Five Minutes [Jack Harries]

Prologue: The Invitation.

"Aaaand that's how you crack a hard-boiled egg!" Gabrielle 'Elle' Grace said cheerfully, before pulling out a cracked eggshell from her dark blonde locks. "Well, at least in my perspective." 

"Bye! Don't forget to tell me what you think in the comments, or wherever." 

She flashed a smile at the camera before stopping the video. A small sigh escaped Elle's lips as she leaned back in to her chair, remembering that she still had things to do. 

Now, Elle was a lot older than she let on. At first glance, she looked like a fifteen year old, with her childish attitude and innocent face. But don't let that fool you. 

Elle happens to be seventeen, much older than everyone guesses here to be. She can be a little ball of sunshine, but when the situation calls for it, Elle manages to be drop-dead serious. As for her innocent looks- well, that's another story. 

She had brown-ish blonde hair, a fair complexion, and a height of around 5"4. What always caught other peoples' attention were here eyes: Elle had joked on more than one occasion that they were bipolar, often changing color to what her mood was. At the moment, it was green-ish blue. 

She quickly clicked the UPLOAD button on her YouTube account, ElleBits. The blonde-haired girl couldn't help but smile at her YouTube page. It was quite simple: black background, with ELLEBITS scrawled at the very top. She had small widgets, advertising her Tumblr and Twitter as well. Other than that, her page was full of her videos and random stuff. 

Elle watched as her video got three views... ten views... increasing viewer after viewer as each of her subscribers clicked on her new video.

Sighing contentedly, Elle minimized the Google Chrome tab as a knock came from her door. 

"Come in!" she called. 

A head peeped in, revealing Elle's mother: a brunette in her forties, Mrs. Grace was a loving single mother, as Elle's father had left when she was five. Not dead, her mother kept saying. Just gone. 

"Dear," Mrs. Grace started. "Would you mind watching over Carly for a while? I've got to run some errands at the store."

"Sure, mum!" Elle replied, jumping up and brushing her hands on her denim jeans. "Leave her to me." 

"That's a good girl." Mrs. Grace said fondly, lovingly glancing at her daughter. "I'll be back as fast as I can, darling." 

Mrs. Grace gave Elle a reassuring smile before walking off, leaving Elle to pull up Google Chrome once more. She logged in to Twitter quickly- she had debated if she was to make her username the same as her YouTube name, but decided to use @WiseGirlElle instead, her love for the Percy Jackson Series prevailing. 

There were a few tweets congratulating her for her new video, and she made sure to retweet or reply to all of them. Scrolling down a bit, Elle caught a tweet that made her laugh. 

@Bertwg97: I don't think it's fair that @WiseGirlElle would get all the spots for my #20CutestFollowers but you know...

Elle smiled mischievously. Bertie Gilbert, known as BertieBertG on YouTube, was another British sensation. The two of them have yet to meet in person, but they've exchanged letters and tweets most of the time. They've even had a few late night Skype calls here and there. She couldn't help it as she typed in a reply for Bertie's tweet. 

@WiseGirlElle: not fair at all, @Bertwg97. i'm not cute or adorable and i'm sure there are much more adorable followers- you've got 80,000+ after all.

Bertie's reply came in quickly. 

@Bertwg97: That may be so @WiseGirlElle, but you're still the cutest of them all. Don't deny it, love.

Retweets, replies and favorites followed Bertie's tweet like a plague. 

It had been a loop, to both Elle and Bertie. When they had met in a somewhat cross-reference linked vlog of Elle's, Bertie messaged her and told her that she was a good vlogger, and that he had started subscribing her. It was quite exhilarating, as Elle had been a closet fan of Bertie for a few months now. 

The two exchanged more messages on YouTube, then Bertie had managed to track down Elle's Twitter and followed her. She followed the boy back and then started the war of tweets: Elle trying to beat each cheesy tweet Bertie threw at her. She never managed to succeed at least once.

However, the two's friendship had it's cons. One of them were hate- people actually remotely thought that Bertie and Elle were in a relationship. The two had a laugh over it during one Skype call, but the hate coming in was still undeniable. Most of them were directed towards Elle- "Stay away from Bertie!" or "Bertie doesn't deserve you!" or "RT if you want Elle Chase to die." and such things. Bertie had tweeted to his followers numerous times not to hate on Elle because 'i love her to bits' but Bertie only made it worse-- Elle never did have the heart to tell him so.

A few more were minor problems: an outburst of their 'ship' on Tumblr (Elle couldn't quite remember what the ship name was) and people asking her about Bertie all the time. That was as far as Elle could remember; other than that, Bertie and her were best of friends.

Riiiiiiiing! Riiiiiiiing!

"ELLE! PHONE FOR YOU!" Carly Grace, Elle's younger daughter, hollered from the living room. 

"GOT IT!" replied Elle, wiping her hands on her pants. She walked to where their phone was, offering a smile to her sister before speaking in to the receiver: "Elle here." 

"Gabrielle Crystal Chase?" a clear, crisp woman's voice said formally. 

Elle nodded, then remembered that it was a phone call. "Yup," she said as she popped the 'p'. "Please call me Elle. Is there anything I can do to help you with, ma'am?" 

"Yes, I'm a planner from the YouTube conventions," the woman said, her voice a monotone. "And there's a convention coming up in London, precisely three days from now. I was just wondering if you got our RSVP?" 

Elle almost fell out of her chair.

A YouTube convention.

In.

London.

"Um, no..." muttered Elle, twisting the phone cord nervously. "I didn't get anything."

Elle could hear the woman tutting disapprovingly on the other end of the line. A second passed. Then two... three... four... "Would you like to go, then?" 

The blonde-haired girl could've screamed HELL YEAH! in to the phone, but settled for a simple: "Yes please." 

The woman rattled off directions to the venue. Elle, who had photographic memory, nodded to herself as she made a mental note within her mind. "Well, see you there then!" the other side of the phone went dead as the woman said her goodbyes.

For a few seconds, Elle sat there dumbfounded, then putting down the phone, she let out a squeak and jumping up. "Ohmigod! Ohmigod!" she squealed, clapping her hands as she hopped from foot to foot. "I'm going to a YouTube convention! I'm going to a YouTube convention!"

Carly, who had been attempting to watch Victorious on Nickelodeon, scowled. "Stuff a sock in it, Elle!"

But Elle couldn't.

She was too excited- she was finally going to meet Bertie in person!

Little did she know, there was another YouTuber that she was destined to meet. One who's name was Jack Harries.