What The People Don't See

Turn To Dust

"Just tell me what I did baby, please! I'm sorry for whatever I did anyway. I'm just sick of you ignoring me!"

I slammed my locker closed but Cal didn't do so much as flinch as I began to walk away, leaving him leaning against the row of lockers in bewilderment. I heard him thump the metal once with his fist and I smirked in satisfaction, loving the annoyance I was causing him. Loving the fact that in just over a week, he'd dumped his rugby pals and was now following El and Adam around like a lost puppy, begging for any scraps of information that they knew of. I'd sworn them to secrecy on that account. If he was truly sorry, he'd admit to it eventually.

Thanks to Calum's fruitless attempts of reconciliation, I was late for photography. Mr Harrison barely even acknowledged my presence as I strolled in and only mumbled a light "You're late" when I slumped into my seat at the back of the class. He was probably simply surprised that I'd even showed up for class. Either that, or he was overly excited about the project he was about to set us.

"I want to let your wonderful creativity loose over the next few months. I want you to capture whatever meets your heart's desire and present it to the class at the end of the school year. That gives you over five months to pull together a beautiful portfolio of whatever you wish, as long as it is on the same subject matter of course."

Everyone had seemed to perk up slightly at this; we'd never been allowed to choose what we photographed before. Usually we had to take pictures of trees or food or old buildings. I fiddled with my camera, adjusting the lense and wiping the screen when I was nudged in the side. It was Cara or Lara or whatever her bloody name was.

"I'm going to use my guinea pig as my subject!" she giggled, and she shoved her camera under my nose to show me a picture of a rather fat, and probably the ugliest thing I'd ever seen in my life. Honestly, it looked more like a cat than a guinea pig.

"Fascinating" I drawled, turning back to my own camera which had somehow switched to gallery mode. I stared at the image of Adam at the skate park, flipping his board at the top of the ramp, his entire body suspended in air. I felt a smile playing on my lips. That was the night we got chased through the shopping center for smoking pot and skating down the car park escalators. I pressed the arrow to reveal more memories: Cal and I on the boardwalk at the beach, icecream cones clutched in our fists, my mum and dad ready to go out for their anniversary, Eloise skipping stones down by the lake, Toby laughing at something impossible to remember. Something clicked in my mind and I raised my hand, my eyes still glued to Toby's face, how much younger it looked even just a few months ago.

"Yes, Ms Barker."

"Sir, can we use humans as our subjects?" I asked, my hand already sketching their names at the top of my new portfolio.

"Why of course you can! It is a remarkable thing, capturing the essence of another's soul and..."

I'd already tuned out and was gazing at my block writing in satisfaction, smiling at the names of the people that meant the most.

Mum, Dad, Toby, Eloise, Adam, Calum

I grimaced at the last name, wondering how on earth he would fit into my project, but he at least deserved to be there. He'd still made a pretty huge impact on my life and that needs recognition. My hand twitched, the pencil sliding back across the page as I debated whether or not to include a certain four piece band from Cavan.

I hated photography; it was my least favourite subject and the only reason I chose to do it was because I thought it'd be a doss class. Taking pictures of lasagne and fucking old gates wasn't exactly a thrill for me. Maybe I could finally inject some flavour into it. I was barely even aware as I scrawled their name at the bottom of my short list.