Justin’s wish didn’t exactly come true. Well, I guess he sort of began to pull out of his rut, even just the tiniest bit. He got a puppy, the cutest black lab I’ve ever seen, and named her Jasmine, Jazz for short. He and Trace got together a few days a week to catch up on their b-ball games. The all-night drinking even began to slow down. But the depression didn’t.
The depression hung over Justin’s head like a black storm cloud. He was happy on the outside, trying to fix things and get everything back on track, but I knew, deep down, he was hurting bad. And the worst part was there was nothing I could do.
So I let him be. Josh was definitely right about one thing; Justin Timberlake is his own man. I couldn’t tell him how to live his life just like I couldn’t fix all his problems.
At that point, I think, though, Piper was faring much worse than Justin. She had broken up with that loser she had called a boyfriend and spent a miserable Christmas with a very curious family.
The new year didn’t seem to bring her much comfort either. Instead of thinking of the new things to come, she could only think of what had been. Her wounds were too fresh, too raw, to forgive and forget so easily.
Thank god for that silly, off-the-wall photography professor she had that spring semester. If I ever get the chance to meet the guy, I’d personally like to thank him. He was part of the reason Piper got the chance to meet Justin.
February, 2004
Piper sighed as she took a seat in her photography class. It was going to be a long lecture, she could just tell from all the notes on the board. She wasn’t entirely convinced that she could keep her attention on the lesson for two hours.
Ever since she had broken things off with Andrew at the end of November, she couldn’t seem to concentrate. She had too many other things on her mind; most which had to do with that slimeball. Her heart was still broken and she hadn’t a clue how to go about trying to fix it.
Her roommates were worried about her. She sort of just drifted through the days like a ghost, a vastly different person from the straight-edged, prompt, and practical girl they knew. Virginia was about ready to kill her twin. As much as she loved her brother, Piper was like a sister to her.
“Alright class, before we get started on today’s lecture, I’ve got an announcement to make,” the professor, a tall, slightly balding man in his early fifties, announced a few minutes later.
The class immediately began to quiet down, knowing full well it was going to be something good. Professor Armstrong Brady was eccentric; there was no better word to describe him. He made lessons fun and was as hip as a man in his fifties could be. The students loved him.
Piper rolled her eyes and couldn’t help but smile just the tiniest bit. Professor Brady was by far her favorite and she always felt a little better after leaving his class. Well, that was if she could keep her attention from straying.
“Alright, this is mostly for you photojournalism and arts majors, so the rest of you are out of luck. Sucks to be you,” Brady continued; there was a bit of laughter, “I’ve just been in touch with the dean from Tisch school for the arts. I’m sure there are many of you here that don’t give a damn, so feel free to tune me out; for now at least.”
Piper’s ears perked up at the mention of the school she’d always dreamed about attending. What did Brady have up his sleeve this time? Unknowingly, she sat forward in her seat, a new gleam of excitement sparking in her green eyes.
“The dean of Tisch told me that there are some open spots for students interested in photography. Of course, I mentioned that most students I have can barely afford to go to school as it is, so I was told that they’ll be looking to accept three students, full expenses paid for four years,” the professor continued.
Piper thought she was going to fall out of the seat from shock. How could this so easily fall into her lap after all that she had been struggling to overcome? She didn’t even have the guts to print off a frickin application for crying out loud.
“Basically, you need to put together your best portfolio. If you’re interested, please see me after class as there are some guidelines you need to follow,” he concluded, “Now, onto the lecture…”
Piper quickly tuned him out as her thoughts began to race a mile a minute. This was the perfect opportunity for her to actually follow her dreams. She could go to the school she’d always wanted to go to and get the education she so desperately wished for. She couldn’t pass the opportunity up.
But there were only three spots. Was she seriously talented enough to even compete? Granted, she knew there weren’t many people in this class that were as interested in photography as she was, but she knew that the competition could be tough.
What on earth would she take pictures of? There were a few in some of her old portfolios that she was immensely proud of, but they were nowhere near what she considered an acceptable level for this. She’d have to break out her camera and start fresh.
