The teacher pops into the room soon after me, putting their bag on the table. He sits down at his desk. This class is for all students from Junior and Senior year, so Seniors and Juniors come in, trying not to be too late. Then someone I didn't expect here walks straight into class, immideately finding me with their eyes. His body moves towards me, seeing the seat next to me is open but some of his friends sit across the room, calling for him. I glare at him before he sits down. He sits down, smirking at me.
"Didn't think you were here, babygirl. It's nice to see you here", he speaks.
"Why don't you sit with your friends over there? It would brighten my day and probably even make my brother happier and those girls back there, too", I say, nodding towards the group of girls around his friends.
He looks over, losing his smirk before looking back at me.
"I'll stay. I think we could be a great photography team", he smiles.
The bell rings, signaling the class is about to start. Our teacher stands up, clapping his hands.
"Good morning, class. I'm Mr Melroy. I hope you all enjoy photography as much as I do. So, as you can see, you are all seated on tables for two people. Those people at a table for two make a team. You will recieve several tasks and different topics to photograph on. You will learn the basics of photoshop and photography in this class. Any last complains before we start with our first photography session?", Mr Melroy asks.
Just as I'm about to lift my arm, I feel Niall's hand on my wrist, preventing me from moving my hand. I look over at him, seeing he has a look of pleading on his face. He really wants to work with me this year.
"Good, then let's continue", Mr Melroy speaks up.
Niall lets go of my hand, taking a pen to his hand.
"The first topic we'll be doing is moments seen as random, just taking pictures of moments that occur suddenly like a person laughing or a mother soothing her child. Just moments we see, seconds of pure human hood. I want you to find opportunities to take pictures in moments humans are just humans. Meet with friends, go to the city, ask people, if you can take a picture of them while working. You all have cameras and computers at home, so use the chances you get. Take pictures of each other. Make it perfect. This will make 30 percent of your final grade."
I look over at Niall and see him already writing down ideas. Maybe this will be easier than I thought.
"Let me quickly check off the attendance list", Mr Melroy finally says.
He just goes through all of the names, checking off everyone before handing out examples and task on a sheet of paper. I get my camera out of my backpack and turn it on. Niall gets out his aswell, seeing we both have the same camera but mine has a pink ribbon on the strap. I just put it there to recognize my camera in this class.
"So, do you want to meet and talk about this project later?", Niall asks me, as soon as Mr Melroy lets us start working and finding ideas.
I shrug.
"Maybe, I got to tell Wes first. He might kill you when you come over to work on this project", I tell him, writing down ideas.
"I'll tell him right now. He surely won't kill me. I'm his best friend, Violet."
He gets his phone out under the table and starts texting my brother.
"I'd not be that sure."
"Well, how about we just meet over some coffee at the bakery down the road from school. Just tell Wes that you have to get touch ups for your tattoo and have to go today", Niall suggests.
"Yeah, okay. But if Wes finds out, he'll kill us, maybe kill you twice", I tell him.
"I'll take the risk and by the way, where is the audition for the band going to be? The auditorium?", he asks.
"Yes, I still can't believe you would ever play in the band. I always thought you were more of a sporty kind of guy since all of the girls practically seem to run after you at all times", I spit.
"Well, what can I say other than that I'm good in bed and it talks around. Girls love to be in my bed, babygirl. You should try it sometime. I bet you'd like it", he smirks, "And it's free."
I roll my eyes and don't say anything. Of course I've thought about how Niall would be in bed due to other girls just blabbering about his skill but I mean, I don't really like Niall and sex is pretty intimate to me. I don't just want to be an object in a guys hands. I want to be loved and cared for. Just like I felt with Tobias. He made me feel safe in his arms.
"If you ever want to do something, hit me up, come over to my place and let me fulfill your desires", Niall now whispers in my ear.
I push him away again, continuing to find photo ideas.
*****
"Hey, Wes. I got to get my tattoo refreshed. I'll be back before dinner", I say, as I look into Wesley's bedroom, seeing him playing some video game.
He pauses his game before turning towards me. I smile at him.
"Sure, could you get some food? I mean, Mom's on night shift at work again and I'm too lazy to cook. We could also watch a movie", he suggests.
"Yes, I'll pick up dinner."
I leave his doorway and walk downstairs. Quickly, I grab my still packed school bag and take my camera from the dresser next to the door. Niall already texted me that he's there and got us something to eat and drink. I take my car keys and open the garage to reveal my Mustang. I still can't believe that Dad let me have it after his death. I get in and flip the ignition. Immediately it jumps to life. The motor roars, as I back out of the garage towards the road. I quickly put my phone on the aux-chord and start playing some music. I sing along quite some time before turning into the parking lot of the bakery. I take my camera and bag, lock my car and walk over to the store, seeing Niall already sitting in a booth. He's looking down at his phone. The window does a cool effect. Two cups of coffee and two plates with cake stand at the table, waiting to be touched. I turn my camera on and take a few quick pictures of Niall just sitting there with his phone. I'll check how they went inside. I pass a few tables until I'm at the table with Niall.
"Hey", I say, sitting down in front of him.
He looks up, putting his phone away. A slight smirk plays on his face.
"Thought you wouldn't come anymore", he states.
"Yeah, got lost in History homework."
