Skaters 101 (but without the skating)

Photo Gallery pt. 1

"Who's that?"

Yuzuru gestured to the tall man that stood outside the classroom, conversing with Mr. Plushenko and an eager Gabrielle.

"Apparently, that's the guy the school hires to coach the photography club." Shoma replied. "I don't know what he's doing here though."

They found out later.

The conversation broke up soon, and Mr. Plushenko turned and left. Gabrielle skipped into the classroom, and the mysterious man followed.

The chatter ceased.

Standing in front of the classroom, the man slicked back his hair and started. "Good morning everyone. I'm Wang Shiyue, studying photography at the university, and my student, Gabrielle, has notified me of some extraordinary talent in this class by showing me some incredible photos. So I took a trip down here to see who these people are and ask for a favor to be done."

He plugged in his computer to the visualizer at the front of the class, displaying a slideshow.

The screen flickered to life, and a splash of color hit the whiteboard, sharp silver rutting into the wooden homely hues of brown.

~

"Could someone please off the front lights? We can't see much from here!" Yuzuru called out from behind.

Yanhan helpfully stood up and walked over to the rows of light switches. He stood there for a few moments, trying to figure out which light switch to switch off.

"It's the one in the right corner." Maia whispered to Alex.

"Then why don't you tell him?" Alex raised his eyebrows, and Maia shrugged.

Sensing the impatience that everyone behind her was feeling, Maia raised her voice.

"Yanhan, it's the right-hand corner switch!"

Yanhan nodded slowly, and tapped it.

~

There was a satisfying click, and the front row lights turned dark. Many contented sounds filled the air, signaling that the back row now had a good view of the photo on-screen.

On the screen, an enlarged picture of a row of knives balanced precariously on a polished wooden board.

"Well," Shiyue started after some silence, "This picture, to me, describes the sharpness and shortness of life. If you look carefully, the angle the camera was positioned, was closer to the handles, and the tip of the knives are further away. This gives one the impression of life being easy and wide at the start, and slowly getting narrower as one grows up to learn harsh truths."

Satoko looked down at her desk, cheeks flushed. She didn't think her photo would end up on the projector. She also didn't think that it would have such an elaborate, intricate meaning.

~

"What do you think I should take a picture of?" It was a Saturday morning, and Satoko decided to invest her time in Yuzuru, whom she knew fairly well compared to other members of her class.

"I don't know, something you like?" Yuzuru replied vaguely, preoccupied with rummaging through Shoma's bag.

"But I like cooking! And I can't take a picture of myself cooking."

Satoko tossed the stress ball Yuzuru handed her into the air, catching it in the other hand.

"Why?" Giving up, Yuzuru turned the bag upside down, shaking out its contents. "This boy never sorts his bag out." He muttered under his breath, arranging and stacking all the papers neatly.