Silver Lining

10. Sydney days

27 days before

It confused me when I woke up to an alarm at 2am on Friday morning.

Then I remembered we were going to Sydney for the YouTuber meetup! "Theo! Theo, wake up, I'm going to Sydney!"

"Sleeping," he mumbled sleepily.

I poked him in the head. "You gotta drive us to the airport, mister." Theo was driving Laurel, Matt, and I to the airport, so that we wouldn't have to take one of our cars and pay for long term parking, because that's bloody expensive.

I hopped out of bed, and got changed into the outfit I had lay out the night before. I was wearing a mossy green pair of skinny jeans, and a floral print tank top that had that same mossy green in it. I was also wearing a loose knitted black open cardigan, and my black ballet flats. I also had on a black choker with a little moon pendant, and of course my silver bangle from my grandmother that I always wore. I went into the bathroom, and just did simple makeup, a little foundation and mascara. I put my hair in a high messy ponytail,brushed my teeth, and put a bit of the Taylor Swift perfume, Wonderstruck, on my wrists.

I walked back into the bedroom, and was suprised to see that Theo wasn't there. "Theo?" I called out.

"In the living room!" He answered. I grabbed my small suitcase and handbag, and went into the living room. "Ready to go pick up Laurel and Matt?" He asked with a smile. I nodded enthusiastically and he laughed.

When we got to Matt and Laurel's apartment, they were both out the front waiting for us. We got out of the car, and me and Laurel ran to each other and hugged, jumping and screaming. Theo and Matt stared at us, shaking their heads. Whatever, we were excited.

Theo opened the boot so Matt and Laurel could put their suitcases in. We struggled to get Laurels in, but five minutes later we finally slammed the boot shut and started towards Melbourne airport.

The airport is only half an hour away from us, but there was quite a bit of traffic, so it took us just over an hour. We had plenty of time to spare though; Laurel insisted on us going at least two and a half hours early. We checked our baggage, and then decided to go have breakfast even though it was only four in the morning. We sat down at a table in a cafe, and all ordered blueberry muffins and coffees.

"What time am I picking you up on Sunday?" Theo asked. We were staying in Sydney the night of the Halloween party, because it would end pretty late so we didn't want to have to leave and catch a flight. Some of the YouTubers from America and Europe had decided to make a tour around Australia and stay for a couple weeks.

"Ten am," Matt, Laurel, and I said simultaneously.

***

I hate saying goodbye to people. Even though I would be seeing Theo again on Sunday, I couldn't help feeling uneasy.

Me and Theo hugged each other, and then he suddenly kissed me, hard, taking me by surprise. I could see a bunch of people staring at us, and a group of tourists with their phones out, filming us and taking photos. I just ignored them; closing my eyes and kissing Theo back. "I'm going to miss you," he whispered when we finally stopped for air.

"Me too, bub." I whispered, breathlessly.

***

There was a limosouine at the airport in Sydney waiting to pick us up and take us to the Park Hyatt hotel. The entire 1st and 2nd floor were all people who were part of PlayFest, which is the name of the event. We had a large conference hall on the first floor which everyone met in, after everyone had checked out their rooms.

The conference hall had been filled with rows and rows of red chairs, and people from numerous countries were everywhere. Between Laurel, Matt, and I, we knew or at least heard of most people here, or seen some of their videos. Once everyone had sat down, three people, two guys and a girl, walked onto the platform at the front of the room. One of the guys knocked the microphone to test it, and it screeched painfully, making us all screw up our faces. "Sorry, sorry!" The guy said. "Was not planning on that."

The girl took a step towards the microphone. "Lovely screeching noise to wake y'all up," she said and everyone laughed. "I'm Ange, this eardrum killer here is Adam, and this is Tony, and we're the hosts for PlayFest 2014!" Everyone clapped and cheered, going crazy. The atmosphere was pure excitement, you could feel it fizzing in the air.

Tony took a step towards the microphone. "Today we're going on a small tour around Sydney, then dinner at Rockpool, one of Sydney's top restruants. We'll also be going to an exhibition of filming and photography, and a lecture about how to capture audiences attention on social media. I know, I know, lectures are terrible, but trust me when I say you will love this."

Tony and Adam swapped places at the microphone. "We realize some of you have just gotten off of flights, so we'll give you an hour to freshen up or chat to people before we start the day. But before that, here is Lena Williams, winner of British Youtuber of the Year 2014!" Everyone went wild clapping and cheering, and Tony, Ange, and Adam left the stage.

A petite girl with blonde hair, Lena, walked onto the stage. I sometimes watched her videos; she was hilarious. "Hello everyone!!!" Lena said in her rich british accent. "I'm really excited to be here, and I'm sure you lot are as well. First off, I'd just like to thank the hosts and everyone who worked towards PlayFest this year. This is the third year, and to be honest I'm more excited about PlayFest this year than I am for Christmas, which is saying something big. This year, the exhibition on filming and photography has been contributed too by some of the top photographers, and is said to be brilliant. The PlayFest event is tomorrow morning, which will start off with some singers and people talking, and then a large meet and greet with fans. An estimated two million people are going, so shiz just got real. The PlayFest event tomorrow will end at four o'clock, and then we're all taking buses back here to get ready for the Halloween party, which starts at eight o'clock. Limousines will be picking everyone up to take you to the location, which as you know, is a secret at this point." Everyones jaws dropped. How many limos would they have to hire? Because there was quite a few of us, about three hundred. "Have a blast everyone!" Lena said, and we all clapped and cheered and screamed as she left the stage.

People began standing up and going up to their rooms, or talking to other people. I lost sight of Laurel and Matt, but it was pretty hard not to with so many people. It was fun walking around, running into people you sort of knew from their videos and other YouTube events.

"Madison!" Someone called out.

I turned around, and saw Trish hurrying towards me. "Oh my God! Trish! It's so great to see you!" Trish is an American YouTuber, that I met last year on a trip to America. We made a collaboration video where we tried to do accents from other countries; it's such a laugh.

"I can't believe you're here!" Trish said. "Actually, no wait, of course you're here."

I laughed. "Are you staying here for a couple of weeks? Because it's a pretty long way to come, just for the two days."

She nodded. "Yeah. Six of us from the states are going around Australia and New Zealand for the next month. Well, there's more than six of us here from the states, but I'm only travelling with six."

"That sounds amazing. Have fun!"

"I will! See you later, Madison!"

I waved. "See ya!"