@Luna Amore

"Uh...Harley." Harley mumbled with a dumbfounded grin, taking Natalia's hand in her's and hoisting herself up. Her face felt a little warm, but that must've been from the stinging in her nose. "Nice to meetcha, Natalia." She smiled, perhaps even dumber, as she picked her hat off the floor and dusted it off, a chuckle following, "Reckon I should watch where I'm goin' next time."

Helping Harley get up on her feet, Natalia showed a warm smile to her new classmate. Looking at the girl in front of her, Natalia uttered with a kind voice "I am glad you are okay..." She paused for a moment before continuing. "...Harley." A welcoming smile was still on her face. " Nice to meet you, too!"

Placing her eyes on the disheveled hat, the blond girl said "I am glad your hat is also okay..." Changing her gaze to the floor, she continued with a sad and worried tone. "I am sorry I cannot say the same for your camera"

Kneeing down to pick up the pieces of the camera off the floor, Natalia asked. "Were you going to Photography 101?"

"Yeah, a damn shame that." Harley returned with a disheartened sigh. "Don't know how I'm gon' take the class now. Shit!" She looked up at Natalia. "Were y'all headed there?" She asked.

"Yes. It is the first class in my schedule today", answered Natalia while getting up on her feet. Taking one of the papers on the shelf, the petite girl kneeled down again and got closer to Harley to show it. "See...this is my schedule~" While holding the paper with her right hand, she pointed with the index finger of her left hand to the upper part of the paper. Photography 101 appeared as the first class on that day.

The blonde girl stood up again. She was quiet for a brief moment before saying: "I have an idea!" A wide smile on her face and sparkling lights in her eyes appeared. "I have a spare camera in my locker! I can lend it to you for the class." Her look turned more serious than before. "If you want...I mean..."

@Luna Amore

Harley laughed upon seeing Natalia's schedule, "Well I'll be damned! Looks like you an' me are camera buddies." Camera buddies...wow, that sounded lame as hell she thought, her cheeks turning a slight pink color. However, it was nice to bump into a fellow photographer, and a cute one at that. She smiled, Well...if y'all're alright with me smashin' it to bits like mine, sure! Eheh, only jokin' though!
I'll be sure to take care of it!" Nervously Harley giggled.

"Well uh...guess we don't wanna be late, huh Nat? Let's get goin'!"

"Camera buddies...", Natalia thought to herself while trying her best to hide a small laugh. She petite girl could not hide her laugh anymore when she heard Harley joking about breaking her camera. "She is joking...right?", Natalia uttered to herself. Letting another laugh of relief when Harley assured her she would take good care of her camera.

She liked her new classmate. "She is funny!", the blonde girl said to herself while smiling at her Harley.

"Yes, let's not be late on our first day!", reaching for Harley's hand, Natalia began to run towards her locker.

@Azure Flame

“You have a nice body,” Kat says wondering what her next class is as she left her bag in the changing room. She did not to leave as she wants to stare at Zack’s body.

@Luna Amore

She must've still been in a daze after taking a full on collision, or perhaps it was something else. Harley couldn't help but let the girl pull her along down the hall towards her locker. She wondered what kind of camera she had, Natalia, or where she was from, or what were her favorite things to do besides taking photos. So many questions she wanted to ask her new classmate, and yet the cowgirl was content to be dragged along for the ride, her smile so bright and beaming. Here she was thinking the city would be full of rude assholes, and yet here was by far the sweetest girl in the world she thought...holding her hand.

Harley sure felt odd about it, but a good kind of odd.

Making a full stop in front of her locker, Natalia turned her head towards Harley. "We are here!", she exclaimed smiling from cheek to cheek.

Opening her locker as fast as she could, the blue-eyed girl took out a Nikon D500 and handed it to the brown-haired girl. "Here you go! I hope you like it".

Returning to her locker, she seemed to be searching for something inside of it. "Found you!", shouted Natalia with a tone full of happiness.

With an expression filled with pride, Natalia showed her new friend her camera. "This is my special camera. I was looking forward to take it to class today!" It was an old Nikon vintage camera in very good condition.

@Luna Amore

"Hey! That's just like mine!" Harley grinned looking over the camera. "Same Hi-def lenses and everything! Thanks!" But if she thought that was something cool, she wasn't ready for what else Nat pulled from her locker. Her eyes lit up like a starry summer night, her jaw almost hitting the floor. "Oh holy sh- That is amazing!
Is that an FE2? Talk about old school, and still mint condition! I bet you get some killer shots with that!" Suddenly she caught herself, her face a deep red and wearing a goofy grin. "Uhh...Sorry there. Big camera geek. Been one ever since mama let me play with her old Polaroid.

@Alisdragon911

"Th-thanks." he said, blushing, sitting next to her. "Though, I don't feel it's too fair for me." He felt himself getting bolder. "I only got a flash of your bra, but you're seeing my bare chest."

