Chapter 1

I've known Val since we were little kids. But we hadn't talked a lot until a year or so before high school. I had always liked her and counted myself lucky that I even got the chance to talk to her as much as I had. She was smart, beautiful, kind, and very energetic. She had beautiful black hair that reached down to about a couple of inches past her nice, cute ass, sorry excuse me; I mean butt. I could look at her blue eyes all day. Some would say that blue eyes were odd on her, but it wasn't.

I never expected much more to happen between us than what there already was, that is until she was a senior, and I was a junior in high school. We were both 18, but I had been held back a year because I had been sick, and it made me miss a lot of school, way back in elementary school. Finally one year we shared a couple of classes together. And as luck would have it we were usually partnered together in those two classes.

One day during art class, Val looked upset. I thought she still looked cute, but I didn't like seeing her that way. I looked around us and noticed that the teacher was busy with one of her projects, so I leaned in close and quietly asked, "What's wrong?"

Val jumped slightly looked confused, then saw me and rubbed her eyes with one hand and after a few seconds said, "Oh, I'm just having a hard time figuring out how I'm supposed to make this sketch look and resemble something like a piece of work by M.C. Escher. I swear that artist must have been crazy or brilliant or something."

She took another look at her drawing and sighed before sliding the pad over to me to look at. I looked over it and wasn't very surprised to see that it still looked good. I could see what she meant by it not looking like it was supposed to but still, wow. I slid the pad between us and asked, "Can I make a couple of suggestions?"

Val smiled and nodded. I told her that what she could do was add a few lines here and there and shading in a couple of places. I even took my paint brush and pointed to the areas. She took back her pad and started with the touch ups. She turned to me and mouthed 'thanks.'

After the class was over Val, and I was the only ones to stay behind because this was the same room for our next class. I went to the back of the room to put my sketch away and get my film and camera. I was really looking forward to seeing the pictures being developed on one of the rolls. I was shocked though because I was grabbed from behind.

I heard Val call out, "Thank you so much. Your advice really worked. I think my picture will be great now."

"That's great to hear. I'm glad I could help." Is what I would have liked to have said, but nothing came out. I was so shocked by the hug, I couldn't really say anything.

And before I could correct that mistake, Val was out the door calling out that she would be back. It was then that I noticed I had dropped both my camera and the containers that held my film. I looked around and quickly found them on the floor by the sink. The containers were fine but the camera's back had popped open, exposing the film. I silently cursed the fact that we still had to use the old-fashioned film instead of using digital. I just wished I could remember if I had put in new film, or if it was the roll with the special picture in it.

When Val finally came back to class, she was about five minutes late. She sat down next to me without even saying anything. Not even saying sorry for being late. She looked as if she was just trying to pretend she was invisible or something.

I kept looking over at Val though class. There was something different about her. She caught me and whispered, "What?"

Bashful, I started to say, "It's just that you look..."