“Oh gawd,” I whisper and clutch my stomach.
“It’ll be fine!” James assures and grabs my hand, clutching it in his.
“Then how come your hand is sweaty?” I ask, not assured at all.
“It is not,” James denies, but releases my hand.
“Hey! They have some fancy fruit in here!” Lia exclaims. We were currently seated in a stretch limousine. We were facing each other, me sitting on one side with James and Lia and Zale sitting across from us. Zale was who James decided to bring. He was a big muscular guy and not on the particularly smart side, if you know what I mean. He has a big nose and round brown eyes. His brown hair is gelled in the front and his square jaw set. He was actually quite handsome.
“Check this out!” Zale exclaims and tosses a red, round fruit with spikes all over it at James.
“Shit, man!” James curses as the spikes get his unsuspecting hands. I start to laugh at his ridiculous expression. “Yeah yeah Gem, laugh all you want. You just wait,” James says sinisterly before throwing some purple fruit at me.
“James!” I gasp and jump out of my seat, slamming my head on the roof. This sends everybody into a laughing frenzy.
“Ha ha, you’re so funny,” I mumble under my breath. My nerves were already subsiding.
“What the heck?” Lia asks and hold up a remote. “I wonder what it does,” Lia says mostly to herself before pushing a random button. A small disco ball pops out of the ceiling.
“Let me see that!” James says excitedly and grabs at the remote. Soft music starts to play.
“Me!” Zale shouts and lunges forward. Soon we were all trying to get at the remote. The lights flashed from red, purple, and blue like strobe lights and my chair starts to give me a massage. Music starts to switch from heavy metal to country music and back to the soft waterfall noises.
“Ah!” Lia exclaims as her seat drops back to a laying down position.
A small TV swings out and smacks me in the head, making me topple onto James. “Victory!” Zale shouts and pumps his fists. He doesn’t notice James and I, and Lia was still trying to get up from her seat.
“Sorry,” I whisper embarrassed. My cheeks heat up and I look away. I try to push myself up but James holds onto my hands. My blue eyes met his chocolate brown. I melt and sigh a little.
“You didn’t really think that you could get away that easy, did you?” James smirks.
“What, are you going to hold me for ransom?” I ask teasingly.
James takes in a sharp breath. His voice goes husky as he whispers in my ear. “Yes. I just need a small kiss.”
Now it is my turn to take in a sharp breath, which stabs at my throat. “Oh, really?” I ask innocently.
“Yes really,” James persists and smiles at me.
“Yo, James, check this out!” Zale exclaims. James curses under his breath. I just want to kiss his perfect lips, but I hold back. James turns us over so that he is now on top of me, he then precedes to pick us both up.
“There you go,” he whispers into my ear and I shiver under his cool, minty breath.
And as soon as our closeness starts, it ends. Zale tosses him a coke and soon they are wrestling on the back seat. I sigh as I can’t help but feel regret. Had he been messing with me like he used to, or did he honestly want a kiss? Did we just have a moment?
“Amber! Look!” Lia squeals, her face pressed against the window. I hurry over and look out.
“Oh gawd,” I whisper unbelieving.
“What?” James asks and looks over my shoulder.
Crowds of people were surrounding the airport, all holding a rainbow of signs.
“Go Iowans; Bring Us Back That Crown, Amber and James All The Way!” Lia reads from some signs. “OMYGAWD YOU GUYS HAVE A FAN CLUB!” Lia yells.
“They’re here for everyone,” I say modestly. I saw some other names on the signs and a lot of them were just about Iowa singers.
I was amazed by how many people were really there. For us, partially. I saw the other limos rolling in behind us.
“Amber! Amber!” somebody says, starting a chant of the singers. My heart completely melts as I gaze out the window. Was this really happening?
The car comes to an easy halt, a red carpet leading to the air port. I guess Iowa goes all out when they get local singers going onto a popular TV show.
“Girl’s go first,” James says and takes a deep breath. When our driver comes and opens my door, I take his hand and slowly get out. The light was blinding after being in the car for half an hour. The crowd goes wild and my face goes red. A TV crew is off filming our entrance and reporters are ready at the door. I stand off to the side, waving to people and smiling, as I wait for James and Lia.
