With their article about "The Influence of Richard Avedon on 21st Century Photography" virtually done, it gets very easy for Carol's mind to wander to other places.

Like, how Luna must have a crush on her, right?

Or does she?

Because, she's been around people who like her before, and that act a lot differently. They tease, and nudge, and force conversation about trivial things for the sake of getting just a little attention. They make excuses to get closer and smell your hair, which is the price you pay for buying the best dry shampoo.

They act like idiots, not like… how Luna's been acting.

But those were all boys. Maybe it's different for girls. Maybe they just aren't that way.

Carol thinks about how she acts around boys. She may preen her hair a little more, or bat her eyes just a bit. Luna hasn't done that. She might drop a pencil on purpose, just so so-and-so will pick it up. Luna hasn't done that. She might laugh at a bad joke, just to butter them up. Luna hasn't done that. Luna just says: "I hear ya."

She did help with the spilt tea, though! Aha!

"Yes, she has to like me… But why isn't she acting like it?"

"Well, shoot. We're pretty much done, aren't we?" Luna says after conspicuously leaning back in her chair and stretching.

Nothing flirty about that.

"Yeah… Pretty much," Carol says.

"I mean, we still have the presentation to do. But that won't be for a little bit. We should probably wait until Sunderland says more about it," Luna adds, peeking at her phone.

Nothing flirty about that either.

In fact, it's almost like she's implying that she's done. As in, "Adios, Carol! Bye bye! Sayonara! See ya later!"

"What the heck?! Does she like me or not?!"

It's so annoying! It's not like Carol really wants her to like her. It might be flattering, especially with the sensitive situation with her friends right now; but it isn't like she's at all interested.

But for Blarney's sake, it would be really nice to just have some proof! Some sign that she really does like her! For peace of mind, obviously.

Carol puts her very healthy brain to work. "Okay, maybe she's just the shy type. Maybe underneath all that Loud loudness, there's a sensitive little girl who's scared of her feelings! Awww…"

"So, maybe I just need to… test her a bit. It's not like leading her on? I'm just checking!"

So, Carol preens her hair a bit, and straightens herself up, and looks at Luna with the cutesy eye.

"Well… I'm sure we can get a little more work done," she says with that unquestionable Pingrey charm.

Luna looks to her with doe eyes. "Uhm…"

"Oh yeah, I got her."

Then, she perks up, and smiles. "Yeah! I totally forgot, dude! We still have to have a picture for our article!"

That… was also not flirty.

"Huh?"

Luna puts on her thinking face, totally oblivious to Carol's internal torment.

"So, like, what should we do for our picture? Should we just find someone to take a portrait of Avedon-style?" she thinks aloud with that raspy voice of hers.

"It's like she's only here to work on the project?!"

Even so, Luna does bring up a point. There is still the matter of getting the stupid picture for the stupid project.

But just imagining walking around campus asking sheople to "Please take a quick picture for our journalism project!" feels like a Vaseline-less colonoscopy.

No way, not happening. If there's one thing Carol has learned in her seventeen years, it's that the best way to get something done right is to do it yourself.

Or pay someone who is licensed to do it, but that's not the case here.

"Uhm… No. We're not going around school asking people to take a picture for us. I have higher standards than that," Carol bluntly states, checking her nails.

Luna winces. "Alright, well what should we do then, artsy fartsy?" Luna quips.

"Name calling! That's flirting!... Right?!"

"Well… We do have a nice little home studio. Sometimes my parents will bring clients over for photoshoots. I could get my Canon and just, take pictures of each other?"

"I'll take a better picture than anyone we could con anyway."

Luna thinks it over for a moment. "Alright, sounds good to me. But you think Sunderland will be cool with us using ourselves?"

"When he sees how much effort we've put into our article- I'm confident that will be the last thing he'll be worried about," Carol answers, still being a little flirtatious.

And Luna smiles. "Cool."

"Cool?… That's kind of flirty I guess."

As Carol leads Luna to the home studio, she can't help but wonder about one thing.

"Is she looking at my butt?"

That'd certainly be one way to know if she likes her.

So, ever so casually, Carol glances back at Luna from the corner of her eye, trying to see if her eyes have wandered to the dark side of the moon or not.

