CHAPTER 6

"Harvey, are you sure we're allowed up there?" Jeff asked as we climbed up the stairs of the fire exit on our way to the rooftop. I'm getting a little claustrophobic as I was sandwiched between the two guys, Harvey in front of me and Jeff at my back.

"Yeah, I'll do the talking with the guard. We'll be fine."

"You know, I exercise a lot but this is strangely tiring me out." I said as I adjusted my back pack behind me. I tried to breathe deeply but the fire exit has this usual stuffy, suffocating air. I coughed a little.

Harvey noticed, "You okay? We're almost there."

"Donna, let me carry your bag." Jeff said. Harvey and I both looked down at him. I don't know why I was a little shocked, Jeff has been a gentleman ever since.

"I'm fine Jeff, thank you. We're almost there, right?" I looked back at Harvey and he nodded. He looked a little out of place.

Few more minutes of climbing up the stairs, and we reached the end of the fire exit. We entered and saw a lady sitting on the opposite side of the rooftop door.

"Hi Bertha, how are you?" Harvey greeted her endearingly.

"Specter." She said in her cold southern accent, recognizing Harvey. "What are you doing here?"

"This is Donna." He said pointing at me. "And this is Jeff. We were just gonna take some pictures at the deck for our photography assignment if that's okay." He smiled.

"Uh-huh." Bertha said, skeptical.

"Come on, Bertha. It's me." Harvey gave her his trademark smile. "Oh also, somehow these cookies made it into my bag. I honestly don't know how they got here." He said as he picked out a box of cookies out of his back pack and gave it to Bertha. "Would you mind taking them?" He smirked at her.

She took the cookies, acting unimpressed. "Alright, Specter. But make sure you don't do anything stupid in there. I'll be right here outside. You know what to do with the rod?"

"Yup. Thanks Bertha." Harvey said as we walked towards the door of the rooftop deck.

I tapped him lightly on the shoulder and whispered, "Didn't know you brought cookies. You could've shared them with us you know."

"Oh you don't think I saved up some for ourselves?" He winked.

"Nice." I patted him on the shoulder. "She doesn't look pleased that we're here though." I whispered to him as Jeff tried to open the door.

"She's always like that. Nothing to worry about. By the way, we call her Big Bertha in campus but she doesn't know that."

"Oh I think she knows." I said, peaking at Bertha who was still staring at us while Jeff opened the door.

Jeff grunted as he pushed the filthy door at the rooftop deck, "Wow, this door is-"

"Yeah, this door's shit. You have to keep this rod stuck in there to stop it from closing." Harvey said as he picked up a long rusty rod and placed it in between the door and the door frame.

The rooftop was so huge. It's like thrice the size of our classroom. The place looks a little grimy but it is tolerable. We all went to the corner to put down our bags and see the view.

"Woah, look at that." Jeff said, inhaling the fresh air, admiring the view. The view was truly spectacular. We could see the whole campus, the gymnasium, the football field, swimming pool and lots of other huge buildings. On the other side, we could see the highway with cars passing through. Not to mention, the beach few miles away from school. We could hear the birds chirping, wind rustling through the trees, and laughter as students played football in the field.

"Oh wow, it's beautiful up here." I said.

"Yeah." He said, looking at me. "Imagine what this place looks like at sunset."

Harvey let us take in the view for a few moments before he clapped his hands and said, "Okay, first things first." He then took out the cookies he brought and offered it to Jeff and I.

"Thanks!" I said, taking one giant cookie. "Oh this is so- where did you get this?" I mumbled as I ate the cookie.

"I made it."

"Woah-"

"I know." He said proudly and cocked his eyebrows.

Ego alert! I snorted. "I was going to say, 'Woah, it tastes so bad.'" I rolled my eyes at him.

"Well, your face said the opposite."

I was going to snap back but Jeff interrupted us. "Hey, I'm just gonna stay there on the other side while you two do your thing. Alright?"

"Okay." I nodded.

"We better start." Harvey said, rubbing his palms. "Where's your camera?"

"Right here." I said as I took the camera out of the bag and gave it to him.

"This is awesome." He commented as he played with the DSLR. "I've always wanted to buy one of these. But they're too expensive."

"You know, there are a lot of cheaper digital cameras now that can take pictures, same quality with a DSLR." I said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah but, I don't know. I guess I like the 'photographer feel' that comes with using a DSLR."