"You're welcome!", replied Natalia with a happy look on her face.

She became even happier after hearing Harley's words about her special camera. "Yes, it is an FE2!", answered the petite girl with excitement. "My grandpa gave it to me on my 7th birthday!"

Being the oblivious girl that she was, Natalia said in a puzzled way. "Sorry...for what?" Still, a bit confused she proceeded. "You have a Polaroid?!". Going back into her locker, it was not long before she pulled a Fuji Film instax mini 8. "I have one, too!"

@Luna Amore

Harley smiled, this time a bit more confident, as she answered, "Yupper! Sure do! It's a Supercolor 635cl! Mama let me take pictures with it when I was ten! That's when I found out how much I love cameras! I'll have to show it to you after class!" Which reminded her they were running late, but hell, she was having so much fun already, plus she was making a new friend.

"Hah! Well I'll be! Looks like we are camera buddies!" Harley giggled. She had never seen such a cute Fuji Film before. Must've been a limited edition she figured. Gosh! Never thought I'd meet another photo junkie like me! I think I'm starting to like New York! She mused smiling at Natalia.

But sadly their fun had to end with the ringing of the school bell. "Aww man!" Groaned Harley. "Well, reckon we better get in there. C'mon camera buddy!" Giggling, she took her new friend by the hand and hurried to the photography lab.

Natalia listened to Harley's words with attention. "A supercolor 635cl!", she exclaimed to herself while a grin formed on her face. The blonde girl had had a camera just like that a couple of years ago. It had broken in one of her trips and that was why she had bought the Fuji one.

Hearing the phrase "camera buddies" once again, Natalia could not help but giggle along with her brown-haired friend.

Suddenly the school bell rang. Natalia was having so much fun that she had completely forgotten about her Photography Class. She closed her locker in a hurry but not before putting her pink camera inside of it again.

Letting Harley lead the way, she followed her new friend with her vintage camera in hand. "Maybe this year won't be so bad as last year..." thought the petite girl to herself.

@Luna Amore

m.youtube.com/watch?v=SjpYqJ51-yM



"Alright! Alright! If everyone could just take their seats, thank you, we can begin!"

The photography teacher was pretty much what you would expect for a high end New York school, early thirties, trendy, had tons of accolades in the artist community, the works. As he was addressing the class, Harley and Natalia ran in, unfortunately interrupting him.

"Oh uh! S-sorry we're late, Mr. uhh..." Harley gave an awkward apology. The teacher furrowed his brow at her.

"Yeah, last I checked, my name wasn't 'Uhh'." Dryly he quipped with a stern expression, but then smiled giving a chuckle. "No worries. You two must be the new ones in my class. Why don't you take a seat, and we can get started."

"Yeah! Sure... Okay." Timidly Harley answered. At least this teacher was cool and laid back she thought.

"Thank you". A soft and sweet whisper came out of Natalia's rosy lips. "Thank you, Harley!".

Once on their seats, the petite girl realized that she had not brought paper or pen with her. "I hope the teacher does not make us take notes", she thought to herself.

Looking around the room, Natalia observed in wonder the pictures that the man had used to decorate his classroom. They were superb, what you would expect from someone of that caliber. Her gaze stopped at one of the photographs. It was the picture of a mother pushing her little daughter on the swing. A bittersweet smile adorned her countenance.



She pulled out her old camera from under the desk and aimed to take that picture. A moment later a click sound was heard in the room.

@Luna Amore

Harley heard a telltale click beside her and looked over at Natalia. The blonde was smiling still, but the cowgirl noticed a slight tinge of...sadness maybe? She then looked to the photo on the wall of a mother pushing her little daughter on a swing.

Huh...wonder what that's all about? I hope she's alright. Harley said aside, her lips contorting into a small frown. There was another picture beside it that caught her eye, one of a line of Marines in their ceremonial uniforms.



Instead of snapping a pic like Nat though, she merely stared at it for a few minutes...thinking about her brother.

"Okay, well I see we have two new smiling faces to our humble abode, so please allow me to introduce myself." The teacher said standing in the middle of the classroom. "My name is Louis Felton, and as you know, I am your photography teacher. Now, rather than bore the class by naming off all my prestigious awards and what not, I would rather get to know my two new students. Starting with....you!" He pointed to Natalia with a warm smile.

Whoa! Whoa! Wait a minute! He's making us get up?! IN FRONT OF THE CLASS! Aww hell naw! It's gon' be first grade all over again! Harley looked content, even cheering on her new friend to introduce herself, but on the inside....well...she was screaming her head off.

NO NO NO NO NOOOOO!!!

Natalia did not even notice what was happening in the classroom, she was engulfed by the photograph she had taken just minutes ago. It wasn't until it was too late that she realized that the teacher was pointing at her and asking her to introduce herself in front of the whole class.

