ghost of you

prologue

cliff's pov

If I would go back in time, the first thing I would do is go back to the moment where I met Dominic Hoffman for the first time. It was when we were freshmen in high school and my mom meanwhile was practically begging me to join an extra curricular, but I didn't budge. Looking back, I wish I would've begging her to join one instead. But since I couldn't change the future, things ended up on course and I ended up in a photography club. A thing I had no interest in, but went along with it anyways. And when I did, that's how I saw him. He was the complete opposite of me. His eyes basically shined as he took his seat, his camera already in hand and ready to go. And I couldn't help but feel embarrassed. Not for me, but for him. It seemed like no one was that obsessed with taking pictures as he was. And when it was introduction time, he said you should just seize the moments of the good times you had and to never forget them. He said that sometimes life gets bad and you need a good push to get you through life. That's how he started taking pictures. It was obvious that everyone in the room felt very surprised and motivated by this freshman's passion, but my expression stayed the same through the entire thing. And when it was my turn immediately up next, I said my name, said I was forced to be here, and sat down. And just like that; the tension was back to where it was before Dominic's whole speech. I remember looking to see if it bothered him, like I hoped it would, but he was just fiddling with his camera with a smile. He wasn't even paying attention to me. So, I sourly crossed my arms and looked away from him. If he didn't give me any attention, then I wouldn't give him any. And that's how it was for awhile until-! The project got announced. I almost wanted to put a gun to my head then and there. Not only was I wasting my time doing this club that I didn't even want to do, but I had to do a project on it too? It sucked. And to be honest, something like that would still suck to me. That though, was when-! I felt a tap on my shoulder and I turned to see Dominic, brightly smiling at me. "We're the only freshmen here, so wanna be partners?" He asks me, joyfully. Definitely too joyful for my liking. "Yeah, but you're gonna be doing all the work." I mumble and he shrugs, "That's fine." I end up being surprised by his reaction, raising my eyebrow at him. Something felt a little off, but it didn't really matter to me at the time as I closed my eyes to relax. He said he was gonna be doing my work, so it doesn't matter what happens. "For the project," He starts and I peep one eye open at him, "do you wanna go by the beach? I feel like it'd be really cool to take some shots of the waves and the sand and the seashells and stuff." I shrug once again, "Yeah sure whatever." If only I knew how much he meant to me when I was young.