``katieparker

It was still dark out when a lone set of headlights pulled from the driveway of 22 Maple Avenue in Morgantown, West Virginia, and headed towards the Morgantown Municipal Airport. Two weary bodies occupied the front seats, and the back was stowed with suitcases. Yet despite the fact that it was just shy of five o'clock in the morning and the passenger of the car could barely keep her eyes open, she was very, very excited. And maybe a little nervous--there was a knot forming in her stomach that had nothing to do with the bowl of oatmeal she'd eaten for breakfast. She was on her way to Denver, Colorado, halfway across the country. Why? Because some guy had asked her if she'd like to be on a brand new TV show. EXtreme Team. Katie's hands gripped the steaming coffee cup that was to be the source of her energy for the next hour or so. Once she got on her flight, hopefully she'd be able to relax and maybe even fall asleep again. But right now, Katelyn LaBrea Renae Parker was far too nervous.

"You know you don't have to go if you don't want to, sweetie," Brenda Parker cadjoled. Katie looked her mother square in the eye. "Mom. Please. I want to do this. Besides, I signed the contract." Which means I can't come home till they tell me I can, she thought with some apprehension. When Mr. McAddams had first approached her at the somethingsomething bike race--sometime back in October--she'd thought he was a creeper at first. Told him to go away, but not before he gave her a business card with a web address and a phone number. She called the company he'd claimed to work for and asked if he was an employee. They said yes, and that he was looking for athletic kids to be on his new TV show. Needless to say she'd called him back. And he said he still wanted her on the show. Gave her some more information. She talked to her parents about it, and though Brenda was reluctant at first both her mom and dad eventually gave her the thumbs up. So she'd scheduled a flight to Denver, Colorado, courtesy of Mr. McAddams' credit card, and packed her bags, eagerly anticipating the day she'd finally go out into the world.

And that was today. Katie sighed heavily as her mom turned the SUV onto the road that led to the airport. "You'll be great, sweetie," Brenda said, taking her daughter's hand and squeezing it. "Thanks, mom," Katie murmured, smiling weakly. She took another sip of her coffee. They drove in silence until they reached the airport. Brenda let Katie and her bags out at the curb and then went to find a parking spot. Katie dragged her rolling suitcase into the airport and checked it. Her mom came over, looking bleary-eyed. "This is really too early to be getting up." Katie chuckled. "No kidding. Did you know it's three-ten in Denver?" "I don't envy you, babe," her mom said. "But then, you will get to sleep in an extra two hours." They walked to the end of the line of people waiting to enter the secure area. "I'll miss you, hun," Brenda said, hugging her daughter tightly. Katie was embarassed but at the same time found herself fighting to hold back tears. "I'll miss you too mom."She put her bag on the conveyer belt and emptied her pockets. Gave her mom another quick hug and then stepped through the metal detector. Breathing a sigh of relief when it didn't go off. That would have been embarassing. She picked up her bag and waved to her mother one last time. "'Bye mom." "'Bye Katie. We'll miss you."

---

Katie stepped out of the airport and shielded her eyes from the sun. Her cell phone buzzed, and she flipped it open to see a text message from Mr. McAddams. welcome to colorado, kid. She set her juice can on top of her suitcase and texted back. where are u? She heard a whistle and her head shot up. Mr. McAddams was on the opposite side of the loading area, waving so hard that Katie thought his arm might fly off. She laughed and picked up her can of Rockstar, dragging her suitcase along behind her. It thumped in time to the cracks on the sidewalk. Katie noticed the TV camera as she got closer and smiled. Gave the cameraman a thumbs up. Mr. McAddams came up and clapped her on the back. "Glad you could make it, kid." She smiled. "I told you I was coming didn't I?" He shrugged and nodded. "There's supposed to be a couple other kids coming in on the next flight. In about three minutes. Toss your stuff in the van and you can be a part of the greeting comittee." Katie nodded and obeyed, with help from the cameraman. "Thanks," she said. He smiled. "No problem." That finished, she leaned against the car next to Mr. McAddams and waited for the other kids to show up...

