Android

2

There are two different kinds of people in high school.

There are the ones who actively participate in everything and go out of their way to shine, then there are the kids like me prefer to hide. Whether it's behind a book, a pencil, the back of the classroom, or in my case—a camera.

I think one of the coolest things ever invented was a camera. People can have their separate opinions regarding it, but nothing is more magical to me then knowing someone found a way to connect wires inside a box and capture an image. I believe, it was this fascination that doomed me to enjoy high school from behind a lens. Don't get me wrong though, I was there for everything, but I wasn't really there, not as a participant anyways. I didn't mind though, I liked sitting behind the lens of my camera and safely watching life go on.

So rather than following my sisters on the pursuit of sports, theater, shopping passionately in malls during the weekend, or whatever else they were up to presently; I often found myself staying after school, taking advantage of the darkroom. Typically, around this time of year people were more concerned with the state testing, and the yearbook committee didn't need it as much so I could use it all I wanted. I believed it was a cheaper and more creative option then paying professionals to do it. I wasn't a lone wolf in my interest though, I was often joined by my friend Mac who was also a freelance photographer.

"Make sure you don't put more film developer then water like you did last time. There's measuring cups in here for a reason," I reminded Mac as I cleaned the thermometer so I could test the temperature of the mixture when he was done.

"Yeah, yeah I know. Half water, half film developer. Never work in the darkroom when you've decided to pull an all nighter because it will make you sleepy." He retorted, pulling the measurement cups out of the cabinet.

Chuckling, I leaned against the counter as I watched him prep the mix so we could continue. "Hey, you'll be thanking me later when your latest reel lives up to high standards."

"What if I don't have high standards for my photos?" He remarked, glancing back at me with a trying look.

"Then stop using this room." I tossed back, sticking my tongue out at him as he held the bucket up for me to test. Once I was sure the liquid was the right temperature, we poured it into our film tanks and set our timers so we could agitate them properly. Which was basically us flipping them right and left, kind of like a soft shake.

"Speaking of being sleepy, you don't look like you've been getting much." He commented as we watched the timer.

"Much what?" I asked.

"Sleep."

"Oh, yeah, I'm still having that nightmare unfortunately." I admitted.

"Really? That sucks. Does it still scare you and everything?" He asked as he tapped our tanks against the side of the table to release any bubbles that may have formed inside.

"Only in the moment. Once I wake up, I typically feel better, but I always have trouble going back to sleep," I said, watching him as he rested the tanks back on the counter until we had to mess with them again.

"I get that. Its probably because you interrupted your sleep cycle." He decided while we watched the timer tick together.

"Aren't you smart, where'd you come up with that?" I asked, crossing my arms. I really wish we weren't talking about this, but Mac was nosy and couldn't be discreet about it to save his life.

"My mom, she's a psychologist remember?"

"No, I don't because I don't keep track of those things," I said as we then grabbed our tanks and agitated them before leaning back against the counter.