And- she ends up hitting the wall.

"Ow!" she moans as she rubs her tender forehead.

"Hey, you good?" Luna asks, keeping a comfortable distance between the two of them.

"Yes, I'm fine," Carol indifferently answers. Normally she'd be more concerned with showing imperfection around someone like Luna, but she's more interested in why there was no comforting hand on the shoulder or something.

"Do you like me or not, Loud?!" she really wants to yell out, but that's not what civilized people do. No, civilized people work these things out with critical thinking and patience.

Even when it starts bringing physical pain.

They get inside the large, white photo lab, and, of course, Luna has to gawk.

"Woah… Sick, dude."

Carol has to think the "sick" over a moment, remembering that's what people like Luna say when something is cool. Not everyone can be as sophisticated as herself.

"Thanks," she simply utters as she prepares her equipment. She gets her camera set up on a tripod, and a stool for the girls to sit on. A plain white backdrop is already serendipitously set up, so it would appear this photoshoot will be ready to go very shortly.

But, of course, Luna Loud makes it really easy to wonder just what's going on inside of her little rock n' roll filled head as she just watches on with an eager little grin.

"Why isn't she offering to help now? Is it because she thinks I can handle it and doesn't want to overstep boundaries? Or is it because she's just too shy to say anything? Or maybe she really DOESN'T like me the way I think she does, and this is just her sitting back and trying to look pretty while I get my hands dirty?!"

"Uh, you got everything, C?" Luna asks.

"Oh, now you ask!"

"I'm fine."

"I can't even believe I'm doing this right now. I'm about to take pictures in my parents studio with freakin' Luna Loud… Like, why did it have to be her? Why couldn't I get lucky and get a partner who would just let me do all the work? Or a partner who doesn't get me detention? Or someone who doesn't make me worry about whether or not they're checking me out every five minutes?"

"And why did I have to have that stupid DREAM about her?"

"Uh… Just so you know, I've never like... taken a professional picture or anything. So you might not get the best shots of me," Luna says as she nervously rubs the back of her neck.

"Pshhh… If all I had to worry about was making sure these pictures turned out okay…"

"Just... don't worry about it," Carol says as she finishes getting her high-dollar camera booted up.

She meets Luna with an apathetic gaze. These grueling last three days have officially worn her out.

"So… You want me to go first? Like, I don't wanna mess anything up on the camera or something," Luna coyly says, rubbing her neck again.

"It's not very hard. I'll walk you through it in a bit… But yeah, go ahead and take a seat. And don't smile," Carol instructs, actually feeling some serenity in just assuming the role of a simple photographer.

Luna takes a seat on the stool, crossing her legs and straightening herself up.

"So, how do you want me to look?" she asks.

Carol studies her for a moment.

In another life, this really wouldn't be the worst thing ever. Luna is a good-looking girl, for the most part. She grooms herself well, despite choosing to dress like an idiot. She's also more mature and level-headed than her skully tee and paperclip earrings would lead a person to believe, and has the potential to do well with a real job, maybe even in the journalism field should she choose to grow out of her ridiculous Mick Swagger wannabe shtick.

Maybe she could even be a friend, if things were just… different.

But it doesn't matter. What does matter is taking these pictures, and moving one step closer to putting a pretty red bow on this project, passing Journalism, and moving on to Yearbook next year before graduating and starting her adult life.

"Hmmm… Okay. Why don't you sit like this," Carol says, lying her left arm across her lap, and tucking her right hand under her chin.

"Okay," Luna says, following her example.

"This all just feels… Kind of stupid now. I mean, what was I so excited about? She really isn't so bad. It's not like she's been obnoxious or anything. She's actually been pretty nice to me…"

"Mmm… Not bad. But maybe just look to the right a bit. No! Wait! Actually, go ahead and look into the camera," Carol adds.

Luna works with it. "Like this?"

"And whether she likes me or not, she hasn't said anything. And, really, she probably knows I'm not into girls. So she probably WON'T say anything."

"Try looking up just a little bit."

She does.

"I guess I just got carried away. Maybe she was right… Maybe I do need to loosen up a bit. This has been a pretty fun day, I guess. And detention was actually pretty hilarious."

"I guess I was wrong about her."

She looks through the lens of the camera.

