menace | teen wolf

14.

"What is x?" Dylan was zoned out. "Dylan."

    She jumped. "Oh, um, seventeen?" she answered slowly.

    Her tutor, Miss Julia Vanbeak, shook her head. "It's fifteen."

    "I'm getting closer though." Julia shook her head, disapointingly. "Sorry."

    After the park, and her very awkward encounter with Matt, her, Austin and Pepsi had to go home. She had been in her tutoring session for three hours now. It was currently five-thirty. Kayla had come home an hour ago. She was in the living room with Austin and Pepsi watching cartoons and colouring. The boys still hadn't arrived. Charlie probably at Lisa's and Elijah at lacrosse practice. Lucinda and Benjamin were staying back at the store a little later than usual.

    As Julia continued explaining her maths, Dylan looked at her watch. Only half an hour left. She was bored out of her mind, but she needed to do it. She wanted to get her grades up. Gerard had told her parents that if she failed her final exams, she'd be repeating. And she really did not want to repeat sophomore year.

    Half an hour later and she was finally free. As Julia was leaving, Charlie and Elijah arrived at home. Charlie was still enjoying the fact that Dylan had finally gotten into so much trouble. Elijah, however, was actually kind of proud of her, that she was trying to change.

    Dylan headed out to the shed to develop some photos. Kayla had noticed and asked if she could join. "Okay," Dylan said, bending down to be at eye-level with her. "But you have to promise you won't mess with the chemicals, okay? They're dangerous."

    "Got it!"

    "Okay, great," she chuckled. She stood up straight and took Kayla out the back door of their house and to the shed that Benjamin and Lucinda had designed just for Dylan. They wanted Dylan to feel at home. When she showed up with her darkroom camera, they decided they could turn the shed into a darkroom so she could develop her photos.

    Around the sides were all red safe lights in order to produce the photos. The reason for having red light ensured the paper didn't get ruined because nearly all darkroom papers are orthochromatic - which means they are partially blind to red light. Therefore they can be handled under dim red light without exposing them and ruining the paper.

    A cupboard pushed up against the wall filled with chemicals and materials.

    A desk beside it with an enlarger on top. An enlarger is a special kind of projector used to create the photographic prints. By shining light through the negative, it transfers the image from the small negative and enlarges it onto the photo paper. It is the most important piece of equipment in the darkroom.

    Another desk on the opposite side with trays of the chemicals for the photo paper. They are used to hold the developer, stop and fix when printing. There was also be a wash bath. The paper is moved from tray to tray through the developing process. They are designed to allow the chemicals to flow around the print while it's gently agitated. These are simple, but vital when it comes to printing in the darkroom. When moving from tray to tray, it's used with print tongs so as to not touch the chemicals. Each tray with its own tongs.

    And rope across the ceiling to hang wet photos.

    Dylan started by grabbing out her newly developed film from the film dryer cabinet. "Can I see the photos?" asked Kayla. Dylan nodded and took Kayla and the photos out of the shed so she could see them. "They're so good, Dyl!"

    "Thanks, Kayla." She handed the photos back to her and the two girls headed back inside.

    Dylan put the strip of film under the enlarger then moved over to the cabinet to grab out a sheet of photo paper. She chose a photo she took during the school's lacrosse training. After a few seconds of light flashed onto the paper, she moved it over to her chemical station where she dropped it into the developer. After a minute, she transferred it to the stop. Thirty seconds later, it was then transferred to the fix and after two minutes, to the wash.