Page 180 of The Way the Heart Breaks: Jade’s Story

That's it? Class dismissed, apparently. I look over at the kid beside me.

He points at the camera. “Try this.”

I lift it, he shows me how to focus. I look through the viewfinder. And then I look around the room. I wander around the room with the camera hanging from my hand, trying to figure out what the hell I’m supposed to be photographing.

There are plants, a window. Some kid is taking pictures of dead flies…

A stack of old textbooks. A kid at the back of the room who looks like he’d rather be anywhere else. I lift the camera, take a picture of the plant that is wilting. I could water it and hope it comes back to life. Yeah, probably not, the thing toast. I turn toward a door and see it leads to an office, that leads to another room. A classroom with students, I step in further and stop when I see my pretty girl.

Jade is sitting at one of the tables on the other side.

The afternoon light is coming through the windows behind her, catching the edges of her hair. She has a pencil in her hand and she's looking down at whatever she's drawing, completely unaware that I'm standing there watching her. Then she looks up, not at me, out the window. The light shifts across her face, and a few strands of hair fall across her cheek.

I lift the camera.

Click.

She doesn't hear it. I take another.

Click.

The assignment suddenly makes a hell of a lot more sense. I move a little closer to the window.

Click.

Jade turns her head slightly, still looking outside.

Click.

I grin at the camera.

Maybe this class isn't going to be so bad after all.

“Mr. Lane.”

I nearly jump then I lower the camera and turn around.

Mr. Harris is standing behind me, newspaper folded under one arm.

“You were supposed to be working on your assignment.”

“I am.”

He looks at the camera. Then at me. Then toward the art room.

“You've taken twenty-three pictures.”

“Twenty-four.”

A couple of kids laugh.

Mr. Harris closes his eyes for a second and pinches the bridge of his nose. “Mr. Lane.”

I hold up both hands. “You said the assignment was to find beauty in places you normally wouldn't find it.”

“I did.”

I glance toward Jade. “In my defense, I didn't know that beyond these doors was exactly that.”