What if, miracle of miracles, she actually got in? Could she really think about leaving behind her friends and family and the only place she had ever called home? Was she strong enough to be on her own? She seriously doubted it, but she knew she’d try as hard as hell.
All too soon, Piper found the class was over and she quickly went up to talk with the professor. She was pleased to see there were only about a dozen or so other students, so maybe the competition wouldn’t be too bad. Then again, she didn’t know any of them.
“Well, it’s good to see this many of you interested in this project,” Armstrong Brady began, “Let me start off by saying, this is a very serious venture. If you’re not one hundred percent committed, you can just forget about it now.”
He paused and waited to see if anybody would leave after those words. Nobody budged an inch. Piper nervously shuffled from foot to foot as she counted. There were fourteen of them there, including herself. This could get rough.
“Basically, you need to build a portfolio of about three dozen pictures that are your best work. They don’t have to necessarily be really meaningful. And by that I mean you can take pictures of whatever you want; landscapes, flowers, people, places, the sky. Basically anything that you can imagine,” he explained, “It will be due at the beginning of April so the school has enough chance to decide on the three of you that will be accepted. Do any of you have any questions?”
“Is there any paperwork we need to fill our or anything?” a tall blonde guy questioned.
“Yeah, you’ll have to fill out a couple pages worth of things, which will be available in a couple weeks, right before spring break,” Brady replied, “Anybody else?”
“Are we allowed to work with anybody else?” another guy asked.
“No, obviously this is for your own personal gain, so you need to show your best possible work. You won’t be critiqued on somebody else’s work,” the professor stated.
“How do we need to set our portfolio up?” a brunette girl said.
“That’s up to you. Organization would obviously be the key, but if you want to organize by subject, date taken, color, black and white, etc, well that’s purely your choice,” he explained. Piper raised her hand.
“What exactly are we going to be graded on?” she questioned, her mind, as of yet, not quite made up.
“Good question. Well the professors at Tisch are looking for extreme talent. They want the photographer to be able to capture the emotions behind the picture, not just the actual picture. They’ll be grading on that as well as professionalism. If you leave it to last minute and just throw it together, chances are you won’t be receiving one of those scholarships,” he said, glancing around, “Well, if there aren’t any other questions, if you’re serious about this, you just need to sign the list so I can let Tisch know how many portfolios to expect.”
Piper bit her lip in nervousness as they lined up to put their names on the list. Could she do it? Did she have enough guts to put her name down and possibly take the first step towards achieving her dreams?
All too soon, she was at the desk. Squaring her shoulders in determination, she confidently wrote her name down, sealing her new fate. Sighing, she quickly turned away and began to walk out of the room.
As she reached the door of the lecture hall, she felt a hesitant tap on her shoulder. Quickly turning around, she was surprised to find a blonde-haired girl about her age, clad in a pair of well-worn jeans and a Michigan State sweatshirt.
“Hey, it’s Piper, right?” the stranger questioned, Piper nodded her head in confirmation, “I’m Rae Daniels. I know you’ve never met me before, but I know you through Andrew Harwood.”
“I’m not exactly speaking to him right now,” Piper deadpanned.
“I don’t blame you. I was seeing him a couple months back and he didn’t even tell me he had a girlfriend,” Rae stated, blushing pink.
“So he fucked you over too?” Piper said, eyebrows raised.
“Yeah, like there was no tomorrow, the bastard,” Rae commented, rolling her eyes, “I just wanted to apologize because of what I did to you.”
“Hey, don’t apologize to me, it’s not like Andrew ever got around to telling you about me anyway,” Piper replied, surprised how unaffected she was by this new information. The two of them began to walk out of the room and towards the front doors of the building.
“Yeah, but I still feel bad. I’m not the type of girl who fucks around with somebody else’s boyfriend, so when I found out, I felt like shit,” Rae continued.
“Don’t worry about it. We’re in this Andrew-hating thing together now,” Piper replied, grinning as she slung an arm around Rae’s shoulder.
