Chapter Text
It’s a bright afternoon as students file into the photography room. The class is emptier than usual as Kate, Taylor and a couple of other students (or Otters) are away for a swimming competition.
Mr. Jefferson smiles as he starts the lesson. “Welcome, everyone! As you may have noticed, the class is a little bit lighter today than it normally is, but- we shall endure. Today we’re going to be doing some framing exercises and will be working in twos. So, everybody buddy-up and we’ll begin.”
Chairs scrape along the floor and people chatter as they split off into pairs.
“Right, does anybody not have a partner?” The teacher asks.
Max raises her hand timidly and so does Victoria. The whole class is paired-up except for them.
“Okay. Max, Victoria. You two will be together.”
Victoria scoffs. “No way, I’m not working with her.”
“Victoria, what kind of photographer are you going to be if you can’t compromise? Team work is an essential part of photography, you have to learn to work effectively with others.”
“I know, but-”
“No ‘buts’ Victoria, it’s just an exercise. It won’t kill you. Who knows, maybe you’ll learn something.”
She opens her mouth to argue again, but thinks better of it and folds her arms instead.
Max rubs her neck uncomfortably. “This will be fun.” She muses in a sarcastic tone.
“Now, here is a list of shots I want you to take.” He passes along handouts to each table. “The aim of this is for you to show me that you understand how to use different kinds of shots. For example, ECUs, mid-shots and long-shots- you get the idea. I also want you to demonstrate different depths of field. And, since it’s a nice, sunny day- you- get to go outside for this exercise.”
The students hoot and cheer in delight.
He shushes them. “Listen up, everyone. I know it’s all very exciting, but before you head out we have to go through the last few instructions…”
_
Victoria walks briskly ahead of Max, making it perfectly clear she doesn’t want to be near her.
Max trails slowly behind. It sucks having to work with someone who clearly doesn’t want her in their group. “This is so friggin’ uncomfortable.”
Before they departed, Jefferson added a few extra details about the task. The photos were to be split so that each member captured half of them. Each image also needed to feature the partner who was not taking photos at the time. Meaning, Victoria and Max have to photograph each other.
“Joy.” The brunette thinks cynically.
“Come here.” Victoria demands pointing her finger towards the front of the fountain.
Max obliges and stands where she was asked. She crosses her arms and wears a surly expression, looking straight down the barrel of the lens.
“Jesus, you’re going to break my camera.” Victoria quips as she takes the photo.
“Fuck you.” She ripostes.
“Wow, tough hipster!” The youth zooms in on Max’s face and photographs her lips. “I got one of the ECU’s we needed- it’s of your filthy mouth.”
“You’re a fine one to talk! Every second sentence you utter contains an expletive of some sort. I’m surprised you don’t combust in classes where you have to curb your tongue.” The shorter teen jibes back.
“Hurry up, let’s just get this over with.” Victoria flashes her a bored look and wanders off. Max begrudgingly follows behind.
After Victoria has finished taking her half of the pictures, it’s Max’s turn to do the same. The blonde folds her arms defensively as Max raises her Polaroid to snap a photo of her.
“Max, have you heard of an SLR?” She asks sharply.
“Yeah, of course.”
The prep clicks her tongue. “No, you bumbling fool. I mean you can’t use that piece-of-shit-Polaroid for the photos we need. The pictures have to have different focal points and depths of field. Remember?”
“Shit, she’s right.” Max realises with disdain and puts away her camera. “I’ll head back to class and borrow one.” She announces and turns to leave.
“Ugh. Here!” Victoria slams her camera forcefully into Max’s hands and stomach.
The freckled-teenager frowns, irritated by the force of the impact. She then eyes the apparatus with a shocked expression.
“This camera must be over ten, or fifteen grand!” It’s a high-end DSLR. The lens alone would be an additional ten thousand dollars or more.
“I know it must be strange for a peasant such as yourself to handle such an exquisite piece of technology, but alas- desperate times and all that.” Her partner says with a theatrical wave of her hand.
Max hesitates. Part of her wants to return the gadget to Victoria and get one from class. However, a couple of things stop her from doing that. Firstly, it’s a strange act of kindness, or charity on Victoria’s part. And secondly, she’s fascinated at the prospect of using a camera of this calibre, even if it is digital.
“Well… In that case, thanks Victoria.” Her voice is genuine.
The queen bee shrugs indifferently in response.
It’s a bizarre experience using the camera. The colours are captured so differently to film. They’re sharper, more saturated. It’s also a bit weird to have the option of either looking down the lens, or being able to use the rear-screen to organise shots. With manual photography, you rely on your eye and the viewfinder. Digital gives you a preview of the final product before it’s developed (that is, if you even choose to develop it). Aside from the differences, changing the focus and depth of field is much the same as it is using a manual SLR. Although Max prefers analogue and instant cameras, it’s nice to try something new.
“Victoria, can you please stand over there?” Max signals towards the front of a tree from behind the camera.
“Are you serious? That shot would look way better from over there!” Victoria gestures over to the stairs.
“Hey! I helped you with your photos and didn’t question any of your shots.” The smaller-girl points out.
