n i n e
"ambition is believing in yourself even when no one else in the worlds does."
**
"Chloe, you have to co-operate here. Your audition is in two days." Dani groaned, I felt a surge of nerves through my stomach as the fact hit me. In two days I'd be performing live in front of millions of people. What if I got turned away? What if I completed flopped in the audition? Paranoia flooded my mind and I felt myself beginning to panic.
"See, you've made her nervous now," Ash remarked, her and Dani didn't exactly get on well, despite them persisting on taking me into town to 'prepare for my audition'.
Dani simply rolled her eyes at Ash's response, "She was nervous anyway," Dani retaliated quietly, probably hoping that I wouldn't hear, "Now can we please not fight, this is about her, not us."
"Fine," Ash grumbled. We had already been to several different shops but nothing suited, I wasn't sure whether it was down to nerves or if the shops just had a crap selection.
"We have one hour until our spa appointment so we better get cracking," Dani urged me, earning a glare from Ash, "I mean, let's look in Topshop, yeah?"
"Sure," I laughed, "To be honest, you two seem more nervous than me," The words came out sounding a lot more confident than I felt.
"Topshop it is," She rushed, clearly trying to break the awkward tension between herself and Ash.
As we walked into the shop, strong scents of perfume and the booming of music filled my senses, slightly throwing me off. Despite this I was quick to spot the monochrome section and hurried over there, dragging my friends behind me. I'm pretty sure I heard Dani mumbling something about me owning too many black clothes but I brushed off the remark and began looking.
"Do you really need anymore monochrome," Ash questioned as she flipped through the racks of clothing carelessly.
"No, I don't need any but since you two persist on me getting a whole new outfit then yeah, I will get more monochrome clothes," I rolled my eyes at them.
"Okay," Dani gave in, "You can pick out as many clothes from here as you want but you have to promise that you will at least try on some of the colourful clothes that's we pick out for you." She pleaded.
"Yeah, whatever," I replied before beginning to search through the bundles of outfits in front of me.
"We'll be right back, just going to find you some colourful things to spice up your life a bit," Ash winked at me as Dani grabbed her arm and pulled her away.
"Good luck," I called after them, not really sure which of them that I was aiming the comment at.
After ten minutes of rummaging I had managed to pick out five different outfits all of which consisted of no colour, go me! There was still no sign of Dani and Ash, and since I was satisfied with my picks I decided to try and find them. It wasn't too difficult to pick them out amongst the crowd of teenage girls as luckily Ash had decided to wear a neon yellow top.
As I approached them I noticed immediately that something seemed different, and as I got closer I noticed it.
They were laughing. Together. Dani and Ash. Laughing. Together.
"I thought you two hated each other," I joked when I reached them.
"Actually I think we've both realised that the other one is as half bad as we thought," Ash grinned at me, at the same time as Dani revealed a mountain of clothing that she had previously been holding behind her back.
"Voila!" She said as she handed me the pile, a smug grin plastered in her face as she did so. Her sudden actions had nearly caused me to drop the clothes that I had originally picked out myself.
"You ready to get trying on?" They asked almost simultaneously.
"Yeah, I think we have enough here," I said, looking down at the pile in front of me. The clothes that I had picked out were very overwhelmed by the heaps of colourful clothing that Ash and Dani had chose, consisting mainly of blue and orange.
"Yay!" Dani clapped her hands and Ash beckoned for me towards the changing rooms.
**
"Nothing suits," I groaned before stepping out of the changing room for what felt like the one hundredth time. All the clothes that I had tried on so far had either been too small or way too bright. I was currently wearing a black playsuit with small sections cut out, I had picked this one myself and to be honest it was probably my favourite outfit so far.
"Oh my god!" Dani exclaimed as I pulled back the curtain. Her reaction had caught me slightly off guard and I immediately felt very self conscious.
"Chloe you look amazing," Ash said.
"Oh, um thanks?" I mumbled, not knowing how to react.
"Babe, you need to learn how to take compliments," Dani laughed, "And you also need more confidence,"
"She's right," Ash beamed.
"Sorry," I said, looking down at my feet.
"Dude you look bloody fabulous and you are buying that outfit," Ash remarked with confidence, "Oh, and you're also getting those shoes," She pointed to a black pair of wedged heels sitting on a shelf in the corner of the shoe section.
"Whatever, you two said you would buy this shit for me," I rolled my eyes at them before returning to the changing room and getting ready.
"It's nice shit though," She smirked as she grabbed the playsuit from my arms and went to the till.
"Ready for the spa!" Dani turned to me, excitement clear in her eyes.
"Yeah, I guess." I shrugged, by now I was too tired to care.
"Shit's been bought," Ash called from behind me, earning a few glares from the sales assistants.
"Well done," I sarcastically remarked, grabbing the bag from her arms.
"At least we have five minutes to spare," She grinned at me.
**
"What colour did you get Chloe?" Dani asked me before flashing her bright red nails at me. I had opted for simple white, boring I know but the other colours were, in all honesty, hideous.
"Just some white," I said to them both. Ash simply rolled her eyes at me and seemed almost annoyed, "What's so wrong with white?" I shrugged, earning another glare from Dani.
"Never mind," She mumbled, "You could at least attempt to be interested."
"I am," I defended, "I'm just slightly tired, that's all."
"Okay," She gave in, "Your hair looks really good though, by the way,"
Herself and Ash had persuaded me into getting my hair trimmed slightly and then lightening the ends, I had always been completely against dying my hair but I had to admit, it did look good.
"You totally have to french braid it tomorrow night so that it goes all wavy," Ash rambled.
"I'll think about it but I'm pretty crap at french braiding,"
"I'll do it," Dani chipped it, wearing the same smug expression as Ash.
"Great," I scrunched up my face at them, a hint of sarcasm in my voice.
"Who are you bringing anyway, you're allowed five people right?" Dani asked me.
"I'm not really sure yet," I spoke quietly, "Probably you, Sam, Ash, Ariane and..." I blanked, who else could I bring?
"Sian?" Ash asked cautiously. If this had been three weeks ago then I would've one hundred percent brought Sian but since the lake, I wasn't so sure.
"I don't know," I sighed, "It'd be nice to bring someone else but I don't really know who..." I wasn't exactly close to my mum so bringing her was a definite no.
"Abbie? She likes singing right." She asked again.
"Maybe, I'll think about it. I have a day to decide at least,"
**
"So this is it." I said, looking straight into my eyes in the mirror. Today was the audition and I felt physically sick, I was used to getting nervous about small performances but I had never felt nerves like this. It hadn't quite hit me yet that I would be performing in front of potentially millions of people in just a matter of hours.
"You ready?" Dani walked up behind me and looked me in the eyes, through the mirror.
"Ready as I'll ever be," I sighed, remembering the first time that I had said those words. Who knew that one month later I'd be preparing for an audition on Sing UK.
"Shit, so this is really happening," Dani said, I could tell that she was nervous.
"Yeah, it really is."
**
in case no one has told you today: you are beautiful, loved and fucking fabulous *cue hair-flip*