Ghost Bird

30: Academy-Con, Q&A

After the opening ceremony, I found myself sitting on a raised platform at the front of the grand ballroom. The vaulted ceilings were decorated with dark blue, red, and yellow streamers to match the Academy crest, and huge pictures of action scenes from the past two seasons covered the walls. None of the fans were here yet, but judging by the sea of empty chairs in front of me, there were going to be a lot of them.

Victor was sitting next to me at the panel table. The event organizers wanted the panel order to be aesthetically pleasing, so we were sitting with Silas and North and the middle since they were the tallest, going down to the shortest at the ends.

"On a scale of Luke eating a carrot to Luke eating a cupcake, how crazy do you think the questions are going to be?" I asked him. My heart was still pounding from the roar of the crowd during the opening ceremony. In close quarters, the fans were bound to be even more intense.

Victor grimaced. "I would expect anything. You saw how weird the questions were with the GBFCI board. If you get one that really stumps you, redirect it to Kota. He's great at fielding odd questions."

"Three minutes," one of the organizers called out from the side of the stage.

I wiped my hands on my skirt. It was unlikely I would get many questions since the episodes I were in hadn't aired yet, but I was still nervous. My phone buzzed in my bra, and after a subtle glance around to make sure nobody was looking at me, I pulled it out. Hidden pockets for the win.

North: Good luck. If anyone asks you anything weird I'll punch them in the face for you ;)

I coughed and looked over at North. The grin on his face held just a hint of smugness. What had he meant by the winky face? Did that mean he was joking about punching someone? I hoped so. Someone would definitely get it on video and it would go viral in a heartbeat.

I placed the phone back in my bra just in time for the doors to open. People immediately streamed in, talking excitedly among themselves. One girl had a life size cutout of Kota. It was a promotional item for Season 3, so it featured him in his school uniform. She sat it in its own seat, only to have another girl sit right on top of it, squishing it. Security swooped in as the girls started fighting and removed them from the ballroom.

It was hard to look natural when I knew a lot of people were staring at me. Was it obvious I was staring at the crowd? Maybe I should look at the back wall. That had me making direct eye contact with a giant poster of Owen's head. I sat up straighter in my chair automatically. Underneath him, the poster read "The Academy: secrets revealed. Only at the next GBFCI meeting!" I snorted. They were advertising now?

The organizer walked up to a mic perched at the edge of the platform. "Welcome to the first Q&A session. Please keep any questions PG-13. I can't believe I have to add this, but due to that question from last year—" chuckles broke out in the audience— "no asking questions that could implicate someone in breaking the law. Each chair has a buzzer in front of it. If your buzzer turns green, that's your cue to ask a question."

I really wanted to ask Victor what the question from last year was, but there wasn't time. The first girl was already standing up. There was a giddy smile on her face. Only a fraction of the people here would actually get to ask a question.

"This one is for the panel in general," she said. "It appears to me as if your personalities in the TV show are very close to your personalities in real life. Would you say that's a coincidence, or is that something the director considered while casting?"

"I'll take this," Owen said. "While I don't know for certain, I believe the director did want to have us really relate to our characters. It makes the show more authentic. That's not to say we're exactly the same, though. Luke in real life is the least sneakiest person alive."

Luke gasped. "Not true! I almost managed to pick North's pocket last week. He only noticed me when I was pulling his wallet out of his pocket. I got all the way up to him without him saying a thing!"

The crowd chuckled, and so did I. The guys had good chemistry between them. I wondered if it came naturally to them, or if they had to fake it for a while.

Another girl stood up. I tilted my head to the side, puzzled. She was wearing angel wings. "Hello, my name is Quinn, and I'm really into fan fiction," she said. "Like, really, really into it. I'm dressed as Sang from one of my favorite fanfics, actually." I frowned. How was I already in fan fiction? "I wanted to know, because this comes up in stories a lot, if you guys would like a really big bed for the ten of you. What do you think, Sang?"

I froze. Did this count as a weird question? What was she implying? How big of a bed was she talking about? "What do you think, Kota?" I asked. Smoothest deflection ever.

Kota cleared his throat. "In real life, I would say definitely not. We each have our own house, after all. Even in the TV show, I don't see it working out. Someone snores loud enough to wake the dead."

I sighed in relief when the girl accepted his answer and sat down. Next up was a little boy wearing Kota glasses and a green polo shirt. There was a whole group of boys around him, in fact. Nine in total. "I'm Matthew. I'm in sixth grade." He paused. "You might remember me from a one shot. Anyway, my friends and I like to play Ghost Bird Squad, but we don't have a good North. Nobody's grumpy enough to play him. So my question is to North. I know you're busy, but will you play with us sometime?"

"I'm not grumpy," North said, practically oozing grumpiness. "But I would love to join your team for a day, as long as your parents say it's okay. Have one of them call the studio and we'll get it set up."

All of the boys cheered. One of them leapt up and did a ninja kick, almost hitting one of the other boys in the head. My attention got pulled away from them by the next person. It was a middle aged woman wearing a red Nathan shirt. "Nathan, I read on a questionable internet list that you eat five dozen raw eggs a day to stay in shape. How are you not dead yet?"

My face contorted as I tried to keep from laughing. Victor wasn't so lucky, and he let out a very inelegant snort right into his microphone. I had to cover my mouth with my hand to keep from laughing at him.

"Well, clearly that list was inaccurate. I actually eat six dozen raw eggs a day," Nathan said with a wink. Most of the crowd laughed, but a few were visibly perplexed, trying to figure out if he was joking. "And as to how I'm not dead yet, cardio. Especially swimming."

The next question came from a little girl, no older than six or seven. She had to practically yell to be heard. "My favorite color is yellow. Why don't any of you like yellow?" she asked.

Silas shrugged. "I like blue better. It's calming, like the ocean."

"You know, Corey, one of our security guards, likes yellow," Owen said, clearly trying to placate her.

The girl scowled. "That's not good enough."

Thankfully, the argument was ended by another question. The girl who stood up had a huge smile on her face. "So I asked this before on a GBFCI message board, but I want to ask it to Victor himself." She let out a giggle. "Why do you play the piano so well in the show yet you sound like a dying goat in real life?"

I flashed back to the meeting with the GBFCI board members when Rebecca warned us about the craziness of the questions. I hadn't thought someone would actually ask that one, though.

Victor didn't let the question phase him, although out of the corner of my eye, I could see the fire ignite in his gaze. "In the TV show I am merely going through the motions of playing," he explained, way more calmly than I would have. "In real life, it's all me. I've been practicing for three years now, so I like to think I no longer sound like a 'dying goat'."

The questions continued for thirty more minutes. Some of my favorites were "How is Dr. Green's favorite color purple when his name is literally green?", "Where does Max live in real life?", and "Is Kota so smart because he was doused in radioactive waste?".

By the time the Q&A was finished, I was exhausted, even though I had only answered one or two questions. I didn't have to do anything until the evening, so I headed back to the room for a nap and a nice cold baby coffee. I would take any rest I could get before the costume competition judging.