Who You Say I Am (A Jai Courtney Fanfic)

Chapter 97-Meg

Meg

I arrive a little before my shift on Friday at the Y.  I get changed for my class and I pull my hair up into a high bun on top to keep it out of my face.  I can't help but smile as I carry my ballet slippers in my hand and walk to the studio.  This one is different from the others and is primarily used for children's classes.  There are mirrors along all of the walls and a low railing for practice. 
I see the girls start to trickle in and I smile and wave to them.  Once they've all arrived, I introduce myself to them.  I play some classical music and I see a few giggle.  We start out with pliés.  We do the demi first, then the grande.  They look to be having a good time.  I stop and help a couple who are struggling and they've got it down properly in no time.  I see several moms in the hall observing and I smile at them as we move onto the next move.  We practice the tendu first, where their toes are bent onto the floor, then the degage—toes bent in the air.  The ronde de jambe is next or round of the leg.  I hear the girls laughing and giggling as they practice the movements.  We run through the arabesque with each and I assist them all into position one at a time.  Next we rehearse walking around on our toes, first holding onto the railing, then not.  The girls repeat walking and jumping several times over a rope I laid on the floor since this is an introductory class for two to four year olds.  We prance back again and I tell the girls once they've completed the last jump, they can each go to their moms.  They smile and get in a single file line, each prancing and jumping.  They laugh and giggle and cheer as they finish.  When the last one is done, I tell them they did a good job today.  A mother approaches me and I hope everything is okay.  I wave to the smiling little girl. 
"Excuse me," she says. 
"Hello," I grin. 
"I just want to tell you that Maddie here really enjoyed your class," she informs me. 
"Well, I'm so glad.  She worked hard and did a great job today," I say relieved. 
"Thank you.  To be honest, the previous girl didn't have them do much.  But I think you taught her more in this class than she's done the last two months," she explains. 
"Oh, well... I hope I can continue to make the class fun and enjoyable," I tell her. 
She smiles at me, "I hope so."
I wave to them both and tell them I'll see them next week.  I'll have to plan out what else I can do since I know there are some hard moves to learn but perhaps we practice what we've already learned and combine it with others. 
I'm tempted to practice for myself but I really should get to the desk.  I think about my offer to Jai and my heart hurts.  I miss him.  I tidy up the room and take my slippers off walking to the locker room to change.  I finish and I sigh gratefully that I won't have to deal with those two women again.  I recall that Jai said some of his fans can get a bit weird and I'd definitely agree that those two were on the obsessive side. 
I watch the desk and check people in.  I finish out my shift and head out, eating my late lunch in the car and then driving to the lab at the museum. 
There are no classes today and not many people are using the lab.  I only see two people using private rooms so I take over several enlargers in one of the large rooms—it's actually the smaller of the two group rooms but I doubt anyone will want to work in here with me since I'll ruin their paper with this lighting.  It's just that this technique requires a specific process, not a typical photographic process.  I have several ultraviolet bulbs that I used for my previous project and I'll just switch the bulbs out and switch them back when I'm done.  I pull a dark curtain to block the light from leaking to another room.  I think about testing one image on a test strip since I know this could take a while.  But then I realize I'm using several different enlargers and it's possible that they all will be different.  Generally the exposure can range from thirty minutes to six hours.  I actually have eight bulbs so I could do this in two rounds.  I just have to figure out the exposure time of each.  Last time was forty-five minutes for my whole series but there are lots of different variables—from outdoor to indoor, landscape to portrait... just so many differences. 
