Final Destination 4: Temetis Messor
1: Amateur Photography
"No! Don't use the flash!"
There was a blinding flash.
Drew slipped and fell backwards…
"Got you!" Strong hands were around her. She was no longer falling. She opened her eyes.
Brett was still holding the camera, grinning at her. "You'll need to watch your step, Drew. Or you'll have an accident one of these days!"
"You're such a jerk sometimes, Brett. You know she's got sensitive eyes. Give her the camera."
Drew knew that voice. She turned around, and saw that her rescuer was her boyfriend, Casper. He examined her critically. "You all right?"
She nodded. It was really stupid of her, but then, she had always been clumsy. She looked behind her. To her mortification, she saw that she had nearly fallen into the fountain. Luckily, no one had seen.
Brett tossed the camera to Casper. Brett was Casper's best friend, although he could sometimes be a bit of a prick. He beamed, then said, "I think I'll go and annoy Alexa now." He scampered off.
"Alexa won't like that," observed Casper, handing the camera to Drew. She pressed the button to bring up the photos, and saw, to her horror, that Brett had captured the moment of her falling backwards. She would delete it later.
"Why did you bring that thing anyway?" Casper asked.
"I keep telling you," Drew replied, "I want a shot of everyone before we break up for summer. Which, in case you didn't know," here she knocked on his head, "is in two weeks."
Casper laughed. "Okay, baby. I gotcha."
Drew raised the camera hopefully. "Can I take one of you and Brett together? I've got plenty of the two of us, and just you, but none of you and the Jerk together."
Grinning, Casper nodded. "Okay. I'll go find him."
Drew smiled. She didn't really dislike Brett, and Casper knew it. She wandered off to find some other people to photograph.
Drew had wondered what would be the best way to go around getting the pictures. She didn't want them in a school setting, but at the same time, it was difficult chasing each one individually.
So this school trip was ideal. They had spent two hours in a boring museum, but now they had an hour and a half to hang around the big shopping centre before the bus picked them up. The large fountain – the one she had nearly fallen into – was the centrepiece of the building. There were two floors, and lots and lots of shops!
She found Jerry first. Jerry was one of the cool guys in her class, mainly because he had a gun. It was a small handgun, but he was a lethal shot with it. This made him very popular with everyone.
So it was no surprise to find him in the video arcade. He was demonstrating his expertise by blasting the living hell out of everything with a lightgun.
There was no one else around. "Want to be shot first?" asked Drew. Jerry jumped, and spun around, brandishing the fake gun.
"What?" he demanded. Then he saw her holding the camera. "Oh, right. Go on then." He pulled a stupid face, and held the gun to his head, as though he was committing suicide. Drew clicked the camera.
"Okay, thanks, Jerry."
Jerry grinned at her. "Want a go?" he said, offering the gun to her. She smiled, and shook her head.
"Come on, you have to admit the first one was way better."
"No way, man. The second one."
"No! I'm telling you…!"
Drew cleared her throat. The two guys looked at her.
"Oh, hey Drew," said Sam, seeing her.
"We were just discussing movies," added Danny, the other half of the twosome.
Drew rolled her eyes. "You guys never talk about anything else," she pointed out.
They nodded. "Uh-huh," said Danny. "So what do you think?"
"About what?"
Sam interjected at this point. "We're discussing which movie is better – Terminator one or two."
"It's the first one!" demanded Danny. "It's soooo much better with Arnie as the bad guy."
"But you have to admit that the liquid metal terminator in the second one was way cool."
"Yeah," admitted Danny. "But not as good as the first one! Drew, what do you think?"
"You guys always ask me for my opinion. I'm not really into movies, you know?" Drew raised the camera. "But while I'm here, how about a photo?"
They looked at each other. "Alright," said Sam, with an exaggerated sigh. "But it'll cost you."
"How much?"
"How about a quick kiss?" Sam looked hopeful.
Drew shook her head.
"Hey, I know!" Danny said, brightly. "How old are you?"
"Seventeen, why?" Drew was confused.
"Well, then, we could…" Danny leant over to her ear and whispered something. Drew smiled at him. And then she punched him in the face.
Drew smiled, and said, "Do that again, and I'll remove your face permanently." Sam laughed. Drew turned to him. "And as for you… you can just drop dead!" She brandished her fists at them.
Sam and Danny obediently went over to the wall, and posed for the camera. Drew got her second photo.
As she was leaving DVD shop, Seb suddenly materialised on the over side of the shop's front window. Drew gasped as he pressed his face up against the glass, but quickly brought the camera up and took a picture. Then she went out to meet him.
