CHAPTER 205: LET’S DO SOME HOMEWORK (1)

"Keep it elevated above your heart when you sleep, change the compression bandage every day or if it gets wet, ice it whenever you have free time until the swelling goes down, and whatever you do, don’t put any weight on it. Understand?"

"Yes, ma’am," Ari replied politely as the show’s medic wrapped his fingers and hand tightly in skin colored bandages.

"Flex your hand for me. One finger at a time, then the whole thing."

Ari obediently moved his fingers around, trying not to wince from the pain of the swollen hand.

"Good. And how did you say you injured yourself again? Practicing dance moves and falling? I’ve told them they need to be more careful with the choreography. Too many kids are getting hurt."

"I was shaking somebody’s hand."

"....."

She stared at him for a moment before adjusting her glasses with a disappointed shake of her head.

"I hope I don’t need to tell you not to shake that person’s hand again."

"That’s the plan."

"Okay. Sign this waiver and you’re free to go."

As soon as he was released, Ari went into the cafe to join Jamie and the others in eating lunch, watching in disgust as Benjamin and Jamie were doing their best to eat their body weight in chicken breast in the name of getting enough protein.

Once lunch was over, the PD gathered them together for another announcement.

"As I announced earlier, this week is Social Media Week. Some of you feel like you’ve not been getting enough screen time, so we’ll be doing quite a few things this week to let you promote your images to the public. We’ve already posted your short videos, and this evening we’ll have a special event sponsored by CostCompany, which has been providing a bunch of our everyday items, LiveTwitch, which we will be streaming on, and SungSam. After going on a treasure hunt to find items that can be bought at CostCompany, using webcams sponsored by SungSam, you’ll each have the opportunity to go on a treasure hunt to find items that can be used for your live stream. These items are provided by CostCompany and there will be everything from musical instruments, snacks, theater props, toys, and more. The live streams will start at the same time, with participants being given 20 minutes. Every 10 minutes after that, the 7 contestants with the lowest views will be cut off until there’s only one person remaining."

"Is there a prize?" Ari immediately asked the most important question for him.

It would determine the amount of effort that he would put into said treasure hunt.

"CostCompany has released an all-new food and snack line, so we’ll have an all-you-can-eat party where the top 7 people can select whatever they want to eat tomorrow. The person who comes in first place can order any snacks they want for the next week, as well as choose the food menu for the week. I hope that satisfies you, greedy food critics?"

- wooooooooo

- thank god!

- I need to work hard!

- Pizza! Pizza every day for a week!

Excited shouts rang out from contestants who had been suffering from eating the bland food for weeks, but seeing that it was just a food prize, Ari raised his hand for further clarification.

"Is there another prize apart from food?"

"Nope, that’s it. Just food." PD Emily replied bluntly.

"Okay."

Hearing that, Ari had made up his mind.

Since the prize was food, this was an event that he absolutely had no interest in.

He would just do his mandatory 20 minutes and call it a day, since he would rather spend time speaking with NOVA in private, since he had a lot he wanted to know.

"What items are you aiming for, Jamie?" Benjamin asked while cracking his knuckles.

"They said there were instruments, so probably a guitar or something similar. I want to compose a song while streaming. You?"

"Whatever I find because I’m so talented and handsome, innit? All I need is a microphone and my voice, and the ladies will flock to my video."

"Oh brother, here he goes again. Somebody stop him." Ari couldn’t help but roll his eyes at Benjamin’s boasting before ducking as his neck was grabbed.

"You’ve got a lot to say for a breh with only one working hand. What are you trying to find?"

"Me? Uh, some office stuff." Ari replied simply, ignoring the strange looks that they gave him.

"Should we go together?"

"No, you guys can go ahead. I’m good."

"Your loss."

Clap- CLAP

PD Emily clapped her hands to get the attention of the chattering contestants before continuing.

"Alright, kiddies, the items are hidden throughout the dorms and in the dance practice rooms. You’re limited to a maximum of 5 items. No pushing and no shoving. We’ve already had one injury today, and if you injure anyone, you’re video is canceled. Understand?"

- yessss.

"Great. You have 15 minutes for the treasure hunt. On your marks, get set, GO!"

- go go go!

- move!!!!

- Get out of my way!

As if a gun had been shot, almost all of the contestants dashed out of the room while shouting, causing a buildup at the doorway, while several cameramen chased them down.

Ari simply yawned as he waited for the holdup to clear.

Seeing PD Emily stare at him, another cameraman waved before saying, "Traffic really sucks, huh?"

"You’re not funny, contestant Ariel. Move."

"Tough crowd today." Laughing to himself, Ari slowly walked out the now-clear doorway.

Rather than frantically searching for an item to use for his livestream, he first went into the computer room, grabbing a new pack of printer paper and pens with CostCompany branding on them.

Then he went to his assigned room, brushed his teeth, washed his face, and changed from the school uniform into the otterly adorable tracksuit and headband, before heading back to the meeting point.

Seeing the staff members grouped up with no other contestants arriving yet, Ari immediately went over to Kate since she was the person he was closest to.

"Are you done finding an item to use? You’re the first one back."

"Yes."

"Then, I’ll help you set up, okay?"

"Sure."

Kate attached a mini square microphone to his chest before leading him to a room that had large floor-to-ceiling dividers, making a small room with a simple table and chair.

On the table, there was a webcam attached to a tripod and a mini pc with a tablet off to the side, and Kate began pointing each thing out.

"You can look at the tablet for comments and check your positioning, and don’t worry if the comments take a little while to pop up; we’ll be moderating them to make sure nothing crazy comes through. Tap the microphone to mute, and try to look ahead at all times, okay? The light will turn red when the live starts, and when your time is up, someone will come and get you."

"Sure. Thanks, Kate."

"Of course. Good luck!"

Ari waited until she was gone before taking out the thick stack of papers from his book bag, as well as taking out some sheets from the stack of CostCompany printer paper, along with the pens.

Then he made sure he was properly centered in the camera while waiting for everything to start.

And once the red light came on-

Ari gave the camera a bright smile as he held up the homework assignments that he would have to turn in later.

"Welcome to my live stream. Today we’re going to be doing all of my homework together! We’ll start with my AP Physics C homework, my AP French homework, and my AP Calculus homework. I’ll read each problem aloud in both English and French, talk through my solution, and you all can look up the answers and tell me if I’m right, okay? If you don’t want to, then that’s okay too. Treat my talking as white noise and take a good nap."

With such a boring segment, he was sure his 20 minutes would pass in no time, and he could go do something that was more meaningful, like talk to NOVA without anyone else bothering him.