The face that looks back to her… is perfect.

Her deep brown eyes are full of thought and vigor, almost twinkling like in her dream. Her hair is practically shining, and her lips and cheeks are the right amount of rosy. Her normally atrocious paperclip earrings actually seem like something of a statement for who she is, as opposed to some idiotic way to get attention.

And her freckles, those dastardly freckles, complete the package.

She's beautiful.

Carol just freezes, staring in awe.

"Is something wrong?" Luna timidly asks.

"No… It's- you're fine… Don't move…" Carol stammers, before finally coming to and taking the picture.

FLASH!

Once the deed has been finished, she reluctantly removes herself from the lens, knowing that reality won't be so kind when she rests her eyes upon Luna Loud again.

She'll be back to her cringey, trashy self. The combination of the chiaroscuro of the room, the convex of the camera lens, and mental exhaustion have all created this delusion that Luna could actually be desirable to the human eye.

But she's wrong. So wrong.

Luna is still beautiful, and now she's giddily smiling as she steps her way over. It's…

"Wow."

"How'd it turn out, boss?" she asks, coming to Carol's side to get a look at the picture, still smiling.

It makes Carol's heart beat a lot faster, and she can feel her cheeks becoming flushed.

"Uhm… Well…"

Her awkward "Uhm well" makes Luna deflate. And for some reason, it makes Carol feel like she's the stupidest person to ever breathe oxygen, and she has to remedy this fast.

"It's good! Really good! Aheh…" she says with a forced smile. "Uhh… See for yourself," she adds, stepping to the side and gesturing Luna to have a look at the screen of the digital camera.

Luna does with a little hesitation, but jovially brightens up upon seeing her Avedon-esque portrait.

"Wooooow! Oh my gosh, dude! Like, this is really good!" She shamelessly tells Carol with a wide smile.

"Heh, well, I do know my stuff," Carol nervously says, rubbing the back of her neck now.

Luna gawks at her photo some more, settling into a cool little gait and grin.

"You know... I think I might just make this my album cover when I hit the big time."

And she turns to face her partner now with those daunting brown eyes.

It's takes all Carol has not to reduce to a puddle. For whatever reason, her eyes are terrifying now.

So she has to look away, still childishly rubbing the back of her neck and blushing.

"We uh… Still need to do mine, you know…" she musters out, almost instinctively.

Luna nods, somewhat ebbing her enthusiasm. "Alright… Uh, so you wanna show me how this thing works?" she asks.

Carol freezes. This means she has to get closer.

She gulps, and points her shaky finger to the camera.

"You mean the camera?" she sputters.

"Yeah. I mean, you're cool with me using it right?" Luna responds.

"I- I…"

"What the heck is wrong with me?! Why can't I just talk to her? Why do I feel like I'm gonna throw up? It's just Luna!"

She stops breathing, forcing herself to buck up and persevere.

"I've gotten this far. I'm NOT going to let some stupid freckles throw me off now!" she tells herself, and she takes in a deep breath now, straightening up, looking Luna in the eyes.

"Cool? Me? HA! If I was any cooler, they'd have to thaw me out! Get it! It was like a joke? Like break the ice? Haha?!..."

Luna winces. "Uhm, yeah?"

"FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, CAROL! STOP ACTING LIKE AN IDIOT!"

She takes another deep breath, and tiptoes closer to Luna and the Canon. Her heart feels like it could explode with every step she takes, and it doesn't help that Luna's started smiling at her again with those pretty thin lips of hers.

"Oh my god. Her lips are pretty?!"

She finally makes it over, and forces a weak little smile of her own before turning her focus to the camera.

And it turns out, having Luna hovering this close, not looking at her, is much worse. Add the fact that she has to provide intricate instructions on how to use this rather expensive piece of equipment to this equation, and the now obvious smell of lavender perfume…

"I am going to have a heart attack."

With what small amount of mental and bodily functioning she has left, she's able to work through this, and do what she needs to do.

"So, uhhh, first you need to re-adjust the focus," Carol points out, doing her best not to look at the other girl.

"Focus. FOCUS."

"Right," Luna simply says. It almost makes her shiver.

"…Then you need to make sure the flash is on," she continues.

"Why is it so hot in here?"

