Frank had never been so nervous. Not that he remembered anyway. What was going on? Mr Madison had told them to bring their family, their friends, anyone really. He had rented out this hall, an event hall, in town, and given them a time, but refused to tell them what it was about! So here Frank was, walking with his folks and having invited what friends he had and he was scared to death.
And Mr Madison had given them instructions on how to dress, too, so while his family were all dressed formally he was wearing (under a pair of sweats) his trademark shorts and his Lightning Chargers tight T-shirt. He felt like an idiot!
At least he got to wear shoes! Poor Sue!
And then they came around the corner and his heart about stopped. There must be two hundred people here! “I didn’t realize it was such a big event,” his mother said to him.
“I didn’t either!” Frank said. Was it too late to plead illness?
“Yo, my man,” Seth said, coming up. Where was Jullia? Frank would have expected her to be hanging on Seth. How on Earth had he attracted her?
“Yo,” Frank said, bumping fists. He was about to ask what was going on but that would make him, the fearless leader, sound like an idiot. “You ready?”
A quick look of confusion passed over Seth’s face, but then he seemed to get it and said, “As ready as I can be with all of the mystery that Mr Madison is putting us through!”
“Well, it’s almost time so I guess we’ll see in a minute.”
“Have you seen the door?” Seth asked, pulling him forward.
Frank’s family joined the crowd… it wasn’t really a line… as Frank went forward with Seth. There, on the doors, were two enormous signs. “Lightning Chargers! Grand Event, all public welcome, doors opening at 4:00pm” the one said, and the other was one of their promational posters.And both had the website details all over them. Frank felt his face turning red. Redder and redder.
“Frank!” he heard, and turned to see four of his classmates staring at him. “Frank, are you a movie star?”
“Umm, no, not exactly,” he said. “It’s not a real movie, its a game…”
“They’re opening the doors!” Someone yelled, and Frank turned and saw… Jullia? Jullia and Justice were opening the doors and people were pouring in.
Frank got caught up in the crowd and found himself in the hall, where he had been before, but never like this! Their posters were all over the walls, and one wall was filled with food, that is, tables laden with food. And there were three glass fridges with Coke and all in them, and people were taking them, and Jullia’s folks were here too…
“Hey! How’s it?” he heard, and turned to see Julia hugging, and kissing, Seth, but looking at him. Still a side hug, they seemed reluctant to do anything past that, but she did that very well. And she was rather free with her kisses. Odd girl.
“I’m totally freaked out,” Frank said, when the two had calmed down. “What’s going on?”
“Look up there!” she said, and he followed her finger to the stage which was set up exactly like Mr Madison’s studio.
“An interview?”
“Six months interview! (And no teleprompters,)” she came close and whispered into his ear. “I hope you’re ready. I’ve got go go, lots to do.” And she gave his cheek a quick kiss and darted off.
The next few minutes were chaotic, as people found seats, got food, found seats and then went to get food… the Brown’s kept restocking the fridge. And, he saw, Jullia put some donuts and drinks and all up on the stage. He chuckled. He could tell where her boyfriend was supposed to sit anyway. He had easily twice as many donuts, and a Coke.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Mr Madison said, coming in without any warning, and yelling. “We are so glad you all have come. If I could have you sit down, please, and I would ask the Chargers to come back with me.
Frank, his heart pounding, mounted the stage and, with the others, went behind the stage into a kitchen. “Ok, get dressed,” Mr Madison said, and everyone except George removed their jackets or sweats they had been wearing. George was already in his uniform, which looked much more normal than the others. Sue’s dress looked wonderful, but hardly normal. And Jullia came over with some flowers, which they put in Sue’s hair, and around her wrists and ankles.
“Ok, you lot,” Mr Madison said, when the girls were done. “You wait here, and get ready to come on stage.”
“But, how will we know when to come?” Frank asked.
“Oh, you’ll know!” Mr Madison said. “Oh, and let’s get you in order. George, Seth, Sue, and then Frank. Ready?”
“No!” Seth said, and Mr Madison mussed his hair and walked out.
Seth frantically combed his hair (Jullia having handed him the comb), and they waited in line.
“Ladies and Gentlemen!” Mr Madison said, this time using the mike, so Frank figured he was sitting in his chair. “I hope you are all wondering why you are here!”
The audience duly laughed.
“Although I think some of the boys are happy just coming for the food.”
Another laugh, and some cheers from the boys.
“Well, we are here for an interview. You see those cameras? Well, they are recording all this and, by the end of the day, you should be able to see the entire interview up on the internet. An interview with who, you ask? Well, the answer is ‘The Lightning Chargers’. Who are they, you ask? Well, they are four of your own who, over the last few months, have been taking the game ‘Seven Realms’ by storm.”
“Who am I? I am their producer and director. I make videos of their adventures in the game, and those videos have been doing very, very well. And now, ladies and gentlement, I would ask you to give it up for the Chargers, starting with ‘George Anderson!”
The audience burst out in cheers and George walked out. Frank heard fighting and realised that Mr Madison must be playing a video. Probably something with George killing bunnies. He grinned. That woudl be funny.
“Seth Aaronson!”
Seth walked out and Frank was able to hear the ‘twang’ of the bow.
“The beautiful Miss Susan Williams!”
Jullia had to practically push Susan out the door and Frank made his way up.
“And, last, but certainly not least, their fearless leader, Frank Foster!”
Frank walked out and… the audience was standing and cheering! He almost paused but managed to walk up to his chair, getting a glimpse of the video. Oh, the fight against the giant. That part where he was banging his stick against the giants knee. Well, that did look rather good. Of course, Seth had been the one to really win that fight, putting out the giants eye with an arrow. The giant hadn’t been much trouble after that.
Frank sat down, and the crowd got quiet. And Seth took a drink of Coke and picked up his donus. He knew his schtick.
“Now, we have not been doing this out of the goodness of our hearts,” Mr Madison said, and Frank saw he was taking out checks. “We sell access to the videos, and our sales have been excellent. We are in the top one hundred of all Seven Realms video podcasts, and we have just reached one hundred thousand views.”
The audience cheered and Frank realized what had happened. They had told him, all those months ago, that they would tell their family and friends about the site and all once it had reached 100 thousand views. A few boys had found the videos, but they had sworn them to secrecy.
“Their pay has been rising every month until this month, well, we haven’t reached quite the target that I was shooting for but it still gives me great pleasure to hand them a check, for this last month’s work, for… six thousand dollars!”
The audience gave a gasp before they cheered, and Frank had to force himself to put the check in his pocket, hopefully in a rather nonchalant way.
Yes I know… that picture is totally wrong. So I’m not an AI prompt specialist… I get one thing right, and everything else turns out wrong. I didn’t even ask for the subtitle!
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Von