Teen Life

(4) Teen Life

Chapter 4

It starts

Joel Campbell

Mr. Romero was really happy about how the live broadcast had gone and slumped down in one of the seats in my control room, ordering Sully to get us all some champagne. The other workers gathered around us and Mr. Romero made a toast to a job well done. We all drank our champagne while talking about how smoothly everything went.

An hour and two glasses of champagne later Mr. Romero and some of the staff left, leaving me to my work. The champagne made me feel a bit tipsy but nothing to worry about. When I was sure that everybody was where they had to be I settled into my seat behind the wall of screens and watched as the teenagers talked.

It was my responsibility to make sure that the most interesting things were broadcasted to the world so I put on my headphones and started searching for the most interesting conversations. During the last hour I tried to focus on each contestant so that the viewers could see a bit of each one but now it was time for me to really start getting into this.

I had no idea whether this was going to be interesting or boring but I was getting paid well so I planned on giving the viewers what they wanted. After another hour things started settling down and the kids started exploring the house and looking for their rooms and luggage.

Their luggage was put in a little room which we are going to be using as a sort of store room. This is where they will be receiving their food and any other items they will be given throughout the show. Once I realized that they were looking for their luggage I made and announcement over the loudspeaker telling them where they could find it.

Everybody made their way over to the small room at the back of the house and grabbed their bags. Some had more stuff then others but soon everybody was making their way back up to their room.

We had decorated the house so that there were six bedrooms on the first floor and six bedrooms on the second floor. The ground floor consisted of the living room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom, games room and the little store room.  On the first floor together with the first six bedrooms were a study and a bathroom. On the second floor together with the second set of six bedrooms there was another bathroom and what seemed like an art studio. We found the room like that and left it that way it, figuring it gave the house character.

The house also had a basement and an n attic but we didn’t bother cleaning them out, figuring the kids weren’t going to be going in them anyway.  We made sure of this by locking them tightly with padlocks. If any of them tried entering them we would stop them anyway since we didn’t have any cameras in them.

In the back yard there was a big swimming pool which we had put in wanting to give the kids a bit of entertainment. Next to the swimming pool was a little deck but except for that the yard was left as it was found. The grass was cut around the pool giving them easy access but further around the pool and around the house the grass was long and overgrown giving off a creepy vibe.

I didn’t really see the point in this but Mr. Romero though it was a good idea so none of us put up any sort of argument. It is his show after all.

We didn’t assign any specific bedrooms to the kids, letting them decide where they wanted to sleep and whether they wanted to share a room or not. Some of the rooms had two or three beds in and others just had one single or one double bed in. This was also Mr. Romero’s idea, he thought it would cause a bit of excitement fighting about which rooms they wanted.

I watched and listened as they discussed who got which room and at one point I thought that two of the boys were going to get into a fight but nothing came of it. The girls seamed much more at ease with each other and I could already see a little click forming between some of them.

After some conversation and debating it was decided that the girls would sleep on the first floor and the boys on the second.

Sage Johnson the little thirteen year old girl and Noriko Pierce which was fourteen decided to share a room on the second floor which made sense to me considering they were the two youngest girls in the house. They seemed to have taken a liking to each other and have been walking around together the entire night.

Gemma Wright took the bedroom next to them settling to stay alone and taking a room with only on single bed.

Lainey Carter wanted her own room at first but gave in and agreed to bunk with Tailynn Green after much begging, she was still a bit scared after the big guy gave her a hug that lasted way to long according to her.

The last of the girls, Shiloh Cooper took the last room at the end of the hallway with a single double bed. I could tell that she wasn’t taking this room because of the bed but because she wanted to be as far away from the other girls as possible. She seemed a bit shy and looked like the type who kept to themselves.

 The boys settled in on the third floor, each taking their own room. They weren’t being as friendly towards each other as the girls were being though.

Langden Huang settled on the only room that had bunk beds, claiming that he wanted it so that he could use it to do his exercise.

Brady Garcia, Storm Coleman and Bladen Smith each got a room with single beds in and Rafeal Roberts and Diago Shaw took the two rooms with double beds. I could tell that the other boys weren’t impressed and that is what almost caused the fight between Refeal and Storm. Luckily they settled the matter before any punches were thrown. Brady and Bladen didn’t seem to mind which room they got, they both just looked relieved to have some privacy.