Chapter 11: The Interview

Author's Note: Here it is, everyone! As promised, Chapter 11 of Kind At Heart is here! You can probably tell what'll happen based off the title, but if you can't, then read on! But first, it's review response time!

Matt, it sure is astonishing how the 2.0 versions of the Smith family haven't been torn apart by Kitsune's and Tyler's pranks! That'll actually be referenced later on in some form, so I hope you're looking forward to that. Additionally, you'll find out what role Kitsune will take later on in the story, and whether or not she'll be officially introduced by name. I'm really excited to write her character more!

emeraldphan, I'm glad that you liked the appearance of the shopkeeper! I'm also glad that you liked Jenna's dream, as well as the foreshadowing that I included. For the shopkeeper's nationality, I'll check up on that. As for whether or not Tyler will make a comeback, you'll find out later on in the story. ;)

Now, on with the story, everyone!

"I'm so excited, Chris!" Jenna exclaimed, doing a jig in the middle of a park, waving her Golden Ticket around excitedly. After the incident with Tyler Smith, the two wanted another place where they could finally enjoy their moment together. Once they ran out of energy jumping around and dancing, they sat themselves down on one of the benches to get a closer look at the precious object.

Just like how Charlie and Mr. Wonka made them, Jenna's Golden Ticket was made out of solid gold hammered out to the thinness of paper. It glimmered in the sunlight, casting a beautiful sheen up to the sky.

"It really is gold," Jenna gasped.

Chris put his hand forward to touch the Ticket, but he saw Jenna looking at him, and slowly retracted it.

"No worries, Chris," Jenna smiled. "You can examine it if you'd like. As far as I'm concerned, this is your Golden Ticket as much as it is mine. After all, you did help me find it."

Chris gripped the Golden Ticket in both of his hands, and the light from it reflected into his eyes, causing himself to shield his vision for a few seconds before resuming to look at it. The front of the ticket said, "GOLDEN TICKET", with Wonka's signature logo and curly "W" directly above it. The left and right sides of the Ticket were pointed, and towards the bottom, it also said, "DATE", "TIME", and "PLACE" with the respective answers below each word. It read, "SEP. 1", "10 A.M. (SHARP), and "FRONT GATES." Additionally, there was small text at the very bottom of the Ticket that read, "THIS GOLDEN TICKET ENSURES ADMITTANCE." There was even an outline of the factory stamped in a circle pattern on the front of it. Chris felt like he was holding a slice of heaven. She looked at him and suggested, "Why don't you turn it over? There's bound to be some sort of message on the back."

Sure enough, there was. Chris and Jenna took turns reading it out loud.

"Greetings to you," Chris read, "the lucky finder of this Golden Ticket from Mr. Willy Wonka, and my heir, Charlie Bucket!"

"We do invite you to come to my factory and be my guest for one whole day," Jenna read, her mouth open in awe, still unable to comprehend what just happened.

"Both of us will conduct you around the factory ourselves, showing you everything there is to see," Chris read.

"When it is time to leave, you will be escorted home by a procession of large trucks," Jenna read. "Each one will be filled with all the chocolate you could ever eat!"

"One of you lucky seven children will receive an extra prize beyond your wildest imagination," Chris continued. "Now, here are your instructions:"

"On the first day of September," Jenna read, "you must come to the factory gates at 10 A.M. sharp. You are allowed to bring one member of your family to look after you."

"Until then," Chris and Jenna read together at the same time, "Willy Wonka and Charlie Bucket."

"Jenna, you've done it!" Chris exclaimed, hugging his best friend. Jenna hugged him back, and this hug lasted for several seconds, then she once again stared straight into Chris' eyes. She was about to say something, but was interrupted by the sound of footsteps approaching them.

The two of them looked, and a large group of reporters were walking towards the park. They had finally tracked down the finder of the fifth Golden Ticket, and were eager to get the news for the morning papers, as well as television broadcasts, showing her face all over the world for everyone to see.

"Are you the fifth Golden Ticket winner?" one reporter asked Jenna.

"I certainly am!" Jenna smiled, holding up her Golden Ticket for everyone to see. "My name's Jenna Adams, and I'm twelve years old. I'm from Birmingham, Alabama, but currently over here in Ohio because I've been at a sleepover with my friend Chris!"

Jenna looked at Chris, who shyly waved at the camera. She giggled.

"Chris is usually really shy," Jenna explained, "unless he's with his family or around me, so I apologize if he seems a little bit unwelcome."

