Lenses

Chapter One

Saturday morning, 7:30 am, sunny bright day. It was absolutely gorgeous outside. I hoped in the shower to get ready for the day. It was a little hot, so I wore some shorts and a t-shirt along with some white Converse. I grabbed my camera, keys, and sunglasses and headed out the door. The drive to the park was about 20-25 minutes, but it didn't seem to take long with me singing as loud as I could.

I got to the park at around 9:00 and started taking pictures right away. It was late August and most of the leaves were turning a lovely bright red-orange color. My favorite place to take pictures is by the pond. There's a huge oak tree that goes over a little of the pond. As I take pictures, some of the ducks usually start getting closer. That's my absolute favorite because I love taking pictures of cute animals. Chipmunks sometimes also hang out a little, but due to the time of the year, not that many came out. As I was headed to the pond, I heard someone tuning a guitar. That wasn't unusual, as many musicians come and play their instruments in order to draw a crowd or collect some change. I didn't pay much attention to it and decided to continue. It wasn't until I heard a familiar song that I actually paid attention to the guitarist.

The person was still far away, at least far enough to not be seen. I walked towards it to confirm my suspicion. I didn't know what song it was, but I knew it sounded familiar. Finally, the clock struck 10:30 am and I decided to head home. I had taken a lot of pictures, but they weren't anything stunning or impressive. I deleted all of the photos because they weren't what I wanted. Something was wrong with them. They had a good quality and the images were sharp, but there was something about them that I didn't like. As I was looking at the photographs, my phone buzzed and I got a text from Grace.

The text read,
"Hey Alexis, call me as soon as you can."

I dialed her number and the phone started to ring. She didn't hesitate to pick up.

"What do you have to tell me?" I asked.

"Well, you know how I was talking to you about that guy I met on Toosk, that dating app?" Grace asked enthusiastically.

"Um, do you mean Mikey?" I asked, not knowing who exactly she was talking about.

"Yeah. Well, he is going to a concert this Wednesday. Anyways, I just met this guy and, while I feel like I can trust him, I just want some company. Wanna go?" Grace asked.

"Do you know at what time and where it's gonna be?" I asked.

"Yeah, it's gonna be at the 505 Bar & Grill around 6:30. So, what do you say?" replied Grace.

"Sure, I got nothing planned. Are we gonna ride together or independently?" I asked.

"All together. I'll call you when we are close to your house." said Grace.

"Okay, cool. Bye." I said.

"Bye." replied Grace.

I hung up the phone and thought about the date I would be third wheeling. Grace had only known Mikey for about two months. Although, Mikey didn't seem very sketchy. Not at all. He was one of those cool, cute, nerdy boys. He wore glasses and spent most of his time on YouTube. He was a YouTuber and was pretty good at writing, directing, acting and editing. He seemed too geeky to be up to no good. Especially around Grace. Grace was like a supermodel that was rejected for some stupid reason. She was absolutely stunning. Which made me feel bad about myself because all of the boys would look at her instead of me. I was more tomboy mixed with emo, although not that much. I really had nothing to worry about. I was glad Grace was seeing new people, she kind of doesn't function if she doesn't socialize. Maybe that's the only reason she's friends with me.