Oh Calamity!

Alex pov
I went to get ash and Jack for tea, I let ash go down
“What was that you’re doing great thing before?”
“oh I knew she was uncomfortable around the guys, she always runs off, I convinced her to try and talk more, and warned her not to run off, I thought she would have but she talked and really tried”
“I didn’t know she was that uncomfortable?”
“Just with the guys, she hides out rather than talk to them, its fine, come on” Jack smiled and walked down, we sat eating and chatting, she was a little less awkward,
“So what you been doing in art?” I asked interested in a subject she had said nothing about, and was doing fine in because I hadn’t had a single complaint from her teachers,
“We have been doing natural stuff like plants, which is ok, but next week we are starting a new project and doing people”
“Can we see your project?”
“Some of it, my main piece is too big to bring home, I will bring my folder tomorrow, I don’t have much homework I can do some extra stuff”
“Yeah why didn’t you bring it home anyway?”
“it’s big and a pain to carry when I walk home, I normally do stuff at lunch, or do little pieces and stick them in my bag” she explained but I knew there was more, I was guessing she drew as an escape and didn’t feel comfortable showing us yet,
“Well I’m happy seeing anything you want to show us” I smiled, she nodded, taking the hint.
The next day I didn’t have much to do, the guys were busy with their family I had a few calls to make, the guys were going to be back over today, we would be practicing for a while, I knew ash would be in, me and Jack decided to leave her to it today, see if she said hi, or did her work or hid in her room, at 4 I knew she would be in so we took a break and I knocked on her door,
“Come in” she shouted, I walked in and sat on her bed, she turned round,
“my homework is done it’s there if you want to check, my art folder is there, I’m kind of busy with this at the minute to show you, I will later” she said distracted with her work to say much,
“Ok you know where we are if you need me” I said walking out, it was weird seeing her like that, totally focused, I walked back to our room,
“Was it done I didn’t hear her shouting?” Jack laughed
“It was done and she was doing some art stuff, her computer wasn’t even on” I laughed
“Did she not just turn the monitor off again?”
“no I could see the computer it was completely off” I said we played some more till we were messing more than we were playing, we left and went downstairs to hang out, then to our surprise ash came down herself and sat next to me, she smiled at Jack and he nodded,
“How was school?” I asked
“ok, I told my science teacher I had done some of the stuff already, she already knew, she is finding out what I’ve missed then will try and help me catch up” she admitted,
“good, hiding from the work won’t help” I said she sighed and looked down, I knew she wished I would let up on the work thing but I hated she wasn’t working like she used to, I wanted to be the fun uncle who let her do anything but that would just backfire, at least she was going to talk to Jack more, I knew he took that really seriously so that made me feel better. I could see her fidgeting like she did when she was nervous or she had something to say, I looked at Jack, but he looked clueless too, I was about to ask her when she took a deep breath,
“Hey Zack you want to see my art stuff, I brought it home today”
“Oh yeah cool” he said getting up, he looked genuinely happy she offered, we left them too it, she would show us too but we wanted to leave her alone for now,
“Did you tell her to do that?” I asked
“No, I haven’t spoken to her alone yet, I was going to ask her if she wanted another lesson and talk then” he said sounding confused,
“What changed?” Rian asked, it was obvious the difference in her
“she’s talking to Jack and he was pushing her yesterday, I may have said if she doesn’t talk and stop acting up I will give in to the school and get her therapy” I said feeling guilty, I hated threatening that, I hated being forced into therapy when I was younger,
“Alex you needed to, it seems to be working anyway” Rian said knowing it wasn’t easy for me, I thought Zack would be down really quickly but they were up there for 10 minutes, they came down and she sat next to Jack, he mumbled something I was guessing he was saying well done again,
“She’s really good” Zack smiled, he always liked art and photography. She smiled embarrassed,
“Ash you want to go play guitar?” Jack asked she nodded and they ran upstairs.

Notes