The Notebook of Crap

Diary Of A Girl With A Messed Up Life Chapter 12

Entry 12-TVO Kids

TVO kids is a children’s channel. They play the coolest children shows, music, and give out prizes. All kids stuff for kids under the age of 12 (mind you, we’re 14).

Okay, call us what you want, this is one of the things we wanted to do since we could pretty much speak was to call TVO kids, talk on TV and hear our own voices and get free prizes.

We were hanging out after school, (Other, Laura, Kate, Abby, and I) and were bored out of our minds, sitting on Abby’s couch (yes, with the poskit troupe, you really could fit five people on a four person couch).

“We should do something” I said all of a sudden.

Laura turned and stared at me, her eyes full of curiosity. “Like what?”

I shrugged my shoulders just as Kate changed channels to TVO kids. The show was called Dragon Train with friendly dragons everywhere. I pulled my legs up to my chest and stared at the TV. It took me a little bit of time to realize that Abby was talking.

“....Because it would be awesome” Abby finished, her face flushed, eyes full of excitement.

“What would be awesome?” I asked, still staring at the TV. The dragons were getting on the magical train now.

“Calling them.”

She pointed at the TV screen just as a green dragon with tiny wings smiled at us. Other started talking then.

“I’ve always wanted to call in...But I was too scared.”

I must have spaced out, staring at the TV, everything around me was quiet, as if I tuned out without meaning to. I couldn’t take my eyes off of the colourful dragons, the kids smiling and the magical train that went from the dragon’s home to another place faster than you could say, Dragon.

Abby nudged me and the noises were back. “Debbie call them” she hissed as she punched in the numbers that were now on the screen for us to call them. Kate and laura screamed once they started dialling. I rolled my eyes and pulled out my phone, slowly punching in each number.

416-2857-9047 and then held it up to my ear. “What name are we using?” I whispered.

No one paid any attention to me, too busy dialling then hanging up. The line was busy for me as well, it was busy for all of us. Then finally, Abby got through. She screamed then put it on speaker.

“What’s your name?” A lady asked. Her voice sounded young but rushed like she wanted her job to be over right that second.

She turned her attention towards us, eyes pleading for a name.

“Um..Kate?” Laura blurted out.

“NO!” Kate nearly screamed.

“Hello?” The lady said. “What’s your name?"

“Eleni?” I mouthed to her.

“My name is Eleni” Abby said into the phone.

“Melanie?” The lady repeated.

I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing, I looked over at my friends and they were doing the same, looking down, biting their lips, and closing their eyes.

“No” Abby started, “Eleni. E-L-E-N-I."

“oohhhh” The lady said, I had a feeling that she was nodding her head (Abby was nodding hers).

“Okay, we’ll enter your name in the draw to have your voice on TV and talk to Andrew and his dog. How old are you?"

“Um…Five?"

“Okay, bye then” The lady hung up. 

The phone was beeping, telling us that the call was over. 

We waited about thirty minutes for the show about Andrew and his dog to finish. Once it did we all screamed. It was time for them to announce who got to speak on TV! Laura held my hand tightly, Abby held Laura’s, Other held Abby’s and Kate held Other’s.

A name shined on the TV with neon red lights. But it wasn’t the name Eleni. It was Dylan. 

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We tried again the next day, after school. But this time, when they picked up, we weren’t as excited as we were yesterday (or maybe that’s just me because Abby and Other were still screaming once the call went through).

“TVO Kids! Hello!” This time it was a guy speaking to us. 

I didn’t hear what they said after that so I assumed that they asked for my name (yes, I was the one who got through that time). “My name’s Eleni."

“Pardon? Is that your name?” He asked me.

I nodded my head just to realize that he couldn’t see me. “Yes,” I replied.

“Okay, and how old are you?” 

He sounded like he liked his job, taking time asking every question which was the opposite of the woman from yesterday. 

“Seven!” (I didn’t say that, Laura did.)

“Okay” I heard him clap his hands, a few muffled voices were in the background. “We’ll enter your name in the draw!"

“Thanks” I yell before Abby can say anything weird. 

We waited once again for the show to finish and once it did we all held onto each other, hoping to read the name ‘Eleni’ in big neon red (or whatever colour they chose to put) on the screen. 

That was when my phone started ringing. I pulled my hands away from Laura and Other and pressed the green button.

“Hello?” I said into the phone. 

What freaked me out was that I heard my own voice echoed back to me from the TV. I nearly screamed.

Abby grabbed the phone from me.

“Hello! TVO Kids here! You have been chosen to talk to Andrew and his dog!"

My eyes widened in disbelief.

“Okay!” Abby said, her voice was full of excitement and disbelief. 

“All right, so now is the time to ask any question you have for Andrew’s dog?” She asked.

“Uh, yeah…” Abby stalled for a bit. It was weird hearing my best friend’s voice right beside me but also on the TV. “What kind of dog is it and can it do tricks?"

I could hear her typing it on a computer. Tap-tap-tapping away. 

“We will need to talk to your parents to get your address to send you a prize, all right?"

Abby nodded her head, “Okay."

The lady put us on hold and told us not to hang up. Abby turned to Other.

“Other, come talk to them!"

Other shook her head, giving her a ‘are you crazy?’ expression. “What? Are you crazy? I don’t wanna do it!"

“Come on! It’ll be fun, who wouldn’t want to hear their own voice on TV?” Abby said, pulling out the puppy dog face.

I watched as Other sighed, rolled her eyes and then agreed. We heard a muffled voice come onto the TV and on my phone. It was Andrew.

“Hello, Eleni!” He said full of fake excitement.

“Well, my dog is a german Shepard. And yes, he can do tricks like talk, jump through a hoop, and get the newspaper for me!"

He answered a few more of our weak attempts of conversation and then it was finally over (or at least talking to ANdrew). 

Kate was the one who had to act like she was our mother, even though her voice was far too young to be a parent. 

Sometimes, I wonder what weird things I’m going to do when I’m older….Or maybe High school. 

From,

A Girl with a messed up life

Thanks for reading!