“It’s my second,” I said, but then it was our turn to be photographed.

First, the shots were straight posing, hands on hips, not doing any action. This was a little trickier for me because I was more comfortable moving. But my practice session in front of the mirror the night before had given me confidence and I was feeling at ease when the photographer asked me to smile and change positions.

The afternoon went fast because we had to keep changing clothes and posing. At the end, we all did a shot together, the four of us, and got to play around however we wanted, and that was when I felt in my element—in motion. Malik and Troy started tossing a football to each other, and I jumped up and intercepted it. Then I tossed it to Crystal, and she ran across the studio.

“Touchdown!” she yelled, and we all laughed. The actions shots were definitely my favorites.

“Settle down, everyone, please,” Jeannie said. “I just need one more shot.”

“What if we get in a huddle? We do it before every soccer game to get us all charged up.”

Jeannie shrugged. “Let’s give it a try. It can’t be a real huddle—you’ll have to all face the camera.”

We got into a semicircle and placed our hands on top of one another’s. The photographer liked it so much, she even had us turn our backs to the camera, with our arms around one another. Then she asked us to drop our arms and turn our faces to look at the camera over our shoulders.

We all started spontaneously high-fiving, and the photographer snapped photos like crazy. Then she had the idea for us to do a real close circle huddle, and she slid on her back along the floor and took photos of us while we looked down at the camera.

“Great idea, Devin! I love this. I’m getting great stuff!” Jeannie said.

I felt my confidence soar from her praise, and I started to truly have fun, posing for the camera and feeling more like I belonged.

Flash! Flash! Flash!

“That’s a wrap!” Jeannie said. “Thanks, everybody.”

I relaxed and headed into the makeup room to get changed. On my way out, Ashanta approached me.

“Nice job today, Devin,” Ashanta said. “You’ve really loosened up in front of the camera. I’ll definitely be getting more work for you.”

I beamed. The whole session had been a lot more fun, even with my mom totally embarrassing me!

On the way home from the shoot, my mom pulled into a spot in our bank’s parking lot.

“Can’t you just go through the drive-through?” I complained. I was still a little upset with her.