Chapter Seven
The joke was entirely on me. As it turned out, BamBam did need a lot of time to film her beauty routine.
In fact, she needed so much time that I finally had to show her how to turn off my two cameras and Nittha’s lights, then go down to set up to film the panel.
I’d only just finished begging the con videographers to let me put a GoPro at the back of the room with them when attendees and panelists started arriving for Silver Influencers: Secrets to Embracing Your Age.
Picking a spot toward the right-back of the room, I walked a few seats in and dropped into a chair, then took out my phone so I could both monitor my video feed and film BamBam from a different angle once things got started.
Maybe, if I won the TrendCon challenge, I’d buy myself another camera.
Clearly, I needed one if BamBam was going to film more of these kinds of day-in-the-life—
“Funny seeing you here.” Ethan’s voice was tinged with humor as he slid into the seat next to me.
Fifteen thoughts slammed through my mind simultaneously. Why was he here? Was Buzzy here, too? The room wasn’t full, so why was he in my row with his camera out? And why did he smell good? Spicy and clean at the same time.
Okay, the answer to that last question wasn’t entirely necessary for my survival. I shook my head and tried to refocus on getting the answers that might keep both of us alive. “Why are you here?”
“Same reason as you.” Ethan shrugged. “On the upside, they aren’t wearing the same thing today.”
“What?” I glanced over at the little knot of people BamBam was standing near more closely.
In her bright-yellow sleeveless kaftan she was easy to spot.
Sure enough, there was Buzzy in her customary taupe shirtdress.
The two of them were as far apart as humanly possible from one another and sending each other intermittent frosty glares.
I whipped my head around to face Ethan. “Do you want to be excommunicated from your family? Don’t sit so close to me. ”
“It’s the best angle.” He said this with a completely flat affect, but behind his deadpan expression, a smile was lurking. “Are you going to enter the contest?”
“A, you can’t sit here, so don’t try and distract me. B, I’m trying but Mini doesn’t want to enter,” I answered, ticking points off on my fingers.
“A, I’ll move once the panel starts. They are too busy hating each other to notice us right now.” Ethan paused, a half smile finally surfacing when I laughed, then continued looking at me like he’d won a little victory. “And B, why won’t Mini do it?”
“About twenty-seven reasons, some of which are valid. Free advertising irks her. Plus, she won’t admit it, but even if we split the one hundred and fifty grand, it’s enough money that I’d have options outside of being beholden to my parents after graduation.
That would probably put her in a tricky spot with them because they don’t exactly see filmmaking in my future, but—”
I cut myself off as I watched his expression become pensive, as if he was actually thinking about my predicament.
Why was I telling him this anyway? Shaking my head, I pivoted.
“Actually. The details don’t matter. She won’t do it.
I don’t have an audience or accounts to win on my own, obviously.
I tried Nittha, but she’s too busy with another project, and Gabby’s already working with other people. Hence, I’m still figuring it out.”
“Alright, gentlefolk, we are gonna get started here if you could settle in. A few housekeeping rules…” someone in a TrendCon staff T-shirt said into the mic, calling the room to order.
I raised an eyebrow at Ethan, in case he’d missed his cue to get up, then unlocked my phone to check my camera feed. Hopefully, no one had knocked into it and messed up my angle. The event camerapeople would not be happy with me if I tried to sneak back there to fix it.
I glanced over right as Ethan leaned forward to catch my eye, placing his elbows on his knees.
“I’m gonna enter. If you want, we could work together and split the prize.” His voice was soft, as if he hadn’t proposed that I break literally every rule my family had ever laid out for me.
I searched his face for any hint that this was a joke. It had to be. He held my gaze, his honey-brown eyes showing no signs that this was a trick. Instead, he appeared perfectly comfortable. Hopeful, even.
Maybe it was the way he was watching me, but for a brief moment, a tiny sliver of my mind wondered if it could work.
If the idea wasn’t as obviously bad as it sounded.
After all, we both clearly thought our grandmas were ridiculous for holding this grudge.
And he did seem genuinely nice. And a little funny, even.
Ethan nudged my knee with his, the touch sending sparks across my skin. I pointedly ignored the prickling sensation where my body was trying to memorize his touch.