"Okay."

"And then, when you're ready…" Carol begins, but she has to pause to swallow the spit she's choking on, as well as catch her breath.

"It's just Luna… It's just Luna…"

"…You push this big button," she says while pointing to said button, "and take the picture"

Luna shrugs. "Alright, sounds simple enough."

But Carol just stands there for a minute, looking back at Luna. Completely, literally dumb.

"It's just… Luna…"

"So… Wanna have a seat?" Luna says with an inviting smile, motioning Carol to do as she did before.

Carol says nothing. She decides that it's just best to stop speaking all together, and maybe even thinking.

"Take a seat… Even I can do that…"

And so she does, making herself comfortable on the stool, superfluously brushing herself off and looking to Luna with doe eyes as she diligently follows Carol's instructions for taking the picture.

"Uh, I just push all the buttons, right?" Luna says with a confused look.

"What?! No!" Carol blurts out.

Luna just laughs. "Relax, dude. Just messin' with ya."

Carol takes another deep breath.

"Will this torture ever end?"

Luna takes turns measuring up her subject and her camera. As she does, Carol can't help but lose herself in her own heartbeat. She begins to worry that she may literally have a heart attack.

"I don't know about this, Luna…" she admits.

Luna looks to her with concern. "What's the matter, dude?"

Carol's sorrowful eyes look back to her. "I just... I don't think now's the best time."

Luna softly half-smiles. "Hey, if you're worried about taking a bad picture, don't be. I mean, you took a killer pic of me, and, well…" she says with a little chuckle, gesturing at herself as if to say "Look at ME... Seriously, you look great, C."

Those horrible, awful, no good feelings of insecurity, uncertainty, and indigestion are all seemingly absolved with Luna's one compliment.

"I look… great?"

Carol can't help but blush, and smile. It feels great.

Luna happily smiles upon seeing her brightening face, and quickly takes the shot.

FLASH!

It takes Carol by surprise. "Did you take the picture?"

"Yeah, sorry, I know you said no smiling, but…"

"No," Carol says, standing up. "It's fine."

It couldn't be any more fine. She doesn't even have to see this picture. Really, she doesn't even care.

Luna says she looks great. That's good enough for her. Anything to make her feel like… this.

She watches Luna take a look at the picture, and she smiles again. Her smiles are really starting to grow on her.

"Dang, girl. I might make you my album cover instead," she says, working her eyes up to meet her.

And her heart flutters. "Oh, come on," Carol simply says, really loving how these blushy smiles feel.

"Come see!" Luna says, waving her over.

Carol shyly steels herself for a moment, clasping her hands together and raising her heel up all nervous like.

"Alright," she simply says, and she begins to make her way over, looking to the floor because it'd be too embarrassing to look at Luna.

But she gets close to her again. And this time, it really isn't so bad. It's pretty nice actually.

So she looks up to her stupid freckled face and her stupid brown eyes…

And wow.

"You gonna look?" Luna happily quips, pointing to the camera.

"Oh! Right," Carol says with a little apprehension. She looks at her portrait, but only really as a formality. She can't focus on anything else but the way she's feeling right now, all bright and happy and just all-around wonderful.

She's quick to look back to Luna with this big stupid grin on her face.

But she doesn't care. Luna's face is nice to look at.

And she smiles back.

For a moment, they just smile at each other. It just makes all these colorful feelings in Carol's chest intensify, like this brand new rush of sensations she's only dreamed of having.

She's… dreamed, of having.

"Oh my god…"

Suddenly, Luna's cell phone rings, and it's a friendly reminder to come back down to a little place called Earth.

Luna looks to the screen, and squints her eyes. "Oh, it's my pop. I better answer it," she says, just briefly glancing back into Carol's eyes before taking the call.

It was a nice brief glance.

"Hey, Dad. What's up?" Luna answers. All the while, Carol just sort of watches on, sort of spacing out too, just trying to work through these strange feelings, trying to understand what they all mean…

And what the heck they have to do with Luna Loud.

"Alright, yeah, hang on," Luna tells her father. Then, she muffles the phone with her hand, and turns back to Carol.

"Hey, my dad says he got off work early, and he can come pick me up if you want. I mean, it's whatever," Luna tells her.

