Camera Shy

Chapter One

"Carson! Come here!" I heard my mom yell from the kitchen.  "Yeah?" I said walking in, and grabbing a pretzel stick. "Look what I got in the mail!" She said as she handed me a letter. I read it, and nearly choked on my pretzel. It was an invitation to be a guest in a YouTube Convention.

"Woah this is so cool!" I said "To bad I won't be going." I shrugged, wiping pretzel crumbs off of my shirt. As much as I wanted to go to the convention, I knew it would be better not too. I have a channel with over one million subscribers who I love dearly, and I honestly want to meet all of them. There's just one problem. Nobody knows my identity. On my channel I have singing covers and original songs, but in every video I have my face covered. Apparently people like that. My screen name is Julie Spings, and I plan to stay hidden for a long time. I have a bad case of being camera shy.

"What?" My mom said with big eyes. "Honey this is huge! How could you not go?" "Mom why would I go? Nobody knows who Julie is. Nobody knows who I am. Why would I all of sudden reveal my identity over all this time? Besides, what if somebody I know recognizes me." I admitted. "Carson why don't you want the world to know you have this amazing talent? You make singing videos with your friends all the time; what's the difference?" My mom sighed. "Mom that's because I'm with them, and I'm not alone. I'm not sure, but I just don't want people to think of me differently for having a lot of subscribers and being good at singing. I'm just like all of them!"

"Carson. I want you to think about it, okay?" My mom said stroking my hair. "Mom can't we just enjoy the fact that I was invited?" I sighed. My mom scrunched her nose and shook her head. "No. You're taking part in that convention or," my mom paused to think. "Or you're grounded." She stated. I looked at my mom and almost laughed. "You've never grounded me!" My mom shrugged. "Well there's a first for everything." I slightly laughed. "You're not going to ground me." My mom sighed in defeat. "I know. But you're still taking part in the convention!" I groaned. Why can't this woman give it a rest. "Why don't you just wear a hat and some sunglasses?" She asked.

"No, that's not enough." I whined. "Why don't I just set up a video camera and live chat with the people there. I could still hide my face, but people will get to talk to me." "Hun, that's just not the same!" My mom said. "Well, sorry but I'm not going mom. I'll do the video chat or not go at all. Sorry." I told my mom.

"Ok fine, I'll call Josh." My mom finalized. Josh was the director of the YouTube Convention, and was a friend of my mom since high school, so they were real close. "So where is the convention at anyway?" I asked "Seattle, Washington." She said as she dialed Josh's number. "Awe that's too bad. I've always wanted to go to Seattle." I signed. My mom shook her head and laughed as I left the room. 

I walked into my room and flopped onto my bed. Out of boredom, I decided to make a video, since I had nothing better to do. I went through my comments to see if I had any suggestions on a song to sing. I loved going through my comments. So many people were so positive.

"I love your accent!"

"Aussie girl is unstoppable!"

"Your voice is amazing!"

"I love your hair!"

Little comments like those totally make all of this worth it.

I ended up deciding to sing Bubbly by Colby Calliat, which is my go to song to sing around my house. When I was finished uploading my video, I went into the living room to watch 'House Hunters International' with my mom. "Ok, so Josh said he will let you do that. He will hook us up, and call us when he is ready!" She said clasping her hands together.

"Okay" I said as I pulled out my laptop  to play Sims. Yes, Sims. Don't judge me.