as he walked in. “Thank you,” He said softly, giving Skyler a polite nod as he walked past. It was hard not to notice him staring though.

“Looking at my mug?” Mr Lee asked as he grabbed the coffee pt. “Genghis Kahn.” He said, turning it to face Skyler before he poured his cup. 

“Did you cut your hand?” Skyler asked, his expression solemn and his eyes not tracing the mug as it left Mr Lee’s hands, but rather looking towards the coffee pot the other now held.

“Oh, haha.” Mr Lee laughed, nervous. Making sure that smile genuine a moment before stayed on his face, Mr Lee gave the answer he always did. “Must have done so I suppose.”

Skyler didn’t reply to that, just continued looking at Mr Lee’s hands until they went down to pick up the coffee mug again and he finally saw the design once covered by Mr Lee’s tight clutch. “Hey, you still use that?” he asked, the smile returning to his face.

“Yeah, I got it as a gift years ago.” Mr Lee’s smile returned slightly as the conversation veered into more comfortable territory.

“I know,” Skyler said with a smile, “I gave that to you.”

“Did you now?” Mr Lee thought back on it, thought back to when this now faded mug was brand new.

“Yeah. Last day of senior year,” The joy on his face from a moment ago faded at the prospect Mr Lee had forgotten that sweet moment.

“Oh of course. I’ve had it for so long now, it feels like one of those things you’ve always had. You know?” Mr Lee said, taking a sip of his coffee. It was not good, but the coffee here never was. “Well, this is the teachers' lounge.” Mr Lee gestured around the room there was a small kitchenette with the coffee machine Mr Lee frequented, alongside a kettle, microwave and fridge. Two tables and teacher’s mailboxes rounded out what was entirely a bland room.

Skyler just smiled, as he looked at the mug Mr Lee held.

“Would you like to see the room you’ll be teaching in?” Mr Lee asked, after an awkward moment.

“Oh sure. Where we’ll  be teaching you mean.” Skyler added, a starry sparkle in his eyes and a toothy grin on his face as he looked up to Mr Lee who meekly smiled back.

“Oh, yes yes. Though as Mr Hayer surely told you I’ll be no help when it comes to teaching ceramics. I’m pretty hapless in almost all art.” Mr Lee said over his shoulder as he led Skyler out of the teachers’ lounge and towards the staircase.

“Well, I’ll be quite hapless in teaching kids, so you can help me there,” Skyler replied. Optimism like that was a good trait for someone working with Mr Lee to have. Maybe he could balance out Mr Lee’s old soul.

“So why did you want to teach at this school anyways? Not because of money it seems.” Mr Lee asked, as they began down the staircase he held the railing tightly.

“I don’t know, everything got so busy so quickly and I had no structure. Chloe runs pretty much everything at the studio anyways, and I wanted something with a little more purpose in my life.” Skyler’s answer made Mr Lee smile, it made him hopeful. He smiled because he didn’t know that Skyler had just regurgitated the same lie he told everyone.

“That’s wonderful. Working with kids can be rewarding, but its a challenge too.” Mr Lee’s smile faded from his face as he spoke, however. While Mr Lee might have seen that answer as truthful a year ago, he just found teaching a tedious pain these days. He still knew which moments he ought to have found happy, and which students’ achievements ought to have made him proud– but nothing had that same effect anymore. No interaction left him smiling the whole day, despite other students’ incessant irritation. Rather, any smile he did manage to find throughout a day of teaching would fade within the moment.

“I’m glad I’ll have you to show me the ropes then. Your class really was my favourite back then. I never did too well in history until you took over that class.” As Skyler spoke, Mr Lee was glad the man was behind him. Because his face had cringed quite intensely at the compliment.

What made it so awkward to be praised, to be complimented as a teacher? Was it Mr Lee’s shame in how far he’d fallen as a teacher, or was it the doubt that what Skyler said had ever been true? Had there really been a time when Mr Lee could change a student’s entire perspective on a subject?

“Ah, haha,” He forced a laugh. “Thank you thank you. Mr Hayer asked if I’d come in to help set up over the summer, I can design a lesson plan with you then.” Mr Lee said with a false joy in his tone.

“I’ll look forward to it!” Skyler replied, and as someone who faked it so often, Mr Lee knew that Skyler’s joy was genuine. 

Leading him around the few corners to reach the ceramics room, Mr Lee was glad for a moment of silence as Skyler spent time looking around the school he’d once attended. The prospective ceramics room was against the back wall of the school, it had been used for something ages ago, what that was though, no one working at the school anymore could say. Mr Lee had been sure since Mr Hayer told him what room they would use that there would have to be plumbers brought in to fix the piping that was already there and that an intense sweeping would be needed. Opening the door, however– no, there was no, ‘however’. Mr Lee was entirely correct.

Pulling the door open Mr Lee coughed from the residual dust in the air. Holding it open, he gestured to Skyler, who entered with a broad smile still on his face.

“It’s a nice room, dirty though.” He commented looking around. Skyler wasn’t wrong when he entered and took a moment to look around through the dust– the room was quite suitable.

There were three large sinks to the left of the door, and bay windows covered the outer wall of the classroom, a door was next to them as well, leading to the field behind the school. The floor tile was cracked in some places, and the tables were dustier than Grandma’s frilly dresses, but Skyler wasn’t wrong. It was, or rather could be a nice room.

“It’s got a closet back there, and Mr Hayer said you’ll be able to change whatever you want in here as long as it doesn’t structurally damage the school.” Mr Lee said, but as soon as he finished he realised Skyler had surely been told those same things.

“Great! We’ll have a fun time fixing this place up, and making it look nice too. It’ll be nice to have all those windows…” Skyler said trailing off as he walked around the room, peering into the back closet and tapping on the wooden shelves to gauge their strength.