Dear August

|Four|

Finley, Joey and I enter the nicely modeled photo room for sixth period. Turns out Finley and I did have the same photo class. Yippee.

The class was set up different from all my other ones. Other than uniform desks set in rows, there were chairs scattered around the room for anyone to sit in. A line of MacBooks on a counter, I'm assuming for editing. This photo room was an upgrade from my old schools. Above the MacBooks there was a wall full of pictures. All amazing pictures.

Joey must've noticed me staring at the wall since she walked up next to me.

"That's the student work wall. Only advanced level photo students can make it up there. Goldman likes the photo, enters it into an art show, hangs it up on the wall."

"Goldman?" I turn to her.

"The photo teacher. It's pretty informal in this class. It's always everyone's number one class." She smiles and winks at me as she walks over to Finley and sits next to her. I take another look at the wall before sitting next to Joey and Finley.

"I'll be be there in a second guys!" A voice calls from behind us. It was a warm, welcoming voice.

A man, wearing a plaid flannel shirt, blue jeans and a pair of purple vans walks out of the office behind us. He had a nice 'homey' look to him. With already grey hair, and a beard, some black peeking through. He had kind light brown eyes and wire framed glasses that sat on the tip of his nose.

He sits on a stool in front of the class and smiles warmly.

"Finally Friday!" He jokes. The class groans in agreement. "I just have a few announcements before you guys can get to work. First my fours and independent studies, the fall art show is coming up so make sure your submitting your favorite photo so far. Second my threes and twos, you guys need to work on the photoshop stuff that's due next week. And lastly, you guys, the photo ones are just photo babies. Please be nice to them." The class laughs at the last remark.

"I know, I know. You guys feel like you should have priority with the equipment since you're the higher level class, but it's first come first serve. Any questions?" He looks around the class as everyone stays silent. "Okay, then get to work!" Almost simultaneously the entire class gets up and sets off to work on something.

Even Joey and Finley leave me to go work on their projects. I sit awkwardly in my seat as Goldman walks back to his office. I sigh and get up from my chair.

I stand awkwardly in the doorway of his office and squeak out a little "Um, excuse me?" Goldman looks up from his computer and smiles.

"Hi! You must be Riley!" He says warmly.

"Uh yeah, it's nice to meet you." I return his smile.

"So welcome to the upper level photo class!"

"Thanks I'm glad to be here."

"You know we wouldn't normally let a new student into the upper levels class, but looking at your manuscript and your work from your previous class in Arizona, I had to make an exception." I stay silent and look at him with surprised eyes.

"I mean, your work is just phenomenal. I really do enjoy it," he smiles once again at me, and I return it again with a wide grin. I haven't smiled like that in a while.

"Thank you so much. That really means a lot."

"Of course. Let me give you a quick, unofficial tour of the photo room. So back there," he points behind us. "Is the mounting/developing room. You roll and develop your film in there, and also mount your final product in there." He looks over at me. "You know how to develop film, right?" I nod my head. "Good."

"And behind that is the dark room, pretty self explanatory, you print your film photos in there. And then in front of us is the digital room. We edit our digital photos on the MacBooks and then print them over there. So, any questions about any of that?"

I shake my head. This school clearly put a lot more money into their photo program than my old school did.

"Alright kiddo, since you came in late, you won't be doing what the other threes are. I'm gonna have you work on some photo analysis until I announce the next project. Does that sound okay?"

I smile. "Yeah that sounds perfectly fine."

"Alright let me just set you up real quick and you'll be good to go."

The walk home was nicer than this morning. It had warmed up throughout the day so I didn't need my bomber jacket now, so I just carried it in my arm.

What an eventful day. It actually wasn't as bad as I had anticipated. I made a few friends. Well, two friends. Joey and Luca were fine. Finley and August I'm still iffy on. I'm sure I'll warm up to them. And the photo class was like a dream.

Goldman is by far my favorite teacher. He was so warm and welcoming. It made me feel happy. Something I haven't felt in a while.

I get to the apartment building and walk up the stairs to my door, fiddling with my keys. I open the door and turn on the light to reveal a slightly less cluttered living room. Mom probably came home early.

"Hi honey," she pops her head around the corner as I shut the door behind me.

"Hi mom."

"How was the first day?" She asks as she hammers a nail into the wall to hang a picture up. Our neighbors probably hated us already.

"It was okay," I say bluntly, setting by bag down and walking into the kitchen. She had obviously gone to the store since fruit was sitting on the counter. I grab an apple and bite into it.

"You make any friends?"

"A few. Finley Joey and Luca," I say, leaving August out on purpose. I didn't want to bring up her name and upset my mom. She was already in a good mood and I didn't want to change that. She smiles warmly at me.

"I'm glad." She furrows her brows as she tries to center the picture. I head for my room. "By the way, I set up your bed frame so you don't have to sleep on the ground again tonight."

"Thanks mom," I smile at her before shutting my door.