Being Shot

P h o t o #2 - One Shattered Camera Coming Up

P h o t o #2 - One Shattered Camera Coming Up

I could clearly hear a concerned, but irritatingly amused voice cut through my fearful steps. "Hey! Wait up!" Cooper Appollo yelled as a bunch of footsteps blended in with my own, indicating that all four of them were high-tailing it after me.

My steps only quickened at the sound of his voice. 'They're chasing me!' The thought sparked through my brain, sending another wave of adrenaline through my bones.

I bounded down the hallways and down a flight of stairs once I realized I was on the second floor after a quick glance out of a perfectly polished hallway window of the huge maze of a house I was pretty much trapped in. I almost tripped at the bottom of the stairs but regained balance and pushed myself off the stair railing.

'Couldn't this count as kidnapping?' I thought as I rounded another corner.

"Hey! Dammit, wait a minute!" I then heard Jonas' deep, obviously brimming with rage voice vibrate down the winding dark brown hallways. I, of course, ignored him and kept pumping my nonathletic, sad excuse for legs like my life depended on it.

Embarrassed with the current situation, I angrily wiped burning stray tears away as they escaped my eyes, remembering the sight at the bottom of my bag that seemed to break my heart all over again just at the very thought. That camera was my only oasis in this boring, repetitive world that lived on around me. I loved it like it was my child. All my recently captured pictures were still on it, I was still saving up for a new SD card since I had lost my old one, meaning I didn't have any of them saved on my laptop like I usually would. That realization sent another suffocating wave of anger into my lungs.

Still buried deep within my thoughts, I didn't realized where I was going until I slammed right into a perfectly painted black wall with beautifully accented silver swirls. I shook my head, telling myself this was no time to admire the inside decor of Elliot Beau's house, even if it definitely looked like a place a bigwig down in Hollywood would have no qualms about renting out. By the time I had finally processed what was going on now, I realized my body was pretty much up against the wall right beside the front door.

'So close-' My mind raced, sending my arms towards the silver knob just within reach, only to be interrupted by two hands wrapping around my waist, completely cutting me off.

I heard a laugh of triumph flutter behind me, like this was some type of twisted game of tag. "Gotcha!" Cooper yelped out happily as footsteps herded into the room, one that I could now tell from my surroundings was a fancy, over-the-top dining room branching off of the front door.

I squeaked out of small gasp from the shock of being pulled back and was forced to sit on one of the elegantly plush dining table's chairs. I stared up at the four boys I so desperately, more than anything at that moment, wanted to get away from.

There was an awkward patch of silence as I continued to stare, swiftly followed by a bewildered sigh from Elliot, who had his thumb and pointer-finger pressed to the bridge of his nose. "Look, I honestly don't get it. You're the winner, you should be happy. What kind of reaction was that?" Elliot's voice raised, like he was the one who was disrespected in all of this.

His words only added fuel to the roaring building fire of vexation in my chest. 'Winner? How can I be a winner in this situation!' I couldn't help but think as I blinked in displeasure up at their cluelessness. 'This isn't some kind of game show, you narcissist!'

Jonas shrugged, like none of this was a big deal to him at all. "Anyways, tradition is tradition. Hey, maybe this will give us an even bigger window of opportunities in the school." Jonas put a hand up to his chin, seeming to actually be thinking hard on all of this. "Oh ya, and you can finally get a taste of what popularity feels like, since all you seem to do is wallflower it up at school. It's a win, win."