Life Through a Lens

3. Get Down to Business

Jasmine quickly looked back towards the popular table. For a moment Carter's eyes met hers. His blue rimmed, green eyes flicked over to her immediately once Emilia had left, his blondish hair moving with his head. She shook herself as uneasiness gave way to Carter's own eyes. Jasmine rushed out of the cafeteria as well, knowing exactly where Emilia would have fled to. Well one of two places at least; either the bathroom or the library. But in this case a perfect small nook in the library would seem appropriate for Emilia. So, she started there, walking into the almost abandoned space.

The librarian smiled kindly, "She's in the far back Jasmine," she said in almost a whisper with a sad smile on her face.

"Thank you," Jasmine replied and headed towards the back of the library, where she knew a small couch would be. When she found Emilia sitting on the couch, tears were already streaming down her face. Quietly sitting down beside her, she wrapped her arms around Emilia in comfort. To which Emilia let come, her tears slowing as she sat up a bit straighter. Jasmine didn't even have to say anything as Emilia began to explain.

"She said I was a disgrace, that my name was a disgrace. She said what boy would want to date someone with a boys' name?" Her head fell into her hands as she shook it at the same time.

"Your name is beautiful, as are you. You are no disgrace, but the opposite. Don't listen to Dani and her wannabe. They don't know anything." Jasmine replied saying Dani's name with almost a disgusted tone. Emilia's face slowly brightened, she wiped the tears off her face and put a small smile on.

"There's my girl," Jasmine said. "The bells about to ring, so we'd best be getting ready for class." Emilia nodded and got up off the couch just as the bell for class had rung.

Today when the photography class got together with their partners, Jasmine and Carter were trying to figure out what the assignment was actually about.

"Do you have any ideas on what this whole thing actually is?" asked Jasmine, hoping to get some of his ideas before she explained what she thought.

"Well, I was thinking that...it could possibly be...what if?" he probed, trying to get at something. Jasmine raised her eyebrows at his antics, questioning whether he actually had any idea what this was on. "Nope I've got nothing, care to explain your thinking?" he asked.

"Okay," she smirked, figuring this was how things were going to go. "Well I analyzed the quotes and I've come to the conclusion that it's mainly about life, and life is what you make it. Also, it said there are no-"

"Rules to good photography, there are only good photographs. I know, I read it," Carter cut in.

"Right, well, I think Mr. Collins is saying that we honestly have no specific criteria for this assignment. That, well we can basically take pictures of whatever we want," continued Jasmine.

"I thought that the words possibly are what we had to take photos of. We have to create memories, be creative, maybe something in some different types of focus and show some of our dreams come to reality." Jasmine was very surprised by this little piece of knowledge that he had shared. Maybe he wasn't as much of a 'dumb popular jock' as he led on to be.

*

Jasmine sighed as she and Emilia went through their lockers getting every last bit of them cleaned out. It was the last day of school, the last day before her project with Carter really started. It was a summer project anyways. They hadn't gotten very far, as to where they were going to go to take pictures or what they were even going to take pictures of, but they had planned their first meeting at Jasmine's house. Jasmine and Emilia both had a free period before their last class of the day —photography for Jasmine, so they took the liberty of cleaning out their still-quite-neat lockers early before the rush of everyone else hastily trying to clean them out.