~ Chapter 10: Sing a great song in front of an audience. ~

        We knew we had arrived because of all the people that were there already. We parked a little further away then went back there and sighed. What had I gotten myself into?!

“Sing a great song in front of an audience. Here we are. In The X Factor.” I said, a little nervous.

“It’s going to be fun. We don’t have anything to loose anyways.”

He was right. We had to enjoy every second of it. We waited in the line for a long time and we took advantage of that time to try to choose a song, cause of course, we hadn’t planned one. Everyone was singing around us and we were trying to pick out something that would really make us have a good time.

“Do you still play the guitar?” I asked Damon.

He did so I advised him to play some while he was on stage. He thought it was a good idea and we agreed on asking one when we would get inside. I wasn’t really looking forward to going on stage because I wasn’t a good singer and there was an audience out there and, even if I knew it was for fun, I didn’t like to be ridiculous in front of people.

“Ok, sing something to me.” Damon blurted, out of the blue.

“Now?”

“Yeah. I decided I wasn’t going to let you get on stage if you were a really bad singer like the girl over there.” He explained while showing me a teenager who was trying to act all diva and everything but who sounded… awful.

“Thank you!”

“So… Sing!”

I thought and the first song that crossed my mind was Good Girl, by Carrie Underwood. I put one headphone in my ear to have the melody, cleared my voice and started singing. Damon was listening attentively and stopped me after the first chorus. I was hoping he would say I wouldn’t go cause I was so bad it would be mean of him to force me but instead he said:

“You’re not that bad. You’re definitely going.”

“Please Damon! I suck!”

“You know you don’t!”

We argued playfully for a little bit but I had to surrender and we kept on searching a song to sing. A little later, we arrived at the end of the line and we got out numbers stuck on our shirts. I couldn’t believe what I had seen on TV was happening to me. I realized I was going to “sing” in front of Simon Cowell, L.A. Reid, Demi Lovato and Britney Spears! Oh my God! I was going to make such a fool of myself!

Damon and I moved to the room and later, we got called to go backstage and wait for our turn. Damon asked a guy if he could borrow his guitar and the guy agreed. Minutes flew by and soon enough it was time for us to go on stage. They called Damon first. I hugged him to wish him good luck and he smiled before going up on stage. I could hear the audience screaming when he did.

“Is he your boyfriend?” A girl asked, waiting behind me.

“No, just a friend. Why?”

“Nothing. He’s cute.”

“Yup.”

I had nothing against talking a little more but she stopped me and stuck her ear against the wall.

“Oh my god he’s good!”

“Who?”

“Your friend, duh!”

Surprised, I stuck my ear against the wall like her. I could hear Damon sing Somewhere Only We Know with the guitar. And man, the girl was right, he was good! That jerk! He knew he could sing so he put me up to this just so that I would make a complete and utter fool of myself! They talked but I couldn’t understand and Damon got back, laughing, and with a shocked face.

“You’re going to pay for that.” I said.

Some guy said it was my turn to go on stage and Damon wished me good luck, laughing. I couldn’t back up now so I climbed up the stairs and went on stage. The lights dazzled me but I smiled and waved my hand at the audience that was screaming. Wow! I was on the X Factor stage! Simon asked me to introduce myself with the British accent. I did, speaking in a microphone for the first time ever.

“What are you going to sing to us today?” Demi Lovato asked.

I used to idealize her and I still listen to a lot of her music. I even went to one of her concerts with Jenny. She’s a great performer.

“A very special song.” I just said.

They started playing the song, and I heard the first guitar notes. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and started singing I’m Gonna Love You Through It, but in my way.

He dropped the phone and burst into tears

The doctor just confirmed his fears

His girlfriend held it in and held him tight

Diseases don’t discriminate or care if you’re just 21

With a friends who need you in her life

She said, "I know that you’re afraid and I am, too

But you’ll never be alone, I promise you"

When you’re weak, I’ll be strong

When you let go, I’ll hold on

When you need to cry, I swear that I’ll be there to dry your eyes

When you feel lost and scared to death,

Like you can’t take one more step

Just take my hand, together we can do it

I’m gonna love you through it.

I just kept on thinking about Damon and I felt tears in my eyes that I managed to contain. Simon Cowell put his hand up to make the music stop after the chorus and I let the pressure go while breathing out. Then I realized that the audience was applauding.

“Why choose that song?” L.A Reid asked me when it calmed down a little.

“It’s meant for a very special friend of mine.”

They asked a little more then gave their opinion about the performance. The truth is, I didn’t really care what they were saying. I had done it for Damon and I had gone through with it. That was the most important to me. No matter what. But still, I listened and heard Simon say no but the three others say yes. Well, that was unexpected! I said thanks, a little shocked and went backstage after waving at the excited audience another time. Wow! I could not believe what had just happened! I had passed the X Factor audition! Damon and I hugged while laughing, both still in state of shock.

“I can’t believe we did it!” Damon exclaimed.

“And I made it! They said yes!”

“Me too!”

“I heard you, you sounded incredible!”

“You too. And I loved the song. I almost cried but I figured if there were cameras I had to hold it back in so I didn’t. But it really touched me. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

He asked me if I’d go to the next step of the competition but I said no, of course. I wanted to be with him this entire year and I didn’t have any time to waste. Even if it was on the X Factor. I mean, just the fact that I had made it through today was a miracle, it was sure that I wouldn’t pass the next step. So it wasn’t worth it.

Damon and I got back in my car, still not believing what had just happened and I took the notebook out of my bag.

“Together.” Damon said.

I put my hand on his and we checked Sing a great song in front of an audience. We both knew we could have done it the easy way and sang in the public park or in some place less crowded than the X Factor auditions but doing this right and memorably was the real purpose and I think we had achieved this goal. We went back home, singing our hearts out in the car. I realized it had been a while since Damon hadn’t been talking about Katie. Since he had seen her too actually. I was wondering what was going on with them but, like I said before, it wasn’t any of my business so I didn’t ask anything. If Damon wanted to tell me, he would.

He came back home to shower, eat and everything so I took advantage of the time I had alone to write a little. Then, I called Jenny and told her all about the X Factor audition. She couldn’t believe it and asked me a proof so I texted her the picture of the number I had gotten and kept on my shirt. She was screaming and asked if I had made it. When I told her yes she yelled again and I had to keep the phone far away from my ear. We talked for about an hour then she had to hang up cause a friend of hers was waiting for her.

I missed her a lot. I used to be in that house with her. There used to be her laugh filling the silence and I used to have at least a bad joke per day. And, also, I was really whishing I could talk to her about Damon. And I didn’t want to do it on the phone. It was complicated. I was feeling more and more… attracted to him. There, I wrote it. I knew he was supposed to be just a friend and that he was with Katie but, I couldn’t help myself but feeling weak in the knees when he was smiling at me. God, I know this sounds a lot cheesy and all but I can’t help it. So, yeah, I wished I could talk to Jenny. I knew she would probably tell me to go tell him right away how I felt and stop acting like I was in third grade but I just couldn’t. I mean, the guy had a girlfriend and he was my friend. I didn’t want it to become weird between us. That was exactly the last thing I wanted. Having him back in my life was the best thing that had ever happened to me in years. Oh, and also, he was kind of dying. So I couldn’t compromise the time we had left together.