AN: Hey everyone! Sorry it's been so long since I uploaded; I decided to "take a break", but don't worry, I'm back again! I don't know whether you will be happy or annoyed that I am, but oh well. Again, sorry I have been absent for so long, but if it makes you guys feel any better, taking a break was absolutely NOT my choice. Anyway, on with the chapter! :)

Chapter 11 - Talking to My Reflection

Never in my life had a school day felt so fast. I suppose it was because of the fact that I was nervous but excited about the fact that within almost an hour's time, people I didn't even know were going to be round my house, I was going to be sat in my living room on a chair and talking about myself whilst huge cameras were directly in front of me and staring into my soul. It was actually quite scary if I really thought about it because I was painfully shy and I worried that if anything went wrong, then none of my friends would be in my presence in order to comfort me and support the fact that it didn't matter if something went wrong.

I didn't quite know what that something would be exactly, but I just had the feeling that it would be a little bit awkward and embarrassing. Why would it be embarrassing, you might ask? Well, I always made sure I spoke clearly and slowly enough so that it didn't aggravate the people who were talking to me, however, since I would be doing an interview, I felt that I had to speak in a fast and chatty tone that people would be used to hearing on TV and I worried that if I did, I would make a slip of the tongue, even if the camera people decided to cut that part out.

Perhaps I was fretting because I would be doing that in front of people I didn't know and it would just be downright embarrassing. Anyway, I could worry about that when the interview was commencing because I was currently sitting in enrichment with all my friends for the last ten minutes of the day before we could go home. I had already informed my friends about the call I had received that morning and the fact that I was going to be doing an interview after I got home and I had to admit, their faces were three brilliant pictures to say the least.

The enrichment we had chosen for this term was computing club because there were no other good choices available. Under normal circumstances, students were allowed to sit in the classroom and work on their projects there, but since the four of us wanted to be alone, the teacher let us sit outside the classroom on laptops and ever since the start of term, I had been happy during enrichment because it was just a nice and quiet last hour at school chilling with my friends. That was the only time I used my Hyperacusis as a form of an excuse.

Presently, we were all sitting outside the classroom as usual and playing Slope 3, a game that me and my friends loved playing on computers when our work had been completed. Unfortunately though, Slope 3 could only be played by one person, but luckily, Jesse found a way to make the game more interactive. Basically, we all had to press play at the same time and whoever stayed on the platforms the longest after the others had fallen off was the winner. However, we had to be careful not to celebrate too loudly otherwise we would get into trouble and I really didn't want to be sent back into the classroom where it was too loud.

My fingers were currently working fast to make sure I didn't fall off any platforms, but by bad fortune, I hit a speed bump and I went flying over the edge of one of the platforms. I sighed, sat back and watched Larry and Jordan's progress, since they were the only ones standing. Larry was currently on twenty-two points whilst Jordan was on thirty and I knew that Larry was worrying because we all understood that Jordan was a god at this game. What was really annoying was that Slope 3 had different types of levels for different players and it wasn't really fair on the people who wanted to play against one another simultaneously.

As I was thinking about this, Larry didn't look where he was going for half a second and he ended up colliding with the edge of a platform and he went flying. "Darn it!" he exclaimed, which caused Jordan to jump up and down in his seat.

"Let's go!" Jordan punched into his other hand and circled his fist in the air. "I win again, Lawrence! You suck!"

Jesse rolled his eyes. "We get it, Jordy. You're good at the game." He directed his attention to me, probably because of the fact that I had been quiet the whole time. "Ludwig, are you alright?"

Upon hearing my name, I perked up, my eyes wide. "Yeah, I'm fine." I rested my chin on my hand. "I'm just nervous about this interview I told you about. Well, if I'm being perfectly honest, part of me is nervous and part of me…just can't be arsed."

"I get how you feel." Larry said. "That's how I feel about school sometimes. Yeah, I'm not nervous, but I just can't be bothered most days."

