Candid (True Images Series) by Michelle Pennington Page A

their turf long claimed, but there were a few places where the unassociated could hang out. One of these was the bench under the oak tree where I often ate lunch. Usually, some of the yearbook staff hung out with me, but since I hadn’t claimed it today, the bench had been taken over by a group I tried to avoid.
    I’d had a run in with them once when I’d taken a picture of them. I think they were doing something wrong, and probably illegal, because they’d threatened me with just about every form of violence you could imagine if I didn’t delete the picture. Eager not to get my earrings ripped out, I’d quickly complied.
    So, I skipped them today, as I always did now, and made my way over to where most of the nerds hung out. I have to admit that I liked this group best of all of them. They were the most uncritical of all the cliques at school. Some of them were straight ‘A’ students, some were gamers, some were tech junkies. As I took a few pictures of them, they welcomed me like I was one of them. Maybe I was, and it didn’t bother me.
    My friend Parker Higgins was one of them. He was the unofficial audio-visual guy at school. Whenever the teachers had a problem with their computers or Smart Boards, he was the one they wanted because he could usually fix it. This caused some problems for him with the school’s actual AV guy who thought Parker was trying to show him up, but it wasn’t true. Parker just loved all things electronic or digital, and he was good at it.
    “Hey Sienna,” he said, coming to stand next to me while I took pictures. “Do you want to come eat lunch with me? I’ve got an extra snack cake.”
    I laughed at him. He had a thing for processed junk. “No thanks. I’m supposed to be taking pictures and I haven’t covered everyone yet.”
    He followed the direction of my eyes as I glanced over to where the pretty people were. “Are you really going over there? I mean, don’t they annoy the heck out of you?”
    “Yes, but if I don’t get some photos of them, I’ll hear about it later.”
    Sounding a little awkward, Parker asked, “So, what are you doing tonight? Do you want to come over and help me with my latest video montage? You’ve always got some great ideas.”
    “Sorry, I can’t tonight. I have to take pictures at the game.”
    “Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Well, I’ll be up late if you want to come over afterward. If you want, we could, um, go to a movie or something.”
    Was he asking me out? “Parker, that would be great, but you know how my mom is.”
    He put his hands up in a defensive gesture. “It wouldn’t be a date or anything. But anyway, wouldn’t your mom trust me? I mean, she likes me doesn’t she?”
    “Of course she does. She just doesn’t trust your hormones – or rather, any guy’s hormones. It’s the one rule she has that I absolutely couldn’t get away with breaking – no dates until after graduation.
    “That’s crazy.”
    “Maybe, but I don’t mind so much. I can still hang out. I just can’t date anyone. Anyway, what’s the point? Once we graduate, we’ll all go our separate ways, and I don’t need any relationship drama getting in the way of my future.”
    “Does that count for Lee Franklin too?”
    Whoa! Where did that come from? “What are you talking about?”
    “Nothing,” he mumbled, walking away.
    Was I really that obvious? Then I remembered that Parker had come into the journalism class the other day to help Mr. Greeley with something. What had I been doing? Flirting with Lee? Staring at him like the sun rose and set in his eyes?
    With my thoughts focused on Lee again, I couldn’t help looking for him as I walked towards the popular kids. He wasn’t around though. I would have found him if he was. He sort of stuck out to me. Oh well, it was probably a good thing. I would be able to take pictures without constantly turning my camera his direction.
    The cheerleaders were wearing their uniforms because there was a pep