Victoria walked down the hall, her heels clicking on the tile floor, as she approached her classroom. All the guys, and some girls, were whistling and making inappropriate comments and gestures towards her.
'Jesus, I'm surrounded by pigs.' She thought, entering her classroom.
Nathan was leaning on her desk, waiting for her.
'And there's my big bad wolf.'
"Hey sexy, how are you?" Nathan grinned, pulling a red folder from inside his burgundy sports jacket.
"Better with you here." She grins, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"I've found us another subject" Nathan smiles, putting the folder on the desk. "You know your new kid, Mark Jefferson?"
"Yeah, the shy hipster." She replies, as Nathan opens the folder to show many pictures of Mark on campus.
"I think he'll do great in our Dark Room"
Victoria sighs "Why him? He's just a nerdy, nice guy. We usually go after people we don't like." She walks over to the blackboard, writing the assignment
"We've used to many people we don't like. The cops are gonna start to see a pattern. For now we should just go after random kids."
"Good point. So how do we get him?"
"Well, I want you to 'date' him for a little bit. Like a few days so you can earn his trust. Then, we take the shot."
"You are so evil." She giggles "Let's do it."
Nathan checks his watch "Shit, I gotta go. My dad needs me for a special meeting."
"See you around hon." She smiled, blowing him a kiss.
"See you around." He says, leaving the class
She sighs getting her computer warmed up.
Mark was at his locker, grabbing his books for his classes. He adjusted his black, hipster glasses, as Zachary walked up to him.
"Hey fag, what's up?" Zachary grinned, slamming Marks locker shut
"I'm not a fag." Mark responded silently, looking down at the floor.
"Good point. Fags don't dream about fucking their Photography teachers."
Mark adjusted nervously, as Zachary laughed
"C'mon hipster, admit it. You wanna fuck her."
"Shut up" He said silently, rubbing the back of his neck
"Doesn't matter. You're too much of a pussy to get with her." Zachary chuckled, as he walked away, pushing past Mark
"What an asshole" he mumbled, walking to class.
Victoria was watching the incident from her door window, feeling pity for him. She went back to her desk, sitting down.
'Poor Mark. He seems to be shit on by everyone.' She thought. Mark entered the classroom, with his book bag, and camera around his neck.
"Good Morning Mark." she said with a smile.
"Good Morning Miss Chase." He smiled weakly, as he sat at his desk.
Victoria got up to open the window, struggling to push it open. "Come on." she groaned.
Mark got up, and helped her push the window open. "Thanks" Vic smiled, as the window flew open
"N-no problem" he said, going back to his desk.
"You okay?" she asked
He shrugged "Just bullying"
"Zachary?"
He nods "Him and others"
"Do you need to talk about it?" She says, as she sits on his desk, pushing a strand of sandy blonde hair behind her ear.
"I'm alright, thanks" he said, looking at his lap, fiddling with his pencil.
She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder "Mark, I see what other kids say and do to you. You need to stand up for yourself."
"I can't." He sighs "I'm too weak and nerdy." He pushes his glasses up
'Oh God, I can't do this to Mark. He doesn't deserve to be in that damn Dark Room.' "Mark, I need to tell you something." She says, shifting on the desk, nervously.
Mark looked at her
"Um, you need to-" Before she could finish the sentence, the bell rang, and kids started coming in, such as Max, Kate, Zachary, Alyssa, and Brooke. "I'll tell you later." She whispered, going back to her desk.
Mark nodded, pulling out his gray, leather notebook.
"Good Morning class" Victoria said, with an artificial, teacher smile. "Today we'll be learning about capturing perfect lights and angles."
Mark opened his notebook to an empty page, and began writing notes.
"Now when taking a low shot, this is really important to know because the lights will be facing you the most. You need to be in a certain position so that any lights around don't leave too big of a glare on the picture."
Mark, Kate, Max, and Alyssa wrote this down, as Zachary and Brooke just texted.
Victoria continued to teach, her back turned to the class, writing on the blackboard.
Zachary leaned towards Mark "You like the view of her ass creep?" he whispered
"Shut up" he whispered back.
"C'mon Mark, just look at that nice, round, perfect ass" he chuckled a bit
Mark put his headphones in, to shut him out, and paid attention to the board to write down what Victoria did.
Zachary smiled to himself, as he went back to his phone. Victoria turned around to see Zach and Brooke on their phones "Having a good conversation you two?" she asked
"Actually, I'm checking my Instagram" Zachary smirked
"Put em away before I take them from you" she glared
Zachary and Brooke put the phones away
Victoria went on with her teaching, until the bell rang. "Now everyone, remember, you must submit a photo for the Everyday Heroes Contest by Friday. And I'll be announcing the winner next Friday."
The class left, as Mark put away his stuff. Victoria approached him "Hey Mark"
"Hi" he said quietly
"Mark, are you doing anything later today?" She asked, smiling
He shook his head "No, why?"
"There's this cafe I always go to, and I wanted to know if you wanted to join me later. Ya know, to get to know each other a little better."
"Uh, um, s-sure. I'd love to." he smiled, putting his book bag around his neck, and grabbing his camera.
"Great, meet me here at 5."
He nodded, smiling bigger to show his Colgate white teeth. Victoria could feel a strange urge to kiss him, but resisted. Mark left the class, as Victoria fanned herself. "What the fuck was that about?" She wondered "I seriously wanted to kiss him."
Mark went out to the football field after school to get some cool shots. Eventually the football team came out for practice, so Mark tried to leave, but found himself faced with Zachary.
"Uh h-hi" he said nervously
"Hey Mark, get any good shots?" He grinned, taking his camera
"Hey, give it back!" Mark said, trying to grab it back
"Oh look, I bet Miss Chase would love to her you speak up for once." He laughed throwing the camera into the bleachers. "Touchdown" Zachary laughed, as he walked away. Mark grabbed his now broken camera from the bleachers, and left the field, a few tears running down his face.
Victoria was in her classroom, cleaning up, when she noticed Mark and Zachary out her window. "Ugh, why does Zach abuse him so much?" She said, irritated. She left her classroom, waiting for Mark by his locker. Mark came into the hall, his head down, one hand holding his broken camera, and the other wiping his tears.
"Mark, are you okay?" she asked, leaning next to his locker.
He looked up, his face and eyes red from crying. "Oh uh h-hi Miss Chase." he said
"Mark, I saw what happened, are you okay?"
He shook his head, showing her the camera.
"Jesus, I'm sorry Mark."
"It's not your fault" he sniffled, as his phone rang. He pulled his phone out, and threw it in his locker angrily, slamming it closed.
"Who was that?"
"Either Zachary, Nathan, or my dad." He responded, wiping tears.
"Nathan?" She asked confused, and worried.
"Y-yeah, he's been calling me for a week, being just like Zachary. Mocking me about- Uh, n-nevermind."
"What are they saying?" She places a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"Making fun of my stutter, and, who I have a crush on."
"Oh... Who do you have a crush on?"
His face got incredibly red from embarrassment "Uh. w-well, I um, I don't think you wanna know."
"Don't make me guess" she smiled sweetly
He sighed "I have a crush on, you" He let the last word fall to a whisper. Victoria's eyes went wide, as she blushed.
"I, oh..."
"I-I'm sorry, I better go." He ran from the hall, dropping his camera
"Mark wait!" She called. Mark was so embarrassed, he ignored her, and ran to his dorm. She flopped her back against the lockers sighing
'He has a crush on me?' She thought 'It makes sense seeing how he always acted around me. But... do I have one on him too?'