It was a Wednesday afternoon, five o'clock to be exact. School was over for the day, but the principle had allowed Tucker, Danny, and Sam to stay after hours, each of them doing their own thing. Tucker was supposed to teaching a lesson to the middle-schoolers from down the street in the science lab. It was also said that Sam was assisting the recently hired librarian, Miss Tessie, in the school library. And then Danny was here, trying with all of his might to take pictures with the new camera he had bought himself.
Danny persistently explored the different areas of Casper High, his ace Nikon F2 in hand. Entering the courtyard, he looked around, trying to find the perfect place and/or subject for his last picture. It had to be the right lighting, but it also had to be the right shading. Danny walked over to a tree in the middle of the courtyard, then stopped in his tracks to inspect. He shook his head as he walked away. The shot will come out too dark, he decided.
He shifted into another part of the courtyard, then made his way to the front yard of the school. Danny walked over the beginning of the entry way, and propped up his camera so he could see through the miniature hole. He backed up a few steps so he could get a better view of the building in the lens. As soon as Danny got the right view of Casper High, he sighed and put the camera down.
"I hate photographer's block," Danny muttered, kicking at the gravel on the ground. All of a sudden, he heard something. A very soft sigh, yes, but Danny still heard it. Having to wonder what it was, he looked around, trying to detect the source.
And then he spotted it.
There lay a girl, her eyes closed, underneath the tree in front of the school. Her raven black hair frizzy -- obviously from sleeping for a while against a tree --, her lips a careful shade of lavender, her skin pure white. All in all, there lay a girl, beautiful and mesmerizing, looking dainty and fragile in a deep sleep.
A sleeping beauty, no doubt.
Then it came to him.
Sleeping Beauty was the perfect subject for his last picture.
As Danny moved closer and closer to the sleeping girl, he realized that she looked oddly familiar. And, when he was a few feet away, Danny finally understood that he was gazing over his own personal Sleeping Beauty, someone he knew and loved.
Samantha Manson: Sleeping Beauty of Amity Park.
Danny chuckled softly as he knelt down, inching closer to where Sam lay. He froze in his place as she sighed sleepily, rolling onto her side -- the one where she was facing him.
"Danny," Sam whispered dreamily, a peaceful expression on her face. Danny smiled at the sound of his name, relaxing a bit more. He crouched down, trying to capture the right glimpse of Sam's face. Danny looked through the small hole in his camera and gazed over his best friend. Enjoying this moment, Danny's eyes lingered over Sam a little bit longer than they should have. He quickly pressed the button on the top of his camera then put it down, smiling to himself.
This was his favorite picture yet.