Candid (True Images Series) (11 page)

He got up and moved away. Lee stood watching him leave with his arms folded across his chest. A couple of the other guys left with him, but one stayed behind. He was shorter than Lee and small framed with carrot colored hair that curled in an unruly mess over his forehead. I didn’t know who he was, but Lee obviously did.

“Not you too, Will?”

The guy looked startled and instantly began denying any involvement. “What? No! I’d never move in on your girl, even if I could. I was just hanging out. I figured you’d show up around here sometime and I wanted to talk to you.”

Lee’s posture relaxed and he dropped down onto the bench beside me. He took a sandwich out of his backpack and asked, “What’s up?”

“I saw you wrote the story about Friday’s game in the school paper.”

“Yeah?”

“Well, I was just going to say, if you ever, um, need help with that, I wouldn’t mind.”

He’d caught Lee’s attention now.
“Really?
If you like that kind of thing, why didn’t you join the staff?”

“I can’t take journalism because of my schedule. Since I moved in from another state, I have to take a lot of classes to meet the graduation requirements here. They’re different here than at my last school.”

“Yeah, I had that problem too. Tell you what; I’ll let you know if I ever get in a bind. I’ll talk to Mr. Greeley about it too.”

“Thanks. Hey, I’ll see you at practice later, ok?”

“Yeah, see you then.”

When Will was out of hearing, I asked, “
He
plays basketball?”

Lee grinned at the disbelief in my voice. “What, doesn’t he look like an athlete to you? Actually, he’s got some mad ball handling skills. He’s a little on the small side, but I’ve got Coach about half convinced that he should be our point guard. Will’s working his butt off for the job too.”

“Well, I hope he gets it. He seems like a nice guy.”

“He is - much nicer than Michael Fine.” He popped open a can of soda he’d brought with him and added, “You should stay away from that guy.”

This irritated me a little. “Look, he followed me over here. What was I supposed to do?”

“Tell him that you aren’t interested.
Unless of course, you are?”

“Hardly.
What’s going on? You seem really on edge.”

Lee sighed. “Sorry. It’s not easy seeing other guys drooling all over you and not be able to do anything about it.”

“You seemed to manage ok with Michael.”

“Yeah, but for how long?
Until the next time he catches you alone?
I mean, this just being friends thing was bad enough before, but now that almost every guy on my team is after you, it’s going to drive me crazy.”

“What’s the deal with that, anyway? They’ve never paid any attention to me before.”

“I don’t know. From some of the things they’ve been saying all morning, they’ve been checking you out for a while. I guess it’s kind of like herd mentality. If one guy likes a girl, they all want her.”

“Well, relax.
I
don’t want any of
them
, and they’ll all forget about me again in a few days. But that isn’t the only thing that’s crazy. I’ve been getting evil looks and trash talk from cheerleaders all day long. I should be a total social leper right now, but I’m not. I’ve had people I barely know treating me like their best friend all day.”

“That’s how fickle people are.”

“Yeah, I know. It’s crazy how easy it was to change the status quo around here, even if it is temporary.”

“Just remember it can swing the other way too. And have you seen Katie Edwards today? She’s walking around like she wants to be invisible.”

I grimaced.
“Really?
I guess she’s getting crap from the other cheerleaders too, huh?”

Lee nodded before adding, “And Jordan is parading Tyson around like he’s some kind of prize bull.”

“Tyson is dating
Jordan
?”

Lee nodded. “Apparently they started going out over the weekend. I’m not sure if it’s to make me jealous or you, but it’s pretty obvious that she’s using him.”

“Dang it.
I’ve caused more problems than I’ve solved.”

“What problems are you trying to solve, anyway? That some people aren’t popular and you think they should be? Trust me. Being popular can suck.”

“I wouldn’t know,” I said dryly. “I’m a nerd, remember?”

Lee eyed me from head to toe, and said, “Have you looked in a mirror lately?”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, I’ve seen my crazy hair and lame style.”

“If you don’t like your style, why don’t you change it?”

