Cameron walked into his yearbook class. Harper looked up at him, then down to the camera that he was putting a 4mb memory card into. The teacher looked up and smiled. "Hi! you must be Cameron." he stood up and held out his hand. "Mr. Veit." Another student came up and said, "And he's winner of the 2008 Apple award!" he pointed to a cardboard check for 3 thousand dollars, up on display in the classroom. "Anyways, project wise.." He looked around. "Harper, you still need someone to work with on the club spreads, don't you?" Harper looked up quickly. "I... I can do it by myself." Mr. Veit wrote something on a sicky note. "Harper, it's three spreads; six pages. The deadline is Febuary twenty-first, and you only have one spread done, right?" Harper tightend his grip on the camera. "I only need other people to get the pictures! I can do the spreads myself." he protested. "Well, Cameron is working with you. You're not going to die." Harper turned away and took the cap off of the lense of the camera. "Anyways, Harper is going to go do some interviews of the teachers that are running the clubs." He paused. "Will you write what they say?" Cameron nodded. "Sure."

"I can do it myself. It doesnt take two people." said Harper. "Harper, this is an optional class. I can always kick you out." threatened Mr. Veit, his smile gone. Harper scowled, but didn't say anything back. "Get a notebook or paper and a pencil or something." He said lowly, waiting by the door. Cameron dropped his bag next to a computer and pulled out his red Exceed notebook and a pen. He followed Harper to one of the art rooms. "Mrs. High, picture and interview?" he asked, leaning into the room. She looked up from her laptop at her desk. "Oh! Sure." she stood up moved some hair from her eyes. "Why'd you start art club?" Asked Harper as he tapped Cameron's notebook. "Well, I do the painting and pastels part, and we, Mrs. McCiever and I, started it for the kids who may not have gotten into the class as an elective." Harper waited for Cameron to write it down. "And do you enjoy the club?" he asked. "Yes, and I think the kids do too. We dont have any who really misbehave, because they chose to be here, wanting to do it, rather than being made because there wasnt enough room." She smiled. "You need my picture?" Harper nodded and pointed to the blue paper the was taped to the window, so the couldnt see into the hall. He turned it on and pressed the capture button, at the floor. A flash popped up, and flashed. " Kay." He said as he held it up and took her picture. "Let me see." SHe said and looked at the picture. "Okay. It's okay. Can you take that out though?" she asked, pointing to something on the screen. "Yeah." he said and turned the camera off. She made her voice quieter, but Cameron could still hear her ask, "Listen. If you need me to move your seat, closer to me and further from Max, I can, okay? Just let me know tomorrow during class." He nodded but didnt say anything, aware of Cameron waiting for him. "Do you know if Mrs. McCiever is in?" Mrs. High nodded. "Yeah I think she's in the office." She pointed do a door behind her, that was the office, and joined the two art rooms. Harper pushed open the door; Mrs. McCiever looked up from her computer. "Interview?" she asked. "Yeah, questions first though. He asked her the same questions he'd asked Mrs. High. Same answer, only she did the ceramics and clay building part. The took her picture, and left. "Now we have to go see Mrs. O'Dell, the lit teacher. Book club." Harper said as he fiddled with the camera. "...What was that about a Max?" asked Cameron; Harper slowed down. "Nothing. He just... gives me a hard time." he sped up. "I dont need you to worry about evey little thing that happens to me." Geez. After all the s*** he goes through, you think he'd want to talk about it... thought Cameron, following Harper obediantly. "You like that camera, don't you?" asked Cameron for a change of subject. Harper shrugged. "Yeah. Billy." he held up the camera so that Cameron could see the name label, Billy. "We have another, silver, called Gene." He ran his finger down the side of Billy. "It's not particularly the camera I like, I just like bulk. The bulkier the technology, the more add-on's it probably has." He paused. "Though I dont like all bulky technology. like computers, I like them recent, updated, smaller." Cameron laughed. "Sound's like your talking about your favorite food." Harper ignored that. "Are you going to get a camera like Billy?" asked Cameron. "I'm saving up. I have the four mega-bite memory card, cost me fifty bucks, and am saving for the camera. its 850 dollars, plus tax." He turned it off. "My dad just got me two new computers. a Mac pc, and MacBook Air laptop. Tons of stuff to update when I get home." He smiled. "You like stuff like that, huh?" Harper shrugged. "It's fun." Cameron thought for a moment. "Why did your dad buy you two computers?" Harper looked away. "I'm not supposed to talk about that." he said, and walked into the lit room.