A smile formed in the cracks of my mouth. I understood that Larry was trying to help and that he was failing quite a bit to make me feel better, however, I smiled at his attempt. "Thanks, but I don't think going to school is really the same as having people you don't know come into your house and put you on the spot for…however long it may be."

I sighed and buried my face in my hands. Oh, what if the interview was going to go on for much longer than I had expected? What if it was going to run straight through my dinner time and it would completely ruin the chance of me eating successfully. Perhaps the next time I would eat would be tomorrow morning. Or maybe given their professions, the camera people would be hasty with setting up the cameras and I would still get to enjoy a great dinner. Even despite that fact, I still wasn't looking forward to it too much.

…

Okay, I thought as I walked in through the front door, plonking my bag down on the table in the living room, Prepare to be knocked over by a tidal wave of strangers! No, even worse (or better depending on how one would put it), strangers who are trying to seek information about you! After thinking about it in greater detail however, I realised that it sounded very prejudicial and impolite to think about these poor men in this way, given the fact that they sought my essential information to prevent bullets of prejudice and negativity shooting in my direction. They were doing this to help me.

I immediately started unpacking my bag and after that, I set about cleaning each and every surface in the living room because I knew how sensitive cameras were in this day and age and I knew that these cameras would have the ability to pick up even the tiniest layer of dust, even if said layer was no thinner than the skin on a new potato. Once I was done, I scanned the room to make sure that the room was spotless, and it certainly was. Relieved that everything was under control, I ran upstairs, had a quick change of clothes, but slow enough to be able to realise that what I was wearing was grand enough to be on camera, after all, I was going to be on TV. Suddenly, I heard the engine of what sounded like a van, then brakes creaking. A pit formed in my stomach. Oh no… It couldn't already be… My eyes darted over to my alarm clock radio.

04:03 pm

Oh, well, it seemed that the camera men had every right to be here at this time then. Well, that's if it actually was them. I walked over to my bedroom window and slowly drew back the curtains a little bit, hardly daring to look. Through the tiny gap in the fabric, I spied a white van parked outside my garden gate, men in black T-shirts and shorts getting out of it, they were opening the back of the vehicle and carrying out heavy looking objects. I couldn't quite see what those objects were, but I could at least guess what they were.

The camera crew were finally here. In a hurry, I smoothed out my clothes and fluffed out my hair, intending to look as neat and tidy as possible for my big break. I rushed downstairs and after I had caught my breath, I took a moment to calm down before I opened the door. The camera men filed in through the front door, all talking amongst themselves about what was about to occur and carrying expensive looking cameras that had long sticks poking out of them, so I made sure that I stood right out of the way to prevent the risk of getting prodded straight in the eye.

"We're very sorry if this has interrupted anything on your agenda." said one of the men as he and the others proceeded to the living room to set up the equipment. I followed them.

"Uh, no, it's fine, don't worry." I said, nervously squeezing the fingers on my left hand. "You didn't interrupt anything."

There was an awkward silence for a few seconds before another man spoke. "Great. Now, since we're almost adequately set up, could we ask you kindly to move one of those wooden chairs to the opposite of the cameras?"

I nodded, grabbed one of the wooden chairs next to the table and pushed it along the floor, thinking that it wouldn't make too much noise, but I was wrong, so I soon resulted in just picking it up. Needless to say, the camera men didn't even need to tell me what to do next because I had already sunk down on the chair and was currently staring around the room, waiting and waiting until it was time to start recording. After what seemed like hours, the men got behind the cameras, the lights switched on and I blinked at the brightness. When my eyes had recovered, I stared into the lens and it was then when I caught sight of my reflection. I hadn't realised it, but I was sitting in a posture that conveyed that I was thinking, Get me out of this now! Why did I ever agree to this?

"Okay," one of the camera men eventually said. "We will start rolling in a few seconds so let us tell you something quick. When the camera is rolling, a teleprompter will come up on the screen here." He indicated a small screen on top of the main camera. "When brackets come up on the screen halfway through sentences, they represent information about you, such as your name, age, etc., so if you see a bracket on the screen, just completely ignore it and replace it with anything about you. Is that understood?"

