Chapter One

Mark sat there in front of the switch board, waiting for someone to tell him what to do. It wasn't that he did not know what to do, it was just that it was customary for the technical director to wait for the director to give him an order. He sat there staring at the monitor in front of him, wishing the floor director would give the talent something to do. Mark did this for another 30 seconds before he could hear the floor director tell the talent that they would be starting in one minute. This meant that Mark was to fade to black and get ready for the opening of the show.

This production, though the last of the year for Mark was far from a nerve racking experience. Mark was a senior in high school and this just so happened to be the final production of his high school career. He had already been doing these productions on a weekly basis for the better part of the last three years, so this one was no different from the rest. The director of the program was his best friend and classmate, his name was Russell, but nobody who knew him ever called him that. Everyone who knew him in the least bit called him Dusty, a nickname that Mark gave him the first day of their meeting.

This day was of course year's ago when these two first met in elementary school. Mark had misunderstood Russ on the first day of first grade and it stuck. The reason for Mark's mishearing was something that has been of a constant annoyance to Mark since he was a toddler. As a baby and a small child, Mark was on the receiving end of a bad string of ear infections. This string of ear infections lasted from the time he was 6 months old until he was a little over the age of two. These ear infections left a great deal of scar tissue on and around his ear drums, which inevitably lead to him having a substantial amount of hearing loss.

Though it was something that had been with him since he could remember, it was not so debilitating that he was not able to overcome it. In fact, he had always looked at it as a gift of sorts, because he was the only one who was able to hear the world from this certain point of view. Throughout his childhood he had always heard different things or as is father often told him, "You might have hearing loss, but I am certain that you only hear what you want to hear". This may have been true but it did lead him to make up all sorts of different words, to which him and his friends still used to this day. His friend's name Dusty was a confirmation of this.

"Alright Mark, fade up on two", said Dusty to Mark as the program had finally started.
The program that they had been waiting on was an awards show for their video production class called the "Rooney Awards". They are named after their teacher, John Rooney, who is a favorite of Dusty and Mark. The awards are for the students who are enrolled in the video production class. They are voted on by the students of the class and are based on the projects that have been produced throughout the school year.

To the surprise of almost nobody, Mark and Dusty's projects were thought to win in almost every category that they had been nominated. They were the head of the class and they knew it. They are not so much arrogant about this as they are just very confidant in everything they do. Their confidence was not a born behavior but a learned one. Over the past couple of years the pair of them had produced the top projects in their class. This had lead to them becoming accustomed to hearing the praises of their fellow classmates, which were told of them very often.

"Take 3 and then bring up the CG", said Dusty to Mark and to the CG operator Karen, who was a friend of Mark's. The program went on for about five minutes before the first award was handed out. It did not go to either Mark or Dusty, only because they had not been up for the award. The following award also did not go to them, but that was pretty much the last time during the program that they had left empty handed.

In fact, they won the final seven of the last nine awards, including the final three for best script, best film and a lifetime achievement award for Mark. They of course gladly accepted their awards from their classmates, who did not have even show the least bit of resentment towards them. This was most likely attributed to their attitude towards their classmates, than to their quality of work. Which though it wasn't bad, it also wasn't "The Godfather" either. They produced stupid comedies that for some reason everybody seemed to think were hilarious. This of course worked out well for them, as they were used to acting like idiots in front of large groups of people anyways.

"A lifetime achievement award at 18, not bad eh", said Mark to Dusty as they were finishing up the production.
"Yeah, it's so awesome that we won these awards. I mean, I know they don't actually mean anything, but it is still pretty sweet", Dusty said as he was labeling the tape of which they had just shot the production on.
"No, I know what you mean. I wish they could have given you a lifetime achievement award too though. I mean, you did just as work as I did."
"Yeah, but you were here last year as well. I mean you won the best film award both years you were here and I wasn't here for that one. It made sense really."
"Yeah, your right. Man I really am better than you(Laughs)."
"Eat duck B", Dusty said as Karen looked at the two of them. "You guys are retard's. Plus that award belongs to me too you know."
"That is true, that last movie was a group effort and by group effort I mean Dusty and I did everything", Mark said with a laugh, though there was truth in his voice as he said it. Karen gave him a look and then shrugged her shoulders as if to say that he was right. She then walked out of the control room and said goodbye.

Mark once again looked at his awards and thought to himself how cool it was that they had won them. He instantly thought to himself that if he could do this well in High School, he could not wait to see what he could do once he got out. Mark stood up from his chair and turned the system off while Dusty was putting the tape in a cabinet, to which all of their production tapes had always gone. Mark was standing at the production room door when he asked Dusty if he was ready to go. He told him yes and as they both exited the room, Dusty turned the light off for maybe the final time of their high school career.