After School

[Nick Smith] September - Friday - 3:30 p.m.

[Nick Smith]

September – Friday – 3:30 p.m.

“I’m going to make this meeting short today because of Tuesday. Club Rush Day was a bust, and because of that we still have only two members. I talked to the student council and Mrs. Wittman, and they told me that we have till the end of next month to get at least one new member. The minimum for a club to exist is five students. We have two, we need one, do the math.”

“Mr. T that doesn’t make sense.” Nick replied with his hand in the air.

“Of course is doesn’t. Uncle Orin must have made a deal.” Benny butted in. Nick paid no attention to her. He knew she didn’t like him. During Club Rush Day, Benny completely ignored him. They pretty much sat next to each an empty table with a small place card that read Photo Club. Nick wasn’t in the mood to try and get people to join. He didn’t even know what to tell people. It was Benny’s job to inform everyone since she somehow knew all there is to know about everything.

Mr. T rolled his eyes. “Yes, the deal is that we need one more member by the end of the next month and we would need at least five before winter break. So if you know anyone that might want to join, let them know we meet on Fridays after school at 3:30 p.m. Now on a personal note, you both need to start getting along. Benny, I don’t like your attitude. Mr. LaCoste wanted to expel you, but I told him I would handle it. So here I am.” Nick nodded his head in pleasure. She was in trouble and he liked it. “And as for you Nick, you need stop hitting on every pretty girl you see. Benny likes you. You should ask her out.”

A grey backpack flew across the room hitting Mr. T in the face. “Not true,” Benny shouted. “Don’t spread rumors. It’s bad enough people believe everything you say.”

Mr. T just laughed at her. He then ducked behind his desk. Nick thought he was getting ready for another shot to the face, but he popped up again with a couple of camera bags. “Here is the second thing I want to talk to you guys about. These are D.S.L.R. cameras. They both set me back a bit since we can’t use any of the school cameras for the fact they are in the hands of the A.V students. High res., zoom, and rechargeable batteries. I already charged them last night, so take them home and get used to them. They both have eight gig memory cards to them so you can take lots of pictures. I’ll give you the manuals when you get them from me. Read them over and please, please, please, take care of them. If you break them,” Mr. T’s face went serious, “I will kill you…”

Nick spent an hour figuring out how to hold the thing and turning it on. He didn’t bother with the manual. He just stuffed the thick waste of paper in his backpack and wandered around the school taking pictures of poles, clouds, and his feet. He took a few self-shots in one of the empty restroom mirrors. Most of which he is shirtless, flexing his abs, and sticking his tongue out. He was going to use a couple of them for this his profile picture and maybe delete the rest in case Mr. T wanted the camera back.

He quickly got bored of exploring the camera. There was hardly anyone on campus and he had to get ready for the game later in the night. There was no sense in taking pictures of anything else till he saw Coach LaCoste leave Ms. Latini’s classroom. He frantically hid behind the corner of another building close by. If Coach were to see him now he might be in trouble for not being in the locker room getting his gear on. Nick peeked around the corner to find Coach was already gone. Leaving his hiding spot, he peered over to see a shadow of Ms. Latini, her classroom was filled in an orange glow. Nick took out the camera from its bag and snapped a shot from where he stood. He zoomed in a little and snapped another shot. He then snuck his way to the door way, and took another shot of Ms. Latini. Nick noticed the bottle of water on her head. The light was shining through it in a way he never seen before. Tempted for the shot, he crept into the classroom, taking a few shot every step. To his surprise, she wasn’t paying attention. Not even the sound of the camera was registering at her.

 Nick got down low at the edge of the table. He aimed for the shot of the bottle on her head. He snapped the photo. Ms. Latini snapped out of herself. Nick stumbled back hitting his head on another table. He rubbed his head and mad sure the camera was O.K. He then noticed the bottle had rolled in between his legs. Nick picked up that bottle and placed it on the table in front of Ms. Latini.

“You dropped this,” Nick said with a nervous grin.

Ms. Latini quickly wiped a something wet from her cheek. “What are you doing here?” She asked. “There is a game tonight.” Nick just sat on the floor staring at her. He had nothing to say. “Were you taking pictures of me?”

“The light… from the bottle… it was…,” Nick said stumbling his words. Ms. Latini had a look to her face that he had never seen before. He wasn’t sure what to say next; he just stared at her.

“Nick, please get out.” Her face showed no expression as she told him to leave.  Nick got up from the floor, averting any more eye contact as he left the room. He wanted to say something, but the slightly heavy feeling in him kept him moving on.