He nods, taking out his camera and laptop. I take my laptop and camera out aswell, quickly connecting them with bluetooth to get the pictures I took transferred.
"I already took some pictures", I tell him, opening one of him and turning it around to let him see it, "I title it: Table for one."
Niall chuckles a bit before looking at the picture. I smile a bit, letting him look at them. He then looks up at me.
"Those are actually quite good. Mind if we take some of you aswell? Maybe when we get into editing later on? Like I could randomly take a picture of you editing another picture", he suggests.
I nod, turning my laptop back around.
"I got you just a black coffee and some cheesecake", Niall then says, pushing the plate and cup in my direction.
"Thanks", I smile a bit.
He just shrugs it off. I take a sip of the coffee. It's great. Niall quickly puts his phone next to his laptop, so he can see it at any time. I should actually be preparing the audition tomorrow. A couple of people signed up for auditioning. We're going to spend the whole afternoon hearing people play guitar and singing. I'm already kind of sick of it and we didn't even start.
"We could also take pictures of my friends when we hang out or we could also take pictures at parties, like people sitting around, just talking, of course we have to get them on the picture without alcohol and cigarettes. Teachers most likely don't want to see that on a project", Niall suggests.
I nod and write that down in my notebook. Niall then just plays around with his camera, setting it back down when he's done. I take a quick look at it, seeing the lense is pointed in my direction. I shrug it off. Must've been a coincidence. I go back to looking through my pictures, seeing, if I have any on my camera we can also use, so we don't have to take so many pictures. I then find a picture I took of Mere. She fell off of her skateboard the other day and laughed it off while standing up. I captured the moment she came towards me laughing. It's a beautiful picture. I have to ask her, if we can use it. I quickly show it to Niall.
"I took this the other day. We could use it."
Niall nods, agreeing to my statement.
"That's actually a pretty nice one. Meredith looks very happy and natural in that. Mr Melroy would really like that one", he says.
I nod. Niall goes back to working on his laptop. I don't find anything more to add to our project. I quickly get the sheet of paper with the project's task out. I didn't read it completely in class but it was basically the same stuff that Mr Melroy said. We have to take and edit pictures of people from random and everyday situations and give them titles. We also need to have at least 10 photos. It's a pretty good task for a start of the class. Soon enough, I close my laptop, turning off my camera aswell. I pack both back into my backpack before leaning my head on a hand and eating my cheesecake. Niall's still working on his laptop, working on some pictures probably. I take a sip from my coffee inbetween bites from my cake.
"So, what do you plan to do after school?", he suddenly asks, shutting his laptop but keeping his camera on the table.
I shrug. I never really thought about that all too much. I just know that I would love to go to the University of Alabama.
"I don't really know yet. What about you? Are you going to college?", I ask back.
Niall takes a sip of his coffee before smirking a bit.
"I send applications to the University of Alabama, UPenn and NYU and all Ivy League universities and colleges and even some more universities that are a little smaller. I want to become an engineer. I hope to be accepted at the University of Alabama but the confirmation papers come in in spring before our finals", he explains.
"Sounds good. How do you think you will be able to manage that all? I mean, focusing on your high school degree, worring which college will accept you and your social life?", I ask.
He shrugs. I take a sip of my coffee, realizing I'm almost finished with it. I quickly take a look at my phone, seeing we've been here for almost an hour and a half. Mere also texted me, if I was up for a party on Friday at her house. I'll just text her later. I still have to ask her about our band audition tomorrow. We gave out songs before the summer, so people could prepare themselves. We gave out easy songs like "Hey there Delilah" by the Plain White T's or "The Devil Within" by Eskimo Callboy but the acoustic version. We tried to give the people that audition good acoustics songs to really show their voice since that's more important than the guitar part. We can still find a guitarist, so it's a band of 5 not just 4. I look up at Niall, seeing him just looking out of the window.
"Which song are you auditioning with tomorrow?", I question.
"The Eskimo Callboy song because I like that band a lot and think the song is quite cool. It takes quite some skill to sing that song. What's your favourite song you guys picked?", Niall answers.
"Eskimo Callboy is a really nice band. I really love their music and the song is amazing but my favourite song we chose to make people audition with is "Robbers" by The 1975. They're one or the best bands I know. I love them", I explain.
"I actually like them aswell", he tells me.
"What's your favourite song?", I smile just a bit.
"I really like "So Far (It's Alright)" and "Sombody Else" and I even got lyrics tattooed."
He pulls up his t-shirt sleeve, showing me his shoulder.
"It goes all the way over my shoulders. It's from "So Far". It says "He's got a heart made of stone but he never gets cold because the sun's always on his back.". I like them a lot", he explains.
"I actually want to get lyrics tattooed aswell. I want to get some lyrics from "Heart Out" on my collarbone", I tell him.
He takes a look at my cup, seeing it's empty. My cake is also long gone.
"Do you want another coffee?", he asks, smirking a bit, as he takes both of our cups and stands up.
"Yeah, sure. I'll give you some money later when we leave", I say.
"No, it's my treat today. Just accept it, no discussion!", he chuckles, as he leaves to get some more coffee.
I just look back at him. Why is he being so nice? And why am I so nice to him? I mean, I hate how he treats girls at our school and I dislike his presence in general. Well, if we want to make these projects at school good, we better get along.