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Chapter 1

New York's most prestigious photography company, "Clairemont Photography and Videography", just closed a deal with The New York Times for a monthly issue.

Speaking of Clairemont Photography and Videography, Aaliyah Lynn Raynott was a lower-level photographer for their documentation department. She took and edited the photos but usually just did routine photography for church services and weddings. She hadn't been at the company long, more like a few months, so they didn't give her big things like travel opportunities.

Aaliyah was editing a small, local church's new advertisement at her desk when her phone rang. She picked the phone up and heard Mrs. E.R. Clarke's voice, her boss', telling her to come to her office. There was, in her words, "big news" that needed to be discussed.

She sipped her coffee and took a deep breath before telling Aaliyah, "So, Miss Faye. You're an experienced photographer, right?" After receiving a confused nod, she paused and continued, "Well if that's the case, we want you to travel to Louisville Kentucky, and photograph some things for a New York Times magazine article about Amish living practices. Do you think you'll be interested?"

"Of course I'm interested! I want to go, please." Aaliyah began begging Mrs. E.R. Clarke, in hopes that she could finally go on her first photography trip, something she'd dreamed about ever since she got the news of her hire.

She handed her a binder full of names and places, sipped her coffee, and did a "shoo" -ing hand movement as her office phone rang.

"Have a nice day, ma'am!" She said haphazardly as she ran back to the elevator and down to her desk. She heard the sound of keys clicking together when the elevator opened and she ran to the desk even faster now; Arabella, her best friend and work partner, was there.

Arabella worked at the company much longer than she did but they were at about the same skill level, they usually went on duo projects together. Arabella was a- previously- small town wedding photographer who moved to New York on a photography scholarship to NYU.

"Arabella! Oh my gosh, you won't believe it!" She choked out through her pants, "Mrs. Clarke called me up to her office and finally offered me a summer mission!" She was running to her desk and frantically spreading the papers out on their, very small, shared desk, "Look! I get to stay with an Amish family until August and photograph their lifestyle, I'm so-"

She was cut short, as usual. People never really let her finish sentences.

"Hold; Aaliyah, look at the next paragraph. You can't photograph their faces, how are you going to take pictures? You're either only going to get below their neck or their back and that's pretty awkward and sends the wrong message," Arabella continued, sifting through the thousands of papers and, pointing out all the red flags she could find, "Also, you're staying with somebody's son, in a one-story house. What are you going to do?-- You can't just sleep in the same bed as a guy you just met, Aaliyah."

Classic Arabella; Ruining things for others because of her worries."I'll just email them and ask for accommodations and-" Aaliyah got cut off by Arabella, as usual.

"They're Amish, you idiot, you'd have to send a letter by pigeon."

"Oh, yeah..." She trailed off, thinking about how she could fix this chaos she created.

Later that day...

On her walk home, Aaliyah and Arabella stopped at the Starbucks next to the office and got some snacks while they worked on some old pictures that needed editing. The silence grew thicker and thicker by the minute until Arabella cut it in half with the worst sentence possible.

You know where this article is ending up, right A?"

Aaliyah sighed, she didn't want to talk about it because now she was regretting it. "Yes, I know, it's going in the New York Times and yes, I know I'm stupid for traveling 12 hours to stay with a man I don't know, in a state I've never been to,"

"I-" Arabella tried to interject

"... and I know I'm probably not going to get credited-"

"But-" 2nd time the charm, not really though, "... and I know I'm not going to end up getting much money from this trip because I-"

"AALIYAH!" Everyone in the store whipped their heads around to see who screamed her name, and it was of course New York's Loudest Photography Assistant, Arabella Renee. "Shut up, Arabella, oh my goodness!" She said, half waiting for a response, half wanting to run and hide. She could feel the entire coffee shop's eyes burning into the back of her head, "I'll shut up when you get some common sense. You're living inside a romance novel and I'm not going to let you get sucked in. You can't go on this trip!"

It started raining, of course, Aaliyah's luck. She grabbed her tote bag and left the coffee shop after dropping a tip in the jar on the barista's counter and apologizing. Arabella ran after her, grabbing her arm with all the dramatic force in her body.

"Arabella, if you think it's such a bad idea, you should let me go and figure it out. That's the only way I can do anything by myself, is if you let me. I just want to try, let me try." Aaliyah sighed, every ounce of hope in her body was draining just as fast as the rain was draining into the street grates.

"Fine. But, on one condition" Arabella was pleading, she seemed desperate so Aaliyah nodded "I want to come with you. I just want to make sure you're safe."

"...Okay. You can come..." Aaliyah just wanted to get out of the rain at this point, she was tired and wet and hungry and, don't know if you could tell but, tired?

"Let's go!" Arabella seemed to perk up like she just got a switch flipped to 'On'

Arabella grabbed Aaliyah's arm even tighter and pulled her down the road back to her apartment so they could pack for the impending doom that was the Kentucky road trip.