Prologue

With the final shutter of the camera and the printing of the picture, my little impromptu film shoot had come to a close. It marked the end of the school year, the beginning of summer break, and, soon to follow, the start of our senior year.

“Is that a wrap Mr. Director sir?”

Standing, or rather, still posing on the other side of the camera, were the subjects of my film. My best friends.

On the left, wearing a lab coat and holding onto a mannequin head was Chris. A goofy smile plastered on his face as he repeatedly stuck his gloved fingers into the dummy’s nostrils.

Sitting next to him, in center frame, was my other friend Luke. The guy had a plastic cup full of red juice lifted up, as if he were giving a toast; flexing his other arm for the camera while giving a mischievous wink.

Last, but certainly not least, was the one who had asked the question, all the way to the right and leaning against the table was our meek little Mira. She had her arms crossed, which ended up blocking her clip-on tie from appearing as she looked down at the lens. Her face strained with tension as she struggled to keep an awkward smile for the final shot.

I called her little, but, in reality, she was still taller than me at 5'8" compared to my height of 5'7".  Just for reference, Luke was 6'0" and Chris came around at a decent 6'2."

“Yup, that's a wrap,” I said while giving her a thumbs up.

“Finally, I can put my arm down,” said Luke. “Honestly it should have been a wrap ages ago but you just had to get a silly shot for the credits,” said Mira.

“Well, yeah. You know, I always like ending my films with a fun image.”

Chris came over and rested his arm over my shoulder. “Another Noel production complete, right?”

Mira scoffed. “Yeah right, he still has to do his edits and mixing. Last time, he had me stay on the phone with him until he finished exporting at four in the morning.”

I scratched the back of my head. “Well, it gets kind of lonely editing all by yourself. It's nice to have company.”

The sudden clamoring of a chair drew our attention towards the last person left at the table.

Luke had scooted away from his seat, bringing the cup of juice he had been posing with to his lips and gulping it all down in seconds. Sighing happily, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He crushed the small plastic cup and stuffed it into his pocket. He went about turning the foldable table I had borrowed from my family on its side, inserting the legs inwards and closing it like a bookcase.

“If you ladies are done venting your gripes, we should get going.”

Chris laughed, opening up his arms. “Why, what's the hurry?  You nervous about tomorrow?” Chris wiggled his eyebrows at him.

Luke’s cheeks turned pink from blush. “No, it's because they’ll be locking up the school soon, everyone else has basically left already. It's the start of summer break after all.” He quickly headed toward the classroom’s exit as he carried with him the folded table in one hand and the chair in the other.

“What’s happening tomorrow?,” I asked.

“Oh, nothing.” Chris smiled brightly, going after Luke after patting me on the back. It was likely meant to be a light pat in his mind, but, because of his monstrous strength, it almost managed to knock the wind out of me.

I turned to Mira, coughing slightly as I tried to steady my breathing, but all she gave me was a shrug and a slight shaking of the head, insinuating that she hadn’t a clue either. We followed suit, locking the door on our way out. Mira went off ahead to join the others while I went to the front office to return the key.

As I was turning to leave, I bumped into her.

Inches away from crashing into me was a beautiful girl with short black hair. The gaze she gave me, a captivating stare that cause her bright jade eyes to shimmer, almost caused me to lose myself.

Her name was Luna, and she had been the girl most of the guys in our year had a crush on. Sad to say, I counted myself among their numbers, and like the rest, I was just as awkward.

“Afternoon Noel.”

“Yeah, good afternoon to you too- wait, I mean afternoon to you too. Because you, you know, didn’t say good.”

She laughed. “I guess I didn’t, but obviously I meant it.” Her eyes drifted down to the camera. “Oh, did you shoot another film just now?,” she asked while tilting her head slightly.

“Yeah, I just used this bad boy to get a picture for the credits. I filmed Luke and the others with the one I got in my bag.” I mentioned Luke because he would have been the only one she would have been familiar with, considering we took the same advanced classes and had been grouped together for class projects before. Though, her reaction was a bit different than I had anticipated.

At the mention of Luke, her mouth shifted, a sudden interest gleaming in her eyes. “Is that so?”

My sixth sense for gossip took over, overpowering my clumsy attempts at small talk and replacing it with a burning desire for further probing.

“Yeah, I made him the main character in my rom-com.” I watched her face for any hint or reaction and boy did I get it.

She pursed her lips into a soft smile, bringing her hand to her cheek. “A rom-com, with Luke as the protagonist? That sounds very interesting.”

I felt dots starting to connect in the back of my mind. Why did Luke agree to be part of my film as an actor when he usually prefers not getting involved? What were Chris's comments from earlier getting at? And why was this girl so interested in the film and lead actor of my film? 

Were they finally seeing me for all my worth as a director? They must be as excited as I am for the rough cut I’ll have ready by tomorrow. 

That was, admittedly, the first idea that popped into my head, lingering in my mind longer than it should have.

