We stepped through a long archway that looked more like a small portico, connecting the adjoining forest section we had just had to walk through to the busy campus lawn.

Above us, vines of white lily blossoms grew, twining around the gothic columns, creating a romantic backdrop. In addition, the sun’s rays made the blossoms glow even more.

It was a miracle that the sun had not yet completely disappeared behind these monster clouds.

I stopped, raised my camera, and looked through the lens. It looked so good, almost enchanted. Especially with the stone serpent on the column with more petals nestled against it. 

I quickly took a photo and hurried to catch up to the other girls, who by now had already arrived on the main campus and settled down by a wall with a cozy seating niche.

I took a seat next to Grace.

“Such morons,” Grace sighed, and we all looked at the muscle-bound guys under the big oak tree, all of whom, it should be noted, were shirtless. Two of them were arm wrestling, with the other quite attractive guys standing around them cheering the name Nash.

“Who’s Nash?”, I asked, hoping someone would know.

Grace nodded in the direction of the guys. 

“The dark blond one.” My eyes fell on a handsome young man with pretty noticeable muscles. “Professional football player, nephew of the university director, and Mady’s ex-boyfriend...” Grace pressed her lips together and looked at me. “To let you know. He dumped her, like these guys do to all the girls.”

I looked back up at him and admittedly... He did look hot. 

The guy whose arm he was trying to push down was the dark-skinned guy who had shot Mady down with his football yesterday.

Only now did I survey all the other guys who were cheering wildly for the game. In the middle of them: Emely.

“Nash Copeland is just as much of a douchebag as all the others in his group,” Grace added.

“Copeland? So, Emely and he are related?” Bay asked, seeming visibly interested in the Copelands.

“They’re brother and sister,” Julie replied. She, too, was still glued to the guys.

I propped my elbows on the stone table in front of us and peered over at the group through the camera's lens. Nash was squeezing the other guy’s arm down when the guys around them started bawling. I took a picture.

“What are you doing?” Grace asked me with interest.

“Just taking some pictures of the people and the area around here.”

She was silent for a moment, but finally looked at me expectantly.

“Show her some of your pictures!”

I looked at Bay, who looked at me in an encouraging way. My hesitation came from the fact that I only ever really showed my pictures to my best friend or anonymously to my Instagram followers.

“Yes, please!” it escaped Grace enthusiastically.

So, I gave in. “Fine.”

I held the camera out to Grace and Julie, and they looked at my last eleven pictures. I had changed the memory card, which is why they weren’t supposed to find anything private.

“Oh, wow, you’re really good!” Grace gasped.

“It’s a hobby.”

“You study it, Larissa!” My best friend corrected me.

“You’re studying photography? Here, at Vanderwood?”

“Yes...” I answered Julie’s question and took the camera from Grace’s hands again.

My fingers cupped the already slightly older bridge camera.

My savings had gone to pay for the Vanderwood, so I actually had to get another job. A new camera was the last thing on my mind. But I still had a noble compact camera in my suitcase. With that, one could not make such good pictures as with this Nikon model. However, it should be enough for emergencies.

“And you want to do this professionally later?” Julie sounded skeptical.

“Yeah, why?”

She hesitated. “That’s a bit unsafe, isn’t it?”

“Haven’t you seen her photos? They’re insane! She can easily become independent with those,” Grace said.

I myself was relatively uninterested in what others thought of me and my photos. I had already had to take a lot of criticism in my life. That little bit only strengthened my resolve.

“What are you two going to major in?” I tried to divert attention from my hobby to something else.

“Economics major,” Grace yawned. She apparently hadn’t slept as well as the rest of us.

“Economics? Both of you?” Bay asked in disbelief.

“Yes, it’s the most popular major here. But we have different minors.” Grace looked at Julie, who had a habit of blushing quickly. “I’m minoring in administration, while Julie is actually trying to struggle with molecular biology.”

God, I wonder if they were really interested in those minor courses. Grace didn’t sound that convinced, but I could at least imagine that economics was popular as a way to get out of here. Personally, I wasn’t that interested in it now, yet I had minored in business to get a foothold in the photography industry.

I turned my attention back to the camera. It was easy to look at the surroundings through the lens.

“You’re a literature major, right?”

Julies looked questioningly at Bay.

“Yeah, how did you know?”

“It was on your list on the university server yesterday.”

“But how did you know which list you -”

Bay stopped mid-sentence as the loud squeal of tires became audible.

I pointed my camera at the parking lot, where a black sports car came to a full stop in the very first parking space next to the fat Jeeps. To be more precise, the driver slid his vehicle into the space so elegantly that he even parked straight.