Lux: The New Girl

by Ashley Woodfolk

  When she looked up from the paper a second later, she spotted a group of pretty girls standing tall like they were royalty. They looked nothing like Danika or any of the other half-friends she’d had over the last year. They looked like they could be good for her—like the friends she had before her dad moved out, before she’d messed up at one school and then at another and her parents began to see her as a problem. Lux had been popular once, and popular girls were powerful. She had a feeling these girls were exactly what she needed to make sure what happened at her last school didn’t happen here.

  Lux stuffed the paper into her bag, pulled out her camera again, and walked toward them.

  “Hey.” She let her camera hang from one hand and reached out with the other. “I’m Lux,” she said, knowing she only had one opportunity to make the right first impression. Her nails sparkled just the way she’d imagined they would when she picked this nail polish out of her collection before her interview. Genevieve Lawson taught her daughter that she could overcome anything with the right manicure. She hoped the nails would continue to serve her well.

  One of the girls smiled at her. She was dark-skinned and curvy, with short relaxed hair cut into a bob, and she had on a skirt with flowers all over it. The lightest-skinned of the three, in ripped jeans and a shirt that hung off one of her freckled shoulders, watched Lux but didn’t say anything. The last girl—the tallest and clearly the one in charge, the one Lux needed to impress—said, “Lux?” like she had misheard her.

  Lux lowered her hanging hand and nodded. The way this girl looked at her made Lux feel all wrong—like she’d already messed things up.

  The tall girl straightened her glasses, looked at her friends, then looked back at Lux. She sighed as if this whole conversation bored her, but then she said, “I’m Noelle. That’s Tobyn, and Micah’s the cute one in the skirt. You new? You seem new.”

  Lux stepped a little closer to them. “I am,” she said. She lifted her camera and asked, “Can I take your photo?”

  Noelle laughed. She doubled over and the tip of her high ponytail nearly touched the floor.

  Micah smiled again. Tobyn frowned.

  When Noelle stopped laughing, she said, “Well, that’s pretty weird of you, Lux. But I can respect a girl with balls. And let’s be real, we are pretty hot.” She looped one arm around Tobyn’s waist and flung the other over Micah’s shoulders. The bright streak of blue in Tobyn’s dark hair shone as she pushed out her lips, and Micah applied some gloss before smiling widely. They looked so damn perfect.

  “Don’t smile,” Lux said.

  Tobyn’s lips slipped into a smirk. Micah’s glossy mouth fell open in surprise. Noelle tilted her head to one side like she didn’t know what to make of Lux.

  Lux snapped the photo.

  “Thanks,” she said. “See you around?”

  “Hope so,” Micah said, grinning.

  “For sure,” Tobyn agreed.

  “Looks like it,” Noelle mumbled, turning back to the other girls. It felt like Noelle wanted to say that these were her friends and Lux could find her own. But Lux was determined. She needed friends, and these were the ones she wanted.

  And when she put her mind to it, Lux always got what she wanted.

  For the next two weeks, Lux mostly kept to herself, waving hi to the hazel-eyed boy when she saw him in the hall or in class (she’d learned his name was Emmett in one of the classes they had together) and talking to Tobyn and Micah whenever she bumped into them. She still hadn’t cracked Noelle, but she had a lot of the same classes as her. She knew if she just waited for the right moment, played it cool, and didn’t look too desperate, she might be able to wriggle her way into Noelle’s good graces.

  Lux’s opportunity came when she least expected it. She noticed an open seat in her black-and-white photography class, right next to Noelle, and rushed to grab it. Noelle had moved her fingers a little in a not-quite wave when Lux walked in, and this simple gesture felt like progress. Lux took it as a sign.

  “Okay, okay,” Mr. Van Ness said from the front of the class. “I hope you all didn’t have too much trouble with the homework. Let’s just dive back in where we left off, shall we?”

