Filmed [complete]

Smoked

"Alice," I sighed, "There is a reason why I stopped hanging out with you. I do not want a repeat of what happened last year with my brother."

She blew some smoke out, "So? You still passed all your classes while you rolled with us. It was weird having someone actually care about their grades. We gave you quizzes and tests ahead of time, and you gave us access to the passwords on teacher's computers, getting them fired for what they did or got pranked."

"My grades are better now," I told her. "I'm more focused."

I turned away from her and looked down at the field. The actual journalists were already doing their interviews, and I was done taking my pictures, which meant we were going to head back to our hotel rooms in a couple of minutes.

"Sounds like fun," she droned on. Alice gave the person next to her the cigarette and fixed the hat on her head, making it more crooked. "Well, I tried to become friends with you again. Call me, or text me, when you get tired of being the good girl and want to smoke with us again. My door is always open."

I gave her a closed mouth smile, "I'll try to remember that." I pushed passed her and walked down the bleacher stairs without a goodbye.

When I reached the bottom, I turned my camera off and tried to locate my camera bag that I left underneath the seats on the field.

Where did you go? My heart started to speed up, thinking that I had lost my camera bag. I always leave it underneath the area where the team sat.

I bent down one more time and glanced down the row of seats, but my camera bag was no where to be seen.

"Looking for this?" I looked up to see Jace holding up my camera bag.

I snatched it away from him and quietly thanked him for keeping the bag safe. "Why did you take the bag away from its spot?" I asked him, hugging the bag close to me after the camera was tucked safely in it.

He took a step closer to me, "Well, everybody on the football team knows about you and your hiding spot or your," he put his fingers up and used them for his quotations, "'safe spot.'"

"What do you really want, Jace?" I asked him. The cast on his right arm was still there. "You are still injured."

"Well," he shrugged his shoulders, "I was the star quarter back for half of the season then an offensive member rammed into me, breaking my arm. I am here to cheer my team on and keep the bench warm for them."

"Hmmm, and anything else?"

Jace nodded, and took another step closer to me, grabbing my waist. He leaned in and he whispered in my ear, "I wanted to know if you could take my picture?"

I laughed at him, putting my hands on his chest and pushed him away. "Sorry, I am only working professionally tonight. In fact, for the rest of my photojournalism career, I am going to be professional."

He snapped his fingers, showing his disappointment, playfully. Jace's face grew soft, "I saw that you were talking to Alice. What did she want?"

"For me to join her in her smoking addiction," I told him, not even trying to beat around the bush. "When was the last time you talked to her?"

"The week you stopped talking to her," he said. "A lot of people left when you did. And when they took notice of what you accomplished when you left, they all got clean. They wanted to make something of themselves. I managed to became the quarterback of the football team. Even broke up with my girlfriend who was an addict and did not want to stop."

I smiled at him, then noticed the red zip up hoodie he was wearing. He wore it the first time I meet him but have not seen him wear it since. "You do seem happier than before," I pointed out.