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A little flirting is harmless fun. As long as I don’t let myself dig that hole too deep. And Isocould.

Sighing, I settle myself into my seat and pull up my project plans, filling in some story boards with ideas on how to develop different aspects of my life for the documentary. I want to push myself. To try new things. To empower myself.

I help so many women with the female empowerment box I curate and market online. It’s a lot of fun, and I get to showcase how useful taking care of myself as a single mom in college can be.

But I don’t know if I’ve ever empowered myself in the same way I push others to do so.

The decision as a whole is easy, but deciding how to step outside my comfort zone is a little more daunting than I want to admit. Still, once I get a few items on my list, my mind floods with possibilities.

It’s the opposite problem. Too many ideas to whittle down. But it will have to wait until later.

Collin, a junior and future production designer, leans his carrot top into the conference room and smiles widely. “Hey, Soph. We’re still on for noon, right?”

“Yes, sir, we are. You planning to take part in the club film this semester?”

His caramel eyes light up. “You bet I am. I’ll be back after I nab some lunch.”

I wave him off and get a few more of our old club members popping in as I set my cameras up in the corners. I’m getting two external shots since I can easily prop my tripods out of the way.

In the department’s little kitchenette—meant for the professors, but they let me brew some coffee for meetings—I make a big pot and put out the mini muffins I nabbed at the store this weekend for a little treat.

As I wait for members to arrive, I contemplate my meeting this morning. Watching the dawning on Professor Trevino’s face—lighting up those Mediterranean eyes—when I showed him the short video made my day. He gets it. He has to.

I swear a few times I saw him hide a laugh and a smile. I’ve only seen it once before when I showed him one of my favorite banned ads at the end of my class with him four years ago. My goal is to get a real laugh out of him by the end of this. Maybe even a tear.

Even though most of it will be me filming my everyday life.

Pride floats me into the preliminary meeting. A group gathers with their lunches and chatter builds as we wait for noon. I’m punctual. I start the second the clock changes to noon.

Thirteen students have shown up, at least eight of them returning from last year.

“Okay, everyone. I’d love it if we could start. We have three things to agree upon today, so let’s save the stories about our summers and our new projects for after the meeting’s notes. Okay?” I get a slew of nods in response.

Good.

“Excellent. First up is the movie for this month’s viewing. Remember that we will be staying after to discuss some of the elements—story, casting and characters, effects and editing, and composition. What are we thinking?” I spread my palms up to hand off the question to them.

Genres are thrown out there. Horror. Sci-Fi. Noir.

“I’m hearing more votes for Sci-Fi than anything else. Let’s steer that way. Sci-Fi recs?”

“2001: A Space Odyssey?” a new member offers.

I smile softly and tilt my head apologetically. “We watched that last year. Sorry.”

“The Martian,” Michelle says. She’s a senior, too, and I’m looking forward to her sharing after the meeting about the script she mentioned earlier.

I point. “That’s an option. Any others?”

“Interstellar.Story is crazy, but they do a lot of cool stuff with the science and philosophy of it all,” Collin says. “I’ve been dying to talk to people about this one, and no one has seen it.”

Michelle crosses her arms and shakes her short, glossy black curls off her shoulders. “Mine was a book first. The transition of book to movie would make for a great conversation.”

Collin pops up straighter and grins. “Mine’s based on a non-fiction book about the actual science behind what happens inthe movie, so we can still have that conversation—only it’ll be weirder.”

Michelle laughs. “Okay. I concede.”

“Any objections?” I ask, badly suppressing my own smile at Collin’s shenanigans.