Z on Location

Second Chances

Z, Becka, Gigi, and Mari dive into Becka’s highlighted VidCon schedule to divide up the one o’clock panels. Kacey Kravitz and her adorable robot sidekick, Roxie, are appearing that hour, so Gigi and Mari head off to see them, promising to say hi to Kacey for Z. Z and Becka pick a panel featuring up-and-coming female vloggers under twenty-five.

The line outside reminds Z of the one she waited in with Mari and Lauren the year she met Becka and Gigi. While Becka ducks off to find a bathroom, Z gets out her camera and asks people nearby a few on-the-fly questions, since person-on-the-street interviews have worked so well for her before. Three girls about her age recognize her before she even introduces herself: Jordyn, Erica, and Mina, all part of Z’s Crew, who love her AGSM videos. Z admits she isn’t on the panel, just watching, though she hopes to be someday.

The girls, who don’t have many followers of their own yet, invite Z to chat with them in the Connectivity Café that afternoon. Z almost agrees right away, but catches herself, not wanting Mari and Gigi to think she’s ditching them for new fans.

Once Becka returns and gets introduced, the group settles on a plan. Z will interview the girls for fan comments, and they’ll interview her for their vlog, at four o’clock.

The panel leaves Z more certain than ever that she wants a stage like that herself someday, and the sting of missing out on interviewing Winter Costello earlier finally fades. But as she and Becka head for the meeting spot, her phone rings. Mom is panicked. Nora has food poisoning from the veggie burger she ate at the vegan restaurant and has been sent back to the RV, leaving Mom without help for her shoot.

Z’s heart pounds as she promises to come right away, then asks Becka to fill Mari and Gigi in and meet at the Connectivity Café at four. All she can think as she runs is that she might not make it in time for Jordyn, Erica, and Mina, either.

The shoot is chaos when Z arrives, and Mom looks at her like a life preserver. By the time Mom comes back to check on Z’s setup progress, she has already unpacked the lav mics, set up a small table, and gotten the first subject a water bottle. She sets up the B camera and key light in record time, her practice with the backup camera finally paying off, and earns a “really good work” from Mom.

The first subject, gaming programmer Ann Weymouth, is so quiet that Mom can barely get her talking, but Z notices a key chain on Ann’s bag reading “I LOVE MY YORKIE” and shows her pictures of Popcorn. Ann melts, comparing her own picky eater, Peanut, to Popcorn’s willingness to eat anything, and finishes the interview far more talkative. Three more interviews blur past in a whirlwind, and Z realizes assisting is a balancing act, knowing when to jump in, like she did with Ann, and when to hold back and let Mom run the show. She concentrates so hard that she nearly forgets about the meet-up entirely.

By 3:40 PM, with four interviews done, Mom’s final subject arrives: Winter Costello, Z’s favorite vlogger. Z is starstruck meeting her idol in person, admiring the dark blue Winter’s added to her hair tips, before shaking herself back to work and fetching a lavalier mic. Mom tells Z she’s done an outstanding job and clearly been paying attention, then offers her something incredible, a chance to ask Winter three or four questions of her own for her own vlog once the interview wraps.

Z’s heart soars, then sinks. She’s already given her word to Erica, Mina, and Jordyn, and this isn’t about likes, it’s about keeping a promise. Mom agrees it’s the right call and sends Z off to meet her fans while she finishes Winter’s mic herself, and they agree to regroup at five o’clock to tear everything down. Z hugs Mom and races for the Connectivity Café, determined to make it in time.