I was wrong
Chapter 1
(Where It All Began)
Early spring, around 5 in the morning before sunrise. Even though it's spring the snow is piled up outside the hotel where I'm staying at with some of my friends.
"Hey, I'm just going to take a walk around town." I whispered
"Go ahead; just be back around 7, there will be free breakfast in the dining hall." One of them answered.
I took my jacket and one of my cameras with me.
I'm a freelance photographer and the reason I'm in this town is that one of my friends sponsored a pageant that was held last night and I was hired for taking pictures.
The sun is yet to rise and the temperature out here is quite freezing. After getting out of the hotel I zipped my jacket on and put its hood on my head; the camera is not that big so I just pocketed it inside the jacket.
The town has an amazing overlooking view. It's a hill placed in the middle of town and where you stand from it you can see the entire town below.
I jog towards the hill to get some heat inside my body. Upon arriving on the said hill someone is already there.
"Great, just great." I thought to myself. I got up early for the purpose of hogging this view for myself and then someone just got here before me. The girl seems to be a local here. I look at my watch and check the time. The sun is about to rise any moment now so I readied my camera; I set it in multiple shots.
I positioned the camera right above the girl and focused in into the horizon where the sun will rise. Slowly the horizon is getting dyed in a orange light as the sun rise up. When the sun is finally in place where I want it to be, the girl who is sitting up front stood up and blocked the view.
"Ahhh why would you stand up just like that?" I thought to myself. The girl look behind her and she saw me with my camera in hand. I noticed that she is a model from the pageant last night; and upon closer look she has a pretty face.
"Oh, sorry I didn't notice you"
She quickly get out of her place then towards where I am.
"Nah it's fine."
"I'll be going on ahead."
I don't even know you. This girl is getting to familiar with me after destroying my mood and blocking my view.
"Sure." I replied in accommodation.
The girl left the hill afterwards. I forgot to remove my finger from the shutter button but I quickly removed it when I noticed it. I look at the pictures taken and it recorded about 200 shots. I didn't have time to check all of them so I leave it be. After a few moments of dousing my face with the sun and taking a few more pictures I headed back to the hotel.
There is still time before breakfast so I headed back to the room. There are a total of 3 of us in the room; Me, the sponsor (Hugh) and a tag along (Clay). I opened my laptop and uploaded the pictures, while doing so I checked the pictures I took last night at the pageant and looked for the girl I met earlier.
"She really looks different earlier." I said to myself
"Well she is wearing a makeup. What do you expect?" Hugh interrupted just as he woken up.
"No, what I mean is that she looks the same but also different." I replied.
"I don't know what you're getting at." Hugh looked at me with a disappointed look.
What? Did I say something wrong? They are the same person I just thought that they are the same but at the same time not.
"It's the power of makeup guys." Just then even Clay interrupted us before I could even reply back to Hugh
The upload is already finished. Hugh and Clay make the bed; I already did mine. The both of them didn't even freshen up before deciding to go to the hall.
"Hey hurry up, we'll be eating with another group." Hugh shouted at me.
"Yeah one moment." I closed my laptop without even seeing the pictures that I had uploaded. Sad.
The three of us headed at the dining hall. It's not jam packed but there's still a lot of people in here. We waited in line to get our food which mainly contains two sandwiches, a small carton of milk and a small lump of meat within the soup.
"You can barely call this a breakfast . . ." I let out a sigh
"Just deal with it. It is for free." Hugh replied
On the farthest corner of the room a girl is waving at us. Hugh noticed it and waved back then started walking towards there.
The table is pretty big enough for 10 people to eat there. There are a total of 4 of us here. Me, Hugh, Clay and the girl who seems to be a friend of Hugh.
"Let's wait for the others, they're still in line. . ." the girl said to us.
"All right then" Hugh replied.
We put our food on the table and waited for the so called "others". Hope they're females.
Upon waiting for about a minutes the so called others have already arrived they consist of 4 people. And oh what joy has flooded inside me; they're all girls and pretty ones at that. All of them participated at the pageant last night. All the girls are seated across us except for one, the girl who is waving at us earlier that is.
