ChapterNine-8th Anthem

October 1st, 2008

   It's now October, and the Top 12 Finalists of The X Factor arrived at a mansion in West London. 7th Anthem were amazed by this house. It was bigger than their old UTurn Boston house, but it was about as big as their very short-lived Hollywood house.

  The groups were taken to a section in the house. Since 7A was a mixed group with seven people, both the guys and the girls were given two separate rooms.

  As the girls entered their room, they were screaming in excitement over their huge room. Then suddenly, they heard a recognizable voice giving a short laugh. The girls turned to face this person...it was Ethan!

  Alyson asked him angrily, "What the f*ck are you doing here?!"

 Ethan smirked as he slowly walked up to her, "The real question is, why hasn't UTurn split up yet?"

 Alyson told him sternly, "If you get any closer, I'll yell out Andrew's name. You know very well he'll kick your ass!"

  He laughed, "Really? Is that fraud still in your pathetic band?"

  With that, Alyson yelled for Andrew several times. He finally entered her room, and saw Ethan very close to Alyson.

  Andrew said to him sternly, "Get away from her, or I'll-"

 "Sue me? Kick my ass?" Ethan interrupted as he approached Andrew. "I've never taken you seriously, and I won't anytime soon."

  Suddenly, Andrew punched Ethan in the face. He told Ethan coldly, "You damn well take me seriously. Now answer this question: Why are you here? You not that much of a performer."

  Ethan grinned with his bloodied lip, "Simon Cowell didn't like me, but the producers wanted drama for the tabloids. They knew UTurn would go to the live shows, so they convinced Simon to let me through. Apparently they're making me look bad while your group are the perfect ones."

  Andrew didn't believe a word Ethan said, so he asked, "Simon was told by the show's producers to let you go to shows? If Simon doesn't like you, then Britain won't like you."

 "They already don't like me. The show has already showed our little boot camp argument. You know this show is fake, right?"

  Andrew rolled his eyes as he replied, "I was in that show, New England's Teen Superstar, with Aly, Bailey, and Justin. That show was fake, and The X Factor takes fake a greater level. Besides, we've been in this industry for a while. We've covered up lawsuits and sketchy pasts just so we'd be squeaky clean. Not everything is what it seems."

  Ethan thought for a moment, and then he said, "Well, since this show wants tabloid sales, I'll do everything in my power to destroy you. This isn't f*cking Disney anymore. This is the adult world."

  Andrew said in an irritated tone, "7th Anthem has just started, and you're threatening to ruin us already? You're stupid, you know that? Have you forgotten that I'm Andrew f*cking Hawthorne, the son of prominent lawyers who's recently studied international law, more specifically British law? Yeah, they're the band's lawyers."

  Ethan laughed, "You've never changed, which means you're still a fraud."

  "What do you mean? How am I 'still' a fraud?"

  "Do you remember how scared you were if the grade schools we attended found out that you were a Broadway prodigy? So you bullied those who were involved in the arts. You didn't care that they held social power; you just wanted to destroy them. But in turn, you joined UTurn."

 "I was just a kid then. I'm not like that anymore. I don't care what anyone thinks about my Broadway, theatre, and fine arts dance training. That training made me one of the most reliable artists the teen pop music industry had. I was the male lead singer; the lead dancer; and the main heartthrob. Besides, I regret what I did to them. I didn't want to get bullied. I loved the fear the students had of me. I had power, and I loved it, but it was tiring. I really thought about quitting when I was in middle and high school, but I couldn't stop. The power was addictive."

  Then there was silence...that is, until Libby spoke up, "Wow, Andrew, that was deep."

  Andrew told her, "I've told you all this before."

  Amanda asked in a irritable tone, "Great, now get Ethan out of here before he does something life threatening."

  Ethan smirked as he said to Andrew, "I'll get going."

 As soon as Ethan left the room, Andrew closed the door, and checked for a lock. He found one, and then he said to the girls, "Tonight when you go to sleep, make sure you lock this door and your window. Now follow me to the guys' room. We need to have an emergency meeting."

  So the girls did what he said, and enter 7A guys' room. Andrew also checked a lock on the door. He found it, so he locked the door. Justin and Trevor watched him, so Justin asked, "What are you looking for on the doorknob?"

  Andrew replied, "I was checking the door to see if it had a lock. It does, so as I told the girls, when we go to sleep tonight, we have lock this door and that window over there."

  "Why?"

  "Ethan is here as one of the finalists."

  Justin and Trevor were shocked to hear this. Justin asked, "That's not possible. He's not much of singer, or anything else for that matter."

