Chapter Text
"So out of the vast sea of possible subjects who would absolutely die to be a part of a one-on-one project with you, you have chosen me."
"Erm... yes, problem?"
"I'm kind of skeptical. I highly doubt you're oblivious to the clans of giggling girls around campus who enjoy staring at you the moment you're in sight. Hell there's even the occasional boy that does it. Plenty of people would be willing to do this, ya know, since plenty of those same people are head over heels for you."
PJ scratches the back of his neck, his fingers lightly scraping his camera strap. "Yeah, I do." He's pretty aware of how apparently popular he is amongst the girls here. They most likely hope that they are the subject of many of his random photos. He carries his camera everywhere, always slung around his neck by the new strap he got that should last longer than his previous one. He can't help taking pictures so often; he's a photographer though. What d'you expect?
"And yet you pick me."
"Is that a bad thing... uh-"
"Chris. Chris Kendall."
"Right, yes, sorry Chris," he says quickly, embarrassed at how easily he had forgotten the name. Can't blame him really. After all, the two of them had only met a couple of minutes ago when the curly haired boy had approached Chris, who'd been sitting by himself on a bench near the huge fountain. "It's just that the project- well, the collage- is supposed to be about an individual the photographer hasn't met. They're supposed to be strangers."
He had already explained the project to Chris after he had introduced himself. The teacher of his photography class, Miss Fletcher, had assigned this project for fun. It was incredibly simple: create a collage of photos of a subject doing everyday things. In fact, they could just be doing anything they wanted. Whether it was reading a book in a vacant little corner of the library or skateboarding down one of the rails in the large courtyard, the subject could be doing whatever they wished. The only catch was that the subject of the collage had to be somebody the photographer had never met before. A complete stranger. Now that PJ thinks about it, it's possible that Miss Fletcher made that requirement just so that her students would make a new friend. Practically the whole class is comprised of shy or quiet photographers who mostly kept to themselves unless they talked to their own small ring of friends, so she probably saw the assignment as an opportunity to help them out.
"Yes don't worry, I understand that part. I'm still incredibly baffled that you picked me, but clearly you don't even know why you did either. I'm just gonna make this easier for the both of us and say yes, I will be the subject of your collage."
PJ smiles at that, breaking eye contact with Chris briefly to glance down at the camera hanging around his neck. It's a little habit of his to duck his head like this. "Thanks. I hope you don't mind me taking pictures of you for three whole weeks. This project could take forever."
"Not if you just snap a pic of me every single minute. Although we want this to be a high quality jumble of random snapshots and be the best in your class."
"True. To get some really good shots, I'll have to follow you around a lot so, uh, I hope you don't mind."
"That won't be an issue. It's not like I have any buddies of my own to talk to twenty four seven. Hmmm, you might've picked a good guy for this actually. There'll be no disturbances from any 'friends' of mine so you can take a picture of me any time you want." Chris stands up, lifting his satchel and putting its long strap on his shoulder. He holds his hand out in front of him. "Nice meetin' ya, PJ. I'll meet you here again tomorrow once classes are done. Then we can get started on the project. I've gotta get started on a lot of homework now so we'll start the project in the afternoon."
"Alright." He nods and shakes Chris' hand. "Looking forward to it. See you tomorrow."
Chris waves at him a little before turning and walking down the path back to the boy's dorm, hands shoved into his pockets. From PJ's view, this would make a good shot. The clear sky behind the buildings of the campus is a pretty shade of baby blue and makes the background for a possible photo even better. His current view of the other boy's back as he gets further and further away makes him feel like he's losing the chance for a good starting photo for the collage, so he quickly grabs his camera and looks through the lens, trying to get enough of the beautiful background into the image with Chris at the center of it. He snaps the picture, and once he looks at the image, PJ has to say that he's looking forward to the project if that means he can get more photos like this.