The Flash Between Us

I sat alone at my desk ignoring my mother’s screams and editing my latest picture that would soon go into my portfolio filled with photos I just had to take as they caught my creative eye. The photo was of a huge oak tree scented with an interesting aroma of sorrow. It looked like an oak tree but had the feel of a willow tree, so I took the scene as a challenge to uncover the backstory so that I would be free to know what was behind its scars. See this is my interesting perspective on my love for photography, which brings me to why my mom is screaming. She was asking if I needed any more tape for my boxes. Oh yeah, I should probably mention that I got into the school of my choice “Artisan University '', a hidden campus located a little more north of Arcata where I lived. College being close to home was perfect for when I needed more of my stuff or when my mother was overwhelmed with the rest of my family.

“No, I'm good,” I yelled back. 

“Then let’s go, if you keep insisting we leave three hours before planned I’ll need sustenance” Mom struggled to even say given my 6 and 4-year-old brothers were on their daily tantrums about whatever and were clinging to each leg of my poor mother.

“I’m coming”, I spit off carefully tossing my remaining items that were on my desk into my bag and taping up my last box. 

I hurried down, shook my brothers off my mom, and said goodbye to the others. There were no deep emotions as we all knew I’d be visiting more often than the daily college kid. My mom kissed my forehead, telling me how thankful she was for me and my help through these hard 18 years. Off to my new life as an independent woman on a journey toward my dream.

I’m now in my apartment saying hello to my new workspace/bedroom. It’s been about 4 months into the semester when my teacher Mrs. Serena announced we would be joined with a class of 2nd years to compete in a contest worth 70% of our grade not to mention a sweet deal of free lunches for 13 weeks. The project would take the rest of the semester to complete, which gave us about a month to work on it. We would be assigned a partner at random and when we found out who to start the project answering the question, in whichever way that’s clear: “What’s an interest turned lifestyle? : Example needed.” 

I was assigned a name and at first was confused about who to even look for but as the bell rang I decided to wait and see if anyone would also stay back, an easy and unsocial way of finding the person. I waited for quite a while for everyone to leave and saw others finding their partners with such ease. Finally, I was alone, my plan backfired dearly so I just decided to head home and ask Mrs. Serena for my partner's number later- she was always very understanding anyway.

“Hey you, so you waited all that time to just give up?” a snarky voice spoke.

“Huh? Me?” I turned my head toward the back of the classroom to see a guy with his head on the desk held up by his chin and his bright blue eyes staring deep into my brown eyes. 

“Do you see anyone else? Man, you must be a 1st year,” he said in a rude tone.

“Hey that’s not far, I honestly just didn’t see you” I responded trying to keep my cool. It was only 5 minutes into and he already gave me a bad vibe. “You know what, I’m very tired and I’m not dealing with you and your attitude I did not deserve. I’m leaving!”’

“Wait!” he called, sounding genuine “I’m sorry alright, I woke from my nap and saw you waiting awkwardly and I thought it was funny so I decided to mess with you.”

“Well you didn’t have to, I mean yes I didn’t fully look around but you didn’t have to rub salt into my awkward wound.” I was so mad, I may seem collected but I have a short fuse and this guy was tempting me so bad it was like he was holding the lighter.

“Damm, what a hothead.” he “tried” to whisper, but I heard it.

There was a deep silence as we exchanged glances till he requested to do the project outside. Because the air was tense I agreed and we went out to my favorite spot. It was behind the music room, a spot where the air perfectly hit the bench that was the perfect place for photo inspiration. 

We sat and I pulled out my computer and he pulled out his notebook. I was still pretty mad- for no reason but my pride when it happened. The wind had picked up and levitated the fallen leaves off the ground, the sun had been in the right spot, and it was the perfect opportunity to snap a picture. I pulled out my camera in complete shock when the cocky jerk had already kneeled on the ground with his. For the first time, I was impressed by this guy, though I had to take the picture so I continued.

“Click”, “Click”

…

“So you're a photographer too?” the cameraman vocalized.

“Not really, I just take shots,” I responded. 

