- PERRIE -
My heart beats faster than it has ever done before. I'm so nervous it feels like I'm about to explode. My hands are shaking and I my legs feel like spaghetti. I've peed about fifteen times in the last 30 minutes and I'm sweating.
"Perrie, calm down!" Jade tells me repeatedly. "It will be fine. You'll do great. Babe?"
"Girls, are you ready?" Jesy asks.
"Jes, I don't think Perrie's feeling good." Jade says. She holds her hand on my forehead to check if I might have a fever.
"She's just nervous." Jesy responds to Jade, then she turns to me: "Come on Perrie. You can't mess this up for all of us." Though her voice is gentle, I know she means those words.
"Okay, okay." I say. Jade takes my hand and leads me over to the side of the stage.
"Okay girls! Are you ready for some questions before you go on stage?" one of the cameramen asks.
"Absolutely!" Leigh-Anne answers with a big smile. "Right girls?"
We all agree and we get ready to be filmed on camera. I quickly fix my hair and then tell myself to just act. Pretend you're somebody else. Maybe that'll work.
"Okay! 5, 4..." the cameraman starts counting. He shows the rest of the countdown with his fingers and then we're filming. I put on a big smile, and so does the other girls.
"I am now standing here with a group of four cool girls, what's your names?" Olly asks us.
"I'm Jade."
"Perrie."
"Leigh-Anne."
"And Jesy."
"And who are you?"
"We're Little Mix." Jesy responds. "We're best friends and we come from South Shields."
Olly asks us (Jesy) some more questions, and then it's our turn. We get one microphone each and then we only have to enter the stage. My hands are shaking which makes it hard to hold the microphone still.
"Okay girls. Let's show them how it's done." Jesy says and then we start walking.
At first when the strong light hits my eyes, I can't see anything. Then I see the judges, the big audeience and all of the cameras filming us. We stop at the middle of the stage and wait for the applauses to end. They do quite quick.
"Hello, girls." Simon says. "Who are you."
"We're Little Mix. I'm Leigh-Anne and these girls are my best friends."
"Okay, let's hear your names as well." Simon says and looks at the rest of us.
"I'm Jesy."
"Perrie."
"And I'm Jade."
It felt weird speaking in a microphone, but somehow it felt good. It felt like I had the power to make my voice heard in the entire world, even though I just said my name on a stage.
I grab Jade's hand to get comfort. I'm really nervous about my voice. Will it be good enough? Will it crack? Will our performance be good enough? Will the choice of song be good enough?
All these question flies through my brain in less than 2 seconds, and then I'm back in reality.
"What song are you going to sing?" Simon asks.
"We're going to sing a song of our own called 'Pretend it's OK'." Jade says.
"Sounds good. Go on." Simon leans back in his chair, and Jade gets ready to start singing.
Then she suddenly does, and I have to get ready to sing my part.
What would you do? What would you say?
How does it feel? Pretend it's OK.
My eyes deceive me, but it's still the same
Pretend it's OK.
Jade's beautiful voice fills the room, and I instanly calm down a bit. Earlier, I wondered if this could ever work out, if auditioning for the X Factor could ever work for a group like us. But now, when I hear Jade's clear voice singing the lyrics she wrote herself, I feel hope for us, for Little Mix. Just like Jade said; everything will be fine, and just like Jesy said; we will show them how it's done.
As I sing my part, I feel determined to show these judges that we can perform, that I can do it. And, hopefully, this performance will take the four of us somewhere.
(So this is the LAST chapter of this book! I can't believe it! I just want to say thank you to everyone of you who have read it. I'm overwhelmed by the amount of you who've done that, so thank you! <3
Also, I have posted the first part of the sequel to 'South Shields'. It's called 'Our Turn' and you can find the book in my profile. I hope you want to read it and that you'll like it! xx )