It's Kinda Crazy Really [L.S.]

1.9

The 4th of January, 2021

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Emma's POV

So, it's the first day back to school after break. To say I'm nervous is an understatement. Mollie isn't here and Kyle is ignoring me. I only have Taylor left, outside of the Greys. I'm currently waiting to see if Kyle will pick me up, but since it's been fifteen minutes I'm assuming the answer is no. I get up off the front step and go back inside. I let Julia know that I'm driving myself to school and I'll get a parking pass during lunch.

When I pull into the parking lot I immediately see Kyle walking into the school hand in hand with Maya. Good to know I'm that irrelevant now. I park the car and walk into the school, purposely brushing past Kyle while I make my way to maths. I briskly make it through the door and to my seat, slumping in the chair and waiting for the class to begin. I'm so focused on tuning everything out, I don't see Mrs. Walters approach me.

"Hey Em, how was your vaca- is everything okay?" she switches her words as takes notice of my mood and her eyes flit down for a second.

"My break was pretty good, and I'll be fine," I push and say nothing else. She gives me an unconvinced face.

"Emma, are you aware you wore short sleeves today?" she asks in a hushed whisper. I tense and look down at my wrists. I hide them under the desk and look away from her. She doesn't say anything else and instead walks away. She comes back and holds out one of her son's jumpers for me to wear. "I'm always here if you need to talk, just like I always have been," she reminds me before students started to trickle in. I put on the jumper just in time for no one else to see. What a way to start the day.

When I walk into my photography class, I take a seat next to Taylor and slump in my seat. "He didn't pick you up did he?" she states more than asks. I simply nod. We talked a lot on the plane ride back and got to know each other more than we already did. She knows about Kyle and Maya. I told her more than I normally tell someone who's new to my life. "Sucks, I hope she's a terrible kisser or is secretly a psychopath. Karma should bite him in the ass so either one is fine," she says.

"Taylor!" I say, trying to keep myself from smiling.

"You wanna smile, you wanna laugh I can see it," she teases as I let my smile break. "There's the smile everyone loves," she says while pinching my cheeks. I bat her hands away and laugh with her. Mr. Johnson clears his throat to gather the class' attention.

"Alright class, welcome back from break. I hope y'all remembered your projects while you were enjoying the holidays. Today is the first set of presentations. Is there anyone who'd like to go first?" he instructs. No one moves, and no one offers. I let out a sigh before taking my flash drive in my hand and walking it up to the front of the room.

"I'll go first I guess," I start while pulling up my files. "So I spent my holiday in London with my family. I decided to take pictures of special moments and tried to capture how I was feeling at that exact moment. This is the first picture I took," I show the picture of Louis and Harry walking through the front door. "This shows the warmth and happiness I felt when I entered my new home. I missed the opportunity to take the original picture, but I used the street lights and set up my brother and future brother-in-law into the positions they were in. I wanted to capture the domestic feeling and warmth I felt. I felt like I was officially being welcomed into the family because they welcomed me into their home."

I click on the next picture. "This one is one that I found, one that I didn't take myself. I don't know if it counts, but I still included it. This one was taken by my brother as my mum and I shared our first moment with each other in person. He captured the rare feelings of disbelief, joy, and sadness all in one picture. At that moment I was feeling all of those emotions and more. I met my mum in person for the first time ever, I was overwhelmed, I thought I was dreaming, and I thought it was impossible. He captured all of that. I know he knew what he was doing, he's always loved photography. He allowed the light through the windows to cast a joyful yet fantasy mood. Everything I felt in that moment is portrayed by the surroundings and in my face," I explained, look at the picture fondly.