No Filter and Other Lies by Crystal Maldonado

Author:Crystal Maldonado [Crystal Maldonado]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Holiday House
Published: 2022-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

My annoyance at my mom for inviting Luis and Marcus over for dinner is strong.

Yet things as Max are pretty damn great.

How can things feel so irritating, confusing, and unsettling in one part of my life, yet perfect, hopeful, and idyllic in another? The cognitive dissonance is so real rn.

To Elena, I confirm that we’ll meet up early next weekend, a surge of giddiness shooting through me when I do.

I tell Luis he better not call my mom hot again, unless he has a death wish.

And I tell Grandma about the dinner with Mom and Pop and my friends. She’s so excited she wraps me in a huge hug, unable to wipe the grin from her face.

I also shoot Marcus a text and wish him luck on the photo editor role. He teases me about already admitting defeat, and I don’t have the heart to tell him I didn’t even apply.

And I reach out to Hari to wish him luck. I add some reassurances that he’s a good person, and things will get better, because I think he needs to hear it.

Still—I can’t stop the word selfish from taking up a lot of space in my brain.

I kinda have been. And that...sucks.

I’m mulling this over when I head to my next shift at One Fur All, lugging my camera gear and some props with me, full of regret for scheduling what has become a super-extravagant photo shoot with Becca. If I’m worried about being selfish, the definition would probably be: stealing photos from a friend who has sworn off social media, passing them off as portraits of you, and then lying about why you need more.

At least seeing the wagging tails of the dogs when I get into One Fur All lifts my spirits a bit and I’m reminded that not everything I do is bad. Just most of it. Right now, anyway.

I get to work, feeding, watering, and bathing the animals.

Becca shows up to start her shift awhile later, and she rushes over to me first thing. I note that her hair is done up and she’s wearing makeup. She looks lovely and I resent the small twinge of excitement I feel at the thought that today’s new photos will be perfect for Max’s account.

Selfish.

She and I have already settled on three different locations with as many different outfits, not including the photos we’ll shoot right here.

We start by taking a couple of the tamer dogs out into the yard, and, armed with a pocketful of treats so I can get them to listen to me, I set up this shoot. I’m going to take photos both of Becca with the dogs (for my photo editor application, I told her) and of the dogs on their own (for work).

Since it’s the start of November, I take a few wintry pictures for the website and social media. Though there’s no snow in Bakersfield, I’ve picked up some props, like knitted scarves and beanies for the dogs, that’ll help suggest a chill.

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