Blackwell Academy- home of one of the finest photography programs in the region. The old brick building loomed in front of me and I wondered if I made the right choice in transferring here. My sister had been the one that took a fancy towards this school. I'd come here for its vastly underrated Creative Writing program and because my sister and I got offered enough scholarships to help pay for our schooling.

Lucky us.

"Rio, you almost forgot your camera," my sister trotted up next to me with my overpriced Nikon D3200 in hand and her hipster chic pastel pink Polaroid hanging from her neck. I took the camera and hung it from around my neck. I'd almost forgotten the condition of one of my more lucrative scholarships- that I participate in the school's photography program. I'd been reluctant at first. I absolutely loathed the idea of sitting through boring lectures about contrast and dead photographers. That scholarship was the only way our parents were able to afford to send us here. "Come on, our first class is together!"

Pulled from my thoughts, I followed my sister up the steps and through the glass doors of the school. The inside of the building smelled like a strange mixture of too much Pine Sol and fish. My stomach churned a little and my nose scrunched up at the smell. Dear God, does it always smell this horrid?

"Sorry about the smell. We had an incident with the aquarium in the science lab. I guess I used too much Potassium," a wiry boy walked up to us with an apologetic smile on his face. He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly as his shaggy brown hair fell in the way of his eyes a bit.

"An incident?" my sister prompted.

"With an aquarium?" I added automatically.

"Wonderful," we chorused and I inwardly cringed. My sister and I had this weird thing where we sometimes seemed to operate on the same wavelength. We'd think and say the same things; finish one another's sentences and talk simultaneously. It kind of hurt my efforts to insist to people that we were, in fact, two separate people with completely separate brains. That's not to mention that when we speak at the same time our voices sync up and sound like something out of a creepy horror film.

"You must be the new girls," he beamed at us- completely ignoring our twin moment. He dropped his hand from his neck and offered it towards us. "I'm Warren."

"I'm Lex- short for Alexandria," my sister introduced herself first, extending her ivory hand and taking his. They shook hands and then Warren's attention drifted to me. I shifted awkwardly from one foot to the other. I hate introductions. They're always so awkward and stagnant "This is my sister, Rio."

"Rio short for..?" Warren pondered, stretching out his hand towards me.

"Rio," I replied stiffly, taking his hand. His palm was smooth with very few callouses. I doubt Warren had done much physical labor recently if ever.

"I can dig it," Warren's grin grew until I thought his face might split in half. It was quite unnerving. I pulled my hand back from his.

"Can I take your picture?" Lex asked out of the blue. Her amber eyes- a much more colorful alternative to my slate grey ones- were focused on a girl a few feet away. The girl looked up from her phone and the sudden jerking motion of her head caused the white ear buds in her ears to fall out. She was the postcard for innocence. The scrawny girl had a beautifully angled face that reminded me of a vengeful angel in it's own right. Her eyes were a deep, oceanic blue. Her pale brown hair framed her face in a way that seemed too natural to be intentional and a lock of it was out of place but I didn't feel the urge to correct it.

"E-excuse me?" the girl's hands wrung the strap of her satchel nervously. Lex held up her camera pointedly and then gestured between it and the girl. "You want to take a picture? Of me?"

I could ask my sister a similar question. Normally, my sister preferred nature shots- pictures of animals and scenery. People very rarely caught her eye and her muses were normally whomever she was dating. I'd never seen a complete stranger strike inspiration in my sister. I knew that look in her eyes though- Lex had found a diamond. My eyes scanned the girl. She wore a plain pink shirt with the white silhouette of a doe on the front and a thin grey jacket.

"Um sure?" the girl assented to the photo. Lex squealed and jolted forward. Her hand wrapped around the small girl's wrist and she yanked her back outside- most likely to find a suitable tree with good lighting or something of that sort.

"Well that was odd," Warren commented. I spared the boy a glance and nodded absently. "I hope Max is okay."

