Picturesque

Chappie One.

The Start.

"A camera is a tool I use to give reason to everything around me."

- André Kertész, renowned photographer.

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Essette, Cynthia Essette.

"Cheese!", goes a mother taking a picture of her son. Just before our eyes meet, I stopped posing and ran away from the pair.

"Another job well done." I victoriously breathed out. You see, I have a hobby for photobombing, just as any other person might have a hobby for drawing or reading. I try on the most ludicrous poses I can in my iconic photobombs to amuse other people. In my opinion, it's like a job, only instead of paychecks, I get rewarded by laughters of my "victims". You can say that it's pretty creepy, but who can argue that I'm harming anyone?

"Ooh!" I exclaimed as I saw another conquest of mine poised, about to take a picture. My next target is a group of boys possibly around my age about to take a selfie with the selfie stick so many people are using these days. "Hmph." I muttered, such narcissists.

"--ake a picture!" I heard their last words before I quickly masked on one of my goofiest facial poses as the click of their phone resounded. I quickly ran away as one of the boys turned around sensing my presence. I hid to the nearest hiding place I could find, which unfortunately was just a tiny plastic bush. I waited to see the group's reaction.

"We look grea-- Oh look at that chick in the corner!" I heard one of them point out. I mentally cringed when he said chick. I mean, who wants to be compared to a chicken? Last I checked, I most definitely did not have feathers and a chickenesque body. The group burst out laughing, interrupting my train of thought.

"That's right pricks, I'm fabulous." I thought triumphantly with a huge grin etched on my face.

"I need to meet her." The same boy who turned around after I left spoke.

"Oh bloody hell, no you won't." I thought alarmingly, slowly tiptoeing out of the bush and sprinting away to safety. Once I was out of their line of sight, I visibly relaxed. "Glad I ran out of that one before things got complicated." I thought reassuringly to myself.

"Hey! Aren't you the girl who pulled a photobomb back there?" I froze as I heard a manly voice state out. I slowly turned around in such a fashion that resembles a druggist caught selling actual drugs in his/her pharmacy, only I'm not a druggist nor am I dealing with drugs. As he approached me with a slower speed, I took this chance and made a break for it. I sprinted about 10 metres before I started gasping for air and instead breathlessly entered a coffee shop that I had been planning to go to before this whole incident. Pathetic, I know.

"Hello, welcome to Bonappeti Café, what would you like to order?", the manager greeted cheerfully.

My brain was still focused in prior events so my response was, "3:41 p.m.". I quickly realized my mistake as soon as the manager raised his eyebrows in a condescending manner. "I'm sorry, could you repeat the sentence?"

"What would you like to order?" The manager repeated, with a slightly angered undertone.

"Oh! Just a latte please." I confirmed embarassingly.

"I'll be right back." He responded incohorently. I could've sworn I saw his right eye twitch right there. Gee, never knew that responding incorrectly to a question could make someone so mad. He handed me my latte and I moved along quickly to avoid any other conflicts.

I took a seat at an empty booth by the window, looking out for people I could photobomb. I then slipped into a deep and meaningful conversation with myself in my head. I pondered something I had wondered since that since ages ago, when I discovered what a social life was; since I was homeschooled, my social activities has been kept to a bare minimum. I'm not that hopeless though, for my cousin goes to Eastforest High and introduced me to some of her friends.

"I need to do something with my life." I realized. I can't just go moping around and spend the rest of my life photobombing as a hobby, I need to get a life, basically. I need to start talking to other people. "Maybe," a voice whispered in my head. "I can try talking to that boy that wanted to meet me earlier." , I figured, and in seconds I had established a plan to make that happen. Just as I momentarily decided to take a big step that may or may not eliminate my social life completely, the overthinking parts of my brain kicked in.

"What if you mess it up and ruin your plans?" , "What if you just get humilliated and ashamed for trying to take a big step in life?", "What if..", My brain is filling up with what ifs and bad possible outcomes for this extroverted action I'm heading towards as of the moment. I started to have a mini-panic attack, until the courageous and wise part of my brain thought that enough was enough. I had missed a lot of great opportunities because I kept on thinking about the "What Ifs" and overthinking too much. I decided that I will take the big step and acknowledge that group of boys, particularly the one that turned around.

"Ding!" sounded the chime of the coffee shop, indicating that a customer had just walked in. I looked up from the swirling cream of my latte and realized that it was indeed the group of boys from earlier events. I quickly looked down to avoid acknowledgement, contradicting my brave statement I metaphorically exclaimed earlier. Sometimes, it's just hard to change yourself in a moment's notice. I picked up my purse that I forgot I even brought and hurriedly exited the shop, hiding my face behind my coffee cup.

I guess my brave step to an excellent social life will have to wait, but for now, my tabby cat Ginny and a bowl of Russian Fudge yogurt are waiting at home, eagerly anticipating my arrival.

♥♥

author's note.

this was stressful ugh im sorry for the suckish and short chapter i'll try to do better from here onwards

keep shining,

elleeeeeeeeeeeee