And it… kind of sucks. Like, she's going to be leaving? Already?

But she can't tell her that either. No way. She's Carol Pingrey. She doesn't spaz out for anyone.

Even… If it is tempting right now.

"Uhm, yeah, that's fine," she dramatizingly says with a little scoff and hand wave. "Saves me the gas."

"That's kind of what I was thinkin'," Luna says with a little grin, and she removes her hand from the phone.

And Carol realizes, she kind of wishes she had said something different.

"Yeah, alright. It's West Sanford street. Yeah, nice house. Can't miss it," Luna explains to her father. "Alright, see you in a bit."

She hangs up, puts the phone away, and looks at Carol with another little half-smile. "Well, he says he'll be about ten minutes."

"Yeah? Alright," Carol simply responds.

Then, it gets quiet. And, they don't look at each other.

"Ten minutes? That's still a little bit of time. Yeah! I still have her to myself for a bit, so… Say something, dummy!"

"So…" she gets out.

"Anything but that!"

"So…" Luna responds, rubbing her arm. After a few more seconds, she speaks up again. "Uhh, so you just gonna print these off or download them or what?" she inquires.

"Oh, yeah… I'll probably just put them on my laptop," Carol answers.

"Think, think, THINK!"

More awkward silence.

"Come on, Carol! You're blowing it here! She's gonna think you're a total yuts if you don't find something to talk about!..."

"Alright, uhm, photography? No, we've talked enough about that. Normal people don't talk about school work unless they have to… Her plans for the weekend? Wait. Heck no! Then she'll ask what I'M doing this weekend, and… Ugh!..."

Luna just barely whistles one little whistle. Just something that probably wasn't meant to mean anything or even really required a lot of conscious thought. Just- the littlest of little whistles.

"MUSIC!... DUH!"

"So…" Carol begins. "You play guitar, right?"

"Oh em gee, much wow genius. She's really gonna appreciate your smarts, now."

Luna smiles. "Dude, I play everything. Like, music is literally my life," she proudly says, evidently happy she asked.

"There's hope!"

"Everything, huh?" Carol follows up, smiling a little sweet smile.

"Oh yeah. Guitar, drums, piano, clarinet, didgeridoo, balalaika-" Luna lists off, but Carol cuts her off as she epiphanically comes up with the perfect topic.

"Violin?"

Luna chuckles a little. "Oh yeah. And fiddle."

Carol chuckles too. "That's another joke, right?"

"Yeah," Luna simply responds, her drawl heavy. "Why? That your thing?"

"Here goes nothing…"

"Well… I mean, I've had some lessons…" she casually answers, only a little nervous.

And Luna's eyes widen, like she just opened a really nice birthday present. "Cool! So like, you play?"

Again, casually, maybe just a little more nervous now, Carol answers "I mean, I do make time to practice. Like, well… Every day."

Watching Luna's illuminating face get all spazzingly excited is the type of thing Carol's had to condition herself not to snap at. Like, get a hold of yourself losers.

But now, it's almost contagious. Even with the butterflies, it's a nice feeling knowing her affinity for violin can be shared with someone. And it helps that that someone is…

"Dude! Why didn't you say so?" Luna blurts out.

"Well, you know…" Carol coyly responds. "It's no big deal..."

"Says you!" Luna rebuts. She calms herself a little as she prepares her next response. "So… Like, do you wanna maybe play a little? Like, it's been a while since I've had any practice. Maybe we could run some stuff by each other?"

"Oh god…" Carol thinks. This isn't quite what she expected to happen, and it just throws her off even more than she's already been thrown off on a weekend full of being thrown off.

Yet, by some sort of divine intervention, or maybe just random act of human stupidity, she finds herself uttering the following.

"Sure?..."

More smiles from Luna. OMG. "Alriiight," she coolly draws out.

And then they both just stand there, Carol feeling all these weird conflicting emotions, Luna just slowly donning a confused expression.

"Oh… I should probably go get my violin. Doy!"

Carol just nervously laughs a little laugh, "It's in my bedroom, heh heh."

With that, she makes her way out of the bright white room, Luna Loud dutifully following behind her, still smiling.

And, despite some lingering negative chakras, combined with all these new unadulterated and wild sensations…

She smiles too.