Chapter 1

"VANESSA GET UP OR YOU'RE GOING TO BE LATE FOR SCHOOL!".

I slowly sat up on my bed, blinking my eyes open. It's the second week of school and I've managed to make a couple of friends at my new high school. Me and my foster parents moved to Manhattan New York the summer before I started grade 9, and unfortunately had to leave all my grade 8 friends behind.

Throwing on my black thermal pants and a red buffalo checkered flannel, I grabbed my black satchel and raced down the wooden stairs, with my feet thumping down on every step. Walking into the kitchen, I snagged a golden-brown bagel that my mom kindly toasted and buttered for me from the island counter, before saying goodbye to her and going out the door.

As I crunched on my breakfast, I speed walked to Manhattan High, meeting up with my friends, Caleigh and Rachel.

"Did you guys watch the Oscars last night?" asked Rachel, leaning against her red closed locker door.

"Yeah, I saw Will Smith slap Chris Rock on the face because he made a joke about his wife and her medical condition" answered Caleigh.

"Do you think he overreacted?".

Rachel nodded her head.

"OF COURSE! Will Smith shouldn't have slapped him because the joke had nothing to do with him and assaulted someone on LIVE TV. If anyone needed to speak up against that, it should've been Will Smith's wife herself".

Then she looked at me.

"I-I-I totally forgot to watch the Oscars" I quickly replied, stuttering a bit.

"You forgot to watch the Oscars? How could you have forgotten to watch one of the most exciting events of the year?" questioned Rachel, staring at me with shock.

"I was busy helping my foster mom with her sign business; She needed help delivering to a

few customers last night" I confessed, sighing after my explanation.

"Fair enough".

"Did anything else big happen at the Oscars?".

"Regina Hall made a sexist comment, after calling up a small group of young male actors, saying that she'll take them backstage and use her tongue as a swab to test each one for COVID-19".

Eww, I thought, giving a disgusted look at my friend.

"And Benedict Cumbermatch got the best actor award for 2022" continued Rachel, knowing that he is one of my favorite actors.

I looked down at my digital watch on my left wrist.

"Should we go drop off our bags in our classes?" I asked, seeing that it's 8:11 am.

They both shrugged their shoulders.

"Sure".

All three of us picked up our bags off the school's tile floor and started to walk up to the main floor.

"How's your Social Justice class so far?" I asked, walking beside Rachel and Caleigh.

"It's good; Today we're going to watch a two-hour documentary on feminism and then we have to type up a thousand-word essay on it".

"And it's due on Friday," added Caleigh.

"That sounds hard; Do you think you'll both get it done by then?".

"Yeah, I've written an essay before".

The three of us walked into room 108, where Mr. McGregor teaches one of the most boring classes (if you ask me).

I let Rachel and Caleigh pass by me, so they could drop off their stuff at their usual spots.

"I'll see you both at lunch break" I said, as my two friends passed me again.

"See you later".

Going down to the basement of the school, I strode into my Communications Technology classroom and sat down beside a familiar classmate.

"Hi Cameron, do you know what we're doing today?" I asked eagerly, as I turned on my computer and logged into my school account.

"I think we're going to learn how to greenscreen," he replied, with a small yawn.

That sounds exciting.

After the US national anthem and the daily announcements, everyone in the class turned their attention to Ms. Corkey, who was sitting in a tall stool at the back of the class, with a wide computer monitor in front of her, on her desk.

"Good morning class" she said, kindly greeting us.

"Today you'll be learning how to greenscreen a classmate in Adobe Photoshop. First, I need everyone to get into groups of two or three. While you're doing that, Vanessa will get the giant greenscreen and our stage lights ready for our photo shoot".

Feeling honored to set up the room next door to the classroom, I got up from my seat, grabbed the keys from Ms. Corkey's outstretched hand, and walked to the little storage closet that's only three seats away from mine. Inside, is where all the cool, expensive camera equipment is kept in good condition.

I unlocked the closet door, slipped a camera with a strap attached around my neck, picked up a long black CANON tripod and closed the door behind me with a free hand. From there, I walked into the room next door, carefully placed down the expensive equipment on a stable table and began to set up the large greenscreen.