"All right then let's begin the introductions" Hugh said before we could even start eating.
"Then we'll start. My name is Janice, starting from the left we have Claire, Hannah, Amy and Eloise."
So the girl that I met earlier is named Eloise . . . a pretty neat name. After Janice introduced the girls Hugh introduced us.
"All right then, my name is Hugh, from my left is Loui then Clay."
After the introductions, everyone started their own little conversations while eating. I take little glimpse at Eloise every once in a while and when I do that I noticed that she is looking in my direction too. I then started putting on airs just for the sake of making a conversation.
"So . . . what do you guys usually do on your free times?" I asked the entire group.
"I don't know, I don't have free times" (Janice)
"I watch movies" (Eloise)
"I just hang out with another group of friends." (Hannah)
"I just sleep or take a nap" (Amy)
"I do drawings and listen to music." (Claire)
I didn't care about the rest I just wanted to hear Eloise. And even though I usually ask this, Hugh and Clay entered theirs.
"I play games." (Clay)
"I make money" (Hugh)
I couldn't care less. With that topic another conversation started but taking this opportunity I made a decision of having interest in all their hobbies but with a greater emphasis on Eloise.
The conversation went without a hitch. I've got my necessary information on every one of them. All of them have a boyfriend or so they say, but I'm not buying it.
The three of us headed back to our room and started packing up. I opened the laptop and sorted the pictures out while I'm packing my things up.
We finished packing earlier than expected and it's still around 3 before we check out. Hugh opened his laptop and started typing something, it must be his earnings for last night's pageant. Clay brought along one of his game consoles and started playing it. I look at the pictures that have been sorted by date.
I look at the pictures and take a look at those that I already knew.
First is Claire, her height is slightly below mine, she is kind of petite, kind of. Her hair is short but is just slighlt above her shoulders she's probably younger than me perhaps 20.
Hannah is taller than the rest of them and is slightly above my height, proportional, curvy; in short a typical model. Earlier she is wearing a ponytail and is the only one who tied her hair up
Amy is pretty but I don't think she is a model material, she is shorter than Claire and she's not very bright.
Eloise is about the same age as mine and the same height. Her hair is longer than Claire but is shorter than Hannah, she's also curvy and I'd say she's pretty much my type.
Last is Janice, Janice is not in the pageant but her looks will not lose to the other ones. But she gives off a feeling that she's a lesbian.
While looking at their pictures my face started making a smile. Clay noticed it and started asking.
"You're falling for one of them aren't you?" (Clay)
"N-no" I denied it
"It's written all over your face." (Clay)
Hugh joined the conversation.
"You do know that they have boyfriends already." (Hugh)
"I'm not buying it though." I replied
"Yea usually it's just a way to make sure that you will not hit on them" (Clay)
"Then I assume that you're going to do something." (Hugh)
I just give them a slight nod.
"Hey, don't forget about the pictures, I'm not paying you to hit on girls here." Hugh shouted.
Right I forgot. I put the pictures of the pageant on a folder and then started sorting out the pictures that I took this morning.
The 200 pictures that I have taken from the sunrise is flooding it. I take a closer look and I think I have fallen for Eloise. She covered the sunrise but the light surrounding her makes it much more appealing, the rest of the scenery is doused in the sunrise's orange light. The only thing missing is the wind effect where her hair will be blowing towards my direction. Who am I kidding it can't be that good, it's already a miracle that I'm able to get this picture.
By the time I finished with the pictures and printing them is now the only problem it's already lunch. Hugh and Clay headed to dining hall without saying anything. I headed to the dining hall and saw the both of them eating at a table in the middle. I took the same thing I eat earlier for breakfast since there's not much time before I could print the pictures. By the time I have already seated in their table they are already finished eating.
"Seriously!?"
"What?" (Clay)
"I just got here and you guys just leave?" I asked
"You're doing your job and you're getting paid. So . . . fair deal right?" (Hugh)
"Fine. Anyways I just finished the pictures they just needed to be printed." I handed Hugh a USB.