I took a deep breath, shifted uncomfortably on my chair and nodded.

"Alrighty then." another man huddled behind the camera before pressing a few buttons, muttering as he did so. "Take one. We will start rolling in three, two, one-"

"Wait!" I cried out. I instantly felt my face flushing. I felt really embarrassed to be acting this way in front of strangers, but it was hell of a lot less embarrassing than what would've happened if I had let the camera roll.

"Are you all right?" asked another man upon seeing me hide my face in my hands. Obviously not. That was a stupid question because who would hide themselves away if they were in the complete opposite mood to me?

I shook my head slowly, feeling my deep blue locks swishing back and forth as I did. There was a sudden sound of material rubbing together and footsteps, which implied that they were standing up and walking over to me, so I made a little gap between my fingers so I could see them. One of the men bent down to my level, which made me cover my eyes back up again in shame.

"I'm sorry." I said. "I'm just…really shy. I've been worrying all day about this, I don't want anything to go wrong."

"W-We're sorry too." the man replied. "Were you not quite ready for that?"

"No…I don't know why, I just wasn't, but it's fine." I sighed, swept back my hair and sat up. "It's perfectly fine, we can carry on."

Hesitantly, the men went back to work and as one of them was readjusting the lighting, he looked over to me and said, "You know, you don't have to be so shy." He smiled. "We're not here to judge you. We're here to do our job, okay?"

I gradually began to smile too, but I didn't for long because the man asked me another question that caught me off guard.

"Have you always been this shy?"

I instantly tensed up. No… I hadn't… When my mum was around, I was the happiest and most open minded child you could ever meet, but as soon as she died, I instantly changed into a new person and I didn't know how to change back again. No matter how much I wanted to change, I knew I wouldn't be able to due to how often my teenage traits were aroused. I didn't want to talk about my mum's death in front of these men, so I cleared my head and focused on the camera.

"Okay." I sighed heavily. "I'm ready."

The camera started rolling after a few seconds and I had to admit that I did pretty well with reading off the teleprompter and replacing those brackets despite that I was quite a way away from the main camera and the screen was so small. I kept my breathing nice and slow and focused on the lens. My technique was that whilst I was looking at the lens, I imagined something that I really liked was there and it also helped me to smile, so it would make me look like I was approachable.

"And with regards to the show…I would say that I'll do pretty good, that's if I try. At times, I think it'll be very rough and unhygienic in the jungle, but overall, it's going to be interesting living in a whole different environment for three weeks. I'm ready to take this on and…hopefully I won't be too bad." I finished my speech off with a nervous laugh and shifted around on the chair.

"And cut!" said one of the men. He stood up and smiled at me contagiously. "I honestly don't know what you were worrying about. You did so well, and you're truly one of the most well spoken people we've had to interview for the show this year."

These words fell on me like spring rain and it felt like one of those 'I did it' moments seemed to be occurring as I stood up with a spring and pushed my chair back under the table.

"Thank you so much for your time," said another man as he and the others started packing away their equipment. "We're sure that you will be a sensation from what we've just got out of you."

I smiled and chuckled sheepishly.

"You could do really well, you could get to the final, or you could even win."

"Maybe…" I stopped in my tracks. I didn't see myself as any form of a winner most of the time, but my god would I be over the moon if I won the show. "I actually could." I smiled and chuckled. "And that's a very big 'could'. Anyway, thanks for the interview…and the advice."

"That's all right." replied another man. By now, all of the men had gathered together all their equipment and they were making their way towards my front door. "Take care and have fun!" they all called as they walked up to their van.

I waved back at them before closing my door and leaning against it, feeling dazed, like I had just passed out and I had only just come to. In a way, I was glad that the interview was over, but I was also grateful because what would've happened if interviews weren't allowed before filming a reality TV show? I imagined that the results would not be good at all, but anywho, I was glad that my calm, little home was back to normal again.