“Next!”
My hands were trembling, legs were shaking and my whole body felt like I could just collapse. I looked across to see my three best friends, Ashlee, Gemma and Rose, smiling at me with excitement and adrenaline spread across their faces. I adjusted the piece of paper stuck to my shirt with the number ‘1326‘ scribbled on it, tightened the ponytail in my hair and took a deep breath before connecting hands with my friends and stepping out onto the gigantic stage. I looked out to the audience, thousands and thousands of stranger’s eyes were locked on mine. There were 3 people sitting on a long desk in the centre of the sea of people. There, right before me, sat Mel B, legendary singer from The Spice Girls, Kyle Sandilands, the ‘scary judge’ and the person I considered my god, Simon Cowell. I closed my eyes for a brief second, before remembering why I was here.
“Hello girls, what are your names?” Simon asked kindly.
“Hi! I’m Gemma, and this is Rose, Ashlee and Dione.”
Let me back up a bit.
My name is Dione Voyatzis and I’m fifteen years old. I love to sing, dance and act, but I’ve always wanted to become a singer. I never thought I was good enough, until I was asked to sing lead in our school musical of ‘Grease’, and all the teachers told me I had a real talent. I am really, really confident, and can sometimes be over the top, but when it came to singing, I needed some balls. It was then that Rose, Ashlee and Gemma all said that they wanted to have a career in music too, and at that moment, we decided we’d make a singing group. We’d come together at Ashlee’s house every Wednesday after school, and sing all different types of songs. Country, blues, show tunes, you name it. All I wanted was to become famous but I couldn’t figure out how. Until I was blessed with the most amazing five people in my life. Harry, Louis, Liam, Niall and Zayn, or you may know them as One Direction, the hottest boy band in town. I saw What Makes You Beautiful on Youtube when I was thirteen, and I became and instant fan. I tried and tried to get their attention, via Twitter and Facebook. I sent them letters, entered competitions to meet them but nothing ever worked. It was my love for them that kept me motivated to do anything. When I found out how they became famous, I knew, somewhere, that that may work for me too. So here I am, with my three best friends, about to sing for the world, on X-Factor Australia, and find out if I have a talent like they do.
“Where do you girls come from?” Mel B asked kindly.
“Ahh.. We come from a small town eight hours from Perth called Esperance.” Ashlee smiled.
“So you girls drove 8 hours to be here? You must be very passionate.” Kyle said amazed.
“We are.” Gemma stated, chuckling.
“So who are your inspirations? Like, who do you want to follow in the footsteps of?” Simon asked. I turned to the others who all stared at me with that ‘you answer it’ look in their eyes.
“Umm.. we.. ahh.. we.. well.. I wanna be like One Direction.. just like.. girls though.” I mumbled, feeling my face turn bright red.
“Oh really? I made them famous!” Simon laughed.
“I know, and if you didn’t I wouldn’t be here today.” I said, smiling shyly.
“Do you other girls like them?” Mel asked.
“NO.” Rose said.
“Well, Gemma and I think their music is alright, but Rose can’t stand them.” Ashlee said, laughing.
“Why??” Someone from the audience yelled out.
“Coz Dione talks about them 24/7!! Especially Harry, she’s always like ‘oh Harry, you’re the one I wanna marry!’” Rose laughed. I turned to my left and hit Rose on the arm. Multiple laughs escaped the mouths of the people in the audience, but I laughed too, knowing that if I got angry, then people would think I was a freak.