"My sister isn't a serial killer. That job's reserved for me," I mentioned offhandedly as I moved past him and hung a right at the end of the hall. I decided to file away the girl's name for later as I caught sight of a strange man with a mop bucket shuffling into what I could only assume was the science lab. When I neared the end of the hall, I spotted an open door. Glancing inside, I noticed that the classroom was devoid of students. I inched in and saw photographs on the whiteboards at the front of the room. A soft hum fell over me and drowned out the overwhelming clatter of students in the hallways as I reached for one of the photos. It was of Arcadia Bay's lighthouse. I swear you could see that lighthouse from almost anywhere in the town. My fingertips touched the photograph and I could just barely make out faint whispers coming from the photo.

That's it.

The lighting is perfect here.

"Hello there," a deep voice broke me out of my trance and I tore my hand away from the photo. Whirling around, I spotted the source of the voice. A man had entered the room without me noticing. He had dark brown hair styled in a way that looked purposefully messy. It was longer and messier on the top and shorter on the sides. Through black and white glasses, his dark brown- almost black- eyes bore holes into me. "I could have sworn I'd just seen you outside with Miss Caulfield."

"He has the same voice has the one from the photo," I thought.

"That was my sister, Alexandria. I'm Rio Verde- the scholarship student," I introduced myself with a slight bow. When I raised my head, the man was giving me a scrutinizing gaze.

"You submitted the portfolio full of the abstract nature photos, yes?" he asked with a slight frown pulling at his lips.

"No. That was also my sister," I tried not to exhibit the annoyance I felt. "My portfolio did posses a couple of portraits that you may perceive as abstract."

"Ah, yes! I remember now!" his eyes lit up as he moved swiftly past me and towards the desk at front corner of the room. He yanked a drawer open and pulled out burgundy folder that had my name engraved in elegant silver across the front. "I wanted to ask you about where you acquired the inspiration for the skeletal woman photograph...here!"

His hand drew out the photograph with a flourish and I moved forward to scrutinize my work. I remembered taking this black and white photo and the hours of grueling editing that had gone into the image. It was a photo of myself sitting on a bed with my legs tucked beneath me With photoshop, I had managed to carve back my skin and shape it as if it were drawn taut over my skeleton. My arms crossed- both hands finding purchase on my shoulders- to cover my breasts. My long, ebony black hair had fallen back in a picturesque inky waterfall as I'd tilted my head back. Thanks to the high resolution of the photograph, I could even make out my dark eyelashes against my snowy white cheek bones. You could barely recognize me as the model in the photo.

"I especially like the use of shadows. They give the image more depth. The lighting alone must have taken quite some time to get just the way you wanted it," the man commented. "Not many photographers your age are able to pull off working with a nude model but you did it very tastefully."

"Well I wasn't about to show off my breasts to the world distastefully, sir," I responded with a sly smirk. He looked up at me as realization dawned on him.

"You modeled for this photo?" he asked, pointing down at the photo.

"Modeled, shot, and edited," I took an over dramatized bow, flourishing my hand as I did so. "It took a few shots to get down the perfect positioning for both the camera and myself. Lex helped with that. This photo was a tribute to her struggle with body image. She had a rough time a couple years back. It was the only time in our entire lives people could tell us apart from afar."

"You have real talent," he complimented me, pulling the photo away and scanning it over with his own eyes before tucking it back into its place in my portfolio. He seemed to take the tidbit of information about my sister in stride. When he looked back up at me, his eyes had darkened to an almost black color. He leaned close to me for a moment and I could feel his gaze piercing deep into my very being. "I would love to see you through my lens, Rio."

"You want me to model? For you?"I asked, shocked by his statement. Before he could answer, I heard the sound of students entering the classroom behind me.

"Hi Mr. Jefferson," a leggy girl with short blonde hair in a grey cashmere sweater and a pink skirt walked in. Mr. Jefferson? My eyes went back to the man who had now moved back behind his desk. I was supposed to have his class later today. He was the famous photographer that was the head of the photography program here.

"Hello Victoria. I didn't think you had class with me for another hour and a half?" Mr. Jefferson's voice seemed to have grown a sharp edge to it in response to the new arrival. He must really hate this girl. I looked back at her. Victoria scanned me up and down at sneered at me. I glanced down at my outfit. A pair of black skinny jeans with a chain hanging from the belt loop and pocket, a pair of ragged cherry red converse, and a loose black MCR shirt that had the words "I am not afraid to walk this world alone." blazoned across the front in white and red. I guess I could have dressed a little bit less like a punk but that didn't give Miss Snooty a free pass to judge me based off of my wardrobe.

