Chapter 10 - A Presenter Calls

My eyes opened and I shifted a little in my bed. I stared up at my ceiling and I smiled. Wow. It felt great that all my emotions were neutral now and that nothing was going to hurt me anymore. No more piranha plants were going to threaten to eat me and no more poisonous snakes were going to bite me. I closed my eyes again and sighed, only to open them and jerk up. I sat bolt upright in bed and turned to my left, looking at my alarm clock.

06:36 am

Oh, thank the lord. I had spent so much time awake last night that I thought I was going to be late for school, but it turned out that I wasn't, but even so, I really didn't want to go to school because having lost an extra half hour of sleep, I felt too tired to focus on work. I wasn't even sure if my teachers would tell me off for taking time off school because I was thinking about much more important and essential things like I'm A Koopa or whether they would understand.

I understood that education was important but how could I focus on work when I was worrying about what my living conditions would be like in the next week? How could I focus when I was worrying about being killed by jungle creatures and possibly from the lack of food?

I thought that maybe if they did tell me off, I would say to them, "I might not ever return to the UK! I could be killed in Australia and I could never come back due to being poisoned by the creatures!" but I decided that it wouldn't be a good idea to say that in front of my tutor group because I figured that it would make my friends cry and possibly, I would or wouldn't make an idiot out of myself for whatever reason. However, I did worry about whether they would tell me off or not because the teachers at my school were very harsh with kids if they were off for whatever reason.

For example, I remembered that last April, Larry was off school for about two days and when he came back on the third day, he got pulled out of class by our Head of Year to get told off just for having a viral cough and a cold. I knew that there would most likely be no cure for my amount of tiredness because I didn't like coffee, not even with sugar, but to prevent myself from being bollocked by my teachers, I knew I had to go in today.

Sighing grumpily, I pulled back the duvet and unsteadily got out of bed, stumbling a little bit as I stopped to look up and I stared into my mirror. None of the details of my face could be seen clearly since it was still quite dark in my room, so what was left of my appearance was a silhouette at this point. I walked back to my bedside table and switched on my lamp and instantly, half of the room was illuminated with an orangey, yellow light. As I stared into my mirror once again, I bit the inside of my cheek, cringing all the while.

I sat down on my bed, put my hand on top of my head and touched my hair. Oh…god. Hardly baring to do so, I brushed my fingers through it and to say I was repulsed was the understatement of the century. Great. I remembered waking up last night feeling like I was lying in a pool of sweat and I also remembered my hair being in this very condition except that it was a lot more shabby than this. Oh my…I couldn't go to school like this, but at the same time, I felt too lazy and sleepy to drag myself into the bathroom and clean myself up. At that moment, I felt myself slowly drifting back to sleep again. My hands dangled past my hips and I almost got the feeling like I was falling forwards…

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

I let out a cry of surprise and jerked up, but it was too late. I fell forward and landed on the carpet with a thud. For a few seconds, I lay there, feeling a little dazed, but soon, too soon, I came back to life and was met with that annoying beeping sound of my alarm clock.

"Oh, shut up." I muttered under my breath, struggling to my feet and pressing the 'off' button on the clock. Now I deeply regretted setting the time to 06:40 am. However, my alarm clock was also a radio and when I thought about it, maybe upbeat music would help me wake up properly, so I pressed the button that started up the radio and after about a few seconds, a high tempo classic pop song played and it was one that I was very fond of. Instantly, I felt as if my body was made up of hundreds of elastic bands and the moment that song played, one of those bands snapped and provoked a sense of energy in my system.

I jumped up from my bed, stretched and began removing my pyjamas. When I had folded them up and placed them by my pillows, I quickly ran downstairs, into the bathroom, turned the water on in the shower and stood underneath it. For the next few minutes, I stood there as I washed myself carefully but quickly and another couple of minutes, I was finally done. I hastily dried myself and slipped on my uniform when I was finished, however, before I put on my shirt, I put a golden chain around my neck that Mum had bought for me for my ninth birthday.

