Z on Location

Table of Contents

• Summer Adventure
• Z… Out!
• Roxie the Robot
• The Wrong Kind of Mic Drop
• Don’t Ask Me Anything
• Be in the Now
• Drama Queen
• Overshare
• Reboot
• Second Chances
• Girl Power
• The Best Kind

Summer Adventure

On the first morning of summer vacation, Z and her best friend Lauren hole up at the Beanery, the coffee shop owned by their friend Mariela’s parents, working through their vacation bucket list between fits of laughter over Lauren’s ridiculous lip-synching into her bubble tea like a microphone. Lauren has one last item to check off before she leaves for soccer camp in San Diego: one final bubble tea. She asks whether they can finish plotting their next American Girl stop-motion movie before she goes, but Z isn’t sure they’ll have time before Lauren disappears for a month at summer camp.

Z’s phone dings with a new video from her idol, vlogger Winter Costello, whose tutorials on filming and editing always leave her inspired. Winter announces something new this time: a #summeradventure challenge, daring everyone, kids and grown-ups alike, to step outside their comfort zone, try something they’ve never done, and post about it. Whoever has the most impressive adventure by summer’s end gets featured on Winter’s own vlog. It feels like a sign to Z, who’s always dreamed of growing up to be some combination of Mom and Winter, and she decides on the spot to have the biggest summer adventure of anyone.

Lauren points out she’s about to have an adventure of her own, with weekend outings planned at camp and a rumor that some U.S. women’s soccer team members will visit. A pang of jealousy hits Z as the two hug goodbye before hopping on their bikes.

Later, on a family hike up Mount Rainier with Mom, Dad, and their dalmatian, Popcorn, Z can’t seem to film exciting and new footage out of scenery she’s filmed a dozen times before. Checking her phone mid-trail, she spots a post about the lineup for this year’s VidCon in Anaheim, where she’s already planning to reunite with Becka and Gigi like last year, and Mariela, too. One name on the list stops her cold: Winter Costello. Dad has to pull her attention back to the trail, reminding her that the everyday can be pretty amazing, too.

At their picnic lunch, between a couple of Dad’s groan-worthy jokes, Mom shares real news of her own: she’s landed a grant to keep filming her documentary about people using emerging technology to communicate better, like doctors checking on patients around the world in real time. She’ll spend about ten days this summer shooting in Tacoma, San Francisco, and Anaheim, and she wants Z along as her apprentice. Afterward, the two of them can stretch the trip into a few more weeks of mother-daughter road tripping.

Better still, the Anaheim leg lines up with VidCon, where Mom already has several interviews booked, including one with Winter Costello herself. Z can barely sit still at the thought of meeting her idol, but Mom warns her nothing is guaranteed. Z will have to prove herself on the shoot first, starting with taking full charge of the sound recording, before Mom will even consider letting her run an interview of her own with Winter. It stings a little to hear Mom isn’t sure she’s ready, but Z resolves to show her she is.

Z drifts off picturing the questions she’d ask Winter, like who inspires her and what she’s learned most from her fans, until Dad snaps his fingers in front of her nose, asking where she went. She shakes off the daydream and reminds herself how far she’s already come, having placed second at the CloudSong Film Festival with a documentary short a few months earlier. She tells Mom how excited she is for the trip over a sandwich toast. When Dad asks for his chips back from her backpack, Z laughs and tosses him the bag, her head already spinning with ideas for the ultimate #summeradventure. This is shaping up to be the best summer yet.