Interview Location: Jason's Bedroom -- Jason Pritchett
He's at his desk. The paper from Selene is sitting right there.
"Selene gave me three names. I slept on it." He glances at the paper. "Already know which one."
He found Selene before first period.
"Camille," he said.
She smiled. "Good choice. Meet me at the outside tables at lunch, she'll be there. Talking to her is on you though."
"What do I need to know?"
"Walk up like you belong there. Say hi to everybody at the table first, not just her. Then just be normal with her -- she can tell right away if someone's putting on a show." Selene paused. "Make her laugh if you can. She's funny but most people here don't know it yet. If she's laughing she's comfortable."
"Got it."
"See you at lunch." She left.
* * *
He came outside at lunch and spotted the table. Selene was there already. And next to her, with a sketchbook open in front of her, was Camille.
Long wavy black hair with silver through it, loose around her face. Round glasses. Piercings going up both ears, these little spiked heart earrings hanging down. Black choker, layered necklaces with a skull and a cross. Black top, fishnets underneath, rings on almost every finger.
She was drawing and kind of half in the conversation at the table at the same time, saying stuff without looking up from the page and people kept laughing. She didn't really react.
Tommy came up next to him. "That her?"
"Yeah. Go sit somewhere else."
"I wasn't even --"
"Tommy."
"Fine." He backed off. "You got this."
Jason looked at the table one more time. Then walked over.
He said hey to Selene first, went around and greeted everybody at the table quick. Nobody got weird about it.
Then he got to Camille. She'd looked up when he said Selene's name. She was just watching him now, pencil in her hand, waiting to see what he was going to do.
"Hey." He kept it easy. "I don't think I've met you yet. You're pretty. I'm Jason."
She looked at him for a second. Then she smiled. "Thank you, Jason. I'm Camille."
"Camille. That's a good name. Very classic."
"I know," she said. "I named myself."
He looked at her. "Did you."
"No. I was a baby. I didn't have opinions yet."
He laughed. A real one. "Okay that was Funny."
"I have my moments." She tilted her head. "Why Jason?"
"My parents liked it."
"So we're both just stuck with whatever our parents picked."
"Deep," he said.
"Very," she agreed, completely serious.
He smiled. "You have a really nice smile by the way."
Her hand came up and covered her mouth. She caught herself doing it and stopped. Her ears went a little pink.
"Thank you," she said, quieter.
"Hey Selene," he said. "Quick question, you got a sec?"
Selene got up and walked a few steps with him.
"I thought you said she was quiet," Jason said.
"She is quiet." Selene glanced back at the table. "I think you might be her type. Congrats, makes this easier." She went back to her seat.
Jason turned around. Camille was already looking at him.
Interview Location: Outside Tables -- Jason Pritchett
Stepped a little away from the table. Both of them visible behind him.
"When i heard quiet i didn't expect her to tell jokes." He pauses. "And then she covered her mouth when I said she had a nice smile. Like she didn't want me to see it." He looks back. "I saw it."
* * *
He went back and she had already made room on the bench. He sat down and she turned toward him.
"So what do you do?" she asked. Straight in.
"Music. I write songs, play guitar. My friend does the beats."
"What kind of music?"
"Mostly rock and indie pop stuff. That's where I live. But I'll write whatever the song needs, I've done other things too."
"Can I hear something?"
He pulled up his MySpace and slid the phone over. She put both earbuds in and listened.
He watched her face. Around the chorus something changed in her expression. She wasn't putting on a reaction. She was just having one.
She slid the phone back.
"Your voice is the best part," she said. "It sounds calm but like it wants something. Fits the song."
"That's exactly what I was going for."
"I could tell." She picked her pencil back up. "Guitar is your main thing?"
"Yeah. Started when I was five. Everything else came after that."
"What's the newest thing you're working on?"
"Still figuring out what it is. I have pieces but no song yet."
"That's fine. The ones you can't explain yet are usually the better ones." She glanced at the sketchbook. "Drawing's the same. If I already know exactly what something's going to be before I start it usually comes out boring."
"What are you drawing right now?"
"No idea yet." She turned it toward him.
It was a figure, dark lines, detailed in some places and loose in others. Something going on at the edges that wasn't finished.
"That's good," he said.
"Not done."
"Still good though."
She pulled the sketchbook back. He got the feeling not a lot of people just said things to her and meant them with nothing behind it.
"You into horror?" he asked.
"Yeah. But not just for the jump scares or whatever. I actually think about it. Like The Thing, the 1982 one -- it bombed when it came out, people hated it, and now everyone says it's one of the best horror movies ever. And if you look at what was going on back then, the paranoia, the Cold War, everything going on with AIDS starting -- the movie's about all of that without ever saying it out loud. That's what I like about it. When it's actually scared of something real."
"I've seen The Thing," he said.
She looked at him. "What happens to the dog at the beginning?"
"Something really wrong."
She almost smiled. "Most people who say they've seen it describe the wrong movie."
"Is this a test?"
"Everything is a test," she said, totally flat. Then she waited to see if he got that it was a joke.
He did. "That's a rough way to go through life."
"Works for me." She tilted her head. "What do you actually listen to? Not the answer you give people."
"What do you mean not the answer I give people?"
"Like what do you put on when nobody's asking."
"Oh." He thought about it. "A lot of older rock. Some stuff I grew up hearing in the house that I still don't know the names of. When I'm writing late at night I put on something with no words so it doesn't mess with what I'm trying to do."
She nodded. "Okay. What about you?"
"Siouxsie and the Banshees. The Cure. Some old R and B I won't say because people get weird about it." She paused. "Enya when I'm drawing."
He kept his face straight. "Enya."
"Say anything and I'll deny we ever talked."
"I wasn't going to say anything. I get it actually. She makes you feel like you're somewhere else."
Camille looked at him. "Yeah. Exactly that." She seemed a little surprised he knew what she meant. "Okay. You pass."
The bell was getting close.
"Can I get your number?" he asked.
"Why?"
"Because this was a good conversation and I don't want it to be the only one."
She held her hand out. He gave her his phone. She typed it in and handed it back.
"Don't just text me hey," she said. "If that's the first thing I get I'm going to think the whole lunch was a fluke."
"It wasn't."
"Then show me that." She opened the sketchbook again. "Nice to meet you, Jason."
"Nice to meet you, Camille."
He got up. Selene caught his eye from across the table and gave him one small nod.
Interview Location: School Hallway -- Jason Pritchett
After lunch. Tommy catches up to him.
"She said don't text her something boring." He's quiet for a second. "I've been thinking about what to say since I left the table. It has to be specific enough that she knows I was actually listening but not so much that it's weird."