"I just wanted to swing by and tell you good morning," Victoria sauntered across the room and her- probably overpriced- perfume made me choke as she brushed by me. "Also, I was wondering if you had gotten a chance to look at my photo."

"I will look at your photo when I look at everyone else's, Victoria," Mr. Jefferson responded in a tired tone. I took the opportunity to slip away and towards the door. I managed to sneak out undetected thanks to the cashmere leach. As soon as I broke out into the hallway, I spotted Lex barreling towards me. Her black hair- identical in length to my own- was flying behind her. She grabbed my arm without stopping as she ran past and I found myself being half dragged to our first class of the day.

Mr. Jefferson's class came a lot sooner than I had hoped. Lex had dropped me off at the door with a quick air kiss goodbye as she skipped off to her science class. She probably had one of Mr. Jefferson's other photography courses. A sense of unease draped over me. Over the years, Lex and I had always been shoved into the same classes for everything- it was the twin conundrum. Half the time teachers wouldn't even count one of us absent if they weren't there because the teacher didn't want to admit that they couldn't tell us apart.

Now that we were at Blackwell Academy it seemed that the conundrum may be coming to an end. I watched Lex duck into her classroom before finally turning on my heel and waltzing back into Mr. Jefferson's room. The teacher himself was perched on the edge of his desk like a hawk. I watched as his eyes darted from face to face in the room as if he were taking pictures of each student. Then his eyes landed on me. I wondered what kind of photos he was taking of me.

"You're Lex's sister, right?" I turned my attention away from Mr. Jefferson and saw the small girl from earlier standing next to me. She was hugging a beaten up journal to her chest and one of her headphones was dangling from her left ear. I wanted to ask what kind of music she listened to. "I'm Max."

"Rio," I nodded in greeting.

"Right. Um.. There's a desk next to mine in the back if you want," Max offered before taking her leave of me and heading towards the back of the room. She sat in the desk tucked away furthest n the back of the room in the middle. I eyed the desk next to her. Not many students had filed in but I could tell just from a short glance around the room that the desk next to hers would probably be the best option. Shouldering my backpack, I walked towards the empty black desk that was placed between Max and a shelf. A desktop computer was on the desk with someone's project pulled up. I minimized the project and dropped my bag next to the seat. I pulled out a blue notebook and a couple of my favorite pens and placed them on the desk as I slid into my seat.

A few minutes passed as I got settled and when I looked up there was girl taking a seat in the desk that faced mine. Her dirty blonde hair was tied up in an up do that allowed her bangs to still fall and frame her pale face. I'd never seen the girl before but she looked sickly pale. There were shadows and bags under her eyes.

"Hey," I greeted her as she set out her things. She had the look of "Church Girl" down to a tee. A pristine white button up with a dark grey sweater over it and a modest light grey skirt the came down to her knees. There was nothing spectacular about her at first glance. There did appear to be a dark cloud hanging over her. The girl looked over at me with hazel eyes.

"Oh. Hi," she waved meekly at me as she pulled out a pencil and began scribbling away on a piece of paper.

"Okay so that didn't go very well," I sighed as I flipped open my notebook.

The bell tolled and Jefferson moved forward to take over reign of the class. A few students that didn't belong to the class were sent away and then he took up position leaning against a desk in the center of the room.

"We meet again. I know you guys are just dying to get started but I wanted to introduce our new student, Miss Rio Verde," Mr. Jefferson gestured towards me and I felt the eyes of everyone in the classroom on me. Victoria's eyes seemed to burn into the side of my skull a bit more than any of the others. I waved to the class grudgingly. "Miss Verde is a very gifted photographer and has a bright future in the field."

I flinched at his words. Did he really have to paint such a huge target on my forehead?

"Rio? Sounds like a boy's name." "She look like a total flunk." "Emo freak." "She probably doesn't even know how to-"

"Quiet down!" Mr. Jefferson ordered. I found myself glaring at the man.