I figure that I'll set up the eight machines.  I prepare them by switching the bulbs and putting my contact negatives in place.  I decide to pull out a few of my test sheets.  I rip four of them in half.  I get a large clean piece of glass for each to flatten the paper since it's not quite flat and I need it to be.  I put the strips into place.  I decide to test them by doing three sections for timing on each.  I figure thirty minutes, forty-five minutes, and one hour should hopefully do it for my exposures.  If it's longer, I'll just have to run another set of tests.  I begin by covering part of each paper up with a box or notebook.  I'll move each over at the appropriate increment for the exposure to light.  While I wait, I set up another room out in the light.  I decide to make a water bath with a small amount of vinegar to bring out the mid tones so the image isn't high contrast.  The next is a water bath.  The last has a bit of hydrogen peroxide in it to help the image to darken quickly to where I want it to be.  Generally, the prints would darken over time but I'll need them ready right away.  It won't harm the longevity of the print, though.  I go back to the darkroom and move the covers over.  I wait another fifteen minutes and move them off completely.  I wait the last half hour feeling a little antsy. 
When the time has finally elapsed, I remove the eight tests and turn the lights off for now.  I take the papers to the other room for development.  I stick them into the vinegar-water and agitate them for a minute, making sure they're not touching.  I pull them each out and they look good.  I stick them into the water bath and wash them gently until they look done.  Then, I put each of them into the hydrogen peroxide bath.  The blue darkens quickly and they look amazing.  Each exposure looks good.  I'd have to say the thirty minute exposure looks a little washed out and the hour is slightly overexposed.  I guess I was worried about nothing and my time will be forty-five minutes just like the others I did before.  I sigh in relief that this won't take me much longer than a couple hours to complete today.  I'll just have to try to dry them afterwards. 
I set up my papers and begin the exposure setting a timer.  I wait outside of the darkroom.  A former classmate of mine walks into the lab. 
"Oh, hey Megan.  How's it going?" Darren asks.  He's in his third year.  He's a little shorter than me with black hair and blue eyes.  He's always been so friendly. 
"I'm okay.  How are you?" I ask. 
"Good," he replies.  "So, what're you doing here?  I thought you graduated."
"I did," I nod.  "But I saw they needed a lab assistant so I volunteered.  It gets you access to the lab."
"Oh, that's cool.  I didn't know that," he says nodding like I just blew his mind. 
"Yeah," I agree smiling. 
"So are you working in the lab now?" he asks. 
"No, I'm actually working on a project of my own," I say. 
"What kind?" he questions. 
I tell him about my cyanotype series.  He asks what that is and I explain it to him, that it's an alternative process.  I recommend the course and he sounds interested.  I hear my alarm go off and I excuse myself.  I turn off the lights and bring back one at a time to process.  I see Darren take off his color negatives from the machine and hang them to dry.  I process the first print and it looks incredible.  I hang it up on a drying line and grab the next.  I step back in the room to process and Darren is checking out my work. 
"This is really good," he tells me. 
"Thanks," I smile as I set the paper in the first bath. 
"What is that?" he asks motioning to the bath. 
"Water and vinegar," I tell him.  I explain a bit more as I agitate and hang the print up before I grab the next.  I come back and process the next. 
"This is an awesome series.  Are you submitting them somewhere?" he asks. 
"Well, it depends.  I applied for a gallery exhibition in Chicago.  If I get it, they might want more from the same artist to fill the gallery," I say. 
"Oh, yeah.  Professor Roberts recommended me to try out for some gallery like a week and a half ago. I just got my response back," he says frowning. I almost don't want to ask.
"What'd they say?" I inquire gently.
"They rejected it," he shrugs.
"Well, at least you have more time to practice your skill. Maybe tour the galleries sometime to see what they want," I suggest.
He smiles and nods. "I think I'll do that. Thanks. Oh, I better get going. Good luck on yours," he says.
"Thanks. Bye, Darren," I wave as I hang my finished print up.
I continue on with my task, not even wanting to look at my messages until I'm finished today. I set up my next eight papers and start my timer once more. I decide to dry my other prints by hand with a hair dryer while I wait. I gently dry them on a low setting and they look so good. I'm honestly surprised. I wasn't expecting them to come out this well. I finish drying them and set them aside in a photo box. I hear my alarm go off again and I start the same process all over. I process and dry putting the images away. I pick up the darkroom and clean up my messes, then take all of my things back to my car. I sit down and start the ignition. While I wait for the engine to warm up, I check my email. I see one from the gallery and I'm nervous about opening it. I pray for God's favor on this.
I open the email... my application has been accepted. I laugh in surprise. They're asking that I submit any other artwork no later than Monday. They'll accept digital slides. I drive home giddy and I take digital photos of each image, submitting them with the image sizes. Then I wait...