"Hmm, I actually get that. Well, you can borrow mine in the meantime." I offered.

"Thanks." He smiled. "Hey, will he be okay over there?" He said as he cocked his head towards Jeff, standing in the opposite corner of the deck with his back facing us, just taking in the view.

"Don't worry about him, he'll be fine."

"Alright. Let's go over there, the view is better there." Harvey said, pointing to the area of the rooftop without shade. Oh, this will not be good for my skin.

We walked towards the area and I hissed a little as I felt the sun hit my skin. As a natural redhead, the sun is my worst enemy.

"Wow, Donna. Your hair-"

"What?" I asked, touching my hair, suddenly feeling very self-conscious.

"It's so… red." He said, looking like he's in awe. He's really staring. I remembered my hair looks like it's on fire when I'm under the scorching sun. He looks like he wants to touch it but knows that I'll most likely punch him in the face if he did. Fellow gingers will understand this. You know our hair changes color from time to time depending on the light, right? But it's just hair, which happens to be red.

"Well thanks, Captain Obvious. That's usually what happens if you're a-"

"A redhead-"

"A ginger." We said, simultaneously. A startled look passed between us. He laughed.

"Right." He's still staring at my hair. Please don't.

"We're a pretty rare bunch now these days, you know." I said while I tried to look somewhere else. I just couldn't look at him. His stare is too much, I'm getting really self-conscious.

"Yeah, you are." He replied. I looked him in the eye. He said it very profoundly. I don't want to assume but, is he hitting on me? My fake boyfriend is in the other side and he's hitting on me?

"We have to do this really fast though, my skin will hurt like a bitch and a million freckles will miraculously appear later on my face if we stay here longer." I tried to deflect.

"But I love freckles, I think they're beautiful." He said. And then, he does that Specter smile that makes your ovaries want to weep.

Oh dear god, Donna Paulsen. You are in big trouble, sister.


I scanned through the photos on the laptop in my bedroom that night. I don't know if Harvey is really good at taking photos or the view is just really beautiful. The photos he took were all fantastic. Of course, I didn't tell him that, the man already has an ego the size of an ocean. There was one specific photo though that really caught my attention...

"Hey, you realize this is your first assignment in this school, right?" he said.

"Yeah, so?"

"It's also your first time here in the rooftop. This is an important occasion." He paused for effect. "We should take a selfie!" He said as he raised both of his hands holding the camera. I have this automatic reaction of smiling at the camera when someone points it at me so I did. I was standing a little behind him and was leaning towards his left shoulder.

I looked at our picture with the beautiful view in the background. It's not really a picture frame-worthy material but like he said, it was an important occasion. We were both smiling widely at the camera, my hair looks like it's having a good hair day and his Cheshire cat grin was so huge it looked as though his face would crack in two. The picture is cute. Harvey looks really adorable.

Oh stop it, Paulsen!


"Has everyone submitted their photos?"

"Yes, Ma'am." The class answered in chorus.

"Good. Now, I have something important to tell you, so listen up," the entire class straightened up out of habit, "You know class, if there is only one thing that I hope you learn in this school it's that it is very important that you give your best in everything you do. Even the simplest things. You'll never know, a simple action might bring you a huge opportunity in the future. For instance…"

Ms. Pearson raised her hand showing us a poster for a… conference?

"This is a poster invitation for the 2014 Society for Photographic Education Conference which will be held next month in California. The school administrators wants to have two students from your batch to represent the school in this conference." Ms. Pearson cocked her eyebrows at us as she continued talking. Her stare leaves us all quiet. "And they have appointed me to choose which students to send to California. As your photography teacher, I've decided to choose the delegates based from the photos you just submitted. So I hope you did your best in that homework because whoever gets the highest grade in that assignment will be representing the school in the conference."

"Wow." I whispered to myself.

"I should be done evaluating your deliverable by the end of the week… or earlier." She went back to the teacher's table and arranged her things.

"That's all. See you tomorrow." She said as she left the room.

I sighed as Ms. Pearson closed the door, "She always leaves the room with a flare."

"I know right?" Rachel heard me and chuckled.

"She makes it look like this conference is a big deal." I looked at Rachel, "Well, is it?"