"I'm really proud of Jenna for finding a Golden Ticket," Chris said, speaking up. "It's been her dream to see what's inside Wonka's factory. We really want to go in together, but I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens."

"What do you like to do for fun, Jenna?" another reporter asked.

"You see," Jenna explained, "I was born into a family of musicians. My mother is a classical pianist and soprano vocalist, and she's also the keyboardist and lead singer in our progressive metal band, Wormhole Citadel. My father is the guitarist in our band, as well as its founder. My brother, James, is the secondary vocalist and drummer, and I play the bass. I also have a younger sister, whose name is Isabelle. Although she's a little too young to join at the moment, Isabelle really wants to join when she gets older. That's why we take her to our concerts, and I'm also currently teaching her how to play the synthesizer. She is also a ballerina, and takes weekly lessons, with a recital once a month. We try our best to balance her recitals and our concerts so that every one of us gets time to shine!"

"That's amazing!" a third reporter commented. "It's always nice to see the whole family involved in something together, especially music. Speaking of your family, where are they at the moment?"

"We're here!" shouted a voice, then Jenna turned around. It was her family, and they were rushing towards her and the reporters at a blinding speed. Even Isabelle was there, and she was jumping on the tips of her toes as she was running, like a ballerina performing on a stage.

Jenna's mother had red hair, as well as sapphire-colored eyes, just like her daughter, and she was wearing an orange dress that was studded with white diamonds. Jenna's father had short, dark-brown hair, along with brown eyes, and James looked the same as he always did, except his hair was slightly combed this time around. Isabelle was a nine-year old girl with brown hair just like her father, but she was wearing a smaller version of her mother's dress, and she had brown eyes as well as orange, pointy-toed shoes.

"Mother!" Jenna grinned. "Father! Bro! Sis!"

Her family members ran towards Jenna and hugged her, and after a few minutes, all of them calmed down.

"How are you, Chris?" Isabelle asked.

"I'm doing good, Isabelle," Chris smiled. "Thanks for asking."

'Well, it seems like the whole family is back together again!" a reporter exclaimed happily. "Mr. Adams, how do you feel about your daughter winning a Golden Ticket?"

"We couldn't be more proud!" Mr. Adams smiled. "Our aeroplane flight set for here got delayed, so as soon as we caught wind that our Jenna won the Ticket, we did everything we could to make it as quickly as possible! Not only that, she's an exceptional bassist! She handles all those time signature changes as easily as counting to ten."

"Jenna is such good friends with Chris here," Mrs. Adams continued, "that it would be amazing if the two could enter the factory together! It'd be like a dream come true for the both of them, that's for sure."

"I really want big sis to win the special prize!" Isabelle smiled. "She deserves it!"

"Me and Chris," Jenna corrected. "I couldn't bear to win the prize without him! We are best friends after all, so it makes sense, right?"

"Of course!" one reporter smiled. "Can you please tell us exactly how you won that Ticket of yours?"

"Well, I don't necessarily care for candy and chocolate in general just so you know," Jenna explained. "Although, I have always been curious to see what Willy Wonka's factory is like inside."

She paused.

"I think that Chris should explain the rest of it," Jenna smiled at him, and the reporter put a microphone up to Chris' mouth, causing him to gulp in nervousness.

"How did Jenna find her Golden Ticket, Chris?" he asked the boy.

Chris paused for a couple seconds to clear his mind, then finally spoke up.

"Well," Chris said, his voice shaking slightly, "it all started today. You see, today is Jenna's birthday, and I thought I'd surprise her by taking her out to get something to eat. After we couldn't find anything, the two of us saw a sweet shop close by, and inside, Jenna found the bar with the fifth Golden Ticket!"

"Go on," Jenna said, lightly tapping him with her elbow.

"And as we were walking back to my house," Chris explained, "some crazed boy named, who, Tyler? Tyler Smith, that's it! Anyways, Tyler Smith tried to steal her Golden Ticket, but the shopkeeper in the store helped us to get it back."

"My my, that sounds like quite an adventure!" another reporter chuckled. "Happy Birthday, by the way! Now, Jenna, is there anything that you'd like to say to Mr. Wonka and Charlie to close off your interview?"

"There is!" Jenna smiled. "Mr. Wonka and Charlie, if you're watching this, I'll be really eager to see you on September 1st! Rock on!"


Of course, Charlie and Mr. Wonka, along with Mr. and Mrs. Bucket, were indeed watching her interview at that very moment. As soon as Jenna stopped talking, Charlie turned off the cottage television.