Lia exits the limo and starts to wave like a princess, this is what she had been waiting for. Then Zale exits and takes her hand in his, being the gentleman for the cameras. Finally James comes out and my breath catches in my throat. His white shirt and blue jeans really don’t hurt him. His hair is styled messily and makes me sigh. He looks so good right now…
He smiles at me and we start to walk in to the air port.
***
I sigh and lean my head back into the plush leather seats. America Sings had its own airplane waiting for us on the runway. All of the Iowa contestants were onboard and the pilot was giving instructions.
“Fasten your seatbelts,” a gruff voice instructs over the intercom. A video comes onto the TV in the front telling us all about the safety measures in case of an emergency and blah blah blah. They show us where the air masks are and the floatation devices under the seats are and how to work them. Lia watches with rapt attention, not missing anything. She was terrified of flying.
I looked down my row. The airplane was seated in rows with four seats in each. Lia sat on one end, then me, next was James, and then Zale. Finally the plane starts moving and Lia clutches my arm. The TVs in front of each of our rows snaps on again, this time an interview with Bob Sneltizer fills the screen.
“Tell us, Bob, who do you have your eye on this season?” Joe Sams asks Bob. Joe Sams was one of the most popular interviewers ever. Bob was one of America Sings hottest voice coach. If you got chosen by him, you were sure to win.
“Well, it’s hard to say at this point, Joe,” Bob says simply, smiling at the camera.
“Have you seen the ones from Iowa this year?” Joe asks, unfazed by Bobs vagueness.
“Yes,” Bob says. I look at the screen curiously. Usually he rambled on and on.
“Do you think that America Sings made a good choice in switching were they seek their singers?” Joe questions, persuading Bob to talk more.
“Well, I can’t really say at this point. I am a man of traditions, Joe, and this is defiantly not part of the usual. I am hoping that my employer has not made any mistakes but it is still very early in the game. I am surprised with the contestants so far and I hope to continue being amazed by them,” Bob says poetically. James snorts beside me.
“That guy is full of money and paychecks. ‘His employer’, please!” James mocks. “He would do anything for money.”
“Oh come on, he isn’t that bad!” I try to reason.
“Yeah, right. ‘A man of traditions’, he hasn’t been to any holiday for years now because he’s too busy doing endorsements and interviews and things,” James rambles.
I roll my eyes at him. “You may not like him, but if he chose you then you would be all for it.”
“I may not like him as a person, but his skills are undeniable,” James says smiling. I smile back before turning my attention back to the interview.
“A little birdie told me that there was going to be a few changes to America Sings this year, would you like to tell us about any of this?” Joe asks.
“Well, Joe, I can’t divulge too much. Besides the fact that we looked in different states this year, we are changing how we coaches choose our singers,” Bob says secretly, leaning forward in his seat.
“Really?” Joe asks, making his eyes wide.
Bob continues, not needing any more permission. “Well 200 people were accepted into America Sings. There is the first round, nicknamed the Killer Round or Group Sing. You get into groups of five and if you don’t make it, your whole group is eliminated. Only 100 people will make it through and be ranked. There are only 50 coaches, so during the second round the coaches and judges choose the top 40 and the public choosing the next 10. Each song coach is ranked beforehand by experience. Depending on your rank depends on which order the coaches get to choose their singers,” Bob explains seriously.
“That sounds a lot fairer than before,” Lia whispers to me. I just shrugged her off, I was too into the interview to pay much attention.
“What rank are you to be considered good?” Joe wonders, allowing Bob more talking time.
“25 or under is good for coaches, the top 20 is good for singers. I am the number one coach,” Bob says proudly.
“Will you explain the rounds for us?”
“Sure. In round three, twenty people are eliminated. Then in round four, five people are eliminated. In each round, five people will be eliminated until we are left with ten people. This takes place in four rounds, so only ten singers are left by November ninth. The ten singers left take a two week break. Then on November 30th, the singers will be eliminated in pairs. The big finale is on New Year’s!” Bob explains, waving his arms around at the end.
