Aaron Connor (31 page)

We went through the doors and
into the studio. We were led up onto a stage where a couch was
facing Roger in an armchair. Roger was a middle aged man with grey
hair, he is well known as the media industry’s top critic and
satirist. He was watching something on his touch screen phone. When
we sat opposite him, we discovered that he was watching the last
few minutes of the news coverage about me and Lizzie. He was
watching it on one of those live news streams. This discovery made
me feel a bit more relaxed, as he now knew a little bit more about
us.

Some make-up artists darted
over to me and Lizzie and covered us in foundation. We were told
that it was so that the cameras could pick up our faces probably,
also it was so that we didn’t come up as seriously pale. Through
the yellowish haze created by the studio lights, I could see the
many faces of the studio audience. The audience were pointing at us
and chatting among themselves, the majority looked confused. This
show was known for interviewing high profile celebrities, the
audience were probably confused because they had no idea who we
were.

Roger put away his phone as
some more make up artists came up to him to do his layer of
foundation. Some more studio lamps came on and lit up the set
behind us. The set was made to look like the interior of an old
fashioned hunting lodge. A fire was blazing in a fireplace
underneath the stuffed head of a deer. The wallpaper was the
similar brown colour and pattern they you’d find in a pub. Roger’s
public persona is that of an “upper –class, witty, funny British
man” and the set was supposed to reflect that. It was like being
back at Lord Grumsby’s again.

The stage manager called for
silence and everyone obeyed. The make up artists cleared the stage.
I saw Ernest standing by the doorway and giving me a thumbs up, I
nodded and smiled to acknowledge him fondly. The stage manager came
out and counted down from five, just like Ernest’s camera man did
earlier in the day. The stage manager called out the numbers and
mimed the “one” silently. A bright, red light came on at the back
of the studio above the door, the show had officially started.

The upbeat theme song started
to blast out of the speakers. The audience began to applaud when
told by a man who was holding up placards. A camera on a crane
swept over the audience and rested on a wide shot of the entire
set. Roger looked directly into one of the stationary cameras that
were facing him. The broadcast was being shown on a monitor which
was sitting on the floor, from here we could see the image cut from
the crane camera to the camera that Roger was looking into in.

“
Hello!” cried
Roger over the slowly dimming audience applause, “and welcome to
Roger Bueller: Talking. Tonight, other then popular young singer
Tulisa, we also have a surprise guest with us today. Our studio
audience saw these guys come here with much confusion. Being here
in the studio, they wouldn’t have seen the news report which has
given these two teens instant fame. For those who missed it, here’s
the report again”

The monitor then cut to a
replay of the same News report, once again I heard myself telling
my story in a nervous manner. I remember sitting there and being
taken aback by what Roger had just said, not all of his opening
speech but one word alone: fame. We had only been on television for
at least a few minutes now, surely we weren’t already famous?

“
There you
have it folks” said Roger once the replay ended, he had to wait
before continuing as the audience clapped the story I’d just told,
“within minutes of the broadcast, other news channels and websites
have taken up the story. Social websites are telling us of a mass
wave of positive comments about the event and about these two
teens. The video has gone viral on the internet and is already
clocking up a considerable amount of views. Ladies and Gentlemen,
please say hello to the one’s who’ve caused all this excitement.
Let’s give a huge round of applause for Aaron Connor and Lizzie
Penny”

The image on the monitor
suddenly cut to me and Lizzie. The audience began to clap and cheer
again. The monitor showed the embarrassed and shy images of
ourselves that was being broadcast to the entire nation. I felt
like I was on an acid trip or something. When Roger was talking
about the record breaking time that our fame developed, it didn’t
feel like he was talking about us. It felt like they were talking
about someone else. I saw Lizzie’s expression on the monitor, it
was a mixture of fright and fake smiles, bless.

“
What an
incredible story” said Roger, “The first thing I’d like to ask is
this: what message would you give out to young people, like
yourselves, watching this now?”

I and Lizzie looked at each
other, equally unsure who should answer that question. Lizzie
gulped and nodded towards me, telling me that she thought that this
would be best for me. She never liked talking in front of an
audience, even when she was asked to do school assemblies, so she
didn’t mind much when I talked for the both of us. It took me a few
moments to compose in my mind what I wanted to say. I took a deep
breath and just said what I felt.

“
I just wanted
to say” I began, “if you don’t have all the fancy qualifications
and employability, it isn’t the end. Even if the world tells you
otherwise, being unemployed is not the time to throw in the towel.
Either you can stay where you are and become another statistic, or
you can go out and do some good.

“
This world
needs more people who are willing to lend a helping hand to those
in need. Do community services, social services, work in a soup
kitchen or do what we did: just go around and see who needs any
help. We are only here for a certain amount of time. There’s no
point in wasting it. I’m not saying that education and work isn’t
important because it is. What I’m saying is, if all else fails
don’t waste your life moping about it. Make a change, one person at
a time”

The audience applauded after
I’d finished. Roger’s mouth was wide open, he looked completely
gobsmacked. I had no idea how deep my speech would become. I just
wanted to summarise the real meanings for everything me and Lizzie
had just been through. I don’t really know if I achieved that. I
hate watching that show back. I had to watch it back so I could
write down everything I said accurately. I’ve had people come up to
me and tell me how moving my speech was, I’m personally not too
sure about that. Maybe it’s just me, I dunno.

“
Wow” said
Roger, “Well said Mr Connor. Lizzie, you saved this young man’s
life. If it’s not a too personal question, why did you go back? Why
did you go back into No-Man’s Land when you could have got
away?”

“
Because my
life would have meant nothing without him” said Lizzie, “If I got
back and started living my life normally again, I think I’d end up
killing myself. I couldn’t live without Aaron and the guilt of
leaving him there would haunt me for the rest of my life. I love
him. Simple as Roger, I love Aaron Connor!”