"Fucking asshole," I thought as I diverted my attention to the notebook on my desk. Taking up a pen in hand, I began doodling absentmindedly. After a few minutes of doodling to the drone of Mr. Jefferson's voice, I heard a light thud. My head jolted up and I looked over to see Max completely zonked out. Concerned, I scooted my chair over and reached towards her. My fingers had barely brushed her skin when my vision went black and I heard the howling wind of a raging storm. Water peppered my cheeks as my vision cleared and I found myself standing on a strange dirt path. Trees were groaning in distress as strong winds pushed and pulled them in various directions.

Disoriented, I searched around me for some kind of hint as to where I was or what was going on. Hadn't I just been in class? I was just about to shake Max a moment ago.

"Max," her name breathed a sense of purpose into me as I started moving up the path. Further ahead, I spotted a small figure walking up towards the lighthouse.

"Max!" I cried out her name as I began running up the path. The harder I ran, the more the wind seemed to push back against me until I finally broke out of the woods and spotted her staring out at the storm in horror. Dear God, the storm was horrendous. It had to be the biggest tornado in history. Max didn't hear me approaching over the sounds of the tornado. A loud crunch met my ears and I looked up at the lighthouse to see the top of it collapsing towards Max. "Max!"

My hand reached out and had barely wrapped around her arm when I was jerked away. The darkness consumed me and when it cleared I found myself in Mr. Jefferson's class yet again with my hand still on Max's arm. Max was sitting upright- staring forward as if she'd just broken free of a nightmare. I pulled away from her and settled back into my seat. Max didn't seem to have noticed my presence in the slightest.

"Alfred Hitchcock called film 'little pieces of time' but he could also be talking about photography- as he likely was," Mr. Jefferson's lecture seemed to be in full swing. I glanced uneasily around the room as I tried to come to grips with what I had just seen. A storm? About to take out Arcadia Bay? "..from light to shadow..."

A paper ball flew across the room from a blonde girl that sat by Victoria and nailed the church girl in the head. I felt my blood boil. What the hell was that girl's problem? A cellphone started buzzing and I turned my attention to Victoria as she sent the call to voice mail.

"Now, can you give me an example of a photographer who perfectly captured the human condition in black and white? Anyone?" Mr. Jefferson's question caught my attention. Victoria raised her hand as if it were her divine privilege to answer his question.

"Diane Arbus," she answered confidently. I scoffed, earning a sharp look from the snob. Jefferson also gave me a look but his was more amused than annoyed.

"Not a favorite of yours, I presume?" he commented. I shrugged, having not meant to gain the attention of the entire class.

"I just think the idea of Diane Arbus having perfectly captured the human condition is misinformed," I tried to put it lightly. I felt a bit on edge as Victoria and the girl with long blonde hair next to her glared at me. "Her photos are good but humanity isn't some tortured thing. It's deeper than that. Someone's humanity is what separates a man from a monkey."

"Very philosophical, Rio," Jefferson mused. Just then, I heard the sound of a camera going off to my left. I turned my head and saw Max placing her camera back on her desk and wagging an undeveloped photo in one hand.

"Shh... I believe Max has just taken what you kids call a "selfie"... A dumb word for a wonderful photographic tradition. And Max...has a gift," Mr. Jefferson remarked with a smirk. "Of course, as you all know, the photo portrait has been popular since the early 1800s. Your generation was not the first to use images for selfie expression. Sorry. I couldn't resist. The point remains that the portraiture has always been a vital aspect of art, and photography, for as long as its been around. "

"Now Max, since you've captured our interest and clearly want to join the conversation, can you please tell us the name of the process that gave birth to the first self-portraits?" Mr. Jefferson asked, putting Max on the spot. The Daguerrian Process. I vaguely remembered my old pal Marco telling me all about it during his big "War on Selfies" that he had last year.

"You're asking me? Let me think.. Um..," I could tell Max was drawing a complete blank. My gaze turned to Victoria and I noticed with a frown that she was smiling at Max's discomfort. Mr. Jefferson slammed his hand down on the desk he was leaning on, startling me and a couple of other students.

"You either know this or not, Max. Is there anybody here who knows their stuff?" Mr. Jefferson was practically seething. Victoria answered- telling him all about Louis Daguerre and his daguerreotypes but my attention was focused on Max. She'd seemed to shrink away into a shell and it only got worst when Victoria turned to her and snarkily told her that she was 'stuck in the retro zone, sad face'. I wanted to shove my pen into her throat but refrained. Homicide is not good and violence is never worth the repercussions.

