Capture It

*Three months ago*

Click. Click. Click.

My friends, decked in full costume, were gliding across the stage singing. I smiled to myself and raised the camera back up to shield my face. Thank goodness for dress rehearsals, and only being a part of the second act. Willy Wonka was one of my favorite movies, but to actually be in it? And be my favorite charafter? No way.

There's only one problem. I look like someone has hit me with a bus, while I was wearing a trash bag spray painted green and covered with neon green duct tape. Oh, and a smurf threw up in my hair.

I was an Oompa Loompa. An ugly, creepy, scare the shit out of little kids, monster under the bed Oompa Loompa. And people wondered why all night I hid behind the safety of my camera. My camera made me happy, made me feel so much safer.

And it was so easy to hide behind.

I snapped myself out of my thoughts just to catch the button pose of Act One. Then the curtains shut, and it was time for me to make my appearance. I set my camera on top of my backback in the theatre seat and rushed to get into my suit and get backstage.

Once I was changed, I started my normal anxiety pacing ritual. Pace, stop, look around, sing to myself, repeat. Everyone gave me weird looks. I just said screw them and continued.

The lights rose onstage, and I snuck into postion on stage right. I still got a rush of energy every time I prepared to step onstage for my scene. The chocolate river came and left smoothly, and I exited to prepare for the dance. I slumped back onstage to start the first dance.

"Oompa Loompa doompaty do. I've got a perfect puzzle for you." A small orange light kept flickering in the darkness of the house. My baby! Someone was taking pictures! I panicked, but then remembered I had given permission to Cally, a townsgirl and a good friend, to take pictures since I wasn't able to. Though...now I actually had to be in pictures, not just take them.

I hate pictures of myself.

Once rehearsal was over I raced up to Cally. "Camera!" I gasped, out of breath from running around backstage. She handed it over and I clutched it to my chest.

"Sheesh Alice. You love that camera." Cally said skeptically, watching me cradle my camera.

I scoffed. "Jazzy is my baby! I love her!" She gave me another weird look.

"Jazzy. Really."

I stuck my tongue out. "Yes Jazzy." I ran off, hoping to get out of my nasty suit.

Once I was changed, I gathered my backpack and other miscelanious objects scattered in the theatre seats and ran outside, eagar to get home and see all the photos I took.

My dad's car was in front of the line of waiting parents, the silver car gleaming with headlights reflecting off it in the dark night. I grinned and jogged faster, not caring that Jazzy was bouncing against my hip. My dad greeted me with a smile as I piled into the passanger seat of the car.

"Good rehearsal?" He asked, bewildered by my dark circles of make up around my eyes and the blue streaks in my hair, which was tamed into a ballerina bun.

"The best!" I laughed, remembering all my photos I took. "I got a ton of photos, and I just can't wait to upload them." My dad just gave me another bewildered look on my appearance and sighed.

"Darn theatre kids." I stuck my tongue out at him and we drove out of the high school parking lot.

* * * I sat back and looked proudly at my work. 297 photos of the cadt members, off stage, on stage, in costume, and not. Perfect.

As soon as I was finished posting and tagging people in pictures, comments started popping up like wildfire. One though, caught my eye. It was Maria, an outgoing friend of mine.

'These pictures are amazing Alice...but when are you going to get in them yourself? You can't hide from the world and everything in it by hiding behind Jazzy's lens.'

I was frozen. Did she really say that?

AN- So it starts out true. Willy Wonka, me running around taking pictures blah blah blah. Anyways, it won't be true now, except for when I may use events that I did take pics. Below in the comments is the link to the ACTUAL Willy Wonka album with all 297 photos. And I am actually in some of them. (:

~Watson