A Lens That's Black and White - 3. Chapter 3 - Eli

Chapter 3 – Eli

The next six days were made up of school and filming with Viz. We spent that whole week filming my part of the project and working on homework together and getting to know each other. It wasn't a lot of time but I think Viz learned more about me in that week than anyone ever had that fast. It had taken other people two years to learn some of the facts that he got out of me. And all the while, we filmed and worked on the project.

Well, Viz worked on it anyway. He'd made it so that he would do my film and I would do his and he wouldn't show me how he was editing it together at all. It was his to tweak and make a masterpiece. In Film Studies, the day after Viz finished my film, I decided to ask him about starting his part. “So, Viz, I should probably go to your house today and work your part of the film,” I said.

He was hesitant at first but I think he came up short for excuses as to why I couldn't go to his house and so he said, “Yeah, okay. We have to take the bus though.”

“I don't mind.” I wondered why he didn't want me to come to his house. Could it possibly be that bad? Maybe he lived in a trailer. But if he did, I wouldn't care. Of course, I couldn't say the rest of the class would feel the same.

The school day was soon over and I followed Viz through the crowd of underclassmen boarding buses. We found an empty seat and sat down. I stared out the window, only slightly distracted by the fact that Viz was sitting extremely close to me. The bus jostled him and his knee bumped mine, causing a shock of electricity to go through my leg. I squished myself against the window, trying to stay as far away from him as I could in that close proximity.

We stopped at a few bus stops, although I wasn't really paying attention to the area we were in. It wasn't until we arrived at Viz's bus stop that I realized what area of town we were in. We were in the high class, rich part of town where a lot of people I hung out with lived. We were past the nice homes, an onto the extravagant, gated homes. I followed Viz off the bus and looked around, baffled. This was where Viz lived?

“That's my house,” he said quietly, and started walking toward a huge, gated estate, with what could be considered a mansion in the middle. The grass was green and obviously greatly cared for and the driveway was as wide as a road and just about as long. My house was a shack compared to his house.

“You live here?” I asked in a whisper.

“Yeah,” he admitted shyly. Viz pressed a buzzer on the gate and the gate swung open inwardly. We walked down the long path, Viz fidgeting, and me checking out the estate. It was pristine and huge and perfect and I felt a pang of jealousy before I realized how stupid that was. Money wasn't everything, in fact money was nothing. Okay, not nothing but close.

Viz led me inside to his two story foyer with marble flooring and a double staircase that ended in a hallway at the top. In between the two staircases was a hallway that led into a kitchen, from what I could see. I removed my shoes, which looked out of place on the marble floor and followed Viz up the right staircase and down the right side of the hallway. His room was at the end of the hall and when I walked in, my mouth nearly dropped open.

“Wow,” I breathed. It was huge, with a king sized bed in the middle and movie posters and framed photographs plastered all over the navy blue walls. I examined the photographs more closely and saw a little printed signature that said Viz. “You took these?” I asked him. There were breathtaking pictures of sunsets and random people on the streets and graffiti in New York City and L.A.

“Yeah,” he repeated and let me inspect all his pictures. There was a bathroom to the left and another door leading to another room on his right wall. “This is my game room,” he told me. I followed him into the game room. There were two rows of couches and then gaming chairs in another row in the front and against the wall the the chairs were facing was a plasma screen TV. I was still shocked by all the stuff he had. He had every console I could ever want and tall rack full of DVD's and games.

He sat down on the first couch and I followed suit, sitting next to him. “Why didn't you tell me you lived in a palace?” I asked, half joking.

“I didn't want you to be friends with me for my money. I wanted you to like me for me. Trust me, I've been used before. People have been friends with me just so they can use my house for parties and watch movies in my theatre and play all my games. I just didn't want to risk that,” He replied, sincerely.

“I get it,” I said. I sighed and then plunged on. “My father died when I was nine. There, now you know basically everything about me. And all I know about you is your name and now, where you live.”

“I'm so sorry, a-about your Dad, I mean,” Viz quickly said.

“Don't apologize, you didn't kill him. Alcohol did. But I feel like your purposely not telling me anything about you.”

“There's not much to know,” he said but continued when I rolled my eyes at him. “Okay, I lied. I told you my dad was having friends over last week.” There was a pregnant pause and Viz took a deep breath. “Well, my dad's dead.”

I looked up into his green eyes and saw pain. “Why wouldn't you just tell me that?”

“Sometimes it's just so hard to admit that he's not here anymore.”

“I know,” I agreed, truthfully, because I did know. It was that way with my dad too.

“He died of cancer. My parents were already successful and fairly rich. But when he died he left us a fortune. And now we're swimming in more money than we know what to do with.”

“I'd gladly switch places with you.”

“Sorry, if it seems like I'm complaining, I'm not! I know I'm so lucky for everything that I have. But I rarely see my mom and when I do see her, we don't really talk. And my dad's gone and most days I'm alone in this huge, empty house. I feel like it'll swallow me alive, some days,” Viz admitted. I was surprised at how much he was telling me. I knew for him, this was really hard and he didn't open up for just anyone.

