Got Me Goin' Crazy-Michael Conor

Chapter 13

Michael's POV
I watched as Sam's jaw dropped.

"What? What do you mean?"

I sighed, sitting up. "Come here."

She crawled over and I put my arm around her.

I laid my head back against the wall, closing my eyes.

"I can't believe I'm finally telling someone," I whispered.

"Telling someone what, Michael? You're scaring me," she said.

I took a deep breath. "The show kept getting more and more bad ratings because of the eliminations. First Camry, then Dorian, then Cam, putting up Mikey twice, putting up Sergio... the show was getting accused of being racists. Even though it was the architects fault, not the producers, the show kept getting slammed for it. Especially Joel, the executive producer. It was stressing him out a lot, he thought ABC was gonna fire him, even though he told them repeatedly it wasn't his fault."

Sam winced. "That's rough. Joel seems so cool from the videos I've seen."

I smirked. "You stalked a bunch of Boy Band stuff after you met us, didn't you?"

She blushed. "Maybe," she said.

I laughed, stroking her arm. "Anyway. Even though Sergio was saved by America over Devin, it was still a very close vote. I think it was like one or two votes difference. Rumor had it that Emma and another producer voted even though they weren't supposed to, but I don't know if it was true or not," I said.

Sam made a face. "Sergio deserved it anyway," she said.

I nodded. "He did. I'm glad he made the band."

I blew out a breath. This was the hard part.

"The day of the finale, Jaden, Mikey and Marcus kept saying how they knew they weren't gonna make the band because they didn't have a big enough fan base. We kept trying to tell them it wasn't true, but they insisted. And they were fine with it. They talked about forming their own band with Cam. They were having really good attitudes about it. And honestly, though the three of them were super talented, they were right, their fan bases weren't that big. Same with Sergio. He didn't think he'd make it either."

"So the finale came, and the band ended up being Chance, Drew, Sergio, Mikey and Marcus. We were all kind of shocked. Chance we weren't surprised about, I mean he was practically immune. Drew's vocals are insane so we all new he'd make the band. But the other three we were kind of stumped about. Happy for them, but stumped," I said.

Sam nodded in understanding.

"At the after party I was with Miles, Jay, and Brady. Timbaland came up to us and said to Brady and I that he needed to talk to us."

Sam's eyes widened, as if she knew I was about to say.

"He said 'I'm probably not supposed to tell you guys this, but I'm going to or else I'll just feel guilty. You guys got more votes. You were both supposed to make the band over Mikey and Marcus. But the show was getting slammed and ratings were being dropped because of the racism accusations. So they... cheated. The producers rigged it. I'm so so sorry, you guys deserved to make the band. But honestly, if you guys are willing to form your own band or even have a solo career, I'll sign you to my record label. Same with Jaden. You deserve it.' Then he handed us his business card and walked off."

Sam covered her mouth. "Wow Michael. That's-insane. I'm so sorry. I can't imagine how that must've felt," she said, grabbing my hand.

I sighed, touching my hair. "Yeah, it was kind of rough. Especially for Brady, cause he's never wanted to have a solo career. For me I don't care as much since I'm a rapper, but for him...."