Finally, the final bell rang and Mr. Jefferson's lecture came to a close. He started saying something about a contest but I wasn't too concerned. I'd had my fill of contests. Ever since the one that landed me a spot here, I hadn't felt inclined to enter another. Photography was just a hobby for me- albeit a very expensive and time consuming hobby. Max moved over to the church girl and started talking to her in low, soothing tones and I took that as my cue to grab my things and leave. I was almost past them when I spotted the paper ball on the ground and my curiosity got the better of me.

Reaching down, I pluck up the crumpled piece of paper and straightened it out in my hands to read its contents.

Hi Kate. We love your porn video. XOXO

"So her name's Kate? I can't believe she'd be caught dead in a porn video. This must be a misunderstanding," I thought as I tore up the paper and pocketed the shredded remains. I'd throw them away later when I passed a trash can. There's no reason for Kate to have to read that shit. I looked up towards the front of the room and saw Max approaching Mr. Jefferson. How long had I been standing here?

I started walking towards the door and was almost out when Jefferson called my name.

"Rio! Hold up a second," Mr. Jefferson was waving me over. Max was walking away- looking completely lost in her own world- but she still looked up at me as she walked past. Her arm brushed mine and I could have sworn I heard the sound of wind howling before she was gone. My attention refocused on Mr. Jefferson as I approached him and Victoria. She was standing- no longer leaning over his desk like some school girl in a shitty porn- with her arms crossed and her eyes narrowed at me. "Victoria, you can leave."

"But-" Mr. Jefferson shut the blonde down with a stern look. She didn't even bother pretending not to be annoyed by being dismissed as she huffed and shoved her way past me.

"I apologize for that," Mr. Jefferson looked genuinely annoyed that Victoria had actually tried to impale me with her shoulder. She actually made good impact- my shoulder ached a little bit from where we'd collided.

"You wanted to talk to me, Mr. Jefferson?" I prompted. I really didn't want any more whispers going on about me than there already were. If I could help it, I was going to try to survive this year without having the get into too many fights.

"Ah, yes. I know you just started today so I am willing to give you until Thursday to come up with a photo for the Everyday Heroes Contest. I've seen your work. I'd love to see what kind of photo you would take for this contest. Especially considering your comments in class," he explained. "You have a good eye, Rio, and an inspired mind. You could change the world with your photos."

"That's a naive way of thinking," I couldn't help the slip of tongue. Mr. Jefferson arched an eyebrow at me. "I could take all the photos I want- of whatever fucked up shit I want. People have selective eyes, Mr. Jefferson. They only see what they want to see."

With that, I turned on my heel and walked towards the door. My hand has barely touched the handle when a flash of white light filled the room and I felt a strange pull in my stomach. When my vision cleared, I was sitting in my desk in the back corner of Mr. Jefferson's room and he was repeating the same lecture from earlier. A paper ball flew across the room towards Kate and hit her in the head again and Victoria's phone started buzzing. What the hell?

A large crash caught my attention and I turned to see Max staring down at her now shattered camera in dismay. Well... that is new, at least. Max reached out her right hand and I felt a strange twist in my gut. Suddenly, time seemed to go in reverse. I watched in shock as her camera repaired itself and floated back into place on her desk. When Max lowered her hand, time resumed.

"Did she just reverse time?"

I felt my heart hammering in my chest. Max looked at me as if she were confused and I realized I must have been staring for a minute. Then another realization hit me.

"Diane Arbus," Victoria answered confidently. This is the part where I was supposed to cough and then blab about how I disagreed about Arbus but I couldn't bring myself to speak.

"There you go, Victoria! Why Arbus?" Mr. Jefferson exclaimed.

"Because of her images of hopeless faces. You feel like, totally haunted by the eyes of those sad mothers and children," Victoria explained.

"She saw humanity as tortured, right? And frankly, it's bullshit," Mr. Jefferson remarked. "Shh. Keep that to yourself."

"Huh, so this is how the lecture would have gone."

