I survey my photographs, allowing myself to feel a small sense of pride for my achievement. Me, George Gladwell, had gotten #1 in the CAMDAs Qualifiers. Staring at what I have so far, the gears in my brain start turning to how I can keep my status as number one, and win the actual CAMDA. I'm so deep in thought I don't hear Cassandra, my muse, enter the classroom that functions as a photography studio.
"Hi"
A chipper voice that's definitely way to chipper to be Cassie's, brings me out of my head. Craning my neck, I give her a once over. The girl, who's not Cassandra, must be a dancer; as her blue leotard and tutu combo suggests. I state the obvious, "You're not Cassandra."
A flicker of, disdain?... crosses her face but her smile replaces it almost instantaneously. "Cassandra isn't coming... she said something about Aiden?- Said you'd get it. I'm Mindy Dobson."
I close my eyes, taking a deep breath to keep myself calm when she mentions my older brother's name. You see, Cassandra is his girlfriend- I mean, was his girlfriend. Still processing as she introduces herself, I barely register her name, ignoring the outstretched hand she reaches down for me. "Nope. You're not going to work. Cassandra is my CAMDAs project." I'm already starting to panic. I don't have a plan B. Plan B's are never as good as plan A's and I need the best in order to win!
"This could be... something new"
"That is like Lisa del Giocondo telling Da Vinci, 'I can't make it to work today, but here's my friend Dolores'" I shake my head, of course she's an optimist. I move to get up, muttering to myself. "I need to talk with my brothe-" I'm cut off as I'm met with the sight of Mindy Dobson striking a pose upside down.
"Well, I'm here, ready to work"
"How long can you hold that pose?" I ask, inspiration kitting me as a Plan B formulates, already figuring out how to make this curveball fit into my project.
"Till all the blood rushes to my head and I pass out."
Even while upside down, this girl can still sound positive about fainting. Getting to my feet, I dash to grab my camera. "I can work with that" I start snapping pictures, my flash highlighting her face as I circle around her to get different angles.
"George" Mindy's voice is strained, her face turning redder by the second. "George... I gotta..." No as gracefully as she executed the move, she unfolds herself and sits down with a thump.
I stifle my frustration as she gives me an apologetic smile, "Sorry, I was starting to feel lightheaded." I just nod, using the time to click through the shots I'd already gotten. 'Not too shabby' I think to myself.
Apparently Mindy doesn't need much rest time between stunts, because before I know it, she's back on her feet and striking another pose. I examine it and then shake my head. "No. No this won't work"
Mindy's face falls, "I thought that..." she trails off when I shake my head again, harder this time as I correct myself.
"I misspoke, I mean that pose won't work. It's too... stiff. You're a dancer, right/ I need you to dance."
The smile returns to her face as she starts freestyling some ballet moves.
A bubble of frustration rises in me again, "Freeze.' I command her, "don't move."
Her movements slow- which would be a help if she's didn't choose than moment to smile. "Without the teeth" the shutter flashes, capturing her perfectly in the exact way I want it to. "Uh- No... like you've lost your dog" I say, hoping it's help describe how I want her mood to be in these stills.
"I don't own a dog" Mindy takes my comment literally, her eyes laughing as she twirls and spins some more. "I know just what we need!" she goes to her bag, extracting... bubbles? "Fun, right?"
I watch her as she dances with the bubble wand, "Incorrect." I contradict, starting to lose patience with her. "Look, Mindy. Mindy!" I sigh, "I need a Prima. Distant, cool. And you?... I don't know what you are"
"I am a Prima!" She corrects me, still in her 'fairy mode', dancing with the bubbles. "Why are you being so bratty, George?"
That does is. "You won't stand still. You can't take that smile off your face. And you're going to ruin my camera with these bubbles!" I shout out all the issues I'm seeing with this set up.
For the first time, Mindy's bright face dulls. My venting upsetting her.
We stare at each other for a moment, neither of us saying anything. "I think I'm done here, George." She says quietly, capping the bubbles, and taking her stuff as she leaves.
"You can't just leave!' I shout, feeling panicky again. "I'll tell Cassandra!" I threaten lamely.
"This is me. Leaving. Bye" Mindy calls out, not turning back.
"Fine. Leave. I don't need you." I immediately start trashing what we'd done. "Delete... delete... del-" I stop and stare at one of the images. These pictures; they're- they're amazing. I misspoke. Again. I do need her. "Mindy. Mindy!" I run out the door to catch up to her.
Somehow, Mindy has performed a better magic trick then I could pull. She's literally nowhere in sight as I survey both ends of the hallway. I'm debate whether I should find her right now, or wait until she cools off. I decide to go with Plan C, and go find my brother. He knows girls better than I do, despite the fact he messed things up with his girlfriend.
