One Direction: After Hours

Chapter 2

As blasé as I felt towards my audition, I didn’t want to sound like a wounded cow in front of four extremely famous people. Phase 1 was to get to Manchester. Phase 2 was to keep the public humiliation to a minimum.

Consequently, I had been combining all my free time to practice the song for my audition, trying to get the notes and perfect as my vocals would allow me. It wasn’t ideal, but you’ve got to work with what you’ve got.

Tia also offered to work with me, and sick of being cooped up in the house, I obliged. I went over to her host family’s house at one point during the week, where I sat with her host family and listened to her practice. The host family cooed and applauded, and I had to agree with them – Tia had chosen the song “Only Exception”, and it complemented her voice perfectly.

 As well as that she’d gone the extra mile by learning the song on guitar. There was no question in my mind as to whether or not she’d get in, but she insisted that I should give her some pointers. So I made some baloney about her guitar sounding out of tune to make her happy.

I then proceeded to shoo the host family out of the room and sing for Tia. It was a disaster. The whole time it looked like she was daydreaming, and I stuffed up some of the chorus. I didn’t sing after that, even though she insisted that she had only acted like that because my voice was so, and I quote, “perfect”.

Oh well. As I have witness first-hand, we aren’t all born to sing.

**(Five hours later)**

We’d been waiting almost three hours in a massive line filled with people waiting for their audition numbers. Both Tia and I had been excited when we had arrived at the end of the line – my dad in tow – but it had died down after about ten minutes. I was patient when it came to food, but patience was out the window when it came to a line. Especially one shared with another several thousand.

In the end, we had gotten what we had waited for; the numbers. My number was 172767, while Tia’s was 172768. She’d said that I got the earlier number because she didn’t want me to back out if she’d have gone first, to which I protested about how she should know me better and that I would have stuck around.

After we came to the conclusion that I am a great friend, I’d stuck my number awkwardly on the front of my jumper, not really sure what a person does when there was a zipper right though the middle of it.

“We’re here! Look! There’s the door!” Tia pointed at the entrance to the building, sounding like she was about to explode with excitement. I, being the more rational and hesitant one, was being dragged by the arm to my impending doom.

“Wow.” I said nonchalantly, earning me a stern look from my friend. I huffed, trying to put more enthusiasm into my voice. “I mean, gosh! This will be the third time I’ve seen a door of this exact structure!”

“Much better!” She approved, beaming as she pulled me through the entrance. The room that met us on the other side was beyond huge. A blue, soft looking carpet ran from one end of the room to another, with lush red sofas running vertically and along the walls of the room, swarms of people lounging on their seats.

Several large screens hung off the walls, all of which read ‘now auditioning: number 172398.’ From where we were standing, which was only a short staircase above the crowd, I could spot numerous signs directing people to the toilets, and several others warning people of the consequences for damaging furniture.

I stared at the mass of people in surprise; they defiantly didn’t show the horde of people in the show X-Factor itself, and I could certainly see why. Families supporting those auditioning flocked around each other in masses much larger than my one parent. I could spot several people bawling their eyes out, and an even larger number listening to their iPods.

“Come on, El. Smile. I spy with my little eye several cute guys looking your way! It’d be great to knock some boy’s socks off before we audition.” Tia giggled, hiding her mouth behind her hand. I shook myself out of my surprised state and made my way down the stairs, and frown etched into my features as I scanned the room for a place to sit.

“Hey, bro!” Tia called, jumping down the stairs in one bound, before wrapping an arm around my shoulders. “I said knock their socks off, not break their hearts.”

I smirked, gesturing to my hooded jumper. “They were most likely staring at my sexy jumper, not me.”

“I sincerely beg to differ.” She wagged her eyebrows and pulled down my hood, so it covered my eyes, before pulling it off altogether.

“Hey!” I protested, trying to grab my hood which she was holding back. “It’s freezing cold!”

This statement managed to get the near-by attention of all those around us, so I gave up in hopes that we could find a spot to sit without further embarrassing ourselves. Was it my fault if the weather here was much cold then what I was use to? I’ve always been horrible when it came to cold weather, even in Australia.

My dad tsked as he passed me, while Tia let go of my hood and in exchange ruffled up my hair. “You’ve got to get use to the weather.”

I smirked at her and attempted to pat down my hair, the stares boring a hole in my back as I followed my over-confidant friend past the couches. I watched as the screens changed simultaneously, now reading ‘now auditioning: number 172399.’

My dad collapsed onto a free space up ahead, before patting the thick armrest next to him not a moment later. Tia made herself as comfortable as she could on the armrest, as I stood in front of them with my hands buried deep in my jumper’s pockets, my eyebrow raised as I looked at them quizzically.

Dad patted his knees half-heartedly, gesturing for me to sit on him. I shook my head vigorously, frowning at the prospect of sitting on my dad like a two year old. I clearly stated, “Not for all the cake in the world.”

I collapsed on the ground, in-between dad and Tia’s legs, my own legs aching from standing on them for so long. I made sure to pull my legs up closer to my chest, trying to keep in as much heat as I could in my black skinny jeans, while also trying to keep out of the way of the oncoming traffic. They didn’t exactly leave that much room in between the couches.

Now all we had to do was wait for our numbers.