Beyond the Lens

by Hannah Ellis

“I’ll tell you later,” he called down to me before he disappeared with Chelsea.

  Back in the kitchen, I looked from Carl to Adam. “That was weird.”

  They avoided looking at me, and Carl closed the door to Maria’s flat before walking away.

  “What’s down there?” I asked Adam, moving closer to him and ignoring the camera, which he was using as a shield. I glared at him for a moment, but with no effect.

  I headed back outside empty-handed, forgetting all about the snacks until Chrissie asked me.

  “Where’s Ryan?” Matt asked.

  “Chelsea took him for an interview.”

  “We have to do interviews?” Chrissie asked.

  “It seems like it,” I replied, taking a seat on the couch to wait for Ryan to return, wondering what he’d seen that he would be so excited about.

  It didn’t take long - maybe ten minutes - and then Ryan was back with a sly smile on his face. He went to the fridge to get himself a fresh beer.

  “So?” I looked at him.

  “They just wanted to ask me a few questions. I talked into a camera about my life and stuff. No stress.”

  “What about Maria’s apartment?”

  He took a seat opposite me and placed his beer on the table between us. “It’s a really cool apartment.” He looked around at the others, who were lying around on sun loungers or floating in the pool.

  “That’s it?”

  He didn’t look at me. “Yeah.”

  “Why were you so excited? You said there was something down there …”

  “It’s just a really nice apartment,” he told me again. “Hey, Matt,” he called, standing up. “Move out of the way. I want to see if I can use the inflatables as stepping stones to run across the pool.”

  “I’d like to see that too,” Matt said as he pulled himself out of the pool.

  Ryan ran and splashed into the pool, making the rest of us laugh. “It’s not as easy as it looks,” he told us as he came up laughing. I was sure there was something he wasn’t telling me about Maria’s apartment, but he obviously didn’t want to talk to me about it. Maybe I’d ask him again another time.

  We spent an amusing half hour taking turns at Ryan’s silly game, with varying levels of success.

  “Come on, Dylan,” Margaret called. “I know you’re dying to have a go. Let’s have a race.” He moved beside her and gave her a nod before they set off across the pool. Margaret lost her balance and dived at Dylan as she fell, taking him down with her. They came up laughing and moved out of the way as Ryan announced he was having yet another try.

  As the rest of us got bored and went back to our sunbathing and relaxing, Ryan continued his attempts to get all the way across the pool. He got funnier the more often he failed.

  “Just give up, please!” Dylan groaned when Ryan dragged himself out of the pool for about the hundredth time.

  “But I can do it,” Ryan replied.

  “You clearly can’t, though!” Dylan said as Maria arrived to set the table.

  Ryan was still obsessing about his pool challenge when we sat down to a table laden with chicken, homemade potato wedges and a big bowl of salad, along with a couple of bottles of wine.

  “Maybe more alcohol would help you,” Matt suggested.

  “Worth a try, I guess!” Ryan lifted his beer bottle to us, before taking a swig.

  “I wonder why it was only Ryan who had an interview,” I said, taking a second helping of salad.

  “Maybe they just do one a day,” Kelly suggested.

  Dylan looked at Ryan. “What did they ask you?”

  “Just stuff about my life and my job.”

  “Well, that sounds boring,” Matt said with a smile. Ryan gave him a dirty look and focused on his food while Margaret launched into a story about her long-lost relatives who she’d been visiting in England.

  I enjoyed the banter as we ate and couldn’t help but think this was how it would be to have a big family. Growing up, it had only been Mum and me sitting down to dinner, and most of the time we ate in front of the TV. Meals at Dad’s house were livelier these days, but it was a different kind of chaos with two small children at the table.

  “Do you want more wine?” Chrissie asked as she refilled her glass.

  “No, I’m fine with this, thanks.” I was making my way slowly through a glass of red, carefully avoiding getting drunk. The conversation was getting more and more raucous. I laughed when Kelly challenged Ryan to an arm wrestle, and the others cheered at the suggestion.

