CHAPTER 17 #2
His face twisted up. “You’re one manipulative bitch, you know that? You’re only here for one thing.”
“Hey, at least I’m honest. And I mean what I say.
Art has always been a refuge for the weary and the wounded.
Try it and tell me that I’m wrong. Sure beats sulking in here.
” She opened the car door. “People care about you for all sorts of reasons. I want you in my play. I’m sure Ricky would like his boyfriend back.
Your friends are worried about you. Life is unfair, yes, but that’s not all. Why wallow in the worst of it?”
Keisha’s heart was pounding as she climbed into her Bronco.
She glanced through the windshield and watched Diego take another swig, as if in defiance of all she’d just said.
This didn’t elicit a reaction from her. Not externally.
As she drove away, she felt a mixture of uncertainty and regret.
Would a gentler approach have been kinder?
More effective? Maybe. Then again, if she ever reached such a lowly state, Keisha prayed that someone would have the nerve to give her a hard swift kick in the butt.
— — —
Omar skated down a darkened sidewalk, passing beneath the occasional streetlight.
Once he rounded a corner and reached a large parking lot, he kicked up his board and carried it, never eager to reach school too swiftly, even after hours.
That’s when he noticed someone leaning against their car in the farthest corner.
“Hey, man!” he said. “What are you doing out here?”
Diego gave an upward nod. “Thinking.”
“Shouldn’t you be getting into costume or whatever?”
“That’s what I’m debating. What are you doing here?”
Omar slung his camcorder around. “Gotta get some footage for the video yearbook. Did you see the one I did last year?”
“Yeah, of course,” Diego said. “I filled out the tedious form to order a copy and watched it at home while thinking about what a special little guy you are, even though I still hated your guts at the time.”
Omar narrowed his eyes. “I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic or not.”
Diego sighed. “I haven’t seen it. No.”
“Wanna watch it with me sometime?”
“Sure.” Diego nodded at the camcorder. “What do you get out of that anyway?”
Omar shrugged. “I like the whole process. I’ve always sucked at school, but when it comes to filming, I never have trouble concentrating.
I get focused, like a laser. There’s nothing else I’d rather do.
Well, almost. I love my super-hot girlfriend.
” When he actually got to see her, which was less and less recently.
Especially since she’d taken the new job.
“How’s that goin’?” Diego asked.
“Good,” Omar squeaked before clearing his throat. Then he lowered his voice conspiringly. “I think she might be a workaholic.”
Diego laughed. “If I was dating you, I’d stay as busy as possible too.”
Omar winced. “Do you think that’s the reason?”
“Nah.” Diego shook his head. “You’re all right, Jafari.”
“Thanks.”
“Does it make you feel better?” Diego asked suddenly.
“Being with Silvia?”
“No.” He nodded at the camcorder again. “Is filming cathartic?”
“Is it what now?”
“Does it help you work through shit?”
“Oh!” Omar thought about it. “I guess. I like being in control.”
“You just point it at stuff. How does that give you control? The world is still messed up.”
“Yeah, but I get to decide how it looks and what feeling I want to convey, you know? That’s why I like the funny stuff so much.
I think of something that makes me laugh.
Then I have to figure out how to bottle that so it has the same effect on someone else.
Or when I see something that’s really beautiful…
I’m not great with words, so I probably can’t describe what I saw, but if I’m lucky, I can capture some of it on camera.
Forever. Which is important because everything is constantly changing.
Whether we want it to or not. So yeah, I guess it helps me work through stuff.
I put this video together recently of my grandma and—” He swallowed against the pain.
“It’s not as good as her still being alive, but it felt like I got to tell her how much I love her, even though she’s not around anymore. ”
Diego studied him, the shadows deep on his face. “Did you hear about my dad?”
“Yeah. Ricky told Anthony. Anthony told me. I’m really sorry, man. He was still a cool guy.”
“I don’t know about that,” Diego said, looking away.
“All I’m saying is that if I found out that my dad wasn’t really my dad, I’d still love him the same.”
Diego met his gaze, his face twisting up. “You mean the guy who has been there for you your entire life instead of bailing on you in the worst way possible when you were a kid?”
“Point taken. That fucking sucks.”
“Yeah.” Diego’s lips twitched with amusement. “You might even say that it sucking fucks.”
Omar laughed. “I can’t believe you remember that!”
They’d gotten into a discussion, when younger, about how it was weird that only some cuss words were -ing verbs. Participles or something. Anthony knew all the grammatical ins and outs. Omar and Diego were only concerned with starting a new trend.
