After a brief exchange of information, the man reached down and slid his hand into a drawer below the counter, pulled out four room key-cards. Christopher leaned his arm on the counter and pointed, giving us his ritualistic directions and we were introduced to our convention host.
"Arlene?" he called. "Are you back there?"
I grinned in amusement when a short, stocky woman came bustling out of the back room. She was slightly out of breath and a bit harried looking like she had a thousand things to do.
When she caught site of us her eyes widened and a smile hopped onto her face. My stomach dropped because I knew right away that she recognized us.
"Hiya, folks! Wow it's the Phillip's Family Fun House!" she boomed in a loud, up-beat voice ash she approached. She threw her hands up waving excitedly at us as she walked toward us.
Arlene adjusted the lanyard hanging loosely around her neck and pulled at the hem of her untucked baggy white t-shirt as she began introduction to us.
"Welcome! It's great to see you! I'm so happy to meet you! I'm a big fan! My name is Arlene, and I'll be taking care of you while you're here at the convention with us." She bubbled.
"And so it begins." I muttered, almost to myself. My mom heard and turned her head to me and gave me the stink eye. I just ignored it and flashed the fakest smile I could come up with. It bordered sarcasm and cheerfulness, but heavily weighted on the sarcastic side.
"Here are your all access passes for the convention." Arlene said reaching into a bag. She handed us lanyards with a clear pouch on the end that held a big ticket with our name in bold letters.
There was no way in heck I was wearing that dorky thing around my neck. The last thing I wanted to do was draw attention to myself. Getting recognized without it would be more than enough attention for me, so I stuffed mine into my purse, concealing it, while the rest of the family draped them proudly around their necks like an Olympic gold medal.
"Ok! Now follow me. I'll give you folks a quick tour of the facilities. Give you the layout of the land, so to speak, so that nobody gets themselves lost." Arlene said bubbly, giving her body a quick shake back and forth as if she had just said the funniest joke.
We followed Arlene toward a set of grand wooden double doors.
"Oh Great! I can't wait to see the convention floor!" I said sarcastically. And it begins here, my four days in purgatory.
"I absolutely loved your recent video of jumping on the trampoline filled with water balloons and they popped all over. It looked like you were having so much fun!" She said in an overly perky voice. This woman laid it on thick for the boys and they are eating it up.
"We had so much fun!" Chase shouted.
"And I've seen you a few times too. The jelly bean tasting was so funny!" Arlene said with a wide grin. She turned to face me as if I was supposed to be impressed that she has just pointed out the most embarrassing video of my life. I give her a forced grin.
"Thank you so much, Arlene," My mom said making Arlene feel accepted after seeing my expression. "We're very excited to be here this weekend. We hear the turnout is supposed to be good this year and that lots of popular YouTubers plan on attending." My mom continued. I knew she was in her glory. My mom loved pulling out her gracious greeting routine from her pageant days. She had it down pat too. I thought it was so clearly fake, but I was always amazed that people still fell for it.
"That's right!" Arlene chirped, proudly, surprised my mom knew. One thing about my mom, she was always prepared. Like a pageant queen, she researched and rehearsed her answers before the show. Luckily, it allowed me to fade into the background
"Now, here is where a good portion of the convention will be taking place." Arlene continued as we followed close behind. She opened the large heavy wooden doors which spilled into a lavish ballroom.
It was a large conference room with maroon carpet that matched the curtains of the lobby. A hundred folding tables lined the perimeter and tables traversed the center of the room. Finally, she led us over to an empty booth.
"Okay! This booth is yours! Do you guys have any questions for me, before I head back up to the front desk?"
"I think we're all set," My mother finalized. She turned to my dad with her eyebrows raised quizzically to see if he had anything to add.
"Yeah, I think we're good for now," dad affirmed. "Thank you, Arlene."
"Anytime!" Arlene said, cheerfully. "I have to go help get a few other guests get settled, but I'll be around all weekend. Consider me like your personal little helper! I'm a really big fan of your channel, so don't hesitate to ask me for anything! Just give me a wave and a holler, and I'll be right over." Arlene bubbled.
She could give some serious pointers on enthusiasm to our High School cheer squad. Our girls were the snobbiest, snootiest and most irritable team in the county. You would think they had their periods like everyday.
"Bye!" she said, with an exaggerated cheerful wave. She shuffled to the door and it clicked behind her.
Without hesitation I spun toward the door.
"Okay, I'm leaving." I announced. I wanted to get out of that convention hall stat. I knew I had to make an escape right away, before my family could convince me to get involved. Or worse, an overzealous fan could corner me and want a picture or an autograph.
There was no way I was going to stand around and wait for any of that to happen. I would much rather take a stroll around the hotel and explore and a must find is the pool to take a dip. I was here to relax, not to participate in this silly convention.
"Cassie we just got here!" My mom scolded in frustration.
I huffed in exasperation.
"I've been with the family for hours now, and I already told you guys I'm not doing any convention stuff. I want to get out of here before the room fills up and I get trapped." It was like in the evening of Minecraft when if you stand around too long you'll start to attract zombies that will take your life.
"Oh, don't be so dramatic, Cassie." Mom said.
"Why don't you take a walk around the room and look at some of the names on the tables?" Dad suggested. "You know, see who else is here? You might find some other YouTube stars that you'll actually want to meet. You don't want to miss out! You can't leave until you at least see who the other guests are."
I spun on my heel scanning the room. I noticed one table with an elaborate setting. Black velvet curtains hung from rods as a backdrop. In front of it, four tables were lined up against each other with black tablecloths and white cotton chair covers hiding the folding chairs. One gold name plate was set out toward one end of the table. Must be some VIP, but I couldn't make out the name on the plate, they were too far away and I wasn't really that interested.
"Ok. Done! Now can I go?" I said.
The metal door clanked. Another small group of Youtubers strolled into the room, also being led by Arlene. Chase and Colby jumped and down, shouting in excitement when they saw who was in the group.
"Look!" Colby cried. "Look who it is!"
"It's Meghan and Abby from The Princess Tails!" Chase cried. "Oh man, I have to get their autographs. They do some of the funniest stuff! "
"Yeah!" Colby added. "They spell it Tails, because they always wear pigtails in their videos!"
Oh wow! They're looking over here at us! Hi Meghan! Hi Abby!" Chase yelled.
"Okay, great," I yelled over her shoulder as I darted to the double doors. I know I should feel guilty that I took full advantage of the fact that they were thoroughly distracted, but I didn't.
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