“Well then, if I had known you would have been this levelheaded about the whole thing, I would have told you sooner. Possibly alerted you to the fact that Andrew Harwood is just your typical asshole and nothing else,” Rae commented.
“Forget about it. I guess I had to learn the hard way. Anyway, you wanna get some lunch? I’d like to hear your opinion on this crazy scholarship situation,” Piper said, quite surprised at her confidence that had her talking to Rae like they were best friends.
“I’d love to,” the taller girl agreed, beaming, “I’m so incredibly excited about this opportunity. I’ve only wanted to go to Tisch since I was a little girl.”
“Couldn’t quite afford it?” Piper wryly questioned.
“You can say that again. I’m here on scholarship as it is, so going to Tisch has never been a reality before,” Rae explained, “Now it seems unreal that this just landed in our lap all of a sudden.”
“I know exactly how you feel,” Piper agreed.
The two girls continued to chatter as they made their way towards Cosi on Grand River, deciding to nix the cafeteria food for something a little more exciting. They had a lot more in common than Piper thought was possible so there was never the awkward silence that usually appeared five minutes after she was introduced to a stranger.
It didn’t matter that this newfound friend had actually been her enemy. It didn’t matter that Rae had been with her boyfriend for a few months and she hadn’t even noticed. No, they had quickly come to an agreement that Andrew Harwood was an asshole and that he wouldn’t stop them from being friends.
“So what’s your photography specialty?” Rae questioned, munching on a chip. The two girls sat at a table in the restaurant, chowing down on sandwiches and chips.
“Portraits, well, people I guess,” Piper explained, “Human beings are just so emotional and I’m always trying to be able to portray that emotion through my photography.”
“Wow, sounds very philosophical,” Rae teased, Piper laughed, “Me, I’m more into landscapes. Give me a sunset or trees blowing in the wind and I’m a happy camper.”
“You know, I’ve never tried scenery before other than a few odd pictures here and there. Ever since I was able to hold a camera and take somewhat decent pictures, I’ve always been focusing on people. I was on the newspaper staff and a part of yearbook committee for high school, so people was the priority,” Piper continued.
“I live practically in the middle of nowhere in this hick town, so besides cows, there wasn’t really much life to photograph. And let me tell you, I don’t think pictures of cows would sell really well,” Rae stated. Piper almost snorted her lemonade through her nose as the two of them erupted into giggles.
“You’ll have to show me some of your stuff sometime later,” Piper suggested, “Maybe we can give each other tips on the trade.”
“Sounds like a plan to me, although I wasn’t actually planning to use any of my recent work for this portfolio. I’m pretty much starting from scratch,” Rae commented.
“That’s what I was thinking too,” Piper agreed, sipping her lemonade, “I dunno where I’m going to start.”
“Well, I was planning a little trip out to California to visit my aunt during Spring Break. Sort of a little getaway to restock my portfolio and get a break from Michigan weather. Want to come with me?” Rae suggested.
Piper was shocked. She had just me the girl a couple hours ago and she had already been invited to take a trip out to California with her. A trip that could definitely provide her with a new horizon for her photography…and just could help her snag one of those scholarships. What did she have to lose?
Well, her parents for one wouldn’t be too happy that she wasn’t coming home for Spring Break but rather flying across the country. But then again, they’d also be happy for her when she told them the reasoning and they got to meet Rae. It was like the two of them were twins separated at birth.
She deserved this anyway. She was such a homebody and never traveled anywhere besides the once-a-year vacation to New Hampshire to visit relatives. She had never been out west before and here was an opportunity, staring her straight in the face. She’d be stupid not to take it.
“I think that’d be great,” Piper finally replied, grinning, “I’ve never been out west before, so you’ll have to show me around.”
“Oh, you’ll just love it there,” Rae squealed, excited, “We’ll go sightseeing and shopping and find all the best places to take our pictures. Piper, I think this is the start of a great friendship!”
“I’m gonna have to agree with you on that one,” Piper stated, laughing at her new friend’s outrageous personality.
“Well, cheers, here’s to new friendships and new opportunities for the future,” Rae toasted.