Stay away from that boy. BamBam’s words from the plane crept into my thoughts. I didn’t know anything about his style. I hadn’t even seen his videos. Looking over at him, I said the thing I knew I had to say all along. “That is another terrible idea.”
Ethan’s face faltered, and then his easy smile returned. “Well, if you change your mind…”
He shrugged and leaned back in his chair. The shift in his expression happened so fast that if it hadn’t been for the way his eyes changed, like he didn’t make the baseball team or something but was trying to be chill about it, I would have thought I imagined it.
Trying not to let his disappointment become my own, I reassured myself that I’d find another way to enter the competition. This really was for the best. I turned my attention to my phone, just in time to see a text from my dad.
Dad: What do your grandma and a 90-degree angle have in common?
Ever since I’d gotten a phone, my dad had become the king of corny math jokes. I was pretty sure he had a book of them somewhere. Right as I started to text back an answer, his response popped up.
They are both always right. Ha!
I snorted at how bad that one was as another text rolled in, taking my smile with it.
Wanted to send a little math joke since your mom said you are working on your physics and SATs today.
Hope you are having fun with BamBam!
The corner of my brain that was desperate to get away from my parents’ all-consuming life plans began to scream that I had to find a way out, while the part of my mind that was logical seemed to disappear altogether. Ethan’s words echoed in my head. If you change your mind…
“Actually. Yes, let’s work together.” The words were out of my mouth so fast that I barely had time to process what I was thinking, let alone what I was saying. I watched as Ethan’s head jerked to face me.
“What?”
“I need a partner, and for whatever reason, you are willing to share prize money, so let’s work together,” I said, forcing my tone to sound matter-of-fact and not like the rush of panic I was feeling suggesting this.
“No, I mean, I heard you.” Ethan shook his head, his hair falling into his eyes. “It’s just…you literally said no thirty seconds ago. Are you joking?”
“Totally serious,” I said, surprised by the resoluteness in my voice. “I’ve had a chance to think about it, and us collaborating makes sense.”
“I don’t…”
“Do you want to work together or not?” I pulled up the camera feed to check it one more time before I started using my phone to film the panel, trying to sound like I wasn’t the one who had to get down off my high horse.
“Yes, I guess. I’m confused, though—”
“Are you going to the go-kart thing after this?” I whispered over the sound of Evelyn, the middle-aged moderator with a voice like a worn-out gym sock, who began asking the panelists to introduce themselves and share their journeys to influencing.
“Yes?” Ethan’s answer sounded like a question, as if he was trying to figure me out.
“Good. We’ll plan there. You should move now.
” A small, bemused smile crossed Ethan’s face, as if all of this was a little funny to him.
It was the kind of smile that felt like we had an inside joke, a secret, or some other special thing between us.
I gave my head a shake and faced the front of the room, then held up my phone.
I didn’t need to think about what that smile meant right now.
“You’ve got a good angle. My grandma will be jealous,” Ethan whispered. I turned and found his face a few inches from mine as he leaned forward to see my screen.
“Why are you still here?” I whispered back, tilting my phone away from him.
“It’s too late to move now. They’ve already started.” Ethan grinned mischievously. He opened his mouth to say something right as Evelyn asked the second question.
“Now that we all know how you got into this business, I want to ask—new tech can feel daunting, not to mention all the jargon. How are you staying up-to-date with the changes?”
“Such a good question,” Gregory jumped in. Without thinking, Ethan and I looked at one another, his face echoing exactly what I was feeling. This was everyone’s favorite question to ask older people, like somehow the answer would be any different coming from younger people.
“You know, I often search for how-to videos. Or sometimes I ask a friend. If I’m still in the store where I bought my phone or computer, I’ll check and see if there is someone there who can show me the basics…
” Gregory began rattling off all the ways literally anyone would learn how to use a new piece of technology.
Clearly too nice for his own good. It must have been all those years of teaching.
I focused on filming the panel. The footage would be shaky since I didn’t have anything to stabilize the camera, but it would be good enough to use as B-roll to hide cuts later. I invaded Ethan’s space to get a better view, then realized that BamBam was speaking about me.