Perspective #2
I stood outside the yearbook room after school that same day. My hand was reached out to open the door but it was hovering over the knob. I could not find the strength to actually turn it. I had a sneaking suspicion that I would somehow fail at doing something as simple as that.
Suddenly there was a hand over my own and it made the movements that I had been trying (not so hard) to do. I turned my head and saw Mason standing right behind me.
"I thought maybe you needed a push in the right direction," he said and let go of my hand. I looked back at the door to find it open, waiting for someone to walk through.
"Yeah," I answered lamely and forced my feet to move through the open doorway with Mason following close behind.
When I stepped in, everyone who was already in there stopped what they were doing and looked at me silently.
Suddenly they all jumped up and shouted as if they were at the Superbowl and their team had just made the winning touchdown. One girl even came up to me and wrapped her arms around me.
While all this celebrating was happening, I stood there, probably with a scared expression on my face.
After they became quiet, they all stared at me as if they were expecting something. I closed my eyes, slowly walked out of the room, opened the door again and walked back in.
Maybe I had imagined all of that.
But, when I walked in, they all laughed at my reaction. The girl who had hugged me came up to me again and said, "You're really funny."
"Haha, okay," I said. I grimaced realizing that that laugh was really forced.
"I'm Leena," she said. She took my arm an pulled me towards a bulletin board and pointed at a piece of paper that was pinned to it. "This is our Taboo List."
"Taboo?" I asked. "Isn't it supposed to be To-Do?"
"Yeah, it started out like that but then Chuck over there accidentally called it a Taboo List and it just stuck," she answered pointing to a tall, light-skinned, black kid. I looked over at him and gave him a small wave.
There. That would be my social interaction for the day.
I turned back to the list and read it over. Since I didn't understand a word it said, I read it again. Finally I gave up on it and looked back at Leena.
"I'll try to give you something easy since it's your first day, but you're sort of late so everything might already be taken...." She trailed off and looked around. "Yeah, everything's taken. So I guess you'll be taking pictures today!"
"I don't think you want to do that, I'm not very good with-"
"Don't worry about that, you'll learn," She said, cutting me off.
Geez, this girl could talk. Leena also had an air of sweetness surrounding her, but you could tell that she meant business. I already knew that she was the leader of this group, even if they never took some sort of vote. She also walked and talked really fast, as if she was always rushing.
She walked (rushed) to a desk drawer and pulled out a piece of paper and a camera. She went back over to me, then handed me the paper.
"This is a contract. It states that you will never, ever, let anyone touch the camera that I'm about to give to you and that you will never, ever, mistreat it. And if you should do any of these, and something happens to it, which should never, ever happen, then you will pay for a replacement," she told me.
I nodded my head, already feeling sick, thinking of all the ways that the camera could break. I could drop it, press "capture" too many times, or I could give it to Ariana who would give it to Chase, who would use it as a football and then it would fall into a lake when he threw it.
I took out a pen from my back pocket and signed the paper, despite all the scenarios that were running through my mind.
"Now," Leena said and handed me the camera. "We all sort of have partners; I guess that's what you'd call them. Since the only person without a partner is Mason, he's yours."
We looked over at him to see him intensely writing in a notebook. I studied Leena as she watched him. She was short, that's for sure. She had mousy brown hair and big brown eyes. I also noticed the way she was watching Mason.
I'm no expert on love, but she definitely had a huge crush on him.
"He's sort of mysterious, though. He acts way older than any other teenager I know. Maybe while you guys work together you can figure out his secrets or something," she said, still looking at him. Then she looked up at me and said, with a hint of jealousy, "Lucky you."
I gave her a tight lipped smile. "Yeah."
She shook her head, looking ashamed of her jealousy. "Anyways."
We walked over to Mason and tapped him on the shoulder. He looked up at us, then gave us a smile that, without sounding like Taylor Swift, could light up this whole town
"Well, hello there," he said.
"Hi," Leena said, for the first time sounding like she didn't know what to say. I decided to help her out. She could become a friend.
"We have to take pictures," I said. "And we're partners now. Woopie!"
"What are we taking pictures of?" He asked and stood from his chair, grabbing the camera that was sitting next to the computer and put it around his neck.
I'm sure that if I did the same thing, it would not look as good. And it probably find away to fall off. And break.
"The prom committee is having a meeting. Just get some shots of that," Leena said, finally speaking up.