``katieparker

Katelyn Parker moved away from the van as a couple of kids walked up. MacAddams shook their hands enthusiastically and thumped them on the back. Katie smiled and gave high-fives. "Hey! Nice to meet ya. I'm Katie." She helped the cameraman toss the new bags in the back of the van. He left the camera on while doing so, and when she asked about it, he smiled. "Don't want to miss anything, do I?" Taking another sip of her Rockstar, Katie shook her head and stepped away, to mingle with the other kids. Her cell phone buzzed, one of her friends trying to get ahold of her obviously. hey! wassup kat??? hows our celeb? She pulled it out of her pocket and sent a quick text. im at the rport. its ossum, thrs cmras here n evrythng. u? The phone was slipped surreptitiously back into her pocket to await the next message. She was actually surprised that anyone had remembered she was going to be on TV. Though it was cool, she didn't know if she would have remembered if one of her friends was doing the same. It was kind of sad, actually, but a lot of the kids in her class she wouldn't have noticed if they were missing. Again she was reminded of how snobbish she could be if given the chance.

She winced. It was hard not to compare herself to the kids in her school that were complete snobs, or the ones who sent bully text messages to junior-highers. Compared to them, she was a saint. But she didn't like talking to kids who wore funny clothes. She knew that she ought to be better than that, but it was just so easy to stay in that little comfort zone. Where everybody knew and loved her. All her life Katie had been one of the popular girls, those ones who always have somebody to set with at lunch, sometimes there's even a waiting list to hang out with them! Well this was pushing her out of that zone, away from the kids she'd grown up with. She was going to have to make some new friends. Would they be the kind of friends that she would want to have ten years from now? Or would she just end up with a bunch of enemies. There was always a chance that she wouldn't be as popular here as she was back home. That was kind of a scary thought, because Katie liked to think that she was good at making friends. But of course, she might end up as the unlucky reject kid--a thought that scared Katie more than anything else about this whole deal.

Because Katie liked being popular. It was part of who she was. A bit like a security blanket. Being the outsider, the one who didn't know everyone's names, was a bit disconcerting. Never mind that everyone else was an outsider too. She was the first one to arrive, though, so she had the advantage. Got to watch everyone as they came in. Look them over for friend material, as it were. She was glad that there were a few girls in the group. Katie had to wonder though, what had driven Mr. MacAddams to choose this bunch? What kind of sports were they into? She was a biker, but she doubted that everyone else was the same. How boring would that be, anyway? She wondered if there were any scuba divers. She'd always kind of wondered what it would be like to go diving. It sounded fun, if a little scary. Katie shook her head and chastized herself for just standing here and gawking when she could be using this time to introduce herself to ther other kids. Took another sip of her energy drink and then stepped towards one of the other kids. "How was your trip?" she asked, putting on a friendly smile. "I'm Katie. The pleasure's all mine."

``katieparker

It took a moment for Katie to figure out the joke, and another to decide that she wouldn't take it as an insult. Perhaps she was a little too used to the girls at her school--they could be a bit vicious at times. Especially when it came to new girls. Katie had never really thought to feel sorry for how hard they made it to fit into their cliques, but now she was on the outside, and she'd already decided that she didn't like it very much. Even though she was the first to show up, she wasn't sure that she really thought she'd gotten "the edge". Maybe hers would be the first face on the camera, but except for a few thrills what was that worth? She wished that she had a sibling here with her, a close friend, or at least someone that she knew. Finally shaking the last of her thoughts away and deciding to make friends, Katie chuckled. "I'll share if I must," she teased, shaking her head. "Can't say I've ever heard that line before. D'you come up with it yourself?" The question could be taken two ways, depending on the spirit in which the original comment had been posed. All in all, though, she thought she took the joke rather nicely. She sometimes had problems with laughing at other people pulling pranks on her. The other way around, not so much.

Though Katie wasn't really a prankster. There were enough of those sorts of kids in her school. Well, first and foremost she was an athlete, but after that...? She was popular, in fact Katie couldn't remember the last time she'd been without a half-a-dozen consorts at her side during school hours. In spite of her tomboyishness, Katie was quite popular--or could that be the cause? No, she decided, it was because she was cool enough to go out and bike for a weekend, then during school hours she devoted herself to her friends. How that worked had always been a sort of a mystery to Katie, a part of her brain that she'd never really understood, but it was almost as though there were two completely different people inside her skin. Katie the biker and Katie the prep. Speaking of which... "I'm a biker," she admitted, and then smiled to herself, thinking of the picture that would enter most peoples' minds at the word biker. Those sickening leather pants, long dark hair, arms covered with tattoos, and roaring Harleys. However, that couldn't be farther from the truth. Katie was a mountain biker, and when she was riding, there was nothing but the sound of wheels humming and her own breathing. Unless of course, her bike started squeaking.

