“Perfect, Mr. …?” I pretended as though I didn’t know his name and looked over the seating chart. “Mr. Statler. What did you find?”
“First, Mr. Statler is my father.” He smirked. “You can call me Tyler.”
I tried to hide the grin on my face, but I couldn’t. “All right,Tyler. What did you find?”
He dragged the image from his iPad to the shared drive that was connected to a screen in the front of the class. I clicked it and the photo opened. “I found a picture of the Eiffel Tower at night.”
My breath hitched, and I tried everything in my power to not react and show how the image affected me. “Okay. And why the Eiffel Tower at night?”
Tyler smiled slightly. “For a few reasons, actually.”
“Go on,” I urged, even though, if he mentioned in front of the entire class about the picture in my house, I was screwed.
“One reason is because I’ve always wanted to go to Paris. Have you ever been, Professor Foster?”
Of course, he already knew the answer. “I have,” I said with a nod. My heart pounded in my chest as I tried to show no facial expressions about him putting me on the spot, but I was curious where he was going with his questions and why the photo spoke to him. Afterall, the one in my house was not at night and the Eiffel Tower was in the distance.
“Then you know it’s illegal to take a picture of the Eiffel Tower at night.”
“I do.” I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned against the table behind me. “But only if you distribute the photograph for financial gain.”
“Right. It’sforbiddento sell the image unless you get approval from the Eiffel Tower society.”
I stared at him for a moment as I replayed the words he had spoken. My body temperature was starting to rise, and I began to sweat. He was fucking with me. He knew what we had done would be prohibited by the school. “And why does that speak to you?”
He leaned back in his chair and played with the pen on his desk as he spoke. “Besides always wanting to go to Paris and see such a beautiful landmark, the thought of doing something that could get me in trouble sparks a little something inside of me.”
I swallowed. “You like breaking the rules?”
“I’ve always been a rule follower, but if I get a chance to go to Paris and see the Eiffel Tower at night, I won’t hesitate to capture images of it. Maybe even videos.”
“Why is it illegal?” a female student asked, breaking my focus on Tyler.
I turned my attention to her. Didn’t have a clue what her name was, so I just answered, “Because even though the landmark is in the public domain, the lights on the tower are not. After dark, at the top of the hour there’s a five-minute light show and that show is copyrighted.”
“So weird,” another student muttered.
“All right. Who’s next?” I asked, wanting to move on from Tyler and his innuendos, even though, if I was honest with myself, his confession to do something forbidden had sparked something in me too.
* * *
After everyone sharedat least one photo, I gave a fifteen-minute quiz about art photography versus photojournalism, a topic I had touched on the first day of class. I then lectured about understanding exposure (the amount of light that reaches the camera’s sensors) and how to adjust the shutter speed based on lighting.
While the class read about depth of field, I went to my bag and pulled out Tyler’s bracelet. The class was almost over and I wanted to give it back before he left again. It didn’t feel right to throw it away, but I needed to get it out of my possession.
As I walked past his seat, I placed the bracelet onto the tablet he was reading from. He glanced up and met my eyes before I kept walking as though nothing had happened.
Once class was over, everyone picked up their belongings and headed out. I thought everyone was gone until I looked up from shoving my stuff into my briefcase and saw Tyler walking toward me. I was on edge again but somehow found my voice. “Is there something I can help you with, Tyler?”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “I just wanted to say thank you.”
“For what?” I peeked toward the door to make sure we were alone.
“I’d thought I’d lost my bracelet. It means a lot to me.”
“Not a problem.” I picked up my stuff and started to make my way to the exit.
“Can we talk?”