“I like it fine. I just meant that I’m not the popular type."

“That’s ridiculous. You think popularity is all about image…what people think of you – but it’s more than that. It’s what you think of yourself. People can read that, you know. You’re absolutely gorgeous and you don’t seem to know it – or anyway, you don’t want anyone else to notice.”

Lee had just said I was gorgeous, which was incredibly wonderful, but this whole conversation was making me really uncomfortable. “Is this supposed to be a pep-talk or a therapy session?”

“What? Did that hit a little too close to home?”

“Look, if you really want to know why I don’t wear much make up or new clothes or get my hair styled, it’s because I would rather spend the little money I earn on my photography. I thought that stuff didn’t matter to you, but I guess I was wrong.”

“No, you weren’t. It doesn’t matter to me. I’m just trying to figure out why they don’t matter to you. You’re so focused and driven and responsible.
Do you ever do fun, normal things?”

 “Sure, but photography
is
fun for me.”

“I get that. Really, I do. It’s the same way for me with basketball. I’ve always wanted to play in college and maybe even try for the pros. For years, I worked myself hard, pushing my body to its limits and never letting anything distract me. Then, I woke up and realized that I had missed out on years of being a kid that I would never get back. That was a couple of years ago, and ever since then, I’ve tried to balance things better. I think you’re doing the same thing I did.”

“Maybe. “

“Well, think about it for a while, and I bet you’ll see I’m right.”

“Are you always this honest?”

“Always.
My
mom used make
me do chores if she caught me lying. If anything will cure a kid of doing something wrong, it’s folding his parents’ underwear.”

And just like that, he had me laughing again.

“Does that mean you aren’t mad at me anymore?” he asked.

“I wasn’t mad.”

“Really?
Because you sure glared at me a few times.
I told myself that the one benefit of not dating is that you can’t break up with me when I tick you off. In fact, it’s probably the only benefit.”

“I wouldn’t have broken up with you anyway. I might have jabbed you in the ribs or something though.”

“Yeah, because that worked out well for you last time.”

Remembering the day we took the dance team photos, I smiled and flirted with my lashes. “It did actually. It was kind of fun when you grabbed me like that.”

“Well, one thing’s for sure… I’m going to make sure you have a lot more fun from now on. I’d be more successful if you’d stop getting in the middle of so much drama though.”

“Sorry, but I don’t think that’s going to happen any time soon.”

“I had a feeling.”

Chapter 8

Did I really think that the worst the Jordan and her friends could do was beat me up or ruin my social life? I should have known better. They knew to hit me where it would hurt the most.

“Sienna, I’m sorry, but that’s my final decision.”

I looked up from my clenched hands and saw that Principal Duncan was looking grave but not unkind. “But, I was using my own camera. Those pictures are my property.”

“I understand that. You were on official school business when you took that picture however.”

“I guess I don’t understand why everyone else in this school can take pictures with their phones and post them where ever they want, but I can’t use my DSLR.”

Mr. Greeley stirred beside me. He had been silent throughout this meeting, but I could sense his disapproval. “Mr. Duncan, to make things clear, Sienna can still use her camera for journalism and yearbook, but any pictures taken on campus during school hours will be considered school property or she will no longer be allowed to take pictures here. Correct?”

Mr. Duncan nodded. “Anything taken after school hours, even on campus at school functions belong to her because the students will be there voluntarily as they would at any other public event. I understand that this issue is not directly addressed in school policy, but when students
enroll,
their parents have to sign a permission sheet allowing the school to print their photo in school publications. It’s possible that the school could suffer legally over the photos being put up on private blogs without their knowledge or permission.”

“And you’ve had complaints, haven’t you?” I asked.

“From several of the cheerleaders and their parents,” he replied, confirming my suspicions.

“I can’t believe they’re making such a big deal out of this,” I said.

Mr. Duncan hesitated a moment over his words and finally said, “I know there was nothing inherently harmful or inappropriate about your photo. The problem is really with the comments, which you’ve assured me you didn’t participate in. I think that if you will remove the negative and hurtful comments, it would go a ways towards pacifying some of the concerned parents. You can do that, correct?”

