Overexposed Read online

  “For the first few weeks of class you all just need a simple point and shoot. We will be going over composition and the history of photography for a while, then move onto the controls from there. If you cannot get a camera, please don’t worry. Just see me and we can see about borrowing one from the school.”

  The bell rang and everyone began packing their bags up as Mr. Bennet yelled over the noise to take as many photos as we can, and that he would see us tomorrow. Ashley and I left class with a smile on our faces. I didn’t know what she was thinking about, but my brain was already racing with ideas for the project.

  ***

  The rest of the day was just like any other day. I was lost in math, bored in history, and then it was time for sculpture. I really hoped they had smocks or aprons available. If not, I really hoped we didn’t have to touch anything. I had an old apron at home that I could bring in if I had to.

  “Don’t look so frightened! Class hasn’t even started. You are still perfectly clean,” Ashley said from behind me. She didn’t have math or history with me. In fact, she didn’t even have history since she took that last semester and her math class was three levels above mine. She was like a human calculator. Ashley was good at school. This semester she had science and English and there was already a line of kids wanting her to tutor them.

  “But for how long?” I knew I was being a baby. I would just suck it up. If I had to, I could always get gloves to go along with my apron.

  “Just go find a stool.” She rolled her eyes and pushed past me. This class was definitely less popular than most of the other electives. There were only eight students.

  “Okay, so this is sculpture class. You are a small group so please speak freely, just make sure to keep it PG. Let’s go over the syllabus then you all can look around the room and play with the materials we have for you to use. Remember, you can also bring in your own materials as well.”

  It seemed that there would be three major projects, but none of them had any real guidelines except for the size. And with only one paper at the end of the term describing our aesthetic and how it progressed over the three projects, I couldn’t really complain. I had no clue what I was going to do, but at least once I looked around I saw I didn’t have to use anything that would get me goopy.

  When the final bell rang, I was more than ready to head home. It seemed the rest of the school felt the same, as the hallways flooded with student bodies and no one was paying attention to anything other than who would be the fastest out the front door.

  THE SNOW FELL from the cloud-covered sky at a steady pace, covering the ground with a fresh layer on top of the two feet that fell just the day before. I stood at the front gate of the school shivering and waiting for my little brother to show up. He was fourteen and a freshman. Mom insisted that I wait for him before walking home. I had no clue why. I walked home alone as a freshman and I didn’t die. Although, if I had to stand out there much longer, I might have turned into a Popsicle.

  “It is freezing out here! Why can’t Jason hurry up?” Ashley said as she pulled her scarf closer around her neck. She would always wait with me and we would walk home together, rarely staying with Jason the whole walk home. He would bitch about not needing a babysitter, then run off to walk with his friends. It was fine by me, Mom just said I had to wait for him, not that I had to stay with him.

  “You can go on if you need to. He might be a while. He apparently doesn’t care that I have to wait for him and takes forever to get out here.”

  “Nah, it’s okay. I am not going to let you freeze alone. Misery loves company right?” I just laughed and bumped her with my shoulder.

  Jason finally came into view, but he was talking to a group I had never seen give him the time of day before. Jason was hanging out with Brock and some of the other varsity hockey boys. “Be here tomorrow afternoon, Jason. We can talk then.” Brock shot me a look, and then turned without another word. His group followed him. It was as if he was the momma duck and they were little ducklings. Blindly following without ever questioning anything.

  “What took so long?” I asked with a bit more annoyance to my voice than I intended. No, I take that back. I intended every bit of it. I loved my brother, I did. But I didn’t like him all that much.

  “None of your damn business, Vivienne!” The feeling was apparently mutual.

  “Don’t call me that!” I punched his arm, and when he turned to swing back at me, I just smiled at him. “Go ahead. Hit me and I’ll tell Dad. You know how he feels about boys hitting girls, sister or not.”

  “Bitch.” Jason rolled his eyes, and then took off in the opposite direction than Ash and I walk. “One of these days he is going to hit you back.” Ashley looked at me like an idiot, taking the steps down to the sidewalk carefully as they were covered in snow and ice. We had both fallen on them before, in front of everyone of course, many times.

  “I know.” I laughed and grabbed onto the railing, almost losing my footing yet again.

  The sidewalk along the street in front of the school was cracked all over the place. The salt that had been spread out to melt the snow, and the hundreds of dirty shoes traipsing over it, left it covered in a gray slush that crunched and seeped into my sneakers all at the same time. I knew I should have worn my boots, but they were old and ugly, and I really didn’t like them. Apparently the day I let vanity take hold of my brain, is the day I walk home with soggy toes.

  Walking home in Willowspring didn’t take long. Our town was rather small with a population of six hundred and three. In four months, our neighbor, Mrs. Green, would make it six hundred and four. Small town life is great for many reasons, but it can also suck. Gossip spreads faster than a cold in an elementary school. Granted, I loved it when I was the one hearing the gossip, but when the parents heard the gossip, it made things hard to get away with. I mean, one time I accidentally threw a snowball at this boy riding his bike after he rode by whistling at me. By the time I got home, Mom was furious and Dad was proud, but was pretending to be mad. I was grounded for a week and I had to apologize.