“That sounds exciting!” Joe says enthuastically.
“I want to go all of the way, but it’s going to take up most of the year!” James whispers to me.
“But if you win and become famous, then it will take up your whole life,” I reason. Oh, how good that sounds.
“I could do that,” James smirks.
“That’s what she said!” Zane yells, throwing his hand up for a high- five. James doesn’t leave him hanging and they start to laugh loudly.
Tyler unbuckles himself and turns around in his seat that is positioned in front of us. “You are what she said!” he snickers.
“Your mom’s what she said!” James laughs.
“You guys are so immature!” I snap.
“You love it,” Tyler smirks, winking at me. James tenses besides me and I look at him funny. He shakes his head and puts his hand up for the flight attendant.
“Yes sir?” the petite brunette asks politely.
“What do you have for drinks?” James asks.
“We have coke products, all of the juices, and wine,” she recites.
“Um, do you have a cherry coke and root beer?” James checks.
“Yes we do.”
“Well I would like those,” James says certainly and I smile. He just ordered me my favorite. Just then Audrey popped her head up from behind Zane.
“Can I have some Apple Juice?” she orders. The brunette nods and slips down the large spacious aisle. “So, Amber, how’ve you been?”
“Fine. Are you excited?” I ask.
“Excited? Hun, excited isn’t the word! I’m ecstatic! But I’m also scared straight. I’m frightened of flying,” Audrey admits. Lia brightens next to me.
“Me too!” She squeals. Audrey and her start to chat all about the dangers of flying just as my cherry coke arrives.
I take it gratefully. “Thanks, James,” I smile at him and he smiles back. Tyler clears his throat and starts talking about some song but I wasn’t paying attention.
I look around me. I was on a plane to California, where I would be on national TV doing what I love most. I was with James and Lia. I had already made new friends. I smiled at the craziness of it all.
“What’re you smilin’ for? We could die in moments!” Lia ask in bewilderment.
“Nothin’,” I said happily, smiling at her. She looks at me confused. “It’s just, we’re going to California, surrounded by our friends. Even if we died in a couple of moments, I’d be happy,” I explain.
Audrey makes a little ‘Aw!” and smiles broadly. I kind of wish that my mom was next to me just so that I could hug her, I don’t know why I was feeling so sentimental, but she was back on a different part of the plane.
“If there wasn’t a seat here, I would suggest a group hug,” Audrey says sadly.
“We always have once we land,” Lia pints out.
“Nope, moment over,” Zane says quickly. I look at him quizzingly and start laughing out loud.
“What?” Tyler asks.
“It’s just…” I had trouble forming my words over my laughter. “Zane!” Everyone looks at his red face and realize that he had spilled James’ root beer all over his lap when he had been trying to steal a sip. It now looked like he had wet himself and was all sticky.
“Shut up, dude,” Zane grumbles, punching James on the shoulder.
“Hey, it was my drink. I think I have a right to laugh,” James defends, nailing Zane in the gut. Zane grunts and shoves James head dangerously close to his armpit.
“Enough,” Lia says irritably. She hated when guys started wrestling and rough housing.
I shake my head and grin until my face almost breaks in two. These were my friends. I laugh at the thought. A few days ago my friends consisted of Lia and James. It had now expanded and it made me giddy.
“I’m out,” Zane says and gets up quickly, making his way towards the bathroom.
“Sir, you’re not supposed to get up yet,” a flight attendant frets.
“Yeah, well, clean up on aisle two,” Zane says and slams the bathroom door in her face.
James just shakes his head with a smile and turns back to the TV. I watch as Joe interviews some other major voice trainers and then starts talking with a doctor about freckles or something. I look around the half empty plane. There weren’t very many people without the parents. And none of us may make it.
It didn’t seem very fair that most of us won’t even make it past round one.
************
Chapter ten done!
So did you guys like it?? If so please vote/comment/fan! I love hearing feedback and if you have questions of anything just comments or pm me or something and ask(: I love hearing from you guys!
Sorry for not updating but life’s crazy!
This was somewhat of a filler chapter but the next one will be exciting(:
Hope you enjoyed! O.o xD >;)