Chambers

Chapter Three

Xavier walked forward and began to speak. "You all will be working as a D.I.S. which stands for Digital Image Specialist. You will be creating digital images of characters or scenery, while others of you will be writing scripts and planning story lines. We want you to be as creative as you would like."

Damian rose his hand.

"Yes... Damian?" Xavier said as he quickly flashed his eyes to Damian's name tag and then back to Damian.

"Not to seem rude, but why are we called 'Digital Image Specialists' if some of use won't be creating digital images?" asked Damian.

"Well..." Xavier hesitated. "Our main focus is to create a type of film by putting together your characters, animation layouts, and story lines."

"I will just leave you all to your work, it looks like you have things under control, Xavier," interrupted Mrs. Zacharias as she exited the room.

Xavier then walked over to his desk at the front of the room. He must have pressed something on the desk because the wall in the front of the room flipped, like in most mystery books and movies. On the wall now stood a movie-esc screen. Xavier then fumbled with the computer mouse and keyboard until there was a list of all of our names projected on the screen. Beside each name was written either characters, scenery, or writer. The screen appeared as the following:

Venus Abbot- scenery
Nadia Cline- characters
Tyrus Dewlter- writer
Warren Fannett- characters
Caspian Howler- scenery
Jessamine Krum- scenery
Israel Lowry- scenery
Damian Menalter- characters
Ivory Oren- characters
Aspen Striker- writer

I was surprised to see that Tyrus and I were the only ones who were assigned writers. I didn't worry about it or ask questions. There was no point because I knew that they wouldn't change anything.

"Alright, I need my two people in charge of writing to to come to the front of the room. You will each need to form a team of two scenic and two character designers to work alongside you to create a film. The film can be about whatever you want. Due to common courtesy, Aspen will choose first," said Xavier.

"I choose Jessamine as my first scenic designer," I said and Jessamine flashed me a quick smile.

"Now you Tyrus," nodded Xavier.

"I want Israel as my scenic designer," said Tyrus. I was surprised that he didn't choose Caspian. Maybe he knew Israel. Either way it was good for me, now I could choose Caspian.

"I'll take Caspian," I said.

"Alright, that leaves you with Venus," Xavier said to Tyrus. "Now onto character designers."

"I'll take Ivory," I stated. She had ginger hair in a cut similar to Nadia's and seemed to be kind. I thought she would be a good addition to the team.

"I want Nadia," Tyrus quickly snapped.

"I'll take Damian," I said. I knew that he would make a great addition to the team.

"That means you've got Warren," said Xavier to Tyrus. He responded with a slight nod.

"Now that the teams are set, we are ready to get to work," said Xavier. "Everyone, go stand with your teams and stay back." Xavier lifted a panel from the wall that revealed a black circular button. He pressed the button and the desks were sucked down into the floor. We then heard a little bit of clinking as the desks were brought up in a new set up. A wall then arose between the two congruent setups of desks. In each setup, there was a large desk that faced the other two. One of the two smaller desks was for the scenic designers and the other for the character designers.

"You may now take your new seats," said Xavier, motioning us to sit down.

As we took our new seats, it hit me that I would be leading our group. This made me some what nervous, but I knew I could get the job done. "Alright Aspen, what's the plan for our film?" Caspian asked.

"I don't want to feel like I'm the only one making decisions, I want you guys to contribute just as much as I do..." I said, trailing off.

"You are our group's leader," said Jessamine.

"Why don't we all throw out some ideas? We can all decide on one together. I think that if we all work together and feed off one another's ideas-"

"Aspen, can I speak with you?" Xavier asked, cutting me off.

"Ummm... yeah," I said.

"Don't worry," said Damian.

"Yeah, we will just start working on coming up with ideas," said Ivory. I smiled at them and then followed Xavier.

We entered a room that was separate from the one everyone else occupied.

"You're different," Xavier said to me.

"Different?" I questioned.

"Yeah, you're not like the others."

"What do you mean?"

"You're special."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You're much more intelligent than the rest."

"I don't like to talk about it."

"I'm surprised that you haven't figured it out yet."

"Figured what out?"

"What you're doing here. And just exactly where here is."

"Do you know?"

"Well of course."

"Did they tell you?"

"No, they don't tell us anything."

"Then how did you find out?"

"I'm smart enough, like you."

"If I'm smart enough, then tell me."

"Oh, I can't do that sweetheart."

"Why not?"

"You're a smart girl. You can figure it out yourself." He looked me up and down. "Once you find out, we can talk again."

"How do I do it?"

"Can't tell you, sweetheart."

"Stop calling me sweetheart. You're not that much older than me."

"I'm 16, sweetie."

"Okay, well then you're only a year older than me, so don't treat me like a child."

"I'm not treating you like a child."

"Yes you were... Sweetheart," I snapped.

"Are you trying to flirt with me?" He said smooth as silk.

"Is that what you were attempting with me?" I asked in a flirty tone.

"Maybe," he said, his voice dreamy. "Now go and get back to your group. We can talk again once you find out."