Focus on You

Chapter Three: Part One

"Good morning, Ms. Wilson," I greeted the librarian.

"Good morning, Miss Lewis."

I found an available computer near the fiction section of the library and stuck my usb drive in the port. I put the camera's SD card in the computer and began copying pictures from the card to the drive. Once everything was finished, I signed out of the library and headed to newspaper club room, which was just next door from Dr. Cole.

"You're here, good." Ryan saw me as soon as I stepped in the room. "Show me the pictures and we'll pick them out together." Ryan led me to the back of the room where the laptop was. He chose a few photos from backstage and a few from when the acts were performing. He decided to use the picture of Kendrick with his hands held out and a smile on his face for the school website and paper. Apparently, Ryan interviewed him after the show and got some information about his upcoming endeavors. "Thank you, Eliza. It was cool working with you."

"It was cool working with you, too." I said goodbye and went to Dr. Cole's room since I still had a good thirty minutes left before school started. Mal was also in the room, talking to Dr. Cole about last night. When I walked in, their conversation dropped and their eyes were on me.

"There's the star." Dr. Cole announced. "How was your first outsider?" He asked, referring to last night's assignment.

I smiled shyly, barely revealing my braces. "I think I did really good."

"Good? You did better than good," Mal added his two cents in.

I couldn't stop smiling at the compliments I was receiving as I walked towards them with my camera in my hands.

"These are nice, E. You did good. I'm proud of you." Dr. Cole praised my work. "I'm thinking of making you Mal's shadow. Whatever assignments he get, you get as well."

I looked at Mal to see his reaction. Surprisingly, he seemed to be okay with it. He moved closer to me to see the photos on the camera. "You take great photos." He said.

I thanked him quietly as the ten minute bell rang.

"Alright, I'll catch you guys later," Mal said as he slung his bag over his shoulder and left.

"I need to process a few photos. Kendrick had a mini photo shoot last night at the museum," I joked. "Could you write me a pass to first hour?"

"Mrs. Jones, right?"

"Yes, sir." I rushed to a room in the back of the classroom that had the photo printer. I moved as quick as I could, picking out the pictures and editing then, making sure they looked okay. I printed about ten pictures total; all the pictures we took backstage and and a few pictures that I liked of him on stage.

*

"Girls! Get down here, now!" Ms. Frankie yelled. Three girls rushed towards the living area, including Cori. I took my time down the stairs and stayed at the third to last step from the bottom. I leaned over the railing to see what was going on.

"We have a new member of the house. This is Mina."

"Hi, Mina," the girls said in unison.

"Mina this is Sarah, Cori, Tasha, and that's Eliza." Ms. Frankie pointed at me. I waved awkwardly.

I studied her as she stood there waiting for her instructions on what to do next. She was tall and skinny. Her skin was very bright and you could tell she was mixed. She had curly dark brown hair with a black beanie cap and wore make up. She was very pretty. I admired her choice of clothing: black crop top with high waisted stone-washed jeans and Sienna Miller floral print Dr. Martens.