HughTube

Chapter 11

I showed up at the Chester Place Mall where Molly and I agreed to meet. Making my way to the busy food court, I turned on my HughTube camera. I wasn't really supposed to record anything outside of my home and school, but today just cried out for some HughTube introspection. There was so much not-getting-it that was about to go down that I needed HughTube now more than ever.

I narrated quietly as I walked through the mall. "All of humanity is here. Families shopping and eating. Couples buying wedding rings. And teenagers, lots of teenagers, going clothes shopping, going to the movies, hanging out." A teenage couple sauntered by. Ah, to be so carefree. "They're laughing. Hanging out is supposed to be fun. Be fun, be fun, be fun. But not too fun. Molly likes me for my gutsiness – my strength, my power. So take charge – but in a fun way."

I spotted Molly sitting in the food court sipping a coke. She looked over and smiled, calling out, "Hi!" I weaved my way through the tables to get to her. I nearly tripped over a stroller on the way, but I caught myself just in time. Crisis averted – for now.

"Hi there!" I said. A little forced, but not glaringly bad. She seemed not to notice. Good. I continued. "Sorry I'm late. Am I late?"

"No," she said. "I was just jonesing for a soda."

I nodded. "Yeah, I know what you mean. Except my mom doesn't really buy soda. So I jones for orange juice a lot." Dumb. Dumb! Stop with the diarrhea mouth!

Molly nodded. But she didn't say anything. I felt the nervous need to fill the dead air. So the diarrhea mouth continued: "You wanna go hang out? Or we could hang out here. Or somewhere else. Whatever." Shame. Shame! I realized it was time to make a gutsy decision. "Here. Let's hang out here." I took off my coat and hung it on the back of my chair, then sat down. Forcing calm, I said, "So... how's it going?"

"Good!" she said. "I was watching HughTube again last night."

Forget about calm. Time to panic again. I cleared my throat. "Oh yeah?"

"You shooting this now?"

I flicked the switch on my HughTube camera, turning it off. "Not anymore. I'm not really supposed to outside of school and home." I tried not to show my fear. My trusty HughTube security blanket was now gone. It was all up to me now. I felt naked to the world.

Molly smiled and said, "That one where you were trying to be the class clown? That was deep."

I squirmed a bit in my seat. "Yeah..." I said, recalling the episode, "you know, most of the time, I don't know what I'm talking about."

"Sure you do," Molly said. "You ask yourself questions. So what if you don't have all the answers. Who does?"

I thought about that. "I guess so..." Maybe she had a point.

"So," she went on, "you ready for the candidates' debate?"

I nodded weakly. "Pretty much." Pretty much? Be bold! Be gutsy! "I mean, yeah! I'm ready!"

"Great! So as President, what're you gonna do about..." She thought a moment. "...the junk food at the snack bar?"

"Oh..." I said, a little disappointed. "This really is a 'strategy session'. I mean, of course it is!" So much for 'hanging out'.

"Everybody's passing up the healthy stuff for junk," Molly said. "As President, what will you do about it?"

I thought hard. "Well, I'll... get rid of it!" Then, I realized... "but then Simon would be out of a job."

Molly leaned in. "Oh, so you're just a pawn of the junk food lobby?"

"What??"

She leaned back, smiling. "I'm just playing devil's advocate. You gotta be ready for that kind of attack."

I finally relaxed a bit. This was kinda fun! "Okay... how about for every piece of junk food you buy, you have to donate a buck to the Children's Hospital?"

"Pretty good!"

Proud of myself, I allowed myself a little humor: "Yeah, I know how to take charge. Show people I can make the tough choices." I leaned back in my chair and put my hands behind my head.

"Good. 'Cause now we've got to work on the image part of politics. It's not just what you say in a campaign, it's how you look."

"How I look?" Uh-oh. This was going so well.

"So," she said, "in the debate, what're you gonna wear?"

I thought for a moment, then looked down at my clothes, my usual flannel shirt tucked into high-rider corduroys. "Uh, this... I guess." As soon as I said it, I knew it was the wrong answer. After all, fashion was one of the main things in life I didn't get.

"No, seriously," Molly said with a little chuckle.

Red flag. Lights flashing. Really wrong answer! "Uh... yeah, not this," I lied. "I've got some... real cool clothes at home."

Molly looked past the food court to a clothing store in the mall. "Look, they got a sale. We should check it out."

So much for my 'real cool clothes at home'. She didn't buy that for a second.