"Well yeah. It might not be relevant in the future but you could still put that in your resume. Besides, the school includes extra-curricular activities in evaluating the top ten students of the batch. If you want to be in the top ten, it's not enough that you do well in acads, you have to be active in the school activities too. And this conference will give you big points since it's national-level. Not to mention, you get to go to California… for free."

"For free?"

"Yeah! When the school sends delegates to places, they take care of all the expenses. They have to." I have been to California many times so it's not a big deal, but Rachel got me at top ten. Getting in the top ten is a huge deal for me. I don't want my parents looking all gloomy at the end of the school year because I didn't get an award.

Rachel leaned in to me and whispered, "So if Ms. Pearson chooses your work, you get to go to California with Harvey Specter." She giggled excitedly.

"Oh no." My eyes widened at the realization. "But come on, I'm sure you and our other classmates submitted great works too."

"Don't play the humble card, Donna. It's been a week in school and so far, you and Mr. Heartthrob are the most active in class. I wouldn't be surprised if you guys are the top 2 of the batch."

Harvey tapped me on the shoulder, interrupting my talk with Rachel. I turned to face him, "I really want this opportunity. You think Ms. Pearson will choose our work?" he whispered.

"Well, it's best not to get our hopes up Harvey."

"Oh but I really want to go to California! I've never been there." He groaned in frustration. "Besides, I really think we did great in that assignment. We're the only ones who took pictures in the rooftop."

I shrugged and smiled at him, "We'll see Harvey."


A few more days passed and the SPE Conference was never brought up again. Until one day, Ms. Pearson returned our assignments with our scores and comments written at the back of the photo. She gave the photo to me since I'm nearer to her than Harvey. I looked at the back of the photo and smiled at the A+ scrawled on it. And to my surprise there was a note written below it.

Congratulations, Mr. Specter and Ms. Paulsen. Your assignment got the highest score. You'll be representing the school in the SPE Conference. Please see me at my office asap so I can talk to both of you about the details.

I flipped the photo rapidly to hide the note. I didn't want to make a big deal out of it. But in my mind I was screaming. HOLY SHIT!

"Donna, why are you being so quiet?" I stared at Rachel wide-eyed and a look of recognition passed over her face. "Oh my god, you got it didn't you?!"

"Rachel! Ssshhh! Oh my god-"

"Hey, how was it? What's our score?" Harvey leaned in on my shoulder to ask me.

"Harvey, let's talk outside." I said as I took the photo on my desk and walked quickly out of the room not waiting for Harvey's response. I looked Jeff in the eye on my way. I paced in the hallway while I waited for Harvey to come out.

"What's up Donna?" Harvey asked, confused.

I flipped the photo and showed him the note Ms. Pearson wrote. "We did it, Harvey. We're going to the conference."

It took him a few seconds to process it, "Holy shit! We did it! YES! We're going to California, Donna!" He jumped and raised his hand for a high-five. We high-fived and I laughed weakly at his excitement.

"You don't look so happy Donna." He noticed.

"I'm freaking out actually." I murmured as I continued pacing in the hallway. "I don't think my parents would allow me to go to this conference."

"Why not?" He asked, the look of excitement now completely gone from his handsome face.

"I have very strict parents." I sighed and kept walking in the hallway back and forth.

"Okay, Donna. Hello? Donna? Stop walking!" I halted and he stared at me. "You know, I think you're worrying too much. Ask them first before you worry about this."

"He's right, you know." Harvey and I both turned our heads and saw Jeff Malone walking in the hallway with his hands in his pockets. Was he there the whole time?

"Right, Jeff! You're the boyfriend. I'm sure you know Donna's parents." Harvey said awkwardly.

"Yeah. I know them very well." Jeff casted a meaningful glance towards me. "Don't worry, Donna. Talk to Ms. Pearson first and find out all the details of this trip. Then we'll talk to your parents tonight."


"Come on in." Harvey and I both heard Ms. Pearson as I knocked on the door of her office three times.

"Hi Ms. Pearson." Harvey said.

"Oh good, you're both here." She said, closing a folder on her desk. She leaned towards her desk and put her hands together, "First of all, congratulations to the both of you."

"Thank you Ma'am."

"Now, let's talk about this trip. The trip will be on August 22nd to 25th. Of course we would need both your parents' consent on this first before we could proceed on this trip so here's a formal letter that you should have your parents sign by the end of the week." She said as she handed us a letter sealed in a white envelope. "Every detail about the trip is in that letter. If they approve, you're good to go. If not, then I will have to choose the second highest scorer in class. You need to submit this letter asap so if ever you weren't allowed to go to the trip, I could find someone else to go."