Once again the audience burst
into another wave of appreciation and praise. A single tear ran
down Lizzie’s face, which she wiped away with her sleeve. Roger
gestured with his hand to tell the audience to calm down and
quieten.

“
They’ve
haven’t half warmed to you!” said Roger, “This question is for both
of you. If you could change one thing about the World, what would
it be? Lizzie, why don’t you start of?”

“
Well . . .
“said Lizzie as she thought, “I just wish that people wouldn’t be
so judgemental. Just because something is different, doesn’t mean
it’s wrong. I hope that we’ve helped some people realise that lower
class teens are capable of more then earning ASBOs. Yeah, I would
want people to be more accepting”

“
That’s a very
good point Lizzie” said Roger nodding his head in agreement, “good
answer. Now Aaron, what would you change about the world if you
could?”

“
I would wish
that people would stop using the word “Chav”” I answered, “that
word has become such a hateful term. It was once just a humorous
thing to call us modern teens, but that’s how most of those
offensive terms start of as. We’ve been treated badly by others who
feel they’re superior to us, even though we’re all the same. We
need to stop labelling each other. There’s no point. Like I said
before, we’re only here for a short time, so why do we deliberately
make life well difficult by being so hateful to each other? That’s
what I’d change, I’d make people realise they’re wasting their time
with all this negativity”

“
Mr Connor”
said Roger, he was shaking his head and smiling, “We were not
expecting that, from either of you. I really hope that your
incredible messages get to the masses. We’re going to have a
commercial break now, so could you please give another round of
applause to Aaron Connor and Lizzie Penny!”

The monitor cut to the crane
camera, which swept back over the set. The theme song came back on
and the audience applauded again. A few moments later the studio
fell silent and the Stage Manager announced that we were clear to
get ready to for the next guest. We shook Roger’s hand before going
to stand with Ernest to watch the rest of the show from here.
Ernest smiled at us shook our hands.

“
Very good
guys!” he said,

“
Thank you” I
said,

“
I was so
nervous!” said Lizzie,

“
You better
get used to it” said Ernest, “Within the last few hours, you two
have come the most talked about people in the UK. The news has only
just reached the US. This is only the beginning. Just you wait.
This thing is going to be huge! What am I talking about? It already
is huge. Isn’t this exciting?”

“
It’s scary” I
said with a smile,

“
Same thing”
replied Ernest,

“
Are you
joking?” asked Lizzie, “are you telling us the truth or are you
pulling our leg?”

“
Just you
wait” said Ernest almost laughing, “Just wait. You’ll see if I’m
telling the truth or not. Just – you – wait!”

CHAPTER TWENTY – SEVEN

Ernest was telling the truth.
Over the next few weeks we became the most recognisable faces in
the entire world. It still feels weird saying it, let alone writing
it. We were invited to more chat shows and appeared on several
different news programs. Comedians and satire shows made cheeky
comments about us, which we weren’t offended by as they were
genuinely funny. Every time we left our Hotel Room, we found
ourselves cornered from all sides by members of the Paparazzi with
cameras and microphones. Within a month, media professionals
officially stated in various papers what we had reached “celebrity
status”.

The studios started to pay us
for the interviews. Lizzie was picked up by an agent to do some
modelling, which included perfume adverts in fashion magazines and
posing in clothes for high street catalogues. I was beginning to
appear in schools to talk to the kids there and answer their
questions, which the schools paid for. Madame Tussauds paid both of
us thousands of pounds each, for the rights to use our likeness to
create waxwork replicas. They also paid lots to have the Moped on
display next to the waxworks. Soon we were able to afford our own
place.

We bought an amazing apartment
on the South Bank. We wanted to live there, so we can be constantly
reminded that this was the place that changed our lives forever.
The place was modern with white walls, large rooms, great
Televisions, a nice big bath and every unnecessary luxury we could
afford. When you come from a life style where you had almost no
money and then propelled into a lot of wealth, you become a little
crazy and buy stupid things. I swear at one point I bought an
illuminated Union Jack table for a ridiculous price.

Whenever I wasn’t doing an
appearance at a school and Lizzie had gone to a studio to do a
photo shoot, I’d sit in the flat for hours on end feeling confused.
I was so baffled and confused about how fast this had all occurred.
How we were once nobodies and overnight became two people who
everyone wanted to meet. I couldn’t believe it. My first worry was
that it might make me develop an ego. The last thing I wanted to
become was a “Marvellous Person”. Thankfully that hasn’t happened
yet, this is because I still didn’t believe that it happened.
Whenever I see the same comedians I used to love watching making
jokes about me, I laugh and don’t fully realise that it’s me that
they’re talking about.

As time went on, more people
approached us to do more work. I did some voiceovers for television
adverts, I just thought why not? Lizzie was seen on posters,
calendars and computer wallpapers as more people become interested
in her natural beauty. It was then that I began to wonder if we
were “selling out”, I still don’t know. The way we thought of it,
if someone offered us to do something cool we didn’t do it for the
money, we did it because it was cool.

More people wanted to hear
about my story. There was a fantastic group of people who adapted
it into a stage play at the National Theatre. We saw the production
and thought it was mind blowing. It was frighteningly accurate and
all of the performers worked their arses off. There were some great
scenes with a replica Moped on a robotic arm, moving around in
front of a screen with footage of a road rushing by. It was a
beautiful show. Once again, even though I recognised the story as
my own, it still didn’t clock in my mind that these people were
recreating a chunk of me and Lizzie’s life. The show got a standing
ovation at the end. We got to meet the cast afterwards and have a
good talk with them about the show.