Mason nodded then preceeded to walk out the yearbook room, me following behind. When we got out into the hallway, I felt like I should at least try to start a conversation.
"So," I said, lamely. "Are you going to prom?"
He shook his head. "Probably not. Prom isn't really my thing. What about you?"
I shook my head. "Unless my friends force me to, no."
He nodded. "Well, have you ever taken any pictures before?" He asked me, changing the subject.
"Well, yeah, everyone's taken pictures before but I always cut off the heads," I said, looking down.
He laughed. "That's sad, but I'd like to think that I'm an amazing teacher, so you'll probably be fine."
I shrugged because I had nothing so say. And because his laugh was literally on repeat in my brain. It was so...
"Beautiful," I breathed without meaning to.
"What was that?"
"Nothing," I said quickly and gave him a smile that I hoped was reassuring.
He lifted his eyebrow up, and looked at me. I had to look away because anytime he did that, I felt like he was staring into my soul.
Which is something I don't want anyone doing to me.
"Let me show you something," Mason said. He didn't wait for an answer as he took my hand and led me down a different hallway that I had never been down before, even though I'd been at this school for almost four years.
At the end of the hallway, there were double doors. Mason pulled me towards them, then he let go of my hand and pushed them open.
What I saw nearly took my breath away.
In front of me was something that most public schools did not have. It was a garden, that looked like it had maintenance every day.
The place was huge. There were two stone pathways going two separate directions. In between those pathways were bushes and trees that were dotted with colorful flowers. In the middle of it all, or as far as I could see at the moment, there was a stone fountain with a bench a few feet away from it.
This place really was breathtaking.
"All I want are some Swiss Rolls in the vending machine," I muttered.
Mason rolled his eyes at me then pulled me to the bench next to the fountain. We sat down and stayed silent for awhile, before Mason finally spoke.
"Take a picture."
"What?" I asked him.
"Take a picture," he repeated. "This place is beautiful, it shouldn't be that hard."
I lifted the camera to my face and looked through. I could see the trees and the flowers and the fountain, but it didn't seem right. I tried at a different angle, but still, it looked wrong. After trying a third time and not being able to do it, I gave up.
"I can't." I said. "It's not possible to capture all this beauty into one, tiny shot."
Suddenly, a felt a flash on my face and heard the click of a camera. I turned and saw Mason looking down at his camera. Then he looked up at me.
"You're exactly right."
I looked down and tried to hide the blush that I could feel on my cheeks. I probably looked like some sort of tomato.
This was why I hated boys.
"Sometimes, it's better to take a bunch of close up shots and put them together to get one, big, beautiful, picture." Mason said with a small smile on his face.
Probably laughing at me on the inside.
I grumbled a response. Art can go die in a hole for all I cared.
"Try it," Mason urged.
"Shouldn't we be taking those pictures of the prom committee?" I asked, ignoring his request.
"That'll last for hours, we've got time," he said. "Now come on, take a picture."
I sighed but I picked my camera back up. This time, I focused on a purple flower that was growing right next to the bench. I snapped the picture, then showed it to Mason.
"Good, now try a different angle," he said.
"What?"
"Take the picture from a different angle."
I shook my head but I knew I was going to do it. I stood up and went around the back of the bench and snapped the picture of the flower from there. Then I went back to Mason and presented it to him.
"Again," he said, with no emotion.
Well he should at least pretend to appreciate my work!
I went to the flower and decided to try something different. I crouched down and took the next picture from underneath it. Before I could even get back up to show him, Mason made me do it again.
I took about ten more pictures at various angles before he allowed me to stop.
"You're ruthless," I said and sat next to him. When I did, I sat closer than I meant to but I would feel rude if I moved away.
I definitely didn't stay because he smelt good. Because that would be weird.
Mason took the camera from my hand and flipped through the pictures with me. When we were done he looked up at me.
"All these pictures are of the same thing, yet each shot tells a different story," he said.
I raised my eyebrow. "It's a flower," I deadpanned.
"So? It still has a story."
"A flower."
He shook his head. "Maybe someday you'll understand."
I lightly shoved him. "Whatever."
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HELLO!
I think this was a pretty good chapter. Not to short, a little long actually and it was really... idk.. I just think I outdid myself. But what did you think? Personally, I love Mason. Like, a lot. Maybe even more than Sexy.....
So. If you liked the chapter, you should really....
COMMENT! VOTE! aaaanddd.... FANIMOS!!!
Oh,and who should play Kennedy?