We both nodded our heads as Ms. Pearson continued her briefing.

"The trip will last for 4 days. The first three days will be dedicated for the conference, and the last day will be your flight back to New York."

"Your? You're not coming with us, Ms. Pearson?" I asked.

"No, I'm not. I'm the head coordinator for this trip but Mr. Darby was chosen to accompany the both of you since he's more familiar with the place than I am. Mr. Darby also said that if time permits, you would have a short tour in Los Angeles on the last day before you head to the airport."

"This is so cool." Harvey said excitedly.

"As for the expenses, all expenses - the air fare, the hotel – will be shouldered by the school. Except food. You will have to bring your own pocket money for your food. Ms. Paulsen, you will have your own room since you're the only female in the trip. Mr. Darby and Mr. Specter will share a room in the hotel." I almost wanted to laugh when I saw Harvey grimace at that.

"But your rooms are situated next to each other. Do you have questions?"

"Uhm- what exactly are we going to do in this conference, Ms. Pearson? Is there a contest? Do we present something, do we have to bring anything?" I asked.

"What you're going to do in that trip is listen to all the speakers, participate in the activities, mingle with the other delegates, and learn. I might ask the both of you to share to the class what you learned when you come back. And all you have to bring is your camera. Aside from your personal things, of course. Do you still have questions?"

"None." Harvey looked at me and waited for my reply.

"None." I said.


"It's gonna be fine Donna, I got your back." Jeff patted me on the back as we both entered our house after school. As usual, we saw my dad sitting on the couch in the living room, reading a newspaper. It has always been his routine to chill in the living room in the afternoon.

"Hi Dad."

"Hey sweetheart. How's school?"

I sat on the sofa with an umph and faced him, "I have good news."

"Really? What is it?" Dad straightened up, his interest piqued.

"My classmate and I were chosen to represent the school in the 2014 SPE conference."

"Wow. I'm so proud of you, hon. That's great!"

"It is." I stared at him cautiously.

He furrowed his eyebrows, "I sense a but."

I smiled, of course he did, "…But it's going to be in California."

"Oh." He deflated. Oh no.

"Dad, I really want to go on this trip. It's for free. I couldn't waste that opportunity."

"Yeah, but it's in California."

"Yeees, where we've been to lots of times." I tilted my head at him, "Besides, I'm not gonna go there alone, my classmate's coming with me. And Mr. Darby."

"Who is this classmate of yours?"

"Harvey. Harvey Specter. He was my partner in that assignment so we both got chosen."

My dad shifted his gaze to Jeff, silently asking him. Jeff just nodded at him.

"Come on, Dad." I shook his knees, urging him.

"When is this gonna be?"

"August 22nd to 25th. It's for four days. I'll only miss two days of class since it's gonna be on a weekend."

Dad cleared his throat, processing the information, "Where will you be staying?"

"At the hotel, where the conference will take place."

He paused, and said, "Okay."

"…Okay?"

"Yes, okay. But Jeff has to come with you."

"What?"

"What?" Jeff tilted his head in surprise.

"Dad, you realize it's impossible to work that out without blowing Jeff's cover, right?"

He snorted, "I don't care about Jeff's cover, who's going to protect you when you're there?" I was speechless. "Donna, you have a choice. It's either Jeff's coming with you, or you're not going on this trip." He said, returning to the newspaper he's been reading, ending the discussion. My jaw dropped open and I looked at Jeff, not believing what just happened. Jeff was wide-eyed, clearly shocked too at what my dad just said.

I can't believe this is happening. It's like the first day of classes all over again.


A/N: Thank you, thank you so much guys for your wonderful reviews. And apologies for the very late update. I wrote a one-shot to compensate for the late update, I hope you read it.

Someone said in the review that s/he thought that Donna's dad had died in the accident. Thanks for pointing that out, that's a detail I failed to clarify in the previous chapters. Yes, Donna's dad had survived the accident, but they lost a huge amount of money for his hospitalization.

The table is still open for suggestions on what you want to happen in the coming chapters. I was giggling with all your ideas, I liked them so much. I'll think of a way to include your ideas in the coming chapters. And btw, some of your ideas were already planned in my mind even before I wrote chapter 1. ;)