  Willowspring was nestled in between a bunch of mountains with two roads into town. The southbound road went to the middle of nowhere, also known as the mine valley, and somewhere long past that was another town that I don’t even remember the name of. The other road went north over the bridge into Layton. The high school was the only school in Willowspring. The elementary and middle schools were in Layton.

  Our little town used to be a thriving community full of small businesses and miners. Our mountains provided fifteen percent of the countries total coal resources—a fact that we all have had thrust down our throats since we were old enough to go to school. Too bad those days were long gone. The three nearby mines that surrounded the southern half of the town had closed, and the working mines were only in mine valley.

  In the past five years, the mining industry had taken a beating, not in production, but in employment. Machines and robotics can do the job faster and more efficiently than a human can. It doesn’t have to be paid a salary or benefits. So, our thriving town became a struggling one. People are moving and businesses are closing.

  “Let’s go by Dellighla’s on the way. I want to look for a new dress.” Ashley turned down Main Street before I could even respond. She knew I could never say no to Dellighla’s. It was a great little shop that had clothing, jewelry, and makeup. The owner, Dellighla Russo, was only twenty-nine and was a Willowspring High School alumni. She had left to go to college, but came back to help take care of her mom when she became sick. Dellighla’s opened up just before everything went south.

  “Works for me. Why do you need a dress? Are you actually planning to go to the Ice Formal this year? Will you be my date? Pretty please? I will get you flowers and candy and everything!” I danced around her, and then kissed her cheek. I knew if she was planning on going she was hoping for a real date. I just wanted to go, and enjoy myself.

  “Cut it out! I would love nothing more than to
be your date, but um, I sort of was asked to go during math class today.” She squealed after saying this, and kind of did her own little jumping-dancing-twirling thing.

  “That’s great, Ash! Who asked you? Why did you wait to tell me?” As we walked, I tried to ignore the closed shops. Seeing them, and actually thinking about what it meant, never made for a happy moment. There used to be a great candle shop that was now closed, and a bakery that went out of business just before the holidays. They tried to stay open, but when the electricity was shut off it was kind of hard to use an oven. And that was just on this part of Main. The street wrapped around a few sets of buildings, and it went right up against the town square.

  “I wanted to tell you after we had left school, because he didn’t want to make it a big thing. He asked if I could keep it quiet until the dance. He didn’t want to deal with his friends giving him a hard time. He said he likes me, but he just wanted a few more days to get his friends on board.” She wouldn’t look me in the eye. She also still hadn’t told me who it was. She was either trying to ease me into this, knowing I would not approve, or she was trying to keep a promise to a boy who did not want anyone to know he liked her, which was not okay in my book.

  “Who is it?” I stopped moving forward and waited there until she stopped as well. She turned around, but still wouldn’t look at me. Her eyes were at her hands, or her shoes, or the closed shop behind me that still had the yummy looking pictures of cupcakes in the window.

  “Nate.” If my eyes could pop out of my head, they would have. It was worse than I thought. It was both, I didn’t approve, and she was keeping the promise to the idiotic boy.

  “Seriously?”

  “Yeah. He was so nice today! He came over to me and asked to sit next to me. We talked about art and self-expression. It was really great. Then he asked me to the dance.”

  “You do realize he was with Brock this morning, right? He was one of the idiots who laughed when Brock was acting like an ass.”

  “He had to! He said if he didn’t the guys would have made fun of him too, and I know how that feels. Nate will tell them, and we will have a great time. If you don’t like it, you can just shut up about it. Either be my best friend, and help me pick out a dress or go home.” Her arms had crossed her chest, and I could tell that she was really upset with me for not believing Nate was a good guy. She was using her fake angry face to keep from crying. I think she knew what he was doing was wrong, but didn’t want to believe it, and I wasn’t helping by putting holes in her thought process. I just couldn’t stand cowards, and so far, that’s all Nate had proven himself to be.

  “Fine, You’re right. Let’s go get you a dress.” I took a few steps toward her and pushed my arm through hers, linking us at the elbow. “I’m sorry. He must be a good guy if he sees how wonderful you are.”

  We had to walk through the town square to get to Dellighla’s. Town square was a large patch of grass with a statue of the founder of the town and the mining company in the center. All of the town celebrations happened there. There was a sidewalk surrounding it, and it gave access to a handful of stores on two sides, and street access on the other two. Dellighla’s was at the top and was one of five shop fronts that made up the building.

  Walking up, we each noticed the window displays, but for two very different reasons. On one side, there were four mannequins all dressed in beautiful semiformal dresses. On the other side was a large “going out of business” sign.

  “Look at the red one! Do you think that will look okay with my hair? Or maybe I can get some red dye and switch it out? I mean, I know traditionally girls wear whites or blues or other frosty looking colors, but look at it! It’s spectacular.” Ashley hadn’t even noticed the devastating sign. Her face was pressed against the window and she was bouncing from foot to foot.

  “Ashley, look at that!” I said with exasperation. I knew she was excited and all, but there were more important things than the dance. I pointed to the sign. Her face went from elated to deflated.