 Andrew said, "I know, but the show's producers felt like that by having him in the competition will create drama for ratings and tabloids."

  Alyson chimed in, "Right before we moved here, I saw on a gossip site, and we're on there. It was speculating if we had some bad history with Ethan or something."

 Andrew said, "We did, but should we really reveal that right now? We're just starting over, and already our old UTurn past is coming out."

  "We'll do what you did concerning your bullying past; say nothing. We don't confirm, but we don't deny it either."

  Then Bailey asked Andrew, "About that, since Ethan is in the competition, what are you going to do if he tries to leak your past?"

  Amanda said, "That's true, and he's right: We're not with Disney anymore, so it's up to us if we want to cover up our past, and that includes Libby's past."

  That got Libby nervous, so she asked, "Do you all really think that Ethan would leak my slutty past to the public?"

  Andrew said to her, "If he's capable of revealing my bullying past, then he's capable of pulling any kind of shit."

  Trevor asked, "So what should we do? We can't put a restraining order on him since he's in the competition."

  Andrew replied, "The only thing we can do is issue a court-ordered mandate where he can't leak our past. Other than that, we basically don't confirm or deny anything. If we stick around long enough, and if we're a successful group, we'll be honest with the public. But we're just starting over, so we need to clean for little while longer."

  The members agreed to this.

  It's a week later, and it's the day before The X Factor goes live. The contestants were doing tech rehearsals on the TV stage. 7th Anthem were going over the song they would be singing, Don't Stop Movin by S Club 7. Almost the entire band had parts in the abbreviated version of the song. There's even choreography that was taught by choreographer Brian Friedman.

  As they were waiting to go on stage, Ethan approached Andrew. He taunted Andrew, "Don't choke on live TV. You just might destroy your precious band."

  Andrew responded sternly, "Look, that was when I was 15. I was insecure and scared. Now I'm 19, and I'm confident about this performance. So why don't you go taunt some other guy?"

  Then Ethan asked Justin, "Harrison, when UTurn were about to perform on that New England teen search for the first time live, how confident were you in f*cked up Hawthorne?"

  Justin said in an irritated tone, "I didn't at first, but he pulled through a week later. But after working with Andrew for a few years, I know he'll do well. He hasn't choked on live TV since then."

  Alyson scolded Ethan, "Leave Andrew alone! He's very reliable, and we have confidence in him that he'll perform great. Andrew, you're not scared, right?"

  Andrew replied, "I'm not, as long as Ethan doesn't f*ck things up. If he does, I'll sue his arse off."

 Ethan's eyes widen as he heard Andrew speak in a hint of British English. He asked him with a smirk, "Someone's turning into a Brit."

 Andrew replied, also with a smirk, "I've been living in London for several months now. Of course I would pick up British English. Plus, Justin's in the band."

  "What's next, a British accent?"

  "We'll see."

  Just as the Ethan was about to speak up, one of the show's producers told 7A that it was time to go on the stage. Andrew gave a smirk at Ethan, and walked away.

  It was now Sunday, and it was the result show. The night before, 7A performed. The judges loved them. Simon thought that their rendition of S Club 7's song was better than the original! As for Ethan, the judges questioned Simon's choice as one of three boys. Simon, on the other hand, was harsh on him. Ethan's performance was slightly off-key, and he came across as cold.

  It was time to reveal the bottom two. The host announced the contestants who were safe for the next week. After about ten of them going into the next show, the bottom two was revealed: Ethan and...7th Anthem!

  The 7A members were shocked by this result, as were the audience. In fact, the audience booed at the result. Even Simon was surprised. As for 7A, they thought they were a shoo-in, but instead they're in danger of being eliminated.

  Ethan and 7A went backstage to get ready to impress the judges with a song. Ethan marched up to Andrew, and taunted, "You f*cked up big time last night."

  Andrew replied angrily, "I didn't choke! You saw me last night! Or were you too busy watching old New England teen star videos on YouTube?"

  Alyson, standing next to Andrew, told Ethan, "You need to stop picking fights with my Andrew. He gave a great performance, but you are too delusional to see that. Now if you excuse us, we got a song to sing to save ourselves."

  So the 7A members walked away from Ethan, who was fuming. After about several minutes, it was time to perform. Ethan sang first, and then it was 7A's turn. They sang Better In Time by Leona Lewis.

  After a commercial break, the judges made their decision, and it was unanimous: 7th Anthem was saved. Ethan was sent home. The members were relived to hear that they to stay on the show for another, and not having Ethan around to bother them.