You're on Candid Camera!

Okay, the bus was packed and the lady next to me was shoving me out of the way to get ready to take a seat I was already planning on offerring her. It was hot and I was annoyed, and then I saw 3 metal heads getting on, all with super long died black hair. I was getting ready to be even more uncomfortable. They get on talking loudly and joking amongst themselves, and the bus takes off. Then one pulls out his cell phone and another goes, Oh dude, I think my phone's ringing. Hello? Other guy: Hey dude where are you? First guy: On my way to Linda Vista, how about you? Other guy: No way! Me too! It was funny, and went on for a while, and I was laughing by the time the bus cleared out and I got a seat. The conversation between the boys shifted to music, and their need for a drummer, which evolved into their upcoming European tour and some of the festivals they were going to play in Germany. Then this really strange thing happened where the driver from another route pulled up next to our driver and had a conversation in the middle of the street. It ended up that we passed the bus from the other route, which soon passed us further down the street. All of a sudden the boys' conversation got heated. "Is he still following us or is he following the other bus now?!" one asked. Another jumped on the phone. "Dude, are you behind the ## or the ##?" "What's he driving?" "Oh dude, he's in that SUV right there behind the ##." "The whole point of this was for him to follow us and videotape the conversation." At this point everyone is looking out the window, listening carefully, and getting nervous and interested. Are we in the midst of a reality show? everyone was thinking. (Still on the phone) "No, dude, calm down, we can just ride back in the car and start over. Did you at least bring the Gibson?" "Did he bring the Gibson, dude? Let's get off here." "You didn't bring the Gibson?!" "He didn't bring the Gibson?!" which trailed off into "I can't believe he didn't bring the Gibson!" as they jumped off the bus. When the bus was safely on the road, I turned to the girl sitting next to me and asked "Was that not completely bizarre?" She laughed nervously and said "Was it real?"

My guess is that it wasn't, that these kids amuse themselves by coming up with complicated alternative lives for themselves and play it out for the "audience" around them. It could be possible, of course, but the way they so smartly carried out the phone conversation at the beginning of the ride made me wary of whatever might come next. I suppose we'll find out when a metal band's public transportation ride is entered as part of the next MTV reality show, won't we?