AN: I'm so excited for this! Sorry for the super long wait guys, I've just been preoccupied with other stories and to tell the truth, I've actually been struggling with the start of this story because I'm planning a really cool climax and I suppose I'm focusing on that quite a bit currently, but here is Chapter 2! Hope you guys enjoy it after the long wait :)

Chapter 2 - Rumination

My heart stood still for what seemed like a couple of seconds. During those couple of seconds, I felt so panicked and overwhelmed by the unexpectedness of the question that I just wanted to hang up and get over the feeling, but I knew I had to answer this man sooner or later, so I just let out a splutter and said, "Um…"

The presenter on the other side of the phone must've been able to tell that I was uncomfortable because he said, "Don't worry, Ludwig. This is a very important question; I understand if you need some time to think."

To tell the truth, I was actually waiting for him to say that because it would give me the feeling that I was being given an option rather than being compelled. I put my speaker on mute, placed my phone on the coffee table and put my head in my hands. Okay, I thought, calm down, Ludwig, you're not in a dream. You really are being asked to go on TV in front of millions of people, some of whom might hate on you.

I tried to think about the positives of it all. Maybe going on I'm A Koopa would result in me becoming more accustomed to the rural world. Sure, Quinstone was a rural town, but apparently, Australia was considered rural in some parts. I also thought about how it would potentially change me into a new person. When my mum was around, I was always very confident and resilient and I was always willing to try new things, but when she suddenly tragically died, that all changed.

Ever since then, I had never wanted to join in with new activities due to the fear of being laughed at and being called stupid. Mum was like my guardian angel; beautiful and supportive and whenever I did get laughed at at school because I wasn't good at something, she would always comfort me and motivate me to try harder with things, and that really helped me along with life. Now I felt like an outcast and I thought that maybe going on I'm A Koopa would boost my confidence a lot more and I would go back to the way I was when Mum was around.

Furthermore, I was quite shy around people, especially people I didn't know and again, I thought that it would change me into someone friendly and approachable in no time. The only things that I felt I would actually enjoy were the Bushtucker

Trials where you had to climb down some kind of hole where creepy crawlies would rain onto your head whilst you were trying to unscrew the wooden stars of off metal rods and at that moment, as I was thinking about this, I smiled because I could just picture one of the presenters saying to one of the contestants, "Get it in yer bag!" because that was what was said when a contestant had unscrewed a star and it was one of the show's most famous catchphrases.

I would probably feel really happy and honoured that somebody was finally saying that to me and that was yet another reason why I wanted to go on the show. I also thought that I would possibly succeed at the Bushtucker Trials because I was quite nimble and quick with my hands and I would potentially earn my campmates an amazing dinner due to my amount of concentration. However, I thought about all the challenges and cons I would face. Sure, the campsite looked really neat and inviting, but I had seen footage of some of the contestants waking up in the night because their beds were too scratchy and rough.

Although I classed myself as a heavy sleeper, I wasn't sure if I was going to have a good night's sleep at all during the three weeks. On top of that, I would probably be woken up, not just by the scratchiness of the beds, but by disgusting insects crawling over my legs or something. There was also no doubt in my mind that I would go cataclysmically hungry in the jungle due to having a diet of rice and beans (well, that was the case if a contestant didn't succeed in a trial). Actually, I would have a diet of just rice instead because I couldn't stand baked beans.

That would be particularly difficult because if I was nominated to do a trial, I definitely wouldn't do very well since my diet wouldn't give me any energy whatsoever. Looking on the bright side, there were many stunning landscapes near the jungle such as waterfalls, still, smooth lakes and palm trees that arched over them. Maybe, if there was somebody at camp who was doing my head in or being really mean to me, then that would be the perfect place to go and calm down or get a load off of my chest.

Most of all, maybe taking a walk to a place like that would provide me with the silence and solitude I needed when the time was necessary and it would also help with my Hyperacusis because at times, I thought that it would get quite loud and boisterous in camp. I could either overcome it by blocking out the noise, which was impossible both mentally and physically, or I could just do my normal, straightforward strategy and walk out.

"Okay…okay." I muttered to myself.

