The Girl Behind the Camera

6

I walked back to the Journalism just in time to give Luke his notebook. I had questioned all that he wanted to and he was able to write the rest of his article.

"Alrighty, you all are free to go." Mr. Nile waved everyone away. I was the first out of the room, well, I would've been...

"Ms. Jones? Can you stay behind for a few minutes?" I heaved a quiet sigh before nodding and turning to walk back into the room. He waited until everyone was gone before he turned to me.

"Alright, you'll either have to take care of your writing at home or after class. I don't want anyone becoming suspicious." I raised my eyebrows.

"And that would be a bad thing because...?" I waved my hand so he would continue.

"Your 'secret' identity would be so secret, now, would it?" I rolled my eyes before nodding.

"Good. Now you are free to leave as well." I readjusted the strap of my messenger backpack. I left without another word. Lance was standing behind the door, so when I opened the door, it hit him and he fell to the ground.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't know you were behind the door!" I meant to sound sorry, but I couldn't help but giggle.

"Yeah. You so sound like your sorry." He said sarcastically. He glared at mw, which made my giggle turn into a full on laugh. I let out a squeak when I felt his hand on my ankle. I fell when he pulled my leg towards him.

I rubbed my butt and glared at him, whom was now laughing.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't see your foot there!" He laughed harder and I wished my stare could light someone on fire because he would be dead.

"I could have hit my head again!" I knew I sounded like a whiny beat right then, but, honestly, I didn't really care. "Then my concussion would have gotten worse!" I pouted.

"Speaking of which, when are you cleared?" I glared at him.

"Probably in another few weeks. I still have a slight headache, and I have to go to the doctor when it fully goes away. Then he can tell me how much longer I have until I'm cleared."

"Sweet..." We sat there on the dirty floor of the hallways awkwardly. Who knew what was on this ground? With that thought, I quickly got up and brushed my hands on my pants. I held out a hand for Lance to help him up.

"Thanks."

"Welcome." I smiled at him before going to my locker, which was pretty close. He followed silently; I only knew he was was because he kept scraping his feet silently on the ground every few steps.

"I saw ya talking to Bryon..." I smiled at him. Was that jealousy I detect?

"Yeah. He was asking me on a date." I replayed that in my mind.

"What?!" Lance looked a little bit hurt, angry, surprised, and sad at the same time.

"No no no no no." I chuckled nervously. "He isn't taking me on a date..." Lance exhaled a huge breath. He looked relieved.

"He was asking if Sam would." Lance sucked in a breath.

"Cool..." He voice was shaky, like he was having trouble breathing.

"Are you okay?" He smiled a tight smile.

"Perfectly fine." I looked at him weirdly before grabbing my bag. Unlike many schools, we get the same locker all through highschool. When the seniors leave, the freshman get their lockers.

My locker had a lot of pictures I had taken, photos of guys I thought were cute, snapshots of famous singers and actors I liked, and a twa soccer quotes I had printed off of my computer. The senior ago had my locker had wrote things like "Smile, you're beautiful!" "It's another day, make it better than yesterday!" and, my favorite, " If you think sunshine brings you happiness, then you haven't danced in the rain." The girl who obviously wrote them, wrote in a pretty cursive in a silver sharpie. I liked to read them; they got my day going.

Lance read some of them over my shoulder as I grabbed the books I would need for my homework. I added a few that could apply to a guy. If a guy got my locker, I didn't think he would want to think he was pretty everyday.

"Anyway, I was here to see if you would help me with my English and Math." I raised my eyebrows at him.

"You perfectly know that I am not the great at those." He chuckled.

"Actually, I went to the office, and they said that you were the best in those classes." I bursted out laughing.

"Um, have you seen my grades?"

"The secretary said that they are high enough that you can become a tutor."

"Well, the expectation is obviously low then." I closed my locked shut.

"So having a minuses is low for you?"

"Well, to my mother it is." She was pretty strict on me with my grades. She wanted me to get as high grades as I could, so I could have a variety of options for college.

"Oh, well, okay then." I smiled at him. "So how 'bout it? Will you tutor me?"

I thought about my situation. This was Lance. He would tell his mother, who would tell my mother, who would make me tutor him anyway. But I didn't think I'd have time to tutor him. I still had soccer, journalism, my own homework to do. I'd also have to start training hard to make up for not being in gym because of my concussion.

But back to my mother. She would not take no for an answer. We were talking about her best friend's son here. If she could, she would do everything else for me to make sure that I could tutor him.

I sighed. "Fine. I guess I have no choice."