“That’s because you can’t question perfection.” She replies smugly.
The adolescent erupts into laughter. “Oh my gosh… Please tell me you did not just say that.”
“I did, so eat me.” Victoria frowns and crosses her arms.
“You wish.” She retorts.
An uncomfortable silence passes between them.
“Way to make things awkward, Caulfield.” The other teen reprimands.
“Whatever, just let me take this photo.” Max responds dismissively, feeling a bit embarrassed.
Victoria rolls her eyes and stomps over to the tree. Max adjusts the focus ring so that the blonde is the focal point and the background is blurry. She snaps the picture then examines it on the LCD screen.
“Hmm…” Something is off with the snapshot, but she can’t figure out what. It’s not very captivating. Max zooms in on Victoria’s eye for another extreme close-up.
“Oh...”
“What is it?” The Vortex leader inquires in a suspicious tone.
“Your eyes are green.” Her teammate says softly.
“Yeah, so?” Victoria's arms close protectively.
“It’s just… I never noticed that before, I always thought they were blue.” Max explains.
Her partner pauses momentarily, then looks away. “Stop being creepy and take your damn pictures.” She snaps and waves her hand flippantly.
The remaining photos are taken without incident. The pair work quickly and Victoria becomes less resistant in following Max’s directions. She does however, bring up the picture taken earlier in front of the tree.
“I’m telling you, a shot on the stairs would’ve looked far more interesting.” She continues. “Head down towards the bottom of the steps, then aim the camera up towards me. You’ll have an empowering shot of me in the foreground and a blurry visage of Blackwell in the background.”
“Fine. Have it your way.” Max replies bitterly.
A look of satisfaction spreads over Victoria's refined features and she leads them to the stairwell. The shorter teenager walks down and crouches below on the lower steps. Her aquaintance leans back in a casual pose along the upper portion of the stairs. Max squints as she presses an eye against the viewfinder. She observes Victoria through the lens.
“God, she’s a natural. I wish I was as comfortable in front of a camera as she is.” Her jaw tightens as she also notes how attractive Victoria looks right now.
“Hurry up, Caulfield.”
“Shut up! Seriously.” Max frames the picture swiftly and adjusts the focus. Her mouth falls open slightly. The image looks incredible, Victoria was right. She promptly snaps the photo and strolls up the stairs, trying to downplay her excitement.
“Thanks for letting me use your camera, Victoria.” She hands it back to the girl, who quickly examines the final picture.
“So, you’re happy with that photo?”
Max considers lying, but decides not to. “Yes… You were right, it looks much better than the other one did.” She touches her neck again. “That was painful to admit.”
Victoria grins widely. “It’s because of subtext.” She explains in a pretentious tone. “There has to be a story behind the picture. See, the first image was simply ‘girl-standing-in-front-of-tree’. There was no depth, no story. In the second one, by shooting from that low angle, that demonstrated my power. Having me in focus rather than the campus also added to that power dynamic. You see, this is pretty much a royal portrait showing the Queen of Blackwell in front of her castle. While Blackwell is still part of the visual narrative- ultimately I’m more important.” She concludes with a smirk.
“In her own messed up way, Victoria just made an incredible amount of sense.” Max thinks with a smile. Although, she'd never let her know that.
“Victoria, are you aware of how incredibly arrogant you are?” She queries.
Victoria ignores her and stands up. “Let’s head back before they send out a search party to find us.”
_
The other groups are already seated when they return.
“Ah, Victoria and Max! Lucky last. How did it go?” Their teacher questions.
“Fine.” Victoria waves nonchalantly and sits at her desk.
“It was okay.” Her team member agrees quietly, also returning to her seat.
“See? It’s amazing what you can learn from other people, if you give them a chance.”
Max steals a sideways glance at Victoria. In this instance, she was inclined to agree.
“Wow! This shot is amazing. Nice going, Max!” She faces the front of the class and sees the photo of Victoria on the stairs being projected on screen- the image that she herself had orchestrated.
Hurt flashes across Victoria's face, but it quickly changes to infuriation. She offers Max a death-stare, eager to see how she will react.
“Thanks, Mr. Jefferson... But actually, that whole photo was Victoria’s idea. She picked the location, the angle and told me what the focal point should be. I couldn’t have done it without her.” She answers truthfully and turns towards the other girl- who looks somewhat stunned.
“I stand corrected and offer my humble apologies. Victoria, very nice work! I’d like to add that I’m proud of both of you for demonstrating such a great display of team work.” Mark commends them.
“Thank you, sir.” The short-haired youth answers meekly.
“This brings me to my next point about artistic integrity…” Mr. Jefferson returns to the lesson and begins writing on the board.
Max is certain that she can feel Victoria’s eyes upon her from the corner of the room. She cautiously glances over, but the other girl is staring straight ahead. The young woman folds her arms and tries to concentrate on the lesson.
“That was actually… Surprisingly fun.” She side-eyes Victoria once more and finds her doing the same thing. They both tense up and hastily look away.
“What was that? Did we just… Have a moment?” Max dismisses the thought with a shake of her head. “Impossible.”