This chain in particular was very special to me because it was one of the last birthday presents I received from her and it was also special because I felt like it was a piece of jewellery that made me revel in my own appearance. What was really annoying was that even though I had mentioned to my teachers that I was wearing it because I wanted to be reminded of one of my closest family members ever, they told me to take it off and never wear it to school again, but of course, being the stubborn person that I was, I carried on wearing it.

I had been very sneaky by wearing the chain almost every day and I had managed to hide it by tucking it underneath my collar, although it was quite uncomfortable to have a piece of metal being pushed up against my neck by polyester and cotton, but nonetheless, I was determined to show my mum that I still loved her and I always would.

Right. Now what was next? On school mornings, it was quite a bit of a hassle because I had so many things on my agenda and it may seem foolish, but part of those things were all tied to making sure that my appearance was in the best condition. At this point in time, my hair was still damp and I knew I couldn't just leave it to dry because every time I did, it all puffed out and went all frizzy, which was a look that I couldn't stand. Even despite my Hyperacusis, I used a hair dryer every time I washed my hair and I oiled it at the ends.

The reason for that was that if I didn't, my hair would puff out in all directions and I didn't want all of it to look wild, so I oiled it at the ends to make sure that it stayed thin. When I was happy that I looked decent enough, I squirted aftershave on both sides of my neck and placed it back on the little dressing table that was right next to my bedroom window. I turned round to look into my mirror and part of me cringed. Oh… To think that I was going into all this effort only for myself and not trying to impress anyone…it just seemed so stupid.

However, I knew it would probably impress my friends without any purpose, so I shook that fact off my chest and wandered downstairs to prepare breakfast. First, I filled up the kettle and boiled it to make a cup of tea (that was the main thing I loved about mornings) and I sorted out all of my books and equipment that I needed for the day. As soon as I thought my equipment was adequate, I zipped up my bag and walked over to the kettle to prepare my tea. Whilst waiting for it to cool down, I fetched a bowl out of the cupboard and poured some cereal for myself.

After about ten minutes, I was finished and my tea was soon cool enough to drink but hot enough to make my heart melt in relaxation at the warm, comforting sensation that made me feel like I was being lifted up so high I could reach the clouds and touch them. Normally, before I went to school, I would lie on the sofa and enjoy some time listening to music for the simple reason of feeling like I needed a bit of me time before I entered a pit of fire, torture and rowdiness. I would normally do this for about ten minutes every school morning before leaving at ten to eight to walk with Larry.

However, today, those ten minutes felt way too short and before I knew it, it was time for me to leave my comfort zone, and that, as you can imagine, did not leave me in a good mood. I groaned, rose up from the sofa, unplugged my earplugs and walked into the kitchen. I lifted my bag up, swung it onto my back and made my way into the hallway towards the door and when I was just about to put my hand on the handle, I looked behind me and sighed. Don't worry, I thought to myself, All of your favourite things and all of this furniture will all be here when you get home, ready to console and comfort you as always.

I sighed shakily and smiled, pushing down the handle as I made my way outside and out of my garden gate. At once, I was hit with the fresh air that I recognised due to being reassured by it during the very early morning. Everything was…quiet and tranquil, just how I liked my mornings to be and it was honestly hell for me at school because I seriously didn't need silence to be wiped out of my presence like a tidal wave of deafening bells and yelling kids from my year. Oh, my ears hurt just from imagining it…

At that moment, I felt vibrating and ringing in my pocket. It was my phone. I immediately picked it up out of my pocket, and stared at it for a while. That number on it… It looked so familiar and I couldn't for the life of me remember where I had seen it. I thought that I had seen it on one particular evening where I had not been expecting it at all. Hmm… wait. Now after looking at it more thoroughly, I began to recognise it. The number was the very one I had seen last Friday night when I'd received the first call from I'm A Koopa!

I smiled. Now that I was sure that this wasn't anything dangerous, I swiped the screen and put my phone up to my ear. "Hello?" I said. "Mark? Is that you?"