"Good one, Clay, print them," Hugh handed Clay the USB.
And so they leave after that leaving me alone, eating in this big table.
I let out a sigh, I don't like eating alone; I mean who does. Eating alone is boring and dull and it just . . . sucks.
I was about to be finished but just then, Janice and company arrives.
"May we?" (Janice)
"Sure, sure" I replied back with a smile on my face
They separate and now it's 3 on both side of the table. On my side are Janice and Amy and on the other side are Eloise, Hannah and Claire.
Why can't I get seated beside Eloise. I shouted at my inner self. Things just doesn't go where you want it to be doesn't it.
There's a little conversation going on in the table but most of the times I don't know what they're talking about, it's mostly girls stuff. But sometimes Janice makes it so that I can enter the conversation.
"Does any of you want to watch a movie after this? " I popped a question.
They looked at me and I feel a little anxious but I got to make sure that at least one will come.
"My treat." I added.
Eloise and Claire said they wanted to go and since girls always go in group eventuall all five of them wanted to come.
"Alright, just let me get my jacket and we'll meet at the entrance." I said to them with a hint of excitement.
I left the dining hall with everyone else and I hurried back to the room.
"Hugh! Can I get some advance?" I pleaded.
"Advance!? What for we'll be leaving in a few hours." Hugh replied while playing with Clay.
"Please! I just got on a date and I need money."
"You've got plenty of that, it's just a date." (Hugh)
"Well there are five of them and it's my treat."
"Oh you sad pathetic bastard." (Clay)
Hugh took out fifty bucks from his wallet and throws it at me. I took my jacket, gloves and a camera with me. I'm not sure why I take camera it must be a reflex.
When I got at the entrance the 5 of them are already there. These girls sure are fast. We headed into one of the theatre nearby since I only have 3 hours before checking out. We just pick one randomly and I paid for the tickets, to make sure I leave an impression I also bought the popcorn and the drinks. Hugh's fifty bucks disappeared in an instant.
Nothing really happened much inside the theatre, I made sure that I pay attention so I at least know something if they ever asked anything.
The story is pretty interesting it's about a group of friends who somehow invented a time machine, in a basement and they jump through times together but somehow something went wrong when one of them tries to jump back alone. The plot's something along the lines of that so I'm not going to describe it any further.
The film viewing ended, it lasted for about two hours. Now this here is crucial for me, since this is farewell to them I need to make sure that I get a second chance.
"Well that was nice. How about we do it again."
"Yeah sure" They all replied with a little hint of excitement.
This is good, now for the final step.
"I don't really have any of your contacts so. . . Janice?"
Janice is the most approachable one in the group so if I'm going to get any of their numbers I need to take it slowly from the most approachable to the least.
Janice gave me her number and then I asked for Amy. Amy looks like the type that wouldn't deny my request. And she gave me her number. Now that I got two, the rest of them won't be able to refuse to this request. Man this is going great.
Eventually I got all of their numbers. We parted ways once we got to the hotel. Hannah and Amy are the ones who stayed at the hotel since Janice, Eloise and Claire is a local here. Anyways I got back to the room and saw that Hugh and Clay are still playing.
"So how did the date go?" (Hugh)
"It's good. I got all of their numbers which is totally worth it."
"Are you sure they're not fakes?" (Clay)
"I made sure of that . . ."
I know I did anyways all of that will be pointless and a waste of time.
"So you spend the entire 50 bucks just to get some girl's number?" (Hugh)
"It's not just some girl's" I retorted
"What I mean is, you can just ask me. I have all of their numbers" (Hugh)
"Heh, nice try." I scoff
"No seriously. I'm a sponsor I can do that, all I have to say is "It's a business thing" and they'll give it right from the get go." (Hugh)
I shut up. Well I feel stupid.
"Well it's better if I get it myself and left an impact right?"
I tried my best to explain so that I don't feel stupid for what I did.
-To be updated.
-Be sure to read the Author's Notes.
-Chapter [1/3]