“Yes, I can. I should have thought to do that before now. I’m sorry.”

“Well, that’s that then. I hope that you will continue to find opportunities to grow your skills here at school. That is, after all, what we hope to achieve for every student. I would appreciate your cooperation in this.”

I nodded my head, knowing that he was trying to be fair even as he tried to protect the school. If teenage girls were cruel and vindictive, their mothers often proved to be worse when protecting their darlings.

“Well, if that’s all,” Mr. Greeley said, “Sienna and I should get back to class. We have a deadline tomorrow.”

A few minutes later, Mr. Greeley and I walked silently back to class. It might have seemed weird walking so casually around school with a teacher, but my thoughts were far away and I barely noticed he was there except for the click clack of his crutches.

My experiment was over.

“You know, Sienna, school isn’t the only place teenagers hang out.”

I stopped and tried to figure out what he was talking about.

Mr. Greeley swung around to face me and said, “If you want to capture who these kids really are, you need to catch them in a different background anyway – one that will show who they really are. No one is truly themselves at school.”

Wow. Where did this wise, compassionate version of Mr. Greeley come from? Had it been hiding under his shaggy beard all these years?

“I see what you mean. Thanks.”

“No problem. It’s time you had a little fun anyway.”

We started walking again, but I couldn’t help arguing. “Photography
is
fun.”

“No, Sienna. For you it is a passion – an all-consuming dream. Fun is something else entirely.”

We walked into the yearbook room then. Lee and Walter Burns, our student editor, were having a contest to see who could toss the most paper clips in a plastic cup. The rest of the staff was watching and cheering each successful toss. Hearing the door open, Lee looked over and smiled. That’s when I knew what Mr. Greeley meant.

“What was that all about?” Lee asked.

“I’ll tell you about it later,” I answered. “Hey, would you be up for a little party tonight?”

I loved the way his eyebrows went up when he was surprised or intrigued. I think he was both right then.
“On a Tuesday night?”

“Sure, I want to celebrate surviving the week so far.”

“Dare I hope I’m the only one you’re inviting?”

I laughed but shook my head. “Sorry, but my mom would never go for that. She won’t mind if I have several friends over though. It’ll give her a chance to get to know you.”

“She’ll be there huh?” Even his grimaces were cute.

“Yeah, but she’ll probably stay in her studio most of the time. I’ll invite Marisol over. Why don’t you bring a friend?”

“Ok, sure. What time?”

“How about seven?”

“Sounds good.
Now watch this. I’ve made 8 out of 12 so far,” he said, picking up another paperclip.

*****

Every day after school, from 4:00 to 6:30, you could find me behind the counter at Foster’s Photos. Foster’s was the only independently owned photography business in Haskins. We sold cameras and photography equipment, printed photos, and taught workshops. I’d been working here since the summer after my sophomore year, and I’d learned a lot about photography along the way. It was the best job in the world.

But today, I couldn’t wait for the clock to tick around to 6:30 so I could leave.

We got a sudden rush of customers at 5:45 and by the time they’d all been taken care of, I saw that if I was going to order pizza in time for me to pick it up on the way home, I needed to do it now. I got my phone and began to look up the number when I got a text from Parker. He wanted to know what I was doing tonight.

I groaned, but I knew he’d be hurt if he found out I’d had friends over and didn’t invite him. I hesitated a moment, then texted him back.

Having some friends over.
Wanna
come?

I’ll be there. Who’s coming?

Marisol, Lee, and maybe others.
Not sure.

Fun times.
Still coming.

 I laughed when I saw his response. He wasn’t a big fan of Marisol, but he especially seemed to have a problem with Lee.

I called and ordered the pizza, hoping I got something everyone would like. Then I called Marisol and asked if she could round up one of her friends to come over so we would have even numbers. My mom had agreed to let me have some friends over, but luckily I hadn’t said how many.