Page 179 of The Way the Heart Breaks: Jade’s Story

“214.”

I stand and grab my bag.

“Mr. Lane?” I stop at the door. “Try not to fail the class you need to graduate.”

I push open the door to Room 214 and immediately hear whispering.

A lot of whispering. I stop just inside the doorway and look around the room. Every kid in here looks about twelve. Okay, maybe not twelve, but close enough.

A couple of them look at me, then at each other, and one kid actually leans over and whispers something to the girl beside him. Great.

Mr. Harris looks up from his desk. “Mr. Lane.”

I hold up the form. “Mr. Bennett sent me.”

He takes the paper from my hand and looks at it.

His eyebrows go up. “Photography 101?”

“Apparently.”

He looks at the form again, then back at me. “You're a senior.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And you need this credit to graduate?”

“Yes, sir.”

He sighs and shakes his head like somehow this is my fault. “Grab a camera.”

I look around the room. “Where?”

“Cabinet in the back. Pick one.”

I head toward the cabinet, aware of every eye following me. I grab the first camera I see and turn around.

There’s one empty seat toward the middle of the room. I walk over and sit beside a kid who looks like he could use a friend. I know the feeling.

I set the camera on the desk, look at him and whisper. “Would you show me how to use this?”

He looks at me for half a second, then smiles. “Yeah.”

He reaches for the camera.

Mr. Harris clears his throat from the front of the room. “Okay, everyone. Since Mr. Lane is joining us today, I'm going to explain the assignment, again.”

The kid beside me leans closer and shows me which button does what.

Mr. Harris picks up a stack of papers. “For the next two weeks, you're going to be looking for unsuspecting beauty in places you would not normally find it.” He starts passing the papers around. “Don't look for the obvious. Don't photograph something simply because it's pretty. Look at the ordinary. Look at things people pass every day without noticing.”

I glance down at the camera in my hands, unsuspecting beauty.

Mr. Harris walks back toward his desk.

“You'll need a series of photographs by the end of the assignment. The requirements are explained on the sheet.”

He drops the remaining papers onto the desk. Then, apparently satisfied that we're all capable of reading, he walks over to the newspaper rack, grabs a paper, returns to his desk, sits down, and opens it.