  Emmett took this class, too. Lux couldn’t help but glance around for him. When her eyes found his, he raised his eyebrows at her, closed his open book so she could see the cover, and mouthed, Page 146. Lux didn’t smile, but she wanted to. He’d caught her daydreaming last week during Mr. Van Ness’s lecture and teased her about it after class, so he knew she wouldn’t remember where they’d “left off.”

  Instead of reading along or listening, though, she rotated a little in her seat to talk to Noelle.

  “You play cello, right?” Lux whispered.

  Noelle rolled her eyes. “You know I play cello, weirdo.” It was true. But Lux didn’t know how else to start a conversation with a girl who seemed as angry at the world as she was. Noelle really didn’t care what anyone thought of her, while Lux just pretended not to. Noelle made Lux feel like she was back in the school interview—Lux wanted to impress her, but she wished she didn’t care so much.

  “Right,” Lux said with a smile. She shook her head. “What I meant was, since you play cello, why are you taking black-and-white film photography?”

  Noelle leaned her chin against the heel of her palm—she didn’t seem to notice how nervous Lux sounded—and shrugged. “I like to diversify,” she said. “Plus, I like faces. And I think portraits look best in black and white.”

  “Me too,” Lux agreed. “The contrasts, right?”

  Noelle gave Lux a fraction of a smile. “Yep,” she said.

  Mr. Van Ness’s voice came out of nowhere then, louder than it had been before. “Miss Lee and Miss . . . ?”

  “Lawson,” Lux supplied, feeling a little embarrassed. He’d been the grumpy, bald teacher she’d interviewed with, so shouldn’t he know her name by now?

  “Lawson, right. I know you’re new, but here at Augusta Savage, we listen to our teachers when they’re speaking. So unless you two have something you want to share with the class, can we get back to this chapter on lighting round objects, or do you already know all there is to know about the subject?”

  Mr. Van Ness’s attitude turned Lux’s embarrassment into anger before she could stop it. She hated when grown-ups talked down to her. It reminded her too much of her father.

  “I know how to take a good picture.” Lux heard the words slip through her lips seconds before she decided they weren’t something she should say out loud. She bit the inside of her cheek and slowly added, “Sir.”

  Noelle raised her eyebrows and shifted in her seat, covering her mouth, probably hiding a grin.

  Mr. Van Ness squinted at her. “Oh, really?” he asked, and Lux nodded.

  Mr. Van Ness smirked and crossed his arms. “Okay, then,” he said, and Lux could tell she’d rubbed him the wrong way. “Then how about you answer a few questions.” Lux swallowed hard.

  “In low lighting, what ISO setting should you use?” he asked.

  “Um . . .” Lux looked around the room as if the answer might appear on a wall. “I’m not sure.”

  “Name three medium-format film sizes.”

  “Uh, 220 is one. And, um—” She glanced at Emmett. He wrinkled his brow. He was clearly concerned, but he couldn’t just call out the answer to her if he knew it. She started to sweat.

  Mr. Van Ness stepped closer to Lux’s desk. He towered over her. “If I set my f-stop to f1.8 and my shutter speed to 1/125 of a second . . .” Lux was so mad, she couldn’t even hear him anymore.

  Her nostrils flared, but she stayed silent.

  Mr. Van Ness kept going, and Lux felt her throat ache, the beginning of a rage-cry. She didn’t know any of the answers.

  She wanted to say, You don’t need to know that stuff to take a good picture, but she knew she’d already sai
d too much. She’d only just gotten here. How could she be messing things up so soon?

  “I don’t know,” she said. The confession made her skin burn. She couldn’t stand giving in. The rest of the class stayed quiet until Emmett raised his hand.

  “Exactly, Miss Lawson. You—Yes, Mr. Ortiz?”

  “Can you explain when to use the lens on page 150?”

  Mr. Van Ness took one final look at Lux that seemed to say Listen up, but he answered Emmett’s question and left her alone for the rest of the period. Lux still wanted to punch something, or maybe disappear, but then Noelle passed her a tiny, folded note.

  Van Ness is a dick. Don’t sweat it.

  And damn, girl. It took balls to say what you said.

  Lux tucked the scrap of paper into her pocket and grinned.