  I joined Dylan, who’d gone to sit on a couch.

  “Hey.” He smiled at me as I plonked myself down beside him. “They’re such a bunch of kids!”

  “Yeah. They’re fun,” I said. "Why are you sitting over here on your own?”

  “I don’t want to be a TV star,” he whispered. “I figure if they show anything, it will be Kelly making Ryan cry over an arm wrestle, not me sitting here doing nothing.”

  “Really?”

  “Makes sense, doesn’t it?”

  “Yes, but is that really why you’re keeping your distance from everyone?”

  “I’m not a big people person,” he said, shifting his gaze to the action at the dinner table. Kelly had beaten Ryan and was moving on to wrestle Matt.

  “I think I might sneak off to bed while they’re preoccupied,” I told Dylan.

  “Not such a big people person yourself?”

  “It’s the fun I’m not so good at!”

  “I don’t believe you,” he said with a grin.

  “You’re following me again!” I told Adam when he trailed me up the stairs. “Nothing to say for yourself?” I asked when I reached my bedroom door. “You’ve walked me to my door, you could at least say goodnight.”

  No response.

  “Come on, give me a smile?” I poked him in the ribs and laughed as he took a step back. His face softened with amusement.

  “Goodnight, Lucy.”

  “Goodnight, Adam!” I closed the bedroom door on him and decided that a glass of wine with dinner was probably my limit.

  Chapter 8

  “You’re keen,” I said when I almost bumped into Adam the next morning, walking out of the bedroom. “I don’t think I can talk to you any more.” I squinted in the bright light of the living room. “All this one-sided chat is getting me down. We’ll go for a comfortable silence from now on.”

  As we walked through the house, I kept glancing at Adam, who was being very professional and ignoring my looks. “This isn’t a comfortable silence, is it?” I grinned at him. “You’re missing my wit and scintillating conversation already, aren’t you? I can read you like a book! Let’s go back to the awkward one-sided conversations then, shall we?” He kept a straight face but his sparkling blue eyes betrayed his amusement.

  “Morning, Maria!” I said when we reached the kitchen. “How are you today?”

  She touched my arm and said something to me before looking at Adam and attempting to shoo him away, as though warding off evil.

  “Don’t look at me,” I said to Adam while he backed away from Maria. “I’ve already saved you twice this week: once from a potential car accident, once from a potentially fatal fall … I draw the line at little old ladies. You’ll need to learn to take care of yourself at some point. I won’t always be around to rescue you.”

  Maria appeared at my side as I reached for breakfast, chatting relentlessly. She took my plate and loaded it with food before handing it back to me, tutting at me and pinching my stomach. I took a step back and she rolled her eyes before scurrying away to her apartment. My eyes stayed on the door for a moment, wondering what was down there. I shot Adam a look as I moved past him to eat outside.

  “Do you feel as bad as you look?” I asked Matt when he joined me outside just as I finished my breakfast.

  “Yes! I think we emptied the beer fridge.” He deposited his breakfast on the table and moved away from me. “It’s full again!” he told me on his return. “It’s a magic be
er fridge. Life doesn’t get any better than this!” He relayed the information with great enthusiasm to the rest of the group as they arrived for breakfast. Only Ryan seemed excited by the revelation, hurrying away to see for himself.

  “Maybe she’s not coming this morning,” I said while we waited for Chelsea to arrive. We were all sitting around on the couches after breakfast, wondering what our activity would be for the day.

  “I’m going to work on my tan,” Kelly told us, striding over to a sun lounger on the lawn.

  “If we’re not doing anything, I should probably do a couple of hours of studying this morning,” Chrissie said. “I’ll just read a few chapters and make some notes for my essay, and that’ll be enough for today.”

  “Great idea,” I said. “Are you coming for a swim first?”

  “You’re a bad influence,” she told me, putting down her coffee and stripping to her bikini. “A quick swim and then I’ll study!”

  The morning passed quickly, with no sign of Chrissie leaving to study. We’d just eaten lunch and settled down on sun loungers when the unmistakable voice of Chelsea Cartwright broke through the relaxed atmosphere. “Hello, beautiful people!”