Turning her head to the right, she saw a cheerful and encouraging Harley sitting next to her. She softly smiled at her new friend before walking towards the whiteboard.

Once she reached her destination, she turned around to face her classmates, all twelve of them. Taking her camera in her hands, she took a picture of her fellow photography learners and her instructor.

"Hello everybody!", the petite girl said as she moved her camera from her hands and placed it around her neck. "My name is Natalia Saint Claire." Her tone was confident but warm and friendly at the same time.

"I am very happy to be part of this class." She proceeded with a kind smile. "I have been interested in photography since I was a little girl, to be precise since I was seven years old." She paused for a moment. "See this camera", she said while pointing to the camera hanging from her neck. "It is a gift from my grandpa! He gave it to me on my seventh birthday and since that day on I have been fascinated with the stories one can find when you look through the lens". Her expression became softer and a spark began shining in her eyes.

"I think a photograph is not just a piece of film, a photograph is a story frozen in a moment. Mmmm...See these pictures..." She pointed to the pictures displayed around the room. "Those are part of someone's story. Like that picture!" Signaling to a photograph of a girl and her horse, she continued.


"That photograph tell us a story. A story of a girl whose best friend is her horse. She feels she can be herself when she is with her horse. She knows she can trust him completely. She trusts him so much that she can just lay down on his back without a care in the world. His gentle nature reassures her that he will always be there for her and that he will love her no matter what." Her smile became brighter. "I am very happy to be part of this class. I am very curious about the kind of stories you will find while looking through the lens of your cameras. Yeah...I am complete looking forward to sharing our "stories" (photographs) during this school year".

@Luna Amore

Wow...

Just wow...

If there was ever a true definition of what photography was, then Natalia nailed it right on the head Harley thought. Though she had to wonder if Natalia had read her thoughts or something, seeing how she had brought up a girl and her horse on the spot like that.

Still, Harley was just blown away.

"Wow!" Mr. Felton was just the same as he exclaimed giving a round of applause to Nat. "That was very beautiful, Natalia! An excellent explanation of the true nature of photography, if I have ever heard one. I for one am very excited to have you in this class as well, and I too look forward to the stories we as a class can capture through the lens. Thank you so much for that, Natalia. You may be seated."

When Natalia had returned to her seat, it was beside a very excited Harley grinning ear to ear. "Wow!" She squealed. "That was so...Awesome, girl. You are totally amazing!"

Then Mr. Felton called, "Next up, another lovely addition to our class, and from what I heard, a very talented photographer herself. Please welcome class, Harley Whitfield!"

"Huh? Aww damn!" Harley muttered under her breath. Her excitement shortly after...had now turned into full blown, crippling anxiety. Nevertheless, timidly she rose from her seat, one last look to Nat before shuffling to the front.

"Ah...ummm...h-howdy y'all!" She stammered, her throat feeling dry, like she had been eating sand all day.

In the back of the classroom, a couple of students murmurred, a few teasing laughs to follow.

"OMG! Did she just say 'howdy y'all'? Tch! What a hick!"

Beads of sweat dripping down her forehead, Harley resumed, "I'm uh...I'm Harley, but I guess y'all know that already. Anywho, I'm really excited to be in this class too, since I love photography so much, and umm, you can probably tell I'm not from around these parts either. I'm from Texas, Celina actually. It's a little bitty town. My mama and daddy own a big 'ol ranch, and we like to ride horses alot on the property. I've got my own horse too. His name is uh...Riley."

The whole class looked at her, eyes like needles piercing her flesh.

"And uh....well! That's all I got!" She finished with a nervous giggle. "Sorry I...don't have much to say, but uh...y-yeah! Totally looking forward to this class. And...I'll just have a seat now."

She left the front of the classroom trudging away, practically falling into her seat with a thud.

Somebody just shoot me now...

With a sweet expression on her face, Natalia returned to her seat. After hearing Harley's compliments, the blond-haired girl delicately smiled at her friend. "Thank you, Harley!" Her words were soft and kind. Giving the brown-haired girl an encouraging look, Natalia was ready to hear the cowgirl's introduction.

She listened to Harley with great attention. "Her accent and way speaking is so adorable...and a bit funny as well. I am glad to have met her." Natalia thought to herself while her friend continued her introduction.

The petite girl was surprised upon hearing that Harley had a horse of her own. "Nice coincidence...", she said to herself while looking at the photograph she had referred to during her introduction. With a smile on her rosy lips, the blond-haired girl turned her gaze towars the student in the front once again.

She was about to proudly clap for her friend, but Harley had rushed back into her seat. Once her camera buddy was seated next to her, the petite girl turned around to face her friend and opening her arms she gave Harley a warm and tender hug. "I like you", she said with a happy grin on her face.