Perfection Through Silence {Open}

[lillian]

Alone at last, together in a photograph.

Donovan has always been very art-oriented. Ever since he was a young boy, he'd been chastized by his foster parents not to write on the walls, so he found other ways to express himself. He always loved to take pictures. It was something that he was good at, and the odd thing was that he was good at taking pictures of himself. Most people liked being behind the camera, but not in the pictures. Donovan, however, loved to be in the spotlight. He wasn't stuck up like most of the kids in this school, but he liked to be acknowledged too. With his bright blue eyes that seemed to reflect the ocean and peer right into your soul, it was easy to take good pictures. Sometimes he was a little self-conscious about not being as buff or tough as the other guys. He knew that he could never be a jock, not even if he gained the extra pounds. And who would want to be? He liked being invisible most of the time. He could do whatever he wanted and not be under the critical eye of someone else.

The only problem was that he was wrong, everyone was watching his every move, so he too was being judged, he was just blissfully ignorant.

But it didn't phase him. Donovan knew who he was and who he wasn't. So sometimes he got some crap from others for socializing with all kinds of groups. He didn't really fit into one himself. He dressed scene, but he was rather introverted and sometimes he lashed out at the authorities, like the punks or the bad boys, and he liked to take care of his hair like the emos. Did it really matter? It did to most people in this school. But not to him. Nope, he kept telling himself that it didn't matter that he was alone most of the time. At least he could focus on his art and not be interrupted. Though, you know, if someone just happened to come along and strike up a conversation, that would probably be good. He glanced towards the door, before looking back at his laptop, which was resting on a desk near the photography lab. He loved this room, because it was usually empty. It was lunch time now. Most kids would have left campus or something. He usually spent his time here.

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[wolfie]

It was lunch time at the school. The stupid school. The school where cliques were what mattered. The school where if you didn't live up to the standards set by the preps, you were called a loser, generally. The school where appearance and attitude were everything. The school that Jordan Bailey hated. Well, she didn't completely hate it, but she hated the system the students made. Sure, pretty much all schools were like that, but here, in New York, it was worse. Oh, so much worse. Jordan wasn't like all the others. She didn't claim to be in any clique. She did her thing, while everybody else decided she was a loser, or some other thing. She was herself, and, frankly, that was what mattered. She didn't want to be some fake and rise to the top. She'd rather be herself, even if it meant being stuck at the bottom. Everybody wants to be popular. everyone said. She didn't. Not if it meant everybody hated her, or if she had to be someone she wasn't. She would so much rather be at the bottom, to be ridiculed or picked on by everybody else than to be a fake, and eventually ratted out, probably.

Jordan was an artist. Of many types. She loved to draw, paint, write, take pictures, and even make music. She wasn't particularly talented at some things, but she was an artist, and she was glad to be one. She took all kinds of pictures. Nature pictures, wildlife pictures, people pictures, even pictures of herself. Not those stupid myspace pictures. Not the kind where you puckered up your lips and made a peace sign, or anything like that. She took artistic pictures, and didn't care if she took them of others, or of herself. She liked being behind and even in front of the camera. That was just how she was.

She had recently finished up a roll of film. She wasn't exactly excited to develop the film. She hated getting the negatives, just because it was tiresome, and the time was what counted. She didn't hate it, no, she rather liked it. But she was always nervous about messing up, since she had messed up that one time in freshman year in her photography class. All the negatives came out black. Wasn't a fun thing. Making the prints, however, was fun. She liked doing that. That was one of the most fun parts, besides actually taking the pictures. She liked being able to control what it looked like. Whether or not it was dark or light.

So, with her camera in hand, she walked to the photography lab. She personally liked using SLRs, not digitals. Not completely digitals, where there wasn't any film at all. Okay, sure, digital cameras were good for the simple pictures, ones that you didn't want to use precious film on, but for the good pictures? SLRs were the way to go. They had film, and pretty good quality. The only bad part about SLRs was the fact that you had to get the aperture setting just right, or else the picture might be too dark, or too light. Which was never a good thing. The photography lab held pretty much two classes, one for use of digital cameras, the other for SLR cameras. Of course, there were the SLRs for the classroom, but Jordan actually had her own, after saving up a lot of money. Not that it was too much a problem, because she definitely not poor. But she still didn't get a ton of money. Of course, there were digital SLRs, ones that could display the image, and some that could focus automatically. There were SLRs with varying degrees of being digital. But nowadays, nobody really used the good, old-fashioned SLRs that didn't have any digital qualities. Jordan did, however, and, frankly, she loved her SLR.

Not many people spent their lunch break on campus. Those that could drive, and were allowed to, went out to McDonald's or Burger King, or some other fast food joint. The ones that couldn't drive ate the cafeteria food, but they still didn't roam the hallways, forgoeing lunch to develop film. Then again, Jordan wasn't exactly normal. She didn't act like other people, "normal" people. Hah. Like anybody was actually considered normal. But unlike others, Jordan even called herself weird or crazy. She didn't care what others thought, and didn't follow their routine, or did what they wanted. And she was quite proud of that fact. Finally, after having reached the photography classroom, which was right next to the lab, she opened the door to it, carefully holding her camera, although it's strap was around her neck. But you could never be too careful, not with a pricey thing like her SLR. However, to her surprise, there was someone in the classroom. Sitting at a desk, with a laptop, there was a boy. She had seen him around, and he most definitely had a camera, she knew. " Hey, uh, how are you? I'm Jordan Bailey.." she trailed off, feeling a sort of awkward-ness coming over her. Interesting way to start a conversation, but effective nontheless.