That had happened once in the middle of a race, Katie had been so annoyed by the noise that she had to stop, get off, and oil the offending axel. Yes, she'd done it herself. When it came to bikes, she was a regular grease-monkey. Even though at school she was the kind of girl who hated to get dirty. A thought struck Katie that had never occurred to her before. Her friends back home were going to see the biker in all her glory--that was something that she'd never allowed to happen before. It wasn't that she was embarassed about her biking, she loved it. It was just that she never talked about it with her friends, except maybe to explain an abcence. They'd never watched her racing, or gone riding with her. What would they think of the Katie she'd been hiding all these years? She didn't know, and she wasn't sure whether or not she wanted to find out. Maybe they wouldn't care. Maybe they'd be mad at her. If she was lucky, they'd realize that she'd have to be different from the girl they knew to last more than two minutes on the Extreme Team. Another question popped into her head--would she be able to last?

Other than her biking, she wasn't all that athletic. Oh sure she did exercises each morning to stay in shape, but she wasn't a climber. Her arm muscles weren't very strong at all. What if they did something that she couldn't do? Katie didn't think she'd be able to bear that kind of humiliation on national television. She vowed to start doing chin-ups the very first chance she got. Mr. MacAddams had told her that there was a gym and a climbing wall at the training center. Katie resolved to be the first to check them out. MacAddams came over and stood next to the group of kids. "All right," he said, "I'm gonna have you introduce yourselves to the camera before the next batch of kids shows up. Just tell us your name, age, and where you're from. Got it?" Katie nodded, but she was glad that she wasn't first in line. She fidgeted with her energy drink as she waited, then the cameraman gave her a thumbs-up, and she flashed her biggest smile and stared into the little black eye of the video camera. "Hi, my name's Katie Parker, I'm sixteen, and I'm from Morgantown, West Virginia! Go Miners!" At the cameraman's nod, she ducked from his view and heaved a sigh of relief. "I still can't believe that we're going to be on TV!" she giggled, not sure if it was good or bad.

``katieparker

"My grandma used to send me those things. The wrappers. She'd eat the candy first." Katie laughed at the memory of her spunky grandma. Grams lived in Kentucky, and her latest venture was raising racehorses. It seemed like she was always trying something new. Katie was pretty sure that was what she wanted to be like when she grew old. She shook her can of Rockstar, it was nearly empty. However if she got another one, she'd probably have to make at least three pit stops in the time it took everyone to get loaded in the van. Really, she had no idea how long they were going to be stuck here. It could take all day, though she nearly groaned at the thought. This could be a very long day, considering that she'd been up since four-thirty. It had only been two-thirty here. Now that was a scary thought. She'd probably crash early, if she could. But then again, she'd get to sleep till eight-thirty home time, if the schedule that she'd gotten emailed to her was still standing. While they were in training, they were to get up at six-thirty. But they were two hours behind here. It would take a while to get used to the time zone, Katie wasn't sure that she wanted to.

It would be nice to get up at seven and feel as though she'd slept in. Lain introduced herself, and then stepped over to the other side. Katie laughed as the other girl admitted she was nervous. "It's completely nerve-wracking. I've just about lost my mind worrying that I'll do something stupid and the whole world will see it and laugh." That was one of Katie's flaws, she was always worrying about what other people thought of her. She knew that she shouldn't care so much, but it had just become a part of who she was. Always seeking someone's approval. She shook her head. "Sorry if this sounds stupid, but I just have to ask--you're from Texas, did you live on a ranch? I know not everyone does. Like, there's cities there, duh--I went to Austin once to visit some family there, and it made Morgantown feel like a tiny speck on the map." Katie felt a bit stupid, but she figured that she ought to ask. "Oh yeah. When I said biker, I meant the spandex kind." A giggle escaped her lips. "Not exactly the coolest attire ever, unless you're Lance Armstrong."

"What's it like, climbing?" she asked, aware that she was dominating the conversation. Katie had a tendancy to do that sometimes. Back home she was considered the lead mare, at least as far as the juniors went. Most of the kids that she hung out with were in her grade, if only for convenience's sake. They were in the same classes, so they could trade gripes about teachers and assignments and how obnoxious those freshmen could be sometimes. The more Katie thought about it, the more she realized that she was a bit of a brat. But she wasn't sure what it would take to change that image, or even if her competitive streak would let her change it. Or if she'd be harping on people just to make them nervous, so that she'd win. It sounded ugly. Her friends back home, she realized, wouldn't have been surprised to see her doing it. She wanted to be nice and cool and popular, but was it even possible to do all three at the same time? Especially with the camera in her face all the time...As if he'd read her thoughts, the cameraman panned towards them. Katie gave him a thumbs up and flashed a big grin. "I wish he'd turn that thing off," she hissed, once his back was turned. "It's freakin' me out."