  I groaned as I turned to see her bouncing over to us with a huge grin on her face.

  “I feel like I’m not going to get my nap now,” Chrissie commented beside me. “I knew it was all too easy.”

  “Do you think there’s a reason she’s dressed like Lara Croft?” I asked, making Matt sit up for a better look.

  “I’m so happy to see you all settling in so well,” she said and beamed her horrific fake smile. “But I’m afraid I’m going to spoil your peace now! Who’s interested in a little outing?”

  “Do we have a choice?” Kelly asked from the couch.

  Matt pulled himself out of the hammock and stretched his arms. “Is there a prize?”

  “No prize today!” Chelsea told us in her annoying sing-song voice.

  “Where are we going?” I asked.

  “What a great question, Lucy!” she said, looking at me, her eyes huge. I was positive she must be on drugs. “And you’ll find out when you reach your destination! You have five minutes to get changed into some comfortable clothing. You’ll need closed shoes – no heels please, girls. I’ll see you all down by the fountain in ten minutes! Go!”

  Her enthusiasm infected absolutely no one, but we slowly got up to move upstairs. “It’s definitely okay if I wear my heels, isn’t it?” Matt asked on the way inside. “She only said you girls couldn’t wear heels.”

  “I think everyone would love to see you in a pair of stilettos,” Chrissie laughed. “That would be sure to attract a few more viewers.”

  We went our separate ways at the top of the stairs and Adam lingered in the doorway to our room while Chrissie and I debated what to wear. I opted for knee-length shorts and a plain V-neck T-shirt with a pair of trainers. We took it in turns to use the bathroom to dress away from Adam and his camera.

  We congregated outside by the fountain and climbed into the bus when it pulled up. It was refreshing to get out and see some of the countryside around us, although I was slightly apprehensive about where we were going. I still had the skydiving comment floating around my head.

  “Shall we have a sing-song?” Matt said.

  “You’re such a teacher!” Chrissie told him as the driver turned the radio up in the front. He’d chatted to us in Spanish when we were getting on the bus and I’d presumed he couldn’t speak English, but it seemed like he understood enough, and was unimpressed by the idea of us serenading him.

  “What do you teach, anyway?” I asked Matt, as the driver turned the radio down again.

  “Eight-year-olds,” he replied with a cheeky grin. “At least, I try to!”

  “I thought about becoming a teacher after uni,” I told him. “I was only supposed to keep that boring office job for a year while I paid off some of my loan. But my little brothers are such a handful, I can’t imagine teaching thirty kids at the same time.”

  “The kids aren’t so bad once you get to know them,” Matt said. “It’s the parents that drive me nuts.”

  “I bet all the mums love you,” Margaret said. He smiled coyly back at her without commenting.

  Chapter 9

  After half an hour we pulled into a car park beside a forest and disembarked the minibus into the heat of the midday sun. I could feel beads of sweat forming on me, and was glad to follow Chelsea under the shade of the trees.

  “I hope no one’s afraid of heights,” Ryan said. I followed his gaze to the tops of the trees, where I could just make out wires and rickety rope bridges connecting them.

  “At least we’re not skydiving,” I commented. The thought of climbing trees didn’t fill me with too much dread. I was fairly confident I could manage it.

  Jessica and Chelsea hovered around us as Carl and another cameraman attached microphones to us all. A little black box hung from the waistband of my shorts with a wire leading to a small microphone that was clipped to my T-shirt. We were then fitted with climbing harnesses and helmets with cameras on them, before being given brief safety instructions and sent to a ladder which extended up a tree.

  I lingered on the ground chatting to Matt and Chrissie while Dylan took off up the tree with Margaret, Ryan and a cameraman close behind them. Kelly followed them with surprising speed, and Carl went after her.

  “I guess it’s our turn,” Chrissie announced and started slowly up the ladder. “Catch me if you can, Matt!” She looked down at us with a grin before upping her pace and disappearing out of sight.