“I might slip some of our old lingo into the play tonight,” Diego said with a grin.
“Dude! I’d love it, but you’d get into so much trouble!”
“I don’t give a shitting damn!”
Omar laughed. “For real, shouldn’t you be getting ready?”
Diego shrugged. “I dunno. I’m not really feeling it.”
Omar sighed. “Yeah. I haven’t been inspired lately either. Won’t that screw up the whole play though? They can’t go on without you.”
“I’ve got an understudy.”
“Oh. Right. Well… I better get in there and start filming some B-roll. See you around.”
“Yeah. See ya.”
Omar skated across the parking lot to make up for lost time, his heart heavy.
Part of him was tempted to forget the assignment and hang out with his friend.
But he also knew that there would come a time when he wanted to look back on this year and remember the way things used to be.
So once inside and backstage, he filmed Whitney while she danced for the camera.
He climbed into the rafters and got footage of Ricky messing with the spotlights.
He recorded Mindy putting makeup on a freshman who looked mortified.
He even panned across the set after asking Cameron to stand in front of it.
“This is so embarrassing.”
Omar glanced over the camera. “Why’s that?”
Cameron gestured behind him. “I can do way better. The sets for Our Town are meant to be minimal. This wasn’t my choice. Why don’t you come back and film the next play instead?”
Omar kept him in frame. “Are you worried about impressing someone in particular?”
“Well, yeah!” Cameron spluttered. “I told Anthony this was a terrible play of mine to see. I don’t like him being in the audience at all because it makes me nervous.”
Omar fought down a smile. “You’re not even in the play!”
“Exactly! So what’s there to see?”
“I dunno. Maybe he wants to see his boyfriend looking all cute and flustered.”
Cameron worked his jaw before he managed a response. “You aren’t going to include this in the video yearbook, are you?”
“Nope. This is for a private client. Someone very close to me.”
“In that case.” Cameron smoothed down his hair and walked toward the camera, his demeanor much cooler. “I love you, Anthony. More than anyone I’ve ever loved before. Never forget that.” He stared down the lens, pure adoration in his eyes.
“Damn…” Omar said when lowering the camera. “He’s gonna be so into that.”
“Good.” Cameron took a deep breath. “Hey… Have you ever met my friend Charles?”
Omar shook his head. “I don’t think so. What grade is he in?”
“He’s a senior,” Cameron said, a smile playing about his lips. “As in a senior citizen. Do not tell him I said that. It’s a terrible joke. Anyway, he’s my boss at the antique shop, but we were friends before then. Maybe you should stop by sometime.”
“Sure. How come?”
“I dunno. I just think—”
In the background, a growing murmur culminated in applause. They both turned and saw a small crowd gathered in the wardrobe area, surrounding Diego’s impressive stature.
“That’s enough!” they heard Keisha shout. “I’m happy to see him too, but this isn’t fair.”
“What’s going on?” Omar asked.
“I dunno,” Cameron replied. “Let’s find out.”
Keisha was waving everyone into silence as they approached. “Matthew has been working his butt off all week to get up to speed. As far as I’m concerned, the role tonight is his. Changing that at the last second wouldn’t be fair to him.”
Everyone turned to the nervous-looking freshman Omar had filmed earlier. “Are you kidding?” he squeaked. “I’m terrified! I’d pay him to take my place!”
“Well if that’s the way you feel,” Keisha said, before nodding at Diego. “Welcome back.”
The applause broke out again, this time stronger than before.
“Five minutes!” Keisha shouted. “Mindy, get this man into costume.”
Omar resumed filming. Then he stood in the wings as the play began, alternating between the stage and the chaos behind the scenes, depending on what gave him the best shot.
His intent wasn’t to capture everything—just enough to give people a taste of what the theater group did.
Although whenever Whitney and Diego had a scene together, he recorded more than usual, since they were both his friends.
“I watch you from my window sometimes,” Diego boomed from on stage. “I can see the top of your head when you’re sitting at your desk. All you seem to do is study.”
“What can I say?” Whitney replied coyly, as if wanting to make herself mysterious. “I like to learn. When I look through the window at night, I see the stars and wonder what they’re made of. Don’t you?”
“Fire, I assume,” Diego replied. “I’d like to light a cigarette off one of them.”
Whitney spun around as if scandalized. “You’re not old enough to smoke!”
Diego shrugged. “I’m also not old enough to care.”