"Seriously though, I could frame any one of you in a dark corner, and capture you in a moment of desperation," he continued and my stomach began twisting itself into knots. This lecture sure took a dark turn. Mr. Jefferson's eyes found my own and for a moment it seemed as if he were trying to convey a message to me with his eyes alone. "And any one of you could do that to me. Isn't that too easy? Too obvious?"

"What if Arbus chose to capture people at the height of their beauty or innocence? She had a brilliant eyes, so she could have taken another approach," Mr. Jefferson reasoned.

"I have to admit, I'm not a big fan of her work. I prefer... Robert Frank," Victoria admitted. Mr. Jefferson looked away from me and returned his attention to her.

"Me too, Victoria. He captured the essence of post-war beat America. And there was honesty about the economic conditions of that era, but a beauty in the struggle," he agreed. His eyes found mine again. "You don't have beauty without beat."

A camera went off to my left and I turned to see that Max had finally taken her selfie. The shock of the slight change in the lecture seemed to have worn off. I wondered if she knew that I hadn't been affected by whatever she'd done. More than anything, I wanted to ask her what she'd done and how she'd done it.

"Shh... I believe Max has just taken what you kids call a "selfie"... A dumb word for a wonderful photographic tradition. And Max...has a gift," Mr. Jefferson remarked with a smirk. "Of course, as you all know, the photo portrait has been popular since the early 1800s. Your generation was not the first to use images for selfie expression. Sorry. I couldn't resist. The point remains that the portraiture has always been a vital aspect of art, and photography, for as long as its been around. "

"Now Max, since you've captured our interest and clearly want to join the conversation, can you please tell us the name of the process that gave birth to the first self-portraits?" Mr. Jefferson asked, putting Max on the spot, again.

"I'm sorry. I feel sick. May I be excused?" Max seemed nervous and that just set me even more on edge. What was wrong?

"Nice try, Max. But you're not going to get away that easy. We can talk more after class," Mr. Jefferson replied. Max looked genuinely ill at this news. "Now, is there anybody here who knows their stuff?"

I remembered Victoria making fun of Max before and decided to raise my hand. Mr. Jefferson appeared genuinely surprised but not nearly as surprised as Max. A thought occurred to me. Perhaps, if I told Max the answer, she could rewind time and answer it correctly. Then Mr. Jefferson wouldn't get pissy and ask to see her after class and I could follow her to figure out what's going on.

"Rio?"

"It was the Daguerrian Process that was invented by a French painter named Louise Daguerre around 1830," I put extra stress on the name of the man and the process hoping that Max would understand what I was trying to tell her without me having to literally spell it out for her. Max seemed to understand- or at least she finally snapped out of her own head and rose her right hand. The world around me began moving around backwards again as time rewound. I felt strangely detached from it all. It only took Max a second to rewind time to the correct moment.

"Now Max, since you've captured our interest and clearly want to join the conversation, can you please tell us the name of the process that gave birth to the first self-portraits?" Mr. Jefferson asked. This time Max actually looked prepared and I had to refrain from breathing out a sigh of relief.

"The Daguerrian Process. Invented by a French painter named... Louis Daguerre. Around 1830," Max answered. Victoria shot her a dirty look but Max paid her no mind as she turned and gave me a grateful smile. I smiled back at her but I couldn't help the uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. Something was wrong and I needed to find out what.

"Somebody has been reading as well as posing. Nice work, Max," Mr. Jefferson praised her. Class came to an end and Max came over to comfort Kate yet again. I began stowing away my things into my bag quickly before throwing my bag over my shoulder. As soon as she finished talking to Kate, Max made a beeline for the door.

"Max!" I called out to her as I rushed after her. I barely managed to get my hand around her arm when I heard Mr. Jefferson call us both over to his desk.

"Just fucking great," I thought as I glanced over at the fidgety girl next to me. "I get to hear the inspirational speech all over again."

"Actually, sir, I really need to go to the restroom. That Everyday Heroes Contest sounds neat. I'll try to turn something in by Wednesday," I waved him off and walked out into the hallway. Across the hall, I could hear the girl with long blonde hair and the short haired girl next to her gossiping. I rolled my eyes at them as I shoved my hands into my pockets and leaned against some lockers.

"Alright Max Caulfield. You've got some explaining to do."