The Lost Duckling

Chapter 8: Lilo

Lilo awoke to the sound of chirping birds. She didn't recognize any of them. She was accustomed to the more tropical sounds of Hawaii, but she welcomed the song birds all the same. It was different sound. That was all. Lilo noticed another sound. Lower, like a rumble. Her first thought that came to her half asleep mind was that a volcano was having a mild eruption. After all, that wasn't uncommon on Hawaii. Quite common actually. Jumba liked researching the volcanos actually. Lilo remembered that one time when he created a heat resistant lava submarine and and tried to take her down for field research. Nani had said absolutely not. Jumba had returned two days later with singed hair. He was happy, even though his ship was completely melted.

But no, this low rumbling noise wasn't a volcano. It was shaking her. Lilo started when she felt something cold and wet pressed against her neck.

"What the-?" 

Her eyes shot open. Stitch was standing over her, softly growling to wake her up. 

Heart pounding, Lilo patted him on the head before setting him down on the floor. She glanced at the clock before realizing the time.

9:30

Her class started in 15 minutes.

Crap.

Her class was across campus.

Double crap.

Why is she always late?

Lilo threw on the first clothes she found, pulled her shabby shoulder bag with her camera and notepads along as she shoved her feet into her shoes and headed out the door.

A whimper came from inside. Lilo looked back to find Stitch sitting in the middle of the floor, looking at her with big, pleading eyes.

"Sorry bud, I can't take you with me right now. I'll come back with food in a little over an hour. I promise."

With that, Lilo practically flung herself down the rickety staircase to avoid waiting for the slow elevator. In the parking lot, she pulled out the expandable, literal hoverboard Jumba gave her as a goodbye present. She hopped on, and whizzed her way along the sidewalks, scaring pedestrians and she shot by.

It was just like surfing.

Lilo busted into the photography lab just before the professor, only bailing off her ride when she got about halfway through the classroom. Even though she was off the board, it continued to whiz along until it hit the opposite wall, sputtering until it stopped altogether, dropping  the eight inches back to the floor. Lilo cautiously picked it up, folded it back together, and stuffed tii to her bag. She noticed the strap was about to pop off. She hoped Mary knew how to sew.

The professor was an aging lady. Gray tufts of hair poked out of a blue beanie, a beanie that made no sense in the Californian heat. The lady also wore a blanket like shawl around thin shoulders and huge tortish shell glasses that magnified startling grey blue eyes.

"Hello everyone," the professor said in a sweet lilting voice. A chorus of half sleeping 'hello's responded.

"Now this is Photography Basics, so we'll learn about composition, angles, and black blah blah. Stuff I'm sure you already know. This class is mandatory but I don't think it should be boring. So,  I teach things a little differently. We meet twice a week officially, and here is what we will do." The professor paused for a moment to readjust her hat. "We spend two weeks on each topic. I send you out to take pictures after the first class, you take them, and we compare on the second day. Then you go improve, and then for the fourth class we go over the best pictures and say why they are good. This is a positive class. I'm giving you freedom. Cherish it. Artists don't usually get freedom."

At this point, the eccentric appearing teacher stared off into the distance briefly before remembering her next point.

"Oh yes, textbooks," she frowned. "Sorry about that. They were mandatory. They tell you what angles are, how to balance and image, rule of thirds..." She trailed off, gave scrunched in disgust.   "Helpful I guess, but not necessary if you have an eye for this sort of thing, which I think most of you have.

"Anyway, your first assignment is subject matter. Yes we are getting right into it. This is an easy thing to learn. Subject matter means taking a picture of something interesting. No one wants a picture of a blank wall. But a blank wall with graffiti? CHARACTER!" She emphasized her last word by banging her hands on the desk in front of her with surprising force. "So, I want you to take as many pictures as you see fit in order to get good subject matter. I don't care what it is as long as it's interesting."

The teacher scanned her eyes over the back wall, above the students' head, seemingly going through a mental checklist.

"Oh! Silly me!" She said with a tittering laugh. "My name! And your names! Oh dear me! Well, let's get our introductions out of the way. Say where you are from, your style, and of course, your name!" She cleared her throat. "For instance, I am from Oregon, I do surrealism, and my name is Frida Gables! Who's next?"

Everyone repeated the process half heartedly, but Lilo was warming up to this peculiar old lady. Mrs. Gables let the class leave twenty minutes early in order to 'find subject matter'. To Lilo, this meant finding breakfast. For her and for Stitch, hopefully before he started eating pillows ... again.She meandered around the shops across the street. She found a Chinese place, went inside, and ordered enough food to keep frozen for weeks, despite the odd looks she got from the clerk.

Lilo returned to her dorm thirty minutes later to find an open window. Groaning, she plopped the food down on her bed before yelling out the open window.

"Stitch I have food "

She heard a thud behind her. She turned around to see Stich kick open the closet door from the inside. 

"What?" He said, toppling off the mound of clothes he had compiled to make a nest. 

Lilo gestured to the food.

"Food".

Stitch smiled happily before digging his teeth into the takeout, happily munching prices of chicken, glad he didn't have to resort to pillows, even though that was only one time... And he hadn't really eaten them, per say... just destroyed them beyond repair.