"Hi, Sebastian," she said.
"Don't call me that," replied Seb. "Only my parents call me that."
"Don't scare me like that," countered Drew.
"You scare too easily," laughed Seb. "Anyway, I want you to delete that snap of me."
"No, I think you look rather good in it," said Drew. "Now go to hell." She wandered away, leaving Seb looking sheepish.
Drew caught up with Casper and Brett in, of all places, Eternal Sleep – a store that sold beds. They were, despite being technically young adults, bouncing on one of the beds.
"Come on and join in!" yelled Casper.
Drew smiled, and said, "No thanks."
Brett laughed, and slapped Casper on the back. "You'll get her into bed yet!"
Casper made as if to hit Brett. Drew decided to take the picture before things got out of hand. She turned to leave, then asked Brett, "Did you see Alexa?"
"Yeah," said Brett, grinning impishly. "She was going into the music store. I think she's pretty pissed."
"What, at you?"
"No," he replied conspiratorially, "I mean she's pissed. You know, a bit drunk."
"Uh-oh," said Drew, and hurried away.
As she was leaving. She heard Brett and Casper talking.
"Hey, there's a good idea! You could spike her drink! You'd definitely get her into bed then! You could invite me over for a bit of three-way action!"
"Brett, I swear, I am going to spike you."
Their laughter faded.
Sure enough, Alexa was in the music store. She was talking to Phoebe.
Well, not exactly talking. More… making fun of.
Alexa Cole was a bitch.
"So, you still listen to records?" she asked Phoebe.
Drew approached quietly. If she could get a photo of Alexa taunting Phoebe… then maybe she could convince Seb to stop going out with her. It was having a bad effect on him.
"I like my record collection!" Phoebe was making a valiant attempt to defend herself. "It's very old and very valuable!"
Alexa had found a rack containing some old records. She picked one up. "John Denver," she commented. "Rocky Mountain High. Who the hell would have a record like this?"
"Put it down, Alexa. You might break it."
"No," said Alexa, smiling at her. "You might break it! Heads up!"
With that, she suddenly threw the record to Phoebe, like a Frisbee. Drew saw her chance, and took a picture.
Alexa saw the flash. She glared at Drew, and marched off to the toilets. Drew looked back at Phoebe.
"I caught it…" Phoebe mumbled. "I actually caught it!"
"Right on," said Drew, distracted. She was looking at the photo she had taken. Alexa was just out of frame. All that could be seen was her arm. Now, if she could get another photo of Alexa, wearing the same purple top… then she might be able to convince Seb…
Alexa examined herself in the mirror. She felt she was the most gorgeous person in the world, and unfortunately, she was probably right.
The door opened slowly behind her. It was Seb. She looked at him in the mirror. "Hi baby," she said.
"Hi."
"You want something?"
Seb nodded. Then he raised the camera, and snapped a picture. "Thanks," he said, and ran off.
Alexa screamed after him.
"I think she was pretty crushed that I did that for you," commented Seb as he returned the camera to Drew.
Drew shook her head. "You won't mind once I've shown you these photos."
"Later," said Seb. "I gotta go apologise to Alexa now. So who's left on your hit list?"
"Leo… I think I saw him over near the car."
"Yeah," said Seb, grinning. "He sure loves his cars. Who else?"
"Zack… and Zoë."
"Hmm." Seb thought for a moment. "I remember seeing Zoë heading into the fast food place recently. I don't think I've seen Zack around."
"Okay, thanks." Drew walked in the direction of the fast food café.
She encountered Zoë sitting at one of the tables, looking bored.
"How are you feeling, Zoë?"
"Oh, half-and-half. This is so dull, but the food's not bad." Zoë worked part-time as a singer at a night club. It took a lot to get her excited.
"Mind if I take a picture?" Drew held up the camera. Zoë shrugged.
Drew made her way over to the car on display. A silver BMW. But there was no sign of Leo.
Suddenly, a person fell on top of her.
"Leo!" she yelled. Leo burst out laughing. "You shouldn't have been on top of the car."
"Hey, I work at the garage, remember? I spend enough time under cars." Leo gave her a wink.
She shook him off, and showed him the camera. He willingly bounded over to the car, and sat on the bonnet (N.B. "hood" for Americans). She took the photo with him pulling a monkey face at her.
And that was it, apart from Zack, who had disappeared. But she could find him later. For it was time to get back on the bus and head back to school.