``katieparker

"You're kidding, right? The banana ones are totally the best." Katie knew Lain wasn't the only one who didn't think so, in fact, out of her whole family, only she and Sam liked the chewy yellow candies. "My brother and I used to eat all the bananas out of the bag and leave the rest for our siblings." It was surprising how fast the Parkers could hork down a bag of candy, but considering that there were six of them, maybe not so much. With five teenagers in the house when Katie was growing up, they were always running short on food--the refrigerator was always on "empty." Although she had been just nine when her youngest sibling graduated and moved out of the house, a good portion of Katie's memories of early life had something to do with rock music, lip gloss, and Saturday night dates. Perhaps having five older siblings was what made her grow up so fast. She was always trying to keep up with the big kids. For sure, that was where her competitive streak came from. The part that wasn't in her blood. Because the Parkers were a competitive bunch. Just look at Sabrina, a triathalete, or Jael, a paddleboat racer. Even her dad had it in him--after all, he was the one who got Katie started on racing.

She pursed her lips, thinking. "I guess. I just keep hoping that I'll be able to get off without any really embarassing moments on tape." Because Katie always tried to look good. Most of the time, she succeeded. Her only hope was that those rare moments when she didn't have it all together, the camera--and the man behind it--would be very far away indeed. Despite her craving for attention, Katie didn't really want to be in the spotlight all the time. Especially when the spotlight meant that you were on TV. She was beginning to have second thoughts about this whole thing. A little late for that, considering that even if she decided to leave, they still had her on tape--and they knew where she lived. Katie giggled at her mind-picture of MacAddams coming after her like a member of the Mafia. "I guess I'm more of a city girl, myself. I mean, when I'm not out biking. If that makes any sense." Katie in and of herself was a contradiction. A girly jock; a popular girl who loved going camping, and didn't mind a little bit of mud... How much weirder could you get? She sighed. "I kind of get the same feeling when I'm out on the trail. It's like, you're on top of the whole world, right. I mean, how cool is that?" She grinned, a smile that was surely undignified, but definitely sincere. It was a real-Katie smile. Did she care that her friends were going to see it? No, not really.

"I've always thought climbing looked like fun, but I don't know how long I'd last, my arms aren't very strong." Thinking of the hours she'd spent pouring over the information she'd researched on EXtreme Team, Katie let out a sigh. Even though she'd read a dozen different explanations of how the show was supposed to run, it still didn't make a whole lot of sense. She knew that each adventure was supposed to be a demonstration of a collection of skills. Usually lasting about a week or so long, the contest would be filmed, and then, depending on how much good footage they got, an hour or two would be devoted to that particular contest. At the end of the episode, they would announce the winner of that contest--Katie couldn't remember whether it was judged or if it was an audience-driven voting system. What she didn't know was how anybody was supposed to win. Everybody had to be bad at one, if not more, of the things they would go through in any one contest. Was it who did the best overall? Who had the best attitude? She'd have to watch herself if she was going to win it that way. She shook her head. "I don't think so. I sure wouldn't want to be watching this live. Bor-ing!" The camerman shook his head. "We're just recording now. Most of this will never make it on TV."

And for that, Katie could breathe a hugh sigh of relief.

``katieparker

Katie didn't know anything at all about filming a TV show. Even less about a reailty series. But she'd done her homework since signing up for EXtreme Team, and learned that they wouldn't actually start advertising the show at least until the first episode was shot. After all, they had to have some dramatic footage to put on the commercials, right? Katie wouldn't mind being the poster girl as long as it didn't mean that she was picking a fight with someone or throwing a tantrum--both of which could happen if she wasn't careful. However hard she tried to be nice all the time, there were moments when the snob broke through, almost as though she had an MPD. But she'd be trying super hard to reign in that attitude of hers. At least until things got into a sort of a rhythm. "Ugh, don't remind me. Cherry cough syrup was the pits. I'd rather get a shot." She grinned. "I like the grapes, but Shawna always stole them. She was like the manic grape girl." Katie could spend hours discussing her siblings if no other topic was offered. With six kids there was always some sort of story or joke going on, if not more than one at the same time. After all, the Parkers were quite a busy bunch. Bouncing on her toes, Katie peered through the glass doors towards the airport terminal. "How much longer?" she asked. The caffeine in the Rockstar was beginning to get to her in more ways than one.