“Listen, if you own a camera and use it for the better you are a photographer. It doesn’t matter if you choose to share them or not.” he seriously remarked.

“Really?” I was sorta inspired as I've never really pushed my dream farther than shots.

“(laughs), well at least I think so, and that should be enough to be guaranteed isn’t it?” He sounded so reassuring but also like he was taunting me.

“I guess, why are you laughing? I don’t find the matter to your pleasure.” I started to get a little mad but also curious.

“It’s just you're so snarky and come off arrogant when you talk but when it comes to something that piques your interest your face lightens and you look a bit appealing.” His words made me blush.

“Appealing” huh, what strong vocab.” I tried to change the subject.

“Taking a page out of your book darling.” he mocked. 

Again we stared at one another and I then remembered our project.

“We should start our assignment,” I stated.

“We should,” he responded.

We both sat back on the bench.

“We need to agree on an interest that we would want to turn into a lifestyle, however, I believe being two sticklers for the camera gives us that huh?” I mentioned.

“Yeah” he agreed “Now that we have that out of the way we can easily start sliding down the rest of the assignment.”

“Sure but it’s asking for our names” I noted.

“So how does Jack Galindro sound?” He asked in an addressing tone.

“It sounds unnoticed next to Sarah Amaranth.” I shot back.

“Where does that common name come from?” He teased. 

“The Labyrinth” I answered “My mom loves the movie.” 

“Interesting, I got Jack from “The Boy with the cuckoo-clock heart.” He declared.

“The novel instead of the movie huh?” I knew both.

“Yeah.” seems like he did too.

“I guess our parents had similar ideas.” I noticed. 

“Guess so, I think we should take photos as our examples.” He changed the subject- I didn’t mind.

“Agreed, and finally the partnered essay. We can go halfers on it.” We were right on schedule.

“Got it, now tell me Hoggle, what does taking pictures and being a photographer mean to you?” The clock boy asked.

“Well most would describe photography as just pictures that carry memories, and though that is true I believe the memories go beyond the photo. To me, it’s the weird positions I had to get in that by the way make me look stupid, that give me the feel as to be a photographer. It gives me a feeling I can’t explain when I’m walking and see a spot that my body feels so captivated to take a glorious picture of. I've never been a people person and never had many friends- I was very quiet, so when I was given a camera for my 6th birthday my mind blew up seeing the world through a lens that captured an essence in one simple picture. I like to bring out a new form of life to the world with a piece of inked paper. I just love it.” I finished.

I think I spoke those words with something so special as Jack looked at me in a way that made my face hot and made me turn my head away.

“Did I say something weird?” I wondered.

“No, no it’s just… It seems you have a similar way of looking at photography but a different way of explaining it. I mean I see the world as a dark and cold place so I used photography as an escape from it. You say you like to make new wonderful pictures for the world but I make them to represent a “good thing” in a different world. Taking photos is a way to calm me down when I’m stressed, to learn about all the right and wrong ways to edit, to get down in strange positions, and to pretend I’m going to be ok. A lot of things give me freedom and a guest room, though photography gives me the room to stay permanently…” He spoke with such poise as you could tell he wasn’t joking. 

“It does seem like we have somewhat different viewpoints but in contrast, I think we're old and mature enough to understand each other’s description of it.” I didn’t think I was making sense but it looked like I did to him.

“So we both can agree it takes a little to take a picture…” Jack started.

“...but a lot to understand it.” I finished.

We sat on the bench with soft expressions and it was then I found that I did hate this guy with a passion, still we connected- it might have been for a silly project, nevertheless it happened. I might turn into a poet saying this but here it is: you will never fully understand a person and their flaws without having your own. Meaning Jack has characteristics that push my buttons, these buttons however act like hidden doors with locks- he let me in even when he didn’t want to and that is something so beautiful to know. 

“Oh, we forgot to fill in the personal box,” I told him “I have it right here just tell me what types of pictures and artists you find inspiring.”

“I find monochrome photos captivating, I think that's how I got into loving the artists who did just that.” he answered, “you know, like Ansel Adams, Martine Frankck, and Matt Black, those just from the top of my head but you get it. What about you? ” 

“I like monochrome photos, but soft lighting ones with the sun or some sort of shine is more my style,” I replied.