  * * *

  With a bit of asking around, Lux found out when the members of the newspaper met, and later that morning, she swung by to speak to the adviser, Ms. Reddy, about the kinds of photos she liked to take. She brought her photo album. It had felt a bit like a good-luck charm since it helped her get through the admissions interview.

  “I think if we took some photos of the fine-arts students in this style, it might make the articles more interesting,” Lux explained. “In the last issue, readers could see the performing-arts kids. I think the paper should do that for fine arts, too.”

  Ms. Reddy nodded along as Lux spoke, and she seemed to agree with her. “I never noticed that before, but I see what you mean.” Ms. Reddy had light brown skin the color of wet sand, and silky-looking black hair. Lux wanted to take her photo, but she settled on appreciating her bright white smile.

  “I think that some documentary-style photography would be nice to go along with the articles, too—images of the visual-arts students actually making the pieces they end up showing.” Ms. Reddy nodded, so Lux kept talking. “I could go to the studios, maybe just pick one student for now, while they’re working. I’d be quiet, and I’d stay out of their way, I promise. What do you think?”

  “I like your initiative, Lux. Why don’t we do this . . .” Ms. Reddy flipped another page in Lux’s album, looking through it and handing her an assignment for the next edition of the paper all at once. “Let’s divide and conquer. I’ll have the other student photographer cover the upcoming dance recital. And, Lux, you’ll go to the next art show and take the photos in the way you describe and the way we’ve always done them. Bring both sets of photos into the next meeting and we’ll all decide as a group which we like better. How’s that sound?”

  Lux grinned, but she worried the current photographer, whoever they were, would hate her for wanting to get involved with the paper. She remembered how Simone had flipped about her joining double Dutch.

  “As for the documentary-style process photos, why don’t you shadow Emmett Ortiz? Since you like black-and-white photography, I think his drawings would work well with your style. If it turns out the way I hope, maybe this can become a regular feature—profiling a student and highlighting their work.”

  Lux sighed. The universe seemed intent on bringing her and this boy together.

  “Sounds perfect, Ms. Reddy. Thank you so much for the opportunity.”

  The Yard, where all the students at Savage ate lunch, had picnic tables everywhere and AstroTurf covering the ground. People were sitting on the fake grass, the concrete planters, the tabletops. When Lux got there after her run-in with Van Ness and her meeting with Ms. Reddy, she grabbed a slice of cheese pizza and headed through the sliding glass door that led to the table where she’d spotted Noelle, Tobyn, and Micah. It looked like Tobyn was showing Micah some kind of dance move that she couldn’t get right. Noelle laughed and said, “How’s she supposed to do it with no music?” So Tobyn started singing.

  “Hey,” Lux said. “Sorry to interrupt.” She hadn’t had the nerve to sit with them over the last couple of weeks, but after Noelle’s note, she felt bold enough to try. “What are you guys doing?”

  Tobyn stopped singing and rolled her eyes. “Ugh, nothing. Micah just isn’t musically gifted. I don’t know why I even try.”

  Micah rolled her eyes then. “I have other talents,” she said to Lux, and she pointed to an empty spot at the picnic table. “Sit with us!” she insisted.

  Lux hesitated and glanced at Noelle, who squealed, “You guys will not believe what she said to Van Ness this morning.” That was all Lux needed. She sat and blushed as Noelle told the story, clearly impressed with her. Lux’s embarrassment about the exchange morphed into pride.

  “Damn, girl!” Micah said.

  “I know, right?” Tobyn agreed. “Didn’t know you had it in you.”

  Lux shrugged, secretly pleased to have done something that surprised them. She noticed a copy of the school paper on the table and wanted to tell them about her assignment, but when she glanced at the list of staff, she saw something that made her freeze.

  NOELLE LEE . . . . . . . . . PHOTOGRAPHER

  Oh no, Lux thought.

  “So, Lux. We’ve been dying to know. Why’d you transfer in the middle of the year?” Noelle asked, breaking Lux’s concentration. “And what I really want to know is how the hell you got in.”

