Should Have Known (Camren)

Chapter 18

We made it. We made it through.

I paid attention to every detail surrounding me- the lights, the way the audience's cheers and claps vibrated through me, the proud sobs of the other girls surrounding me. It was my dream. It was my dream and it had come true, and I hadn't expected it at all. Maybe it was because I was always told that it wasn't realistic or that I should have dreamt of something more practical, but it was my biggest dream, and it was coming true right before my eyes.

It shouldn't have been unusual to have a dream like that, right? I knew what I wanted. I wanted to make it big. I wanted to inspire, to sing my heart out. That had always been my dream. Ever since I was a small child, all I could think about was singing-this, singing-that. Singing into a hairbrush. Singing in the shower. Just singing. I had done everything to get that point. I worked day in and day out to make sure that one day, my name would be on the Billboard Charts, that one day I'd hear my song on the radio, and I knew that dream of mine was coming true.

So how come, right then in that moment, the only thing I could seem to dream about were those four girls, lumped together by choice, best friends by fate?

And even then, feeling Camila's delicate hand in my own and listening to the sound of her laughter through tears of joy, I wanted to lie down on that stage at that very second and drift off into a sound, peaceful sleep, so that the only thing that filled my mind were her deep chocolate eyes...

Her soft, pink lips...

Her warm skin...

The way she smelled like cheap perfume and a family that loved her more than life itself...

Her.

What if it was all a dream? What if those girls- my family- were all a figment of my imagination, and the following morning my alarm clock would sound and it would all be over?

If it was all a dream- the crowd, my heart in my throat, my best friends, and her hand tucked safely in mine- then God, I didn't ever want to wake up.

...

Emblem3 was eliminated that night. The girls and I all threw them a goodbye party in Camila's room, although I wasn't so sure that their going away was something worth celebrating. I was upset that Keaton would be leaving after we had just made up, but I kept my head high and my spirits higher. Nothing could bring me down from the adrenaline that I felt from advancing. I knew I'd be hearing more from Emblem3 anyway. There was no way they weren't going to make it in the music industry, and I made sure Keaton knew that after a lengthy hug and a heart to heart about what the future held for all of us.

The girls and I spent every waking moment together for the entirety of the six days following the results show. We explored the hotel, knowing that we wouldn't be there for much longer, and we all went out and saw Los Angeles together on a nightly basis. We took in as many details as possible every single day until the finale approached.

It was split up into two days, the first one filled with three songs from each competitor and the second set to be the Christmas special. We rehearsed every single day until the first show when we would perform Anything Could Happen for the second time as our "song of the season," Let it Be by The Beatles, and Camila's personal favorite, our duet with Demi to her song Give Your Heart a Break. It was going to be a busy night, but nothing was going to stand in our way. We were bound and determined to finish exactly where we left off at the results show- on top.

...

Lights flashed, the audience cheered, and bass boomed throughout the auditorium. Everything seemed to be in slow motion. My hearing was muffled and my vision was blurred, but I had never seen so clearly. It was the final night of the competition. The very last day to prove ourselves before the Christmas special and results show the next day. Our families were somewhere in the audience, there to support us in person for the last meaningful performance of our X Factor career. It felt so surreal. Just eight weeks earlier I was crying on that exact stage, devastated that I had been eliminated. Two months ago I was placed into a group with four strangers who instantaneously became my best friends. Just two months had passed and everything was so different. We had made it so far- all the way to the very end. Five girls, no older than eighteen years old had taken America by surprise and advanced all the way to the finale, fighting our way through weeks upon weeks of fluctuating ratings, countless hours of rehearsal, and exhausting performances, but we had made it. We were at the end. It was time to take home the gold.