SENIORS | shawmila

one.

"I'm bored, let's do something."

Camila said it for the fourth time that afternoon. It was more like evening, the sun just starting to set when she pulled down the blinds and looked through the slats in Shawn's window. The late summer sky was streaked with pink clouds and faint stars.

"You wanna go to Shelby's?" Shawn didn't look up from the computer at his desk.

She'd been watching him edit pictures all day. Sometimes, she swore he could stare at the screen for hours without blinking.

"Not really." Camila walked around Shawn's room, absentmindedly fiddling with the things on his shelves. "I don't feel like being around a lot of people."

Shawn turned in his desk chair to look at her. Camila pretended she couldn't feel his eyes on her as she put his peewee hockey trophy back on the dresser.

She knew it wasn't like her, to not want to go to the biggest party in town right now. It was the first day of school tomorrow, and Shelby's mansion was the hot spot for everyone to get in their final hours of being wasted before it was time to start studying.

She couldn't explain why she didn't want to go. It wasn't like all her friends weren't going to be there, and it was practically the only plug at their school for beer, but she just didn't.

Maybe it was the way some people always gave her a hard time when she dragged Shawn along, and she really wanted to spend the last day of summer with him.

They'd spent every summer break together since they were kids. They were only seven when he crashed his bike outside on her driveway and cried. Camila still remembered practicing her ballet moves in the inflatable pool when she heard the screaming.

She'd found a kid crying in her yard and ran inside still dripping wet in her pink swimsuit. She came back out with the first aid kit and patched him up right there. When she found out he'd just moved in down the street, she helped him wheel his bike back to his house. They were always together after that.

They spent every summer together, but things changed when they hit high school. Camila got more popular, her outgoing nature attracting more than just fellow drama club kids. Shawn seemed to shrink more inwards, sticking to his camera as his other best friend.

This meant their time together became fewer and far between when Camila was always crashing at other friends' houses for play rehearsal or random plans. And when Shawn was splitting his time between yearbook and helping at his sister's hockey league, it meant moments like this were precious.

"Aren't you done with that yet?" Camila whined, looking back at his screen.

"Yes! Done!" He closed Photoshop before shutting his laptop. "Well, not really, but I can work on it later."

"Staring at that screen too much will ruin your eyes." Camila said and Shawn smirked.

"You sound like my mom."

"Staring at that screen too much will ruin your eyes." Camila said again, this time imitating Shawn's mother. He laughed and Camila did too, loving the sound of when he really laughed and let loose.

"Okay, but I have to finish before school tomorrow. I wanna get a good job this year, not just stuck doing the stupid grounds shots. Like, I wanna take real pictures that have people in them—you know, the ones everyone is gonna actually look at?"

"You can practice on me—" Camila struck a pose. "I know I'm your favorite muse."

"I have ten-million pictures of you on my computer, Camila." Shawn chuckled. "No one's impressed."