I wasn't sure what to say so I didn't say anything. We sat in silence for a while but it wasn't an uncomfortable silence because we were both consumed by our own thoughts. I was thinking about my dad and I guessed that he was too. I sat there on Viz's couch, remembering all the times when my dad was sober when he would take me anywhere I wanted to go and promise me the world. I'd always believed that he could literally give me anything because whenever I was with him, I felt as if I did have everything. I was happy and that was all that mattered.

“What are you thinking about?” Viz whispered.

I looked up, surprised that he'd asked. “My dad. You?”

“My mom,” he admitted. I'd expected him to say that he was thinking about his dad too. “She's always so sad. She tries to put on a brave face but I see how much she misses him. I think she wishes he was here to help her because she doesn't know what to do with me. I think sometimes she forgets that I need more than material things, you know?” I stayed silent again and felt useless, not being able to comfort him or say anything clever like people on TV always seem to be able to do. “It's okay, you don't have to say anything. I'm okay with you just being here, just hearing me.”

I looked at Viz and saw pain and a mix of unreadable feelings in those emerald eyes. He looked at me and his eyes brightened, the corners turning up and crinkling with a smile and any tension that was in the room disappeared. “Let's play Modern Warfare 2. You like that game, right?”

“Who doesn't?” I said, in place of a yes. He passed me a controller and we played for a while before I excused myself to go to the bathroom and unplugged my controller as he started a new round without me. When I came back, I saw him playing and looking so normal in his own habitat that I had to go back into his room and grab his camera. He didn't notice me recording him when I entered the game room again.

“Yessss! You just got owned, dude!” he yelled and started doing some type of ridiculous victory dance. I panned in on him, standing on his gaming chair and making a fool of himself, and chuckled to myself. “Hey, are you recording this?” he said, stopping his dance and trying to look mad at me but he couldn't keep a straight face and started cracking up. I turned off the camera and started laughing too, doubling over and holding my stomach. “That's not funny!”

“Oh but it will be when our whole film class sees it,” I retorted. He threw a throw pillow from the couch and it hit me square in the face. “Watch the face, asshole, it's priceless.”

“I think you're confusing priceless with worthless,” he teased.

“That's it!” I threw the pillow full force and it barreled into his stomach and he fell backward over the gaming chair and into the couch with an 'oof'.

“Dude, that was way too close to my cojones. Do you want me to never have kids?” Viz shouted and started cracking up. I looked at his laughing face and couldn't help but smile and laugh with him.

The next week and a half consisted of me going over to Viz's house and filming, playing Mortal Kombat and Modern Warfare and even playing some World of Warcraft on his laptops. And on some days, I went to the ice rink with Mike and some other teammates to brush up on my hockey skills. Viz and I went around town filming and we finally got all the clips we needed, with just a few days to spare. It wasn't easy to get all the clips in order but it was fun. I was completely satisfied with the way Viz's film had turned out. And I knew that he'd make mine perfect.

The day the projects were due, Mr. Graenley started playing the groups films but we couldn't watch them all in one day so we watched half that first day. Some were really good and really creative and I started to get nervous, wondering in people would like our films. A lot of them were plain interviews though and just had everything that was required and nothing more. They probably just wanted a passing grade.

Class ended up ending before our videos could be played and as I was walking out, Mr. Graenley said we'd be going last. “I've heard how good Viz's stuff is, I'm saving the best for last,” He added, winking at me.

“Hey, Viz, how's editing going?” I asked him, jogging to catch up to him in the hallway.

“Pretty good, I hope everyone likes it. Especially you, since your the star of the thing,” He smiled. Not liking it didn't even cross my mind.

The next day went by quickly and I was soon sitting in Film Studies, waiting for the unveiling of my film. I sat through the second batch of partnered films and actually learned stuff about my classmates that I wouldn't have bothered to find out otherwise.

And then, I saw the title 'Getting to Know Eli Cole' and my stomach dropped to my feet. The movie cut to a clip of me saying, “Hi,uh, I'm Eli Cole, and uh, this is my film, about me?” the on-camera me started laughing and then said, “Oh, God that was lame, let's just cut this out and get to the good stuff.” It showed me sitting at lunch with my teammates and smiling and talking to Jake at the lunch table. I launched a spoonful of applesauce at the back of my friend Jeff's head while he made out with his girlfriend and he turned around threw a piece of mashed potato at me.

It then cut to me laying on my stomach on my bed and reading my favorite book. I was actually wearing my reading glasses instead of contacts and my face was practically buried in the book, devouring every word. Next, I was practicing ice hockey with some teammates at the ice rink. It showed me driving the puck into my opponents goal and rubbing it in their faces. It showed me writing poetry in my notebook, scribbling stuff out, crinkling it up and throwing the wadded up paper out and then starting new poems. Its showed me shoving Doritos in my mouth and then cut to a clip of me laughing with my brother and teasing my sister. It showed me dropping ice cream on my lap and scooping it right back into my cone and eating it. It showed every damn part of that me that it could in five minutes and in the most beautiful way possible.

