Forever

Chapter 2 _ La Primera Foto

Valentina woke up early as usual for her 7am class. She had a full schedule this semester. 18 units, the max permitted by the university. She wanted to finish as soon as possible. She didn't mind freelancing without a degree but her dad was very serious when he said, "Get your degree, show me you will actually commit to this. I won't allow it if you just want it to be a hobby. I need you to do something with your life. If you get your BA you can even get a photography position in the company. I'll give you your own department and magazine if you want, do with it as you please. Just graduate."

She is daddy's little girl and definitely the black sheep of the family. Grupo Carvajal is run by her father and siblings, Evangelina and Guillermo. Eva is the COO and Guille is the company's lawyer. Valentina on the other hand doesn't want to be tied down by the company let alone running it. She was convinced by her father's proposal though because with that department she could bring exposure to up and coming artists, be it designers, photographers, or even models. She had it all planned out from the moment she agreed. She would make as many connections as she could for when the time came to run the department. Her family was a very influential part of society. She wasn't sure why her father chose Sacramento of all places but he built his empire nonetheless and made it what it is today. The company has enough power to get governors elected, heck even presidents if Leon chose to use his power for politics. Nonetheless he always said he would not allow the company to campaign for politicians or to get involved with shady dealings.

Valentina has been in love with photography since she was 5 years old and her parents gave her her first camera. She still has that camera, in a glass box above her editing desk as a reminder of where it all began. It's one of the things she shared with her mother and after her death it became her one true outlet.

Every Tuesday she would get up at 4am to be in class by 7 since she lives about an hour from campus. She decided to stay local because even though they have more than enough money to go to any university she wants she doesn't care about the degree as much as her father does. It helps that many of her friends also go to Sacramento State.

Valentina is effortlessly beautiful but today she wanted to put a little more effort into her being since she would be meeting with her new friend. She was very cheerful this Thursday morning and no one was awake to notice. Valentina couldn't wait until noon to see Juliana's gorgeous smile. She could not stop thinking about the girl. She decided she would get a candid shot of her smile today and post it to her photography instagram if Juliana agreed.

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Juliana woke up around 9am. She had gotten home late due to traffic. She told her parents about her new friend and that they planned on meeting the following day. Her mother Lupita was happy Juliana was finally allowing herself to make friends here. Juliana decided to hold off on telling her about Renata and the school as to avoid an argument. Her mother was going to her seventh interview since they got here. It had been hard for her to find a decent job during the day so Juliana hoped this job would finally be it for her mother. She could hear her parents' stressful chats about money issues on most nights. Her father, Macario Valdes also known as El Chino had gotten a job the very first day they arrived working for a local grocery store but it was barely enough to survive. He had to get a second job and Juliana would barely see her father on most days. Lupita was applying for a secretary position at a very prestigious company in town and if she got the job she would be earning more than enough to give her husband the opportunity to look for a better job while quitting his night job.

Juliana wanted to get a job from the moment they arrived but her parents were against that because they said that as soon as she started earning her own money she would no longer bother with school and that was something they couldn't allow. They wanted her to be someone, make something of herself. They wanted her to study a stable field, something in medicine. They were not too happy about her wanting to pursue fashion. Juliana wanted nothing more than to be a fashion designer and have her own shop.