With shaking hands, I picked my phone up off of the coffee table and tapped the unmute button. "Hey, er Mark?" I said to the presenter.

"Hello again, Ludwig." Mark replied. "Have you thought about your decision?"

"Yes I have. I've thought it through really carefully and thoroughly and my answer is going to be…gladly. I will willingly do it."

"That's great!" Mark said. "That's great that you said yes because we are offering each contestant a random amount of money and we will be paying you…thirty thousand pounds."

My eyes widened and my mouth hung open. "Thirty thousand pounds?" I repeated. "Tha-That's amazing!"

"I know, it is amazing! If you had thirty grand, what would you do with it?"

Right now, I was so buzzed from getting this short but exciting statement that I just couldn't think straight. "Well…anything!" I laughed, before another thing came to my mind. "When does the show start?"

"Next week." Mark replied. "So, you've got plenty of time to pack your bags. Did you know that you can choose two of your friends or relations to go with you?"

"No, I actually didn't." I replied, quite taken aback. Wow, I thought I had known absolutely everything about this show, but it turned out that I had been wrong.

"Well, during your time in Australia, your two friends or relations will stay in a luxurious hotel while you are in the jungle and they will be called to the camp everytime a contestant is voted off because you never know when you're going to leave."

"Oh, that's cool." I said. "Will I be able to see them?"

"Unfortunately not." Mark replied. "But they will be behind the cameras when we're filming the live elimination."

"Oh, all right, that makes sense."

"By the way, the maximum number of people you can take with you is two."

Oh. Hmm, maybe I had to think about that. Since I had no relatives (well, at least, none that I knew of), it would probably be best to take a few friends, but there was a teeny tiny little problem. I had so many good friends and it would be quite difficult to choose only two. All of them helped me so much with my mental issues, my sensitive hearing and cheering me up when I was in a bad mood, but I was worried that if I chose two, the others would get angry and we would all fall out with each other.

However, I couldn't let that one small thought prevent me from winning thirty thousand pounds and besides, I had an entire week to think it through. Even so, I wanted to get on with preparing myself for everything now rather than to start a couple of days later and I would have to rush to pack all my other things. I didn't want to do that because I wasn't that type of person, instead, I would take things nice and slow and still be ready in time.

"Look, Mark." I said suddenly. "Sorry to just cut you off like this, but I think I should probably go. I kind of want to start packing my things together and I also want to tell my friends where I'm going to be next week."

"Oh, don't worry, Ludwig, I perfectly understand that. Thank you for your time and see you in a week!"

"Thank you, bye!"

I hung up the phone, placed it on the coffee table, stood up from the couch and began running around the house with my hands in the air, shouting and cheering. This was going to be the moment where I was going to show that I wasn't the cowardly and shy person everyone knew, I was strong and brave and during those three weeks in the jungle, I was going to give every single little thing a try.

No matter how hungry I would get, or how tired I would get from not getting much sleep outside in the cold, or how emotionally drained I would potentially become from homesickness, I would still hang on, even if it meant that I would hang on by only a thin string on thread. Another thing crossed my mind and this time, it was about my friends. Maybe during my time in the jungle, I would probably make new friends (that's if I was cool enough for some of them), but I suddenly thought that what if my current friends would watch me on TV every time an episode was made and they would become jealous that I was interacting with other people in a much more friendly way, despite the fact I wouldn't realise I was doing it?

That feeling seemed to eat away at me like crazy and I felt as if there were two tiny good and bad people sitting on my shoulders. One of them was saying to me, "Just tell your friends that you're doing this. Telling them is what a good friend would do, and you are a good friend." whilst the other one was saying, "Just keep it bottled up inside you. They'll probably discourage you and they won't have any faith in you whatsoever. Don't tell them at all."

I sighed heavily, walked upstairs to my bedroom, switched on my LED room lights and flopped down onto my bed with my face buried in the pillow. Oh dear. It seemed that I had come to a dilemma. This was one of the most uneasy emotional feelings I had ever experienced and what I was thinking was actually an educated guess on the possible inevitable. Part of me wanted to tell my friends, but part of me didn't. Probably because of the fact that they thought that my personality wouldn't agree with the conditions in the jungle, but they were wrong because the Ludwig they currently knew was going to change.