"Well, this time I'll admit that she doesn't seem too bad," Mr. Wonka remarked, "but why on earth would I give my factory to someone who doesn't like candy?"

Charlie opened up his mouth to say something, but Mr. Wonka interrupted him.

"I know what you're gonna say," Mr. Wonka sighed. "Give her a chance, I know. It's...it's just so hard considering how the last contest went, and how these new winners seem to be."

"I understand, Mr. Wonka," Charlie said, "but remember, this is a new contest, with new Ticket winners. At the very least, Jenna will get a tour of the factory like she wants. Remember, she said she didn't totally dislike candy, so I wouldn't leave her out of the question just yet. Plus, she's from a family of musicians. If she wins, I bet her family would get along very well with the Oompa-Loompas."

"I suppose you're right," Mr. Wonka sighed. "That Chris kid next to her seems nice as well, but who knows if he'll get one of our Tickets."

"It's that Tyler Smith child that Chris mentioned that worries me," Mrs. Bucket remarked. "He said that he nearly succeeded in stealing her Ticket. Could you imagine if you had to let someone as nasty as him into the factory?"

'It'd be a disaster," Mr. Wonka murmured. "I can only hope he doesn't, or I'll go crazy."

"What are the odds?" Mr. Bucket said jokingly, chuckling to himself.

"Don't jinx it, Dad," Charlie smiled.

Mr. Willy Wonka began to slowly get out of his chair, and Charlie looked at him in confusion.

"You're going to the Music Conservatory?" Charlie questioned.

"Of course," the chocolatier replied. "I'm still going to tell the Oompa-Loompas about Jenna. It'd at least suit her to have a song, since she's a musician herself."

"Very well," Charlie sighed, getting up from his chair as well. Mr. Bucket put his arms around his son's back.

"Only two Tickets left," Mr. Bucket remarked. "It feels like yesterday when you and Willy sent them all out!"

"I know," Charlie responded. "We can only hope that our ideal heir is among these seven. We can only hope."

Author's Note: Well, that was Jenna's rewritten interview! What did you think of it? As for me, I really enjoyed writing it, especially adding in brand-new details not present in the original. By the way, it may be interesting to note that Isabelle was previously mentioned in Charlie's Chocolatey Adventure as Jenna's little sister as well, but this is the first story where she has dialogue and a fully fledged appearance, so writing this was very special to me.

In "Next in Line", the changed date of September 1st wasn't really elaborated on, and it came as a sudden thing, so I thought having Chris and Jenna reading the Ticket to get the full details of the contest would fix that problem and change things up. Additionally, the part where Chris and Jenna alternated between reading the instructions was a reference to the 2005 film, where there was a small montage of Mr. Bucket and the four children doing that.

Speaking of Next in Line, as mentioned in the beginning Author's Note, Kitsune is indeed the name of the woman in the kimono that was encountered in the last chapter. She was a scrapped child in "Next in Line" who had the same personality (cunning, deceit, stealth) as she does here. She is also in Next in Line: Secrets from the Vault, and I liked her character so much that I decided to bring her back as well, but as a parent rather than a child. Another early "Next in Line" reference is Isabelle herself. You see, in an early draft of that story, Jenna had the same looks, but with an orange ballet dress (as she was a ballerina in the early version), but since Matt is a metalhead, he decided to tweak her personality and appearance. Isabelle wearing a small orange dress like her mother is a reference to early Jenna wearing an orange dress as well, and Isabelle being a ballerina is another reference to the early version of Jenna. She is not in Next in Line: Secrets from the Vault yet, but she will be the next character introduced once that story gets updated. How does it feel to have not only Stephanie, but Kitsune as well, back in the 2005 canon? Isn't it exciting, Matt? Will Kitsune enter the factory with Tyler? You'll find out very soon! ;)

Also, did any of you catch the reference to the 1971 film? The part where Jenna says, "It really is gold" is a reference to the scene where Charlie found his Golden Ticket. In that scene, one man said that exact same quote. Subtle, yes, but I thought that it would be clever to include it. The part where Chris says, "Jenna, you've done it!" is also a reference to the 1971 film. After Grandpa Joe got done reading the Ticket, he said that same quote to Charlie (but with "Jenna" replaced by "Charlie") before he got helped out of bed.

As usual, stay tuned for Chapter 12, everyone! Feel free to leave your thoughts and criticism in the review section, and I hope that you're as excited for the next chapter as I am!

Until then,

Gabe S. :)