And she was beginning to wonder when she'd get her bike back. Rather than trying to hassle with the airport security and risk getting her bike all busted up, Katie had decided to mail it to herself. She'd shipped it two days ago and had gone into withdrawal the next morning. After school she'd pulled out her mom's bike, feeling like an idiot, and pedaled up and down the street a couple hundred times. Normally she would go riding first thing in the morning, but without a mountain bike she couldn't go on any of her usual trails, so she had decided to be pitifully pathetic and just ride up and down Randall Way until she was out of energy. After about twenty minutes one of the neighbors, who had been watering her garden, stopped and just stood there with the hose watering the driveway, watching Katie ride up and down and up and down until the biker felt that she might toss her cookies. But hopefully her "sacrifice" meant that if the bike wasn't already here, it would be sooner than it would have been otherwise. Honestly, Katie loved that bike so much it was almost like a child to her. Its name was Terry, in what was supposed to be a clever play on the Terry biking company. But most people had never even heard of it, so it was an inside joke.

Leaning over to see Lain's picture, Katie grinned at the camera so conveniently at-the-ready. "Nice change from the wallet photos most people carry," she giggled. "If you can climb with your legs, then hey, I'm all for it. Not sure if I'd be able to trust someone to keep me up in the sky though." After studying the picture for a moment, she took a step back. "Your brother? How old is he? Is he around here somewhere?" Inadvertantly glancing around for someone who looked like the boy in the picture, Katie smiled to herself. "Do you have any other siblings?" Not that one wasn't enough. Katie had never really found herself wishing for less siblings, because sometimes it felt like she was an only child. However, she had wished that her siblings were closer to her age. Her youngest brother had been nine when she was born, and Malia had already gone off to college. But, all-in-all, she couldn't complain. Life so far had been pretty cool to her. "I wondered that too," she said. "I guess we can control it by watching what we say..." From time to time, Katie might have problems with that. But she would do her best to bite her tongue, keep her opinion to herself. When it came to other people telling her how to bike, though, it wouldn't be easy.

[Oh oh see: sorry, i kind of mixed up your comments when i was typing this from memory...]

``katieparker

A smile lit Katie's face. She knew what it was like to defy stereotypes. After all, she was one of the most popular girls in her class--yet here she was, on a TV show. Not a teenage-drama-queen soap opera, but a sports show! She was proud of being athletic, but she also liked being girly, wearing skirts, lip gloss, and giggling about cute boys. Most people would say that the two didn't mix. And maybe they didn't. Maybe Katie was a sort of Jekyll-and-Hyde, with two separate personalities--the prep and the jock. But if that was true...which was the "good" self, and which was the bad? Pondering that question, Katie nibbled at her lip. She wasn't even sure if she had a good side. Her problem now, though, was trying to merge those two personalities, so that she could do well and still look cool. She thought she could do it, but she wasn't quite as confidant as she had been a couple weeks ago. Being here kind of exposed her to the harsh reality, as it were.

She giggled--giggled--when Lain asked if Shawna was her sister. "One of them. I have three. And two brothers. I'm the baby of the family." She didn't say anything else about them, though, because she didn't want to be caught blathering. She had the feeling that Lain wouldn't hang on her every word the way the girls at home did. This could be difficult, she realized. After having known the same kids all her life, she was going to have to make a whole new set of friends. Then again, it might be fun. She'd never been that close to any of the kids she hung out with. Didn't have a best friend, persay. Hopefully, Katie would meet some people who would befriend her. Hopefully they wouldn't be like her friends back home. As much as she hated to admit it, most people only hung out with her because she was popular. It bothered her sometimes, but she tried not to think about it too much.

Katie stepped back, away from the camera. She'd wanted to be on TV, but now she wasn't sure about it. She was starting to realize just what that meant, and it wasn't pretty. Every moment, every word that she said at risk of being heard by the whole world. It was almost terrifying. She wasn't so much worried about, like, swearing, but she was afraid either that she'd say something completely stupid, or that she'd get caught harping on one of the other kids. It had been known to happen. Katie could be a real brat if she wasn't careful. A combination of youngest-child syndrome and I'll-do-whatever-it-takes-to-be-popular-itis. So far, she'd done ok. She had more lovers than haters--at least to her face. But she was never really sure whether all her friends really hated her behind her back. It was a little bit unsettling, especially when she walked in on them giggling amongst themselves...she had half a mind to think that they'd been talking about her. Oh, well. Maybe they were all really glad to see her leave. She hitched her little purse up on her shoulder.