No, my sense for the dramatic flare had been leading me in a different direction rather than what was likely the real reason. I knew that any further probing could directly lead to a Luke X Luna confirmation. Yet, I had to press on even if it meant having to deal with some slight jealousy in the corner of my heart.

“If you're interested in Luke’s acting or the film itself as a whole, I can send you a link of the rough cut when it's done.”

A slight tint of pink swirled around her cheeks. “Would you really, I’m definitely interested in Lu- I mean the lovely premise of your film.”

I gave her a thousand yard stare. 

But I haven’t even told you the premise, just the genre.

This was the cold bucket of water over my delusions of grandeur as a filmmaker.

I also felt the hearts of a third of the boys in our year breaking in half, it was a good thing summer break was here for most of them wouldn’t be able to go on for those two months if they realized that their crush’s heart was already taken by another.

We quickly traded contact info, considering sending a text is faster than writing an email, and then made our way to the school's main entrance.

At the bottom of the steps leading to said entrance were the three I had left the classroom earlier with.

Luna glanced at Luke which caused the both of them turning a rather pretty shade of pink.

Ah, young love…Wait, I’m young too dammit, where’s my love story?

Luna waved goodbye to everyone as she went a separate direction, her goodbye lingering longer on one of us more than the others.

Chris and I locked eyes, with a nod, we found ourselves locking arms around Luke’s shoulders.

“You know, Luna seemed awfully interested in the film just now, despite not knowing anything about it except for you being the lead.” I cocked my eyebrow at Luke as I shared the details of my interaction with Luna with him.

“You know,” Chris added on, “I could carry the stuff to Noel’s place for you. In case you want to walk a certain girl home?”

Mira looked at our little bit with a blank expression. “Why would Luke and I split off? Especially since we’re gonna have a huge gaming sesh at Noel’s place.”

“Not you and Luke,” I answered. “We’re talking about Luna.”

“But, I rather walk home with you guys.”

Whether it was Mira’s cluelessness or her innocence, the gist of our conversation just wasn’t clicking in her mind. Thus, the chance for Luke to have taken action had come and gone.

Mira led the group forward, towards my neighborhood. On our way there we passed over a dozen businesses, homes, and crossings on our twenty or so minute walk.

We eventually came to a stop, or rather, more like I forced them to come to a stop at the final street-signal intersection that led directly to my neighborhood. It was a rather empty part of the city at this time of day, far after all the parents had picked up their kids but it was still before the going home rush hour. 

This empty, painted crosswalk reminded me of a certain famous image, of a certain famous British band, from before my time.

What did the image of the band have to do with my film? Absolutely nothing, and yet, if I could make a reference to it as a poster for the film or as the thumbnail for hosting websites I uploaded to; I couldn’t let such a fun opportunity escape me.

I filled the others in on my scheme and, although their reactions to it were more lackluster than I had anticipated, they agreed to do it.

I gave them small instructions on where to pose as I quickly set up the mini-tripod from my bag, tossing the bag on the sidewalk, and placing the tripod with my hybrid camera on top.

I set the camera to a twenty second delay and got in position at the very end of the line.

From left to right it was me, followed by Mira, then Luke, and finally Chris.

From the front of our line I heard Chris ask, “Are we supposed to be looking at the camera?”

“No doofus, we’re supposed to be looking at the sky,” said Luke

“Actually, I think we're supposed to look out for traffic,” joked Mira, causing her to snort from laughter.

“We’re just supposed to look cool,” I said as I tried my best to stifle my laughter.

We heard the flash of the camera and huddled over towards it. I hung the camera’s strap around my neck as I printed out the picture. The moment it finished coming out, Luke grabbed it and started waving it around.

 He probably thought it was like old-timey photos where the picture appears faster with more shaking. Who was I to ruin his fun?

“Whoa, I’m starting to see it."

“Yeah? Well let us see it too,” said Mira.

“Hold on, I want to get a good look.”

“Guys, we should probably get off the street now,” I called out to them, though it seems that they currently too engrossed with the photo to hear me.

Chris laughed. “Funny how now you have time to look at pictures.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I think he’s talking about how you didn’t bother sticking around to see how the classroom photo ended up turning out,” Mira said, not a hint of teasing in her tone.

Perhaps it was the fact that she had no ulterior motives behind her words that caused Luke to get more embarrassed that he should have.

“I don’t know what you guys are talking about, right Noe-”

As Luke turned to me, which I was prepared to greet him with a teasing smile, his face went from being a deep red flush to a ghostly pale white. The others followed his gaze, turning to look at me.

Yes their eyes landed on me, but they only stopped for the briefest of moments. For some reason, their eyes continued moving until they were staring directly behind me. All three lost their smiles, they shot out their arms at me, their hands reaching out, barely able to grab the camera. 

Their grip caused the strap to pull my neck slightly as I was turning to see what was behind me when it happened.

First I felt nothing, then I felt everything, and, finally, it cycled back to nothing.