Cameron put his keys into the ignition. Not supposed to talk about it? He backed out of the school parking space. Talk about what? He couldnt stop asking himself that the whole way home. He buys him nice things that he likes as a bribe or something? He unlocked his front door, greeted by boxes. "Hey hon!" His mom stood up from a box, bringing a crystal bowl with her and setting it on the mantle above the fire place. "How was school?" he shrugged. "Vicious." She turned around. "To you?" he shook his head. "No.. this kid. Harper. He's nice, a little... withdrawn, and their terrible to him. They made him cry during lunch." She frowned. "What grade is he in?" she asked. "Junior, I think. The Yearbook class has multiple grades in it, but I dont think freshman are allowed in the class, so I dont think he's one." She hung up a Save Darfur From Genocide poster next to the stairs. "Mm. Can you move the couch over a few feet?" she asked, straining to put the poster as high as she could. "Sure." he dropped his bag, and pushed on the armrest. "By they way, I found a local GSA group you might be intrested in." His hands slipped by the surprise of the GSA mention - he hit his knee into the wall. "Ow." he said calmly, limping away. "Why were you even looking for that?" he asked, knowing the answer. "Well... ever since you came out, and it didnt go to well with your father, I figured you might want to get to know some others. You know.. Gay Straight Alliance?" He sat up on a kitchen counter. "Off." she said, then pointed to some boxes labeled kitchen. "Will you unpack?" she paused. "And seriously. If you want to go.. I can call the group advisor; sign you up. I can come to if you want me to, as the 'straight' part. He tells me a lot of highschoolers go actually. Maybe find your self a---" he cut her off. "I'll think about it." she smiled. "Good. I really think you ought to go, I mean I wouldnt mind if you started putting yourself out there... meeting people.. bringing people home for me to meet..." she trailed off and hung a Child Labor is Slavery poster above the couch. His mom was one of those civil rights people. He took a Guantanamo poster from the silverware box. "Man. I didnt know we had this one." he said, holding it up. It had a man in a prison suit with Innocent stamped on his forehead, and a word bubble saying, "It's okay. It's not like I was using my Civil Rights anyways." and a gaurd beating him. At the bottom there was a paragraph; Denied their civil rights as an American because its not on American soil! Not given trial! Thousands innocent! few guilty! Stop Bush and Quantanamo! He laughed. "Is this why you tell me not to say the pledge of allegance at school?" he asked. "That," she grunted as she reached to put the poster higher. "And we're in unnesassary war with the middle east. Did you know Bush said 'Mission accomplished' almost five years ago? Does it seem its over yet? No. They send our troops back in body parts. Those who survive, they stick a purple heart on their chest, give 'em a pat on the back, and walk away. No medical help if their wounded. No psycological help if they're messed up from fighting the child soldiers." She swayed. "Can you unpack the stereo? I want to listen to System Of A Down and Serj." Cameron laughed. "How old are you now? forty somethin, and you listen to rock?" she frowned. "Glad to have an up-to-date mom." he said smiling. She laughed. "Will you put the nation peace flag up outside?" she paused. "We'ew not hanging the American flag until we pull out of the Middle East, stop Guantanamo, and do more for the genocides. Who cares if we loose China as a trade parnter? they're supporting the mass murder of millions of innocent people!" she struck her fist up in the air. Cameron laughed again and walked out the front door with the Nation Peace flag. Always fun to have an activist for a mom.