I groaned, hoping he would have forgotten about that in our discussion of Zoey. No such luck.
“I’ll be there.”
Satisfied with that, the group broke up and everyone headed off in different directions. I hightailed it straight for my bedroom. I had a single this year and while I sort of missed living with Remy, it was nice to have my own space, too.
Still grumbling about being forced to attend a party I didn’t want to go to, I grabbed my laptop to get some studying in, seeing how I wouldn’t be able to do it tonight while the house was quiet as I had planned.
Up on my screen was the Zoey Unboxed video I’d been watching earlier. Feeling irritated in general, I watched it once more.
The look on her face when she opened it and held it up for everyone to see was pathetic. It was clear she had no idea what it was until she read the note with instructions that came with it.
“Well, it looks like I’m going to be trying rock climbing in the near future. Stay tuned for a future video of me trying this one out in my review.”
She flashed a fake smile for the camera as the video ended.
I rolled my eyes, but something inside me stirred.
Clicking on comments, I decided to add my own.
Admit it. You have no clue what to do with that thing. Rock Steady made a huge mistake in wasting time and money on you. That harness would have served anyone else better. Perhaps someone who actually knows how to rock climb and use a harness like that. This company has lost all respect from me choosing to partner with you when there are so many great influencers in the actual rock climbing community. Make sure you anchorwell, sweetheart. Wouldn’t want to see you take a massive whipper off the crux!
I grinned, knowing she was going to have to look up that last bit because I was certain she would have no idea what I was talking about. This girl was definitely not a climber.
Zoey
Chapter 2
I checked the stats on my newest video, surprised by how high my view count was. It probably shouldn’t surprise me so much by now, but I couldn’t help being amazed by how many people were watching me. Me! Why the hell would any of them care to follow me? Couldn’t say I didn’t love them for it though.
If someone had asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up, even two years ago, I certainly wouldn’t have said a product influencer. I mean, what even is that? It sounds like a made-up job. Sometimes it even felt like a made-up job.
People sent me stuff to review. It was as simple as that. At first, I was doing it on my own just for fun. I’d see products advertised online that would show up in my various newsfeeds and would buy something and try it. Then one day I thought it might be fun to make a video of me opening the box and trying it out live as a video post.
Turned out, I was okay at it and people started liking my posts. So I did some more. They were mostly beauty products, or just something random I saw that caught my interest like a mystery snack box… turned out all the snacks were at or past expiration and stale. It was pretty nasty, but that stupid box shot my ratings through the roof.
Suddenly, I was getting mystery boxes of all sorts as companies started sending me items requesting video reviews. I did a video for every single thing that came my way, and I was grateful for it, too. But lately things were getting a little out of control.
With my thrust into influencer stardom came serious concerns from my Alpha. I was a wolf shifter and the truth of that could never be leaked. It was dangerous putting my face out there like this, but I understood that and took every possible precaution I could. After several conversations, we came up with a plan that my Alpha was comfortable enough with—for now at least.
My “official” business address had been setup in New York City with a generic post office box, but upon receipt was immediately routed to a box in Kansas where it was picked up weekly and driven to Denver, then it was shipped to Alaska before finally being redirected to me at college.
On top of that, while my face was on the videos and unaltered, my physical location was always hidden. I had an apartment in town despite living in my sorority house with my Theta sisters. At the apartment each room was set up with a different background. All windows were kept closed and blinds down. I could have been anywhere in the world. Sometimes I even used a green screen to make it appear like I was in various other parts of the world. I made sure there was nothing in any of my videos that could lead anyone to the ARC, this town, or my home Pack in Shadow Ridge, Montana.
I was as careful as I could be, and it drove the internet sleuths insane.
Sometimes it made me a little nervous knowing there were always people out there looking for me. But I also knew I was safe here at Archibald Reynold’s College. To the human world it was a small, exclusive college that was nearly impossible to get into, and it was—for a human.
As I scrolled through messages on the new rock climbing harness that had arrived today and was the focus of my latest video, I had to laugh at some of the comments.
What the hell did I know about rock climbing?
Wolves don’t climb.
I knew I might even have to call in an expert to assist with this one. Trying new products was one thing, dying over them was a totally different story. Yet my fans all seemed supportive and super excited about it. In truth, I didn’t even know how to put the dang thing on.
You’ve got this Zoey. Rock climbing is so fun!
I just love that you’re always willing to try new things.