“I dig those too,” Jack said getting nervous “Hoggle?”

“Mmh?” I answered.

“Don’t take this the wrong way or anything but may I take your picture?” Jack asked.

“Why?” I said confused.

“It’s that for my photography class I need a photo of a person behind a background for a piece and you're right here so..” He answered.

“Oh,” I was a bit disappointed for some reason. “Go ahead.”

He took the picture and stared at it like it was something important. I noticed how he smirked over it and then looked up at me like he was comparing or something. I couldn’t help but stare back and saw how his eyes had little sparkles in them. It fell quiet again but this time neither of us said anything to get out of it. We finished playing the silence till we went our separate ways when I finished giving him my number so we could meet up to finish the assignment. 

From that moment on Jack and I got together every day to add more things to the assignment and eventually started to bond. Now we were good friends, friends who still got into small fights over the littlest things. It was a decent banter between the two of us that strangely helped us through the assessment for we fed off each other's energy inspiring us to push ourselves. On our last day, we submitted the project and that was the cue to leave. We were in the nearby park and had just finished up, I got my bag to leave and was about to say goodbye when a hand grabbed my arm.

“Wait!” Jack uttered, sounding hesitant “D-do you wanna grab a milkshake?”

In my head, I wanted to shove his hand off and leave with an uncalled-for comment like usual but I did the opposite, I wondered why as well. I couldn't remember the last time my heart made an action without my head. Doing so I instead grabbed his notebook and placed it into his bag.

“Fine but hurry, there's this place just a few miles away that has the best shakes but has a 1-6 pm under 5 dollars deal.” I felt like I owed him so I continued cleaning up his stuff and left with his smile following me.

We reached a little stand on wheels that was surrounded by tables and string lights going around the whole thing. There were tons of trees and music played in the background, it was classical. We sat as I told him the history of the place: a man deeply infatuated with this woman but couldn’t be with her opened up this stand-up cart as a promise to always be with her. The woman was in a forced marriage but would often sneak out to meet her lover. To keep their relationship a secret he worked as her server till they sadly grew out of touch. The woman's fathers had found them out and shipped away his daughter to her fiance overseas. The heartbroken man continued the promise stand and placed a camera on each table so even if the two or even a group sitting there had become like them they would have a picture in remembrance. 

“That’s a wonderful thing the man did.” Jack said, “I can imagine you liked the scenery and took daily pictures of this place huh?” He guessed right.

“Yep,” I added, “Though I’m curious to know why you asked me out here.”

“Well” he nervously went on “ We photographers gotta stick together, plus I wanted to treat you in a “hey sorry I was such a jerk” way.”

“Is that so?” I teased “Thank you.. Look, I'm visiting my family for a few days, I’m also there for a new segment of photos, so I might not answer if you call.”

“You’ll think I’ll call?”  He said trying to sound nonchalant and cool.

“Fine then!!” Moment passed “I’m going then, see you next week for the project results.”

“Wait!” He cried, I knew he wanted to apologize but I wasn't done teasing so I left giving him a smirk showing he was forgiven, and saw his blush threw my glasses.

(A week later at Artisan Academy)

As I walked into the school proud of all my new shots I checked the time, then headed to Mrs. Serena’s room as the grades were out soon. Everyone was crowded around the bulletin board as soon as the results were in and I was nervously waiting. I saw Jack’s gaze across the room looking like the same red-faced jerk I left the other night as soon as he saw me. There were cheers and sad faces- uneven odds at what result we would possibly get. Jack was able to get through the crowd and signaled he would look for us. I then had a flashback thinking about how hard Jack and I worked. Our agreed interest- photography was more than likely gonna become our lifestyle as it seemed to be already. The whole project was good, really good- well at least in my opinion though Mrs. Serena had a habit of failing people if she felt they could do more, speaking from experience the nerves flooded back in. Did we pass? Did we fail? Did we-

“Sarah!!!” Jack called to me “We…”...