Nellie frowned slightly as she adjusted the lens on her camera. Today was her first day at Roosevelt High School, and she had finally relaxed; she was in her seventh period art class. After a day filled with strenuous classwork and general unfamiliarity, it was good to come outdoors and take some snapshots of her new surroundings. Photography was something she was familiar with.
Roosevelt had an art elective called 'Art Without Borders'. When Nellie saw it on the registration listings she had her parents sign her up without another moment's thought. Earlier today she'd found out that 'Art Without Borders' meant that the class's students could make any kind of art that they wanted to as long as it had an explainable inspiration and creation process. Also, the class literally didn't have borders; they tried to go out on the campus and work plein air style whenever the weather allowed them.
After the class's instructions, Nellie approached the art teacher, introduced herself, and explained to him her idea of doing photography for her first project.
"The photos could be what the school looks like to me. They won't be prettied up or glamorous, they would be shown the way I, an outsider, sees them. A person who doesn't know where to look." Nellie said breathlessly, the idea just coming to her. She hadn't even been on the grounds yet.
Mr. Kington peered down at her, pleased to see that this girl who had been looking so gloomy when she came in that day now was excited and out of breath at the prospect of taking photos. It showed her passion for the arts. He smiled. "I like your thinking, Nellie." He told her. "But remember, to pass this as a project you need to turn in all your original photographs, tell me how you edited them and why, and then finally turn in the finished product."
"I will." She smiled softly and gratefully at him before following the rest of the class out the door. She wandered around to the back of the building, where you could see part of the bluff that surrounded it in the background and the windows of the library. There were scattered benches for studiers and picnickers. All of this combined with the crisp autumn colors made for a nice view. For a suburb, this place was pretty picturesque.
But the prettiness would not help her pictures. At least the grass was dry and dead and not pretty. It had yet to rain a day since she had been here. It had blown and blustered, which Nellie reasoned was appropriate for Chicago in mid-October, but she still missed the rain. Back home it would rain softly for two weeks straight, then stop for half of a day, then continue on and off like the sky couldn't make up its mind. Here it just clouded over and blew like an overzealous wind god.
Nellie's purple cardigan started flapping around in the wind. She buttoned it up part way. She was glad she'd braided her dark bangs back today. Her first-day-at-a-new-school outfit consisted of a blue shirt with a bird graphic on it, the afore-mentioned purple cardigan, jeans, and converse sneakers. She wore a touch more makeup than usual and little white studs in her ears.
Nellie walked directly under the library windows, which were tall and narrow on the second floor. There was a girl up there, leaning against the window and holding an opened book. Nellie began to take shots that were from the view of a person gazing up at the windows from ground level. The shots showed the gray blocks in the walls of the building and the library windows, which seemed quite high and distant compared to where Nellie was. Looking at a full-sized picture would hopefully give the viewer the feeling that they were standing in front of something much taller and larger than themself.
Behind Nellie was the sidewalk and part of the quad, and beyond that, the bluff. She sat on one of the benches beneath the tall windows and oaks and took a moment to breathe. She had made it through her first day. Then she resumed taking pictures. A big oak in front of the bench obscured her almost totally from view.
"Sorry to interrupt, but this is usually my spot." Nellie looked up, startled. Behind her stood a tall girl with wavy, dark, medium-length hair and bangs. Here slight smile showed a trace of amusement but she seemed friendly. This girl had on jeans, red suede ankle boots, a black multi-pocketed jacket and a scarf.
Nellie ducked her head. "I'm sorry, I can move." She apologized and made to move past the girl.
"You can stay." She told Nellie. Nellie stopped and turned around. The girl shot her a friendly smile. Her eyes were the color of the pine tree that was in front of her old house. "There's no reason why we can't both work here."
"Um, alright. Are you sure you're okay with this?" Nellie asked the girl hesitantly.
The girl sensed Nellie's nerves. "Are you sure you're okay with this?" The girl asked, keeping eye contact with her.
Nellie nodded. "I'll stay. Thanks." She returned the girl's half-smile before turning around to take photos. The other girl situated herself on the bench, opening up her sketch book and getting out pencils and charcoal.
"So Miss Photographer, who are you and where are you from?" Nellie turned around, surprised.
"How do you know I'm new?" she asked.
"Power of deduction." She replied, gazing up at the library windows, never taking her eyes off her work.
"Like Sherlock Holmes?" Nellie smiled. She'd read the books freshman year and was now a fan of the BBC series.
"Like Sherlock." The girl smiled back at her.
"Explain what you deducted then." Nellie told her.
"You do know that you're going to have to answer the original question sometime, right?" The girl asked, one eyebrow raised. Then she continued. "Nobody can transfer classes until semester, which hasn't happened yet. Combine that with the fact that I've never seen you before in my life, and well, bingo. You're new." She explained, and then eyed Nellie expectantly. Nellie sighed.
"My name is Nellie and I'm a junior." She started. "I'm from Washington originally."
The girl smiled. "Nice to meet you, Nellie. I'm Elizabeth. But since that's somewhat of a mouthful, most people call me Eliza."
Nellie nodded at her and smiled. "Hello, Eliza. It's nice to meet someone with an actual friendly face. What grade are you in?" Nellie asked. Though she was introverted, she wanted to try to get out of her shell more at this new school.
"I'm a sophomore. And I apologize for the school." Eliza said, going back to her sketch. "It's not that we don't care about new people, it's that we're usually so focused on our own lives to notice." Nellie noticed her use of "we" instead of "they".
"Well you're the first person to start an actual conversation with me today. Why did you, anyway?" Nellie asked, genuinely confused. If she was part of the "we", then why would she notice her?
"You were in my spot." She smiled. "And I was curious. I am curious. Still, I'm the first?" She asked Nellie.
"Unless you count the librarian."
"You're not in classes with the right people then." Eliza told Nellie. "I can introduce you to them later if you'd like." Eliza peered over Nellie's shoulder. "I like your photos by the way. I'm somewhat of an amateur photographer myself. Have you tried taking any candids?"
The two girls continued to talk for the rest of the period. They discussed their artistic creations and abilities, classes, Chicago, the weather, and of course, the mutual love for music. Eliza had just finished outlining what it was like to be a percussionist in the school band when the bell rang. The two girls packed up and were headed back inside when a thought occurred to Eliza.
"Do you need a ride home, Nellie?" Eliza asked. "My brother and I can take you if you do." Truth be told, Nellie reminded Eliza a lot of Michael.
"No, that's okay. I want to bike." She'd hardly done it in Washington because you always ran the unpredictable risk of getting soaked.
"I'll see you tomorrow?" Eliza asked tentatively. She could tell that she could become good friends with this new girl.
"See you tomorrow." Nellie smiled. She went off to her locker and grabbed her stuff, then found her bike. As Nellie started pedaling to her new home, the sky clouded over. It looked as if it might rain.
Hello!
I just wanted to explain this quickly. I know there are a lot of stories like this, but I wanted to make my own story about these people. I also wanted some original characters in there to give it kind of a different feel. A more realistic one, though I have no idea if Michael actually has a sister or not. Please write, review, and suggest. I plan to have Shanna, Blake, Charlie, Abraham, Aylin, and Ali in the story later, but is there anyone else you'd like? Any Season 1 people? A quick heads up: I'm watching the show on a delay, so the last episode I've seen is Theatricality. Don't spoil me. Lastly, this is kind of a goofy story, so thank you all for reading it.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Glee Project cast.