  “See you up there,” Matt told us as he went after her.

  “This could take a while,” I told Adam quietly. “I think Matt’s scared of heights.”

  “Really?”

  “He definitely went a bit white when we got here. And he’s looking pretty cautious going up there.”

  “What about you?” he asked. “Feeling confident?”

  “Yeah.” I grinned at him as I realised this was the most he’d even spoken to me. “It’s strange seeing you without your camera.”

  “I’ve still got a camera,” he reminded me, pointing to his helmet.

  “That’s not the same. Plus, it’s the talking that’s really weird. I was just getting used to you being mute.”

  “It’s hard to get a word in with you around.” He smiled at me.

  “Hey!” I gave him a friendly nudge. “I’m not usually chatty at all. It just seems weird to have someone constantly watching you and nobody talking.”

  “Careful – you’re making me sound like a creepy stalker.”

  “Well, you do seem to follow me around a lot!”

  The instructor hooked me up to the rope and I turned back to Adam as I put my foot on the first rung of the ladder. “Don’t stare at my bum the whole way up, will you?”

  “I can’t promise anything,” he shouted back at me and I scrambled up the ladder as fast as I could, wondering what on earth had possessed me to make that comment.

  “What took you so long?” Chrissie asked as I reached the platform at the top of the tall tree. She was halfway across a rope bridge which led to the next tree and looked pretty pleased with herself.

  “You okay, Matt?” I asked while I moved my carabiners over to the next set of ropes as we’d been instructed.

  “I’m not sure why we couldn’t have had an afternoon at the beach,” he said, staring straight ahead and gripping the tree branch beside him.

  “Not a fan of heights?”

  “Not really. Have you seen those?” Matt nodded to a small camera perched in a tree a little way from us. I scanned the trees and saw more scattered around. It made sense, I guess. Surely the cameras on our helmets wouldn’t capture everything.

  “Do you think they’re always there or are they just for us?” I asked.

  “No idea.” Matt shrugged.

  “Maybe they have to have them so when someone falls to their death, they can prove it
was because they didn’t clip themselves on to the ropes properly, and not because of faulty equipment.”

  Matt laughed sarcastically.

  “Come on, Matt.” Chrissie called as she reached the platform of the next tree. “You can do it. Just don’t look down. It’s easy!”

  “Yeah, right,” he muttered and moved cautiously to the bridge. “These are attached properly, aren’t they?” he asked when he clipped himself onto the next rope.

  “Perfect,” I told him. I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from teasing him. It didn’t seem that he’d appreciate it much at the moment.

  “There you are,” I said to Adam as he made it up the ladder. “I thought I’d lost my shadow. I was starting to miss you!”

  “Here I am,” he said. “How’s everyone doing?”

  “Fine. Just Matt who’s a bit slow.” We turned to look at him. “Almost there, Matt!” I called.

  “Just another thirty trees to get through!” Adam shouted.

  “Don’t be mean,” I said. “He’s really scared.”

  “Why? What’s the worst that can happen?” He looked down and when I followed his gaze he gave me a shove, pulling me back just as I felt I would tumble to my death. I let out a girly shriek and clutched his arm while he laughed.

  “You almost gave me a heart attack,” I told him.

  His walkie-talkie crackled with static then we heard Jessica’s annoyed voice travel up to us.

  “You realise you’re not part of the show, Adam? What’s with all the chat?”

  He grimaced as he pushed the button on the side of the walkie-talkie. “Sorry!”

  “Leave Lucy to talk to the others.” Jessica’s voice was harsh and authoritative.

  “Copy that.” He turned and rolled his eyes at me. I grinned.

  Static filled the air again before Jessica’s voice reached us. “And if you roll your eyes, I’m going to see that on Lucy’s camera.”

  Adam raised his eyebrows. “Told you I’m not supposed to talk!” he said, pointing at the rope bridge before us.

  “See you at the other side,” I said before setting off across the bridge. I decided not to look down and took it at a good pace. I was beside Matt in seconds.