Say Cheese

Chapter 2 - Mr Moody

"Do you like my camera?"

I have to laugh. Eve's bright pink camera is covered with flower stickers and silver glitter.

"How are you even my best friend?" I ask sarcastically.

"It's because you love me so much," she replies, flicking her hair in a cocky manner, "Also, I did your makeup this morning."

"And I'm eternally grateful," I reply with a short laugh.

"You should be," she jokes, "Thanks to me, you look like a Victoria's Secret model on the first day.

She's right. Not about the Victoria's Secret thing, but thanks to Eve, I actually look decent.

She let me borrow her white flowery dress which I wore with my pair of crème coloured flats, which had bows on them.

My plain brown hair is straightened and worn as a French braid on the side.

My makeup is nicely done by the royal highness, Eve Martinez, who may I add, is a pro at eyeliner.

"Sure, I bet all the boys will be swooning," I grumble sarcastically in response.

"I'm sure they will be," she laughs, then glances at something behind us and her smile fades.

We're walking to block C, where all the lessons are taking place. Other students are walking around us, chatting excitedly about the coming summer.

Eve turns back to me, a frown on her face and she's about to say something but is interrupted by a high-pitched voice behind us.

"Look who it is. Flora and Eve. Sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G." The girls behind us burst into fits of giggles and Eve and I roll our eyes.

I turn around with a nonchalant expression on my face and reply to Alison Black, "Hey Alison! Long time no see. How's it going with Darren?"

This earns a laugh from Eve and Alison flushes.

Last year, everyone knew Alison was involved in a secret relationship with our instructor Darren but he broke up with her by telling her he was gay; so ever since, I've constantly been teasing her about it.

You see, Alison and I have hated each other ever since the first day I joined the summer camp, five years ago, when I accidentally pushed her into a pool.

She still holds that grudge against me, because according to her, hanging me upside down from a tree tied up wasn't good enough revenge for her, so to this day, she along with her sidekick Amelia Starr and boyfriend Liam Hayes, still like to make fun of me for their own satisfaction.

When we finally reach block C, we're shown to our classrooms. I look at my timetable to see that now we have one hour to get to know each other and find out what we're doing for our course this year.

Then we have a little 20 minute break, and after that, we go on a hike, and take photos. In the evening, we get to have 1 hour of fun in the indoor swimming pool.

Eve's reading over my shoulder, "Swimming! Yay, I always love the first day."

"We still have to go on a hike, though," I give a low chuckle as we enter the classroom.

The boys are already here. There's around ten of them, and I must admit, some of them are pretty cute.

There's a woman at the front, who I've never seen before but I'm just grateful we don't have Darren this year.

"Hi girls, I'm Madison," she welcomes us as all twelve of us pile into the classroom, "And I'll be your teacher for this summer. I have already chosen your seats so you will have to listen very carefully. These partners will be your partner for the rest of the summer."

I inwardly groan. What if I have to sit next to Alison?

....

Fortunately I don't have to sit next to Alison.

Unfortunately I do have to sit next to Mr Moody.

Well, his name isn't actually Mr Moody. I just call him that, because he is by far the most moodiest person I have ever met.

I did try to talk to him, I really did, but the guy was in a really cranky mood and was not having it.

"Hi," I start the conversation, being a nice person and all.

"Hi," he grunts and looks out of the window. He has nice hair.

"So, what's your name?"

Grunt. "Drake."

"Surname?" I ask curiously, I seem to find surnames so interesting.

"Parker."

"Cool, I'm Flora Hunter," I hold my hand out for him to shake but he ignores me, so I awkwardly just try and make it seem like I'm scratching my ear. "So where are you from in America?"

"Texas," he seems reluctant to answer.

"That's cool, my mum was brought up there. So, do you like photography?"

Grunt. "If I didn't, why would I be here?" He replies rudely.

I dismiss his rudeness as him being home sick. "What's your favourite colour?"

He ignores me.

"Favourite TV show?"

"Look, can you not talk to me so much, please!" He exclaims, finally looking at me.

Wait... wow.

I'm kind of an anti-social alien so I don't talk to boys often but... wow. Mr Moody a.k.a Drake Parker has a beautiful face.

Seriously, his face is so beautiful, I almost forget how much of a jackass this guy seems to be.

After a moment of being lost in a pair of intense blue eyes, I come to my senses, put my middle finger in the air and then look away, to keep my dignity.

I hear a chuckle behind me. His laugh is...wow.

"Okay guys," Madison silences the room, "Pleased to see you've all made some new friends (I fight the urge to snort). So I know that all of you have been coming to this camp for several years, so there's no point going over the rules.

However, since all of you are aged either fifteen or sixteen, and this is the last summer of photography classes for you, this is going to be quite special. You and your partner are going to produce a portfolio of photos you've both taken, you can choose how you wish to present it, the choice is yours.

These will be put forward for a competition, where many prizes can be won but the winning pair will each receive a camera worth 200 dollars and a plane ticket to any country in the world!"

The classroom is silent. I can sense that everyone is as shocked as I am. None of the previous years were given the chance to win prizes as expensive as this.

I blink furiously, trying to ask my mind to stop playing tricks on me.

Madison smiles, "I can see that my words have had quite an effect on you. But don't worry. I know that everyone in the room is capable of winning these prizes. It will be a tough competition but I'll leave you to discuss it between yourselves."

There's an uproar. Everyone is excited. I look at Mr Moody next to me. His expression is indifferent.

I sigh and lean back in my chair. It's obvious he doesn't care for this competition, even though I do because I love photography, so I'm sure I'll be the one doing all the work.

"You want to win, don't you?" He randomly states.

"Sorry?" I ask, surprised that Mr Moody is actually speaking to me.

"You want to win. Don't you?" He repeats.

"Well yeah, I guess. Doesn't everybody?" I say, stressing the 'everybody'.

He raises his eyebrow at my tone but doesn't reply straight away.

There's an awkward pause until he finally says, "I guess we'll have to try and win then, won't we?"

"I guess we will," I say, trying to keep the smile of my face.