  Tobyn leaned forward on the bench. “Not gonna lie, I’ve been wondering the same thing. I remember auditioning when I was like fourteen. Kids left crying. And you just get in as a junior? Do you, like, know someone?”

  Lux knew this moment would come—that they’d want to know her history. “My mom pulled some strings,” Lux said, repeating the words her dad used. She really didn’t know how she’d gotten in. And she didn’t want to answer Noelle’s first question—about why she needed to be there in the first place. But Noelle didn’t stop watching her closely. She wasn’t going to let Lux get away with keeping any secrets.

  Luckily, the bell rang, and Lux had never been more grateful for that annoying, shrill sound. They all stood to head back to class, but Micah hung back.

  “If you’re worried about Van Ness,” Micah said, “I can show you all that stuff he tried to embarrass you about—the lenses and lights or whatever. I mean, if you want.”

  Lux blinked. “Really?”

  “Sure.”

  “How do you know so much about it?”

  “Well,” Micah said, “even though I’m focusing on fine arts, I signed up for photography classes as electives because I like to include photos in my pieces. Plus, a lot of the color, light, and theory stuff they teach you guys applies to painting and drawing, too. And a lot of the fine-arts kids are weirdos—I say that with love— so a daily break from them is needed.”

  Lux grinned. “Thanks,” she said.

  “No problem. I can’t do today because I gotta go to a prayer service with my parents.” Micah sighed. “Such is the life of a church girl.” Lux remembered that Micah’s parents were Christian and made church into a really big deal for the whole family. “But wait for us after school, maybe on Wednesday? You can just come over.”

  As Lux sat through the rest of her classes, she wondered if joining the paper was worth risking Noelle’s (and the other girls’) friendship. But after the run-in that morning with Mr. Van Ness, Lux knew she needed something to keep the simmering rage inside her quiet.

  * * *

  “I saw you hanging around with Tobyn Wolfe and Micah Dupree,” Emmett said to her in the hall that afternoon. She’d been doing everything she could to avoid him, but she couldn’t duck him before and after school because their lockers were so close together.

  “Yeah, so?” she said.

  “I’m wondering if you know what you’re getting into, being friends with them and Noelle Lee.”

  Lux laughed. “Getting into? I didn’t know you’d be so concerned with who I’m friends with, Dad.” she said to him.

  “Ha, ha, ha,” he said sarcastically. “It’s just that the Flyy Girls are like
the queens of the junior class.”

  “The Flyy Girls?” Lux asked.

  “Yeah. See? You don’t know what you’re getting into. Everybody calls them the Flyy Girls because they fly under the radar. They do all this crazy stuff, but they never get caught. When we were freshmen, they released butterflies in the halls—like hundreds of them. Last year, they all wore butterfly wings to the spring formal, kinda admitting it so that everyone knew it was them. But no one had any proof, so nothing happened.”

  Lux grinned. She hadn’t expected this.

  “And, I don’t know,” Emmett continued. “You don’t seem like them.”

  Lux could imagine it: the three of them walking into that dance like they owned the place. She wished she had been there to take a photo of that. She wished she had been there beside them with her own set of wings fanning out behind her.

  “Flyy Girls,” Lux said to herself, and then said to Emmett, “I might not seem like them, but I don’t really seem like anyone.”

  “Exactly,” Emmett replied, “That’s what I like about you.”

  But he didn’t get it.

  That was the problem she was always trying to fix.

  * * *

  * * *

  That night, Lux had dinner with her father. She’d been pretty busy trying to stay on top of her homework, and she often went to a coffee shop or the library after school to study instead of heading back to the noisy apartment. Lillia’s crying wasn’t exactly great for focusing. But Luke told her he’d made reservations, so she was happy to have her dad all to herself.

  The two of them sat in a Mexican place a few blocks from their building, and it felt like one of the too-short visits they’d had last year. She tried not to think about how depressing those visits had been, though, because at least he seemed to be trying now. When her father asked her about her first few weeks of school, she told him almost everything.