Aiden is much easier to find than Mindy. He's an actor so 95% of the time at school, he's in the theater or backstage, or within a fifty foot radius of the aforementioned places. When he sees me, he quickly excuses himself from his conversation to make sure I'm okay. We... Well, we're close. He knows me well enough to know when something's wrong, and knows he's always the first person I go to when I need help.
"What's wrong? Wait. It's about Cassandra, isn't it?" He closes his eyes, bracing himself for the verbal lash he knows I'll unleash on him. He's genuinely surprised when I brush it off.
"No- Well- yes. I guess it involves your ex indirectly, but not really." I ramble, snapping the wristband I wear three times to balance myself and take a deep breath. "Cassie sent one other prima prodigies to me. I got stressed and blew my top, and now I lost her, too." I explain it all to my brother, closely gauging his expressions.
"Well... It sounds to me that you need Mindy. For your CAMDAs project, I mean" He adds on. What for, I don't really know. Interesting.
"Yes, I know that. That's why I'm here." I stop myself from adding a 'duh' to the end of my sentence. "But how? She seemed really fed up with me"
"Can you blame her?" Aiden raises an eyebrow at me, "I mean, I know for a fact Cassandra wouldn't ask her to take her place as your muse. So Mindy volunteered to do it by herself, and then you act like a jerk to her for trying and send her away"
Ugh, I hate it when he gets all tough love on me. "Fine, fine. I'll admit I was a little too nitpicky on her. But how do I get her back?"
My brother's a good actor. I almost actually thought it was taking him awhile to think of a good idea. "I know..." He starts, "You need to give her a sample of what the finished product will look like. Take one of the shots from earlier and edit it how you would for your submission. Show her how much you need her"
"That's... Actually not a terrible idea" I say slowly, already getting excited about how I can tweak the pictures on my editing software. "And hey..." Aiden's not finished yet, "Go easy on her a little. She's not Cassie. She doesn't know what makes you tick, and what doesn't." He reminds me, giving me a knowing look.
I nod solemnly, making my way out of the room and back to the empty studio. I sit down with my back against the wall as I tune the world out and focus all my energy into making these images the best they possibly can be. Enhancing them just enough to portray her ethereal aura, and yet keep the simplicity and naturalness apparent.
It feels like no time has passed when I'm finally satisfied with the final result and I send them all to the photo copier to print out. Because, of course, I couldn't stop at just one photo. Carefully, I place the stack into a portfolio folder and begin the task of finding Mindy.
To my surprise, she's in the the first place I look: Outside in the quad, talking to her friends at one of the picnic tables. I walk straight to her, "Excuse me" I say brusquely to her friends, needing to get this done right now.
Mindy's friends glare at me as they back away, "I'll talk to you later" she promises them, avoiding eye contact and turning away from me as she crosses her arms.
"I see what you're doing" I state, knowing the silent treatment when I see it.
"What do you want, George?" She huffs, clearly still annoyed with me.
I open my mouth to explain that she needs to come back. "I'm not, great, with change" but, instead, I reveal a vulnerability. Great.
She brushes it off, my confession not having the same gravity on her. "Is this supposed to be an apology?"
In response, I hold out the portfolio to her. Which she takes with another sigh, "What's this, George?" I can see her disdain for me dissipating, however as she flips through the photographs of herself. "Ka-pow... Mind. Blown"
I look at her hopefully, "So you'll come back?"
She looks me straight in the eyes, "Are you going to be nice to me?"
"No- I mean- may... be. maybe"
Mindy's signature smile finally makes a return. "Okay... But, I have conditions."
I blink, wary of what they may be, but conceding that I have to be willing to bend if this is going to work this time around.
We walk in silence back to where it all began, and I begin to feel anxious, my mind automatically going to the worse case scenario for her terms.
"I want to keep the bubbles." Mindy states, not asks. "And smile and be happy.
I, of course, protest, "But Cassan—"
"—Isn't me" she finishes, her tone gentler. "I know, Cassandra had the 'poised, processional prima' aura. But I'm not her. I'm Mindy.
"I-I know..." I take a deep breath, her words knocking me down a few pegs. "I just... I have this vision of how I was going to win."
"And you will!" Mindy smiles excitedly at me, "Just, you're going to win it a different way. You can still keep your original ideas, but tweak it enough so your current muse's personality shines through. Not your old one.
She's right. Mindy is absolutely right. A real artist knows how to convey a message, and this girl has a completely different one than Cassandra did. I can work with that. For the first time all day, I smile back at Mindy, "Okay. We keep the bubbles. But, I don't want you to have them. What I need you to be— is the star. The center of focus."
Half an hour later, my camera is on fire— not, literally, of course— it's perfect. Mindy is perfect. The mood is so light and airy. Fun. Fun is the word I'd use to describe this feeling.
Mindy smiles at me, clearly in her element as she gracefully twirls and interacts with the bubbles her friends from the dance department are blowing for us. Yeah, my brother's right. I do need her