  “No! She can’t go out of business! I love this store!” Ashley pulled the heavy glass door open and we walked in, relishing in the heat the store provided.

  “Welcome to Dellighla’s!” A voice called from the back of the store somewhere. I knew it belonged to Dellighla herself since she was the only one who worked there. She wasn’t a tiny woman, but her voice was almost childlike.

  “Hi, girls! What can I do for you this time?” She had come from the back and it looked like she had been working hard. Her red hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and covered with a dusty bandana, and her freckled face shimmered in sweat.

  “You’re going out of business?” I knew my voice sounded desperate. I felt like crying, but I wasn’t exactly sure why. I loved this store, sure, but it was just a store.

  “Yeah, I can’t keep up with the costs of running it when I only have three customers a day anymore. The Ice Formal will bring in a bit more, but once that is over, I don’t know how to keep going.”

  I looked around the little shop with fondness. I bought all my clothes here, and Ash got all her makeup here. Dellighla was the one who would order Ashley’s hair colors for her. She got us. Not many people around here did.

  “Are you leaving town?”

  “No, I still have my mom to take care of. I will just find another way to do it. A job that actually pays me more than I pay out. Imagine that!” She sounded almost happy to be closing up. I couldn’t say I blamed her if she really wasn’t making any money. “So, what are we looking for today?”

  The next hour was spent trying on almost every dress Dellighla had in our sizes. I may not have had a date, nor did I want one, but that never stopped me from enjoying myself before, and I wasn’t going to let it keep me from the dance. Once Ash and I had our dresses picked out, Dellighla wrote down the price for us to show our parents. My plain white dress that I had every intention of jazzing up with a bit of brightly colored paint would only cost twenty bucks, but Ashley had her heart set on the red dress that hugged her curves—the curves that most of the student body didn’t even know existed. Her dress was closer to a hundred dollars, plus she wanted to get the red hair dye to go with it. I had no idea how her parents were going to afford it. They both already worked more hours than anyone else I knew just to get by.

  After we left, instead of taking the long way around to get home, we crossed the square, walking over the grass instead of around the sidewalk, and cut through the parking lot of the shops on the other side. Behind the shopping center building was our street, so our little shortcut takes all of five minutes instead of ten. Not a huge difference, but in the cold, pretending not to see the “Employees Only” sign behind the building was the way to go.

  All the houses in Willowspring were on either the north side, or the south side. You could tell a lot about a family just from finding out which side they lived on. The commuters, the ones who were actually not so bad off because they worked in Layton, and some of the shop owners that were still in business, lived on the north end. The families that lived on the south side were the miners. Or the ones who used to be miners and now were unemployed.

  Both sides had houses that were set up in a similar way. There were rows of houses, not connected homes, just in rows of seven houses. The houses on the south side were older, with smaller yards, and many of them were in need of repair. The one on the north side had pretty yards and new windows. There were more rows of houses in the miner’s neighborhood than the commuters, but that is because miners built this town. The north side used to be farmland, when people started leaving town for work, and started making more money, they wanted out of the houses that reminded them of where they used to be, and wanted more land. Not that the money was all that much, but what made someone wealthy in Willowspring, would have them be lower-middle class in other areas. I guess that could be a perk to sticking around but who knows, I never asked anyone who lived there.

  Ashley and I lived on the first street, closest t
o the business part of town. We walked up the cracked stone steps to my brick house and right through the front door. Ashley never went home after school. She didn’t like to be alone, and her mom wouldn’t get home until close to eight, and her dad not till ten.

  “Vivienne! There you are. Your brother came home forty-five minutes ago.” My mom had come around the corner in her skirt suit she wore to work when Mr. Mendleton was entertaining a business meeting. Mr. Mendleton was the current owner, and great-great-great-grandson of the founder, of the mining company this town was built around. Mom was his secretary, and had been since he took on the job. She was also his father’s secretary before that. She has worked for the company since she was eighteen. That was where she met dad. She was one of the lucky ones who had a job there that couldn’t be replaced by a “damn robot,” as my father liked to say.

  “Mom, please, it’s Vi. You know I don’t like Vivienne. And we had to stop at Dellighla’s. Ashley has a date to the dance. She needs a dress. If it’s okay, I want to go to.”

  “If I wanted to call you Vi, I would have given you that name at birth. You will always be Vivienne to me, that or sweetheart, or honey, or button. Would you prefer one of those?” She gave me a sly grin with a cocked eyebrow. I groaned and grumbled the Vivienne was fine before she continued. “Anyway, you want to go, too? Does this mean you have a date? I knew you would give up on that whole no boys until college thing!”

  “No, still no boys. I am going stag. You should be pleased that I am a confident and independent woman. The dress I want is twenty bucks and the paint to finish the look should only be another five to ten.” I had taken my shoes off and coat, scarf, and gloves (we had to wear a lot in the winter, otherwise we would all turn to icicles) and hung them out on the porch quickly before closing the door behind me. Ashley was leaning against the railing to the stairs, slowly taking off her outer layers as well, but with this goofy grin on her face.