Just as I was half expecting, I heard Mark's voice. "Hello again, Ludwig. I have to ask you, are you busy with anything at the moment?"

"I'm…just on my way to meet up with a friend and then go to school, why?" I asked.

"Well, we wanted to ask you a question. One that we've mentioned and discussed with the other eleven contestants, but not with you yet."

I nodded. "Oh, okay then. What's the question?"

"If you're familiar with the show, which I've heard that you are, then you will probably understand what I have to say next. See, before the trials start, the contestants have to be introduced and in order to do that, we need you to give permission for cameras to be put up in a large part of your house and we need to know whether you are comfortable with doing an interview that gives the public an idea of who you are."

I hung onto Mark's every word and kept on nodding in between. "Right. Well, what exactly do I have to say?"

"It is provided that you give your name, your age, what you're thinking about the show, how you're feeling and how you think your time in the jungle is going to go, something along the lines of that."

I smiled. I thought that I was quite talented at those sorts of things and I was quite well spoken as well, too. All of a sudden, something else came into my mind and I asked, "Also, um, are we allowed to add other things about ourselves such as…things that interest us?"

"Oh, of course." Mark replied. "That's perfectly acceptable. After all, we don't want the Public thinking that you're boring and you're thinking about nothing apart from the show and I'm sure you wouldn't want that either."

"No." I chuckled and shook my head. "Trust me, I get that thrown in my face all the time. By the way, is there some sort of…health and medical form to fill out so that we don't end up ill or anything?"

"Don't worry about that. That can be done after the interview and it is not very long at all, so therefore, it won't take up any of your packing time."

There was a moment of silence, save for the sound of the birds and the ambience of the wind as I went back over everything Mark had just said. The interview…the interview! How could I have been so stupid? Why did I not think to ask about the interview? "Oh, Mark. Can I just ask one more question? When is the interview?"

There was hesitance on Mark's side for a few seconds before he spoke. "Oh…that was one of the other questions we wanted to ask you. Since there was a delay with a few of our staff, we would like to ask you if this evening, would you mind if we put up cameras in your house and you did the interview then? You can say no if you have other plans, though."

My jaw dropped. Despite the fact that it was morning, evening did not feel very far away at all. However, it wasn't like I was going to be busy with anything. After all, I spent every day alone and it would be fairly nice to have some company, so I said, "Y-Yes. That would be fine, yes. I wouldn't mind."

"Are you sure, Ludwig?" Mark asked. "You seemed quite uncomfortable there."

"No, I'm totally fine about it." I replied. "It's just…normally, I don't expect people to come round my house that often, but trust me, I'm absolutely fine about doing this."

"Oh, okay. That's fine. We're terribly sorry if this was a bit of a shock to the system. I know that it's morning and this has probably woken you up quite a bit."

"No, it's okay." I said. "I got properly woken up at about ten to three this morning because I was having nightmares about my future for three weeks, so don't worry about waking me up with your questions."

"Oh, that's a massive relief, well obviously it's not a relief because you had nightmares, but it's a relief that you're totally fine with us calling at this time. However, I can reassure you that just in case you were dreaming about something like falling out with campmates, dangerous creatures, etc., you will be absolutely fine. There will be medics situated near Camp who will be there to help if you're feeling under the weather or you're hurt. Trust me, you'll be alright."

I sighed with relief and put my other hand to my chest. "Oh…thank you so much for your words. I've been so worried."

Mark chuckled. "No problem at all. If you ever want to talk to us about anything else that's worrying you, then phone this number and we'll be here to assure you and help you as much as we can. Anyway, our camera crew shall see you at about…four o'clock, is that okay?"

"Perfectly fine." I simply replied. "Thanks for your support." All of a sudden, I tensed up and I remembered what time it was. "Oh! Sorry, I have to go now. If I keep on talking, I'll be late for my friend, and possibly school! I'll see you on Sunday!" And with that, I hung up and began to run towards Larry's house, desperate to tell him all of this news.