Will Work for Prom Dress Read Online Free PDF Page B

contact the government for proper disposal of toxic substances, which did not make the thought of hours spent elbow deep in the stuff very enticing.
    I shifted in my seat trying to keep myself awake with the little clicks that sounded each time the stool leg hit the ugly green linoleum. David’s voice snapped me out of my daze.
    “This is fascinating, Mrs. Albertt. So we can purposefully overexpose our pieces for effect?” he asked.
    “Suck up,” I said under my breath.
    Everyone knew this particular class was a complete waste. Only at an arts-dedicated charter school would a course devoted to only film and prints even exist. The future ofphotography was digital. Nobody did print work anymore. But Mrs. Albertt was a technophobe purist when it came to photography. David would surely find some way to wow her. It was all politics.
    “Exactly, David!” Mrs. Albertt beamed. “The citywide show our very own David won last year will feature a new category—art photography. Maybe as the semester progresses, some of you might try your hand at the type of effect David was just asking about.”
    The bell interrupted Mrs. Albertt’s David-adoration. I hopped off my stool and headed for the theater to track down Anne. She’d become a regular drama convert in the past few weeks since T-Shirt had caught her eye. I’d have worried she was actually getting serious about one guy, if not for the weekly reassurance to the contrary, courtesy of The Spikester.
    As the other designers continued to choose Anne’s waiflike look over my, ahem, sturdier build, Zander stuck by me. And, occasionally, into me. But the prick of fitting pins was part of life as a model. We had settled into a comfortable Wednesday night friendship. He’d play with fabric and the physical lines of his garment; I’d redraw the blobs in his sketchbook to resemble whatever he was actuallyworking on. During the week he’d use my sketches to practice his own drawing skills. So it wasn’t
really
like cheating or anything.
    I almost felt bad taking the thirty bucks a night for having such a good time, but Ms. Parisi didn’t seem to mind. Though she might have been preoccupied trying to keep a handle on the abundance of fittings The Spikester seemed to require of his all-too-willing model.
    She handled it quite well when Anne, while being pinned by The Spikester, nearly experienced a wardrobe malfunction with the neck string on her bikini. Ms. Parisi had pounced before anything was revealed and pulled the strings back into a double knot as tight as her smile. The poor woman had nerves of steel.
    “What’s so funny?”
    I jumped as David’s arrogant drawl cut through my thoughts.
    “Why are you following me?” I snapped at him, embarrassed.
    “I didn’t realize I was. You own the halls now?”
    I sped up and turned down the empty hall to the auditorium. I’d blown my physics test that morning and had ameeting with my guidance counselor after school. My day needed no further challenges, particularly in the form of dealing with David. I heard the echo of his feet still following me. The only thing down this hall was the theater.
    I spun around to face him.
“What
do you want?”
    “What do I want?” David took a step closer and lowered his voice. “I want you, Quigley. You’re a pretty girl. You’d make a nice Art
Queen
. What do you say?”
    My heart pounded as a mini-gasp slipped out. Maybe the residue of developer fumes on his way-too-close body had clouded my brain. I struggled in vain for a response for several eternally long seconds.
    He pulled back and laughed at me as I stammered in shock. “Or maybe, just maybe, I want to get back to the sets I’m painting for the play.” He sauntered past me chuckling. “It’s not always about you, Quigley. You should work on that whole self-involvement thing you’ve got going on.”
    I stood frozen in a mix of rage and humiliation, wishing I had studied enough physics to know if it was possible for a human