At the Bridgewater
DISCLAIMER: I'm sure you know by now that no one on this site owns anything except the stuff they make up, so what's the point of saying it again? I OWN NOTHING! There, I said it.
A/N: Okay, it's been AGES since I last updated ... thanks for all the great reviews!I never thought I'd get 20 reveiwsfrom just 2 chapters!I wrote this chapter quite a while ago, and originally I was going to scrap it, but I enjoyed it so much that I decided to post it as the next chapter. There isn't really much development to the plot, but it's just a nice little moment that I thought would be good for the story. The next chapter will be more productive, I promise.
Zack sighed as he put his pen down on his desk and made a fist shape with his hand, easing the cramp he had accumulated while writing his essay. He leaned back in his chair and he found his eyes resting on a photograph above his desk. It was tacked into his notice board along with several other photographs, a reminder about his dentist's appointment and a sheet with some half-done lyrics on it. The photograph he was looking at had been taken at Katie's fifteenth birthday party. She was in the centre, with Summer on one side of her and Zack on the other. Freddy had his arm securely round Summer's shoulders, and all four of them were smiling towards the camera. Dewey had taken the picture.
Zack smiled as his eyes scanned the photo. He had seen it many times before, as it was one of his favourites, but he always loved to look at it. Katie had a paper crown perched on her head, the type you get out of Christmas crackers. There was also a large badge pinned onto her top that showed her age in big orange letters, and said 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY!' across the top of it. Zack's arm had been wrapped round Katie's waist, and her arm was round his shoulders so they were all squashed in together for the picture. Summer and Freddy were both grinning at the camera, Freddy sporting a bright red t-shirt, and Summer a top that read 'IF YOU CAN READ THIS, YOU'RE TOO CLOSE'.
Summer and Zack had been dating for about a year then, and they were both perfectly happy together. He remembered kissing Summer properly for the first time outside Katie's back garden that day. He would have done it sooner, but they were both too shy to make their kisses more than simple, innocent pecks. He remembered how much he had enjoyed that kiss, and how much he had loved Summer.
"I still do love her," Zack said out loud.
"What was that honey?" came Mrs Mooneyham's call from outside the door.
"Oh, nothing mom," he called back. "Just doing my homework." Putting the picture to one side, Zack sighed and picked up his pen again.
Later that night, Zack was lying on his front on his bed, looking at the picture again. He had also taken some of his other pictures and spread them out across his pillow so he could look at them. Most of them had Summer in them, but there were some with just Katie and Zack, and one of Katie and Freddy. But Zack's favourite photograph was one with Katie, Summer and Freddy in it.
Zack had taken it in the park one day a few summers ago. Katie was the only one who was actually looking at the camera at the time – she was poking her tongue out at it. Summer had been doing a handstand, her hair just grazing over the grass as her legs swayed slightly in the air. Freddy had been slouched on the ground beside Summer, watching her and attempting to make her over-balance by throwing peanuts at her. The camera itself had been crooked, as Zack had taken the picture in a hurry and hadn't had time to steady the camera. As a result, everyone in the photo was at a slight angle, which made Zack like the picture even more. It was genuine of their friendship, with no forced smiles or fake poses. It was simply Zack's three best friends larking around in the park.
He turned the photograph over to look at the date on the reverse side. He had taken to writing the date that each picture was taken when he first realised he was interested in photography. He had always loved taking pictures, but he never really thought about it as anything more than a hobby until he started developing his own pictures in the spare storeroom. It was a tiny room at the back of the house, just large enough to fit in all the things that Zack needed to develop his own photographs. The date on the reverse side of the photo read Late May 2006. So they had been 12 when the picture was taken. He put the picture back down on the pile and picked up another one, which showed Summer and Katie showing off their temporary tattoos to the camera. Freddy and Zack were in the background, talking together.
Zack spent the rest of the evening leafing through his collection of photographs, turning each one over and reading the date on the back of them. Then he put them in chronological order (that is, in order that the pictures had been taken). He placed the oldest ones at the top of the pile and the more recent ones at the bottom, so that a picture of a seven-year-old Katie smiling at him was on the top. Zack then placed the pictures in a box on his bookshelf, and hid the box at the bottom of the middle drawer of his desk. No one else would know where the pictures were, and he would be able to find them easily if ever he wanted to look at them again.
After looking at the photos properly for the first time in about two years, Zack felt a deep, personal connection with them. When he looked at the photos, he saw everything he had ever wanted – happiness, acceptance, friendship, love and the general spirit of youth. Now he rarely got that feeling of sheer happiness, when nothing else mattered in the world except your friends and the one you love. Now it was all about exams and doing well in school and getting a good education, and you could probably say that Zack was feeling the strain. And his rather messy break-up with Summer only added more problems to his platter. Those pictures were Zack's escape – them and his guitar. He didn't want anybody else to look at those photos, in case they might damage them or tarnish them simply by looking at the pictures. He knew he was being silly, but he couldn't help but think that the photos belonged to him, and no one else was allowed to look at them.
A/N: Like I said before, not much development to the plot, but I like this chapter ... except for the ending. I thought that was a bit weak. Anyway, it's not really what I think that matters - what did YOU think? PLEASE send in a reveiw because they're SO helpful! Thanks!