I was smiling from ear to ear. I wanted to tell Viz how amazing it was. I wanted to hug him, and tease him for basically stalking me at some points. I wanted to laugh. Seeing myself through Viz's eyes—well, it was great.

The class applauded louder than they had for any film so far and some girls looked at me and smiled shyly. I couldn't help but blush a deep shade of red. I looked over at Viz and he was smiling at me too, looking slightly shy and uncertain. But I smiled back at him, hoping he could see that I loved the film. But it wasn't over yet; he still had to see the one I'd made.

Viz's film started out with the title in bold letters: Viz, Undone. It cut to a clip of Viz sitting atop a sandy hill overlooking the lake that was a few miles out of town. He was sitting cross-legged, wearing his baggy black pants, studded belt, and t-shirt, holding a Nikon camera to his face and pointing it to the sunset that was setting over the lake. The camera panned in on the camera in his hands. He was wearing his signature fingerless black glove on his right hand and taking pictures. The view swung around and slowly zoomed out, focusing on the sunset on the horizon. The sky was painted orange, pink, and pale blue.

The film then cut to a scene of him playing Modern Warfare 2, and kicking some guys ass. Viz jumped up from his gaming chair in the lounge area of his room and yelled, “Yessss! You just got owned, dude!” and did a little victory dance. The class laughed at this and the film moved onto another clip of Viz holding a camcorder and filming random things at a museum downtown. “One day, the stuff I record will be in a famous documentary and you'll be wishing I'd mention that I knew you but all the fame will have gone to my head and I would've forgotten all you little people,” Viz said, speaking past the camera, to me who'd been holding it.

It cut to a scene of Viz sliding down the banister of his winding staircase and landing on the marble floor in his foyer. “What did I tell you about sliding down that banister?” You hear a woman shout in the background.

“Whatever do you mean, Mom?” Viz calls back and puts a finger to his lips as he looks in the camera, as if he's telling the audience not to tell his mother.

The camera shows Viz's room, slowly panning around to show all the movie posters plastered on his walls. The film cuts to a close up of Viz and slowly zooms out. “So, how did I get my nickname: Viz?” Viz says to the camera. It cuts to a clip of a young Viz walking around with a camera in New York City.

“Stop recording for a minute, I'm trying to record you,” a man's voice from behind the camera says.

“I'm trying to make a movie, Dad, shh,” Little Viz says.

“You and all your videos, son. Or what do they call them these day, 'vidz'?” His father says and you see two fingers in front of the lens make air quotes around the word 'vidz'. “We should call you that. Vidz. Hey, come down to dinner, Vidz.”

Little Viz laughed, and finally closed his camcorder. “I like that. I don't want to be Jonah anymore, call me Vidz.” the camera is handed off to someone else, and you see a quick glimpse of a woman before the camera is turned back around to show Little Viz and his father, many, many years ago. His dad threw him over his shoulder and started walking the sidewalks of Manhattan just like that. I looked over at the boy sitting next to me, the present day version of the boy in the film and tears were dripping down his face.

The films cut back to Viz's face and he says, “It got shortened from Vidz to Viz and now that's my name.” The film cuts to him laughing and looking at me behind the camera, his emerald eyes sparkling and then the end credits begin. The classroom erupts in applause, and I'm surprised as some people give a standing ovation.

I think they finally realized that Viz is a person too, and just like everyone else. And although he was different in many ways, he was also more similar than people realized. I glanced at Viz and he was crying and laughing and he looked at me, smiling again. I want to lean over and wipe away his tears but we're in class full of peers who are basically all looking at us and Viz wipes his own tears.

The lights are switched back on and Mr. Graenley is clapping slowly. “Wow, we had some really amazing films these last two days. This was supposed to be a small getting to know your classmates project but you all took it above and beyond. Great job guys!” He exclaimed. The last bell rang and me and Viz got up to leave.

“Where'd you get that clip of me and my dad?” He asked suddenly, his voice quiet.

He followed me to my locker and I figured I might as well just tell him. “I found your mom watching it when I was at your house and asked her if I could use it.”

“She was watching it?” Viz questioned skeptically.

“Yeah, and she was crying. You should really talk to her, Viz. I think she cares more a lot more than you know but she's just not used to being a parent without your dad,” I sighed.

“Yeah, well she's had five years to get used to it,” he replied, and walked to his locker to get some books. I couldn't argue with that, it was true. “Anyway, that was an awesome film you made. It was really great, Eli. I mean I know it was for a project, but it was really nice of you to, uh, put all the effort you put into it.”

“It's no problem, man,” I told him. “You did an amazing job with mine. I don't know how you managed to put that much of my life into that little amount of time but it was great.” I smiled at him and we walked out of the school together, going our separate ways.