I packed my last bag and sat on the edge of my bed staring at the wall. The plane would be leaving for boot camp at approximately 2 p.m. My parents were gone and they already wished me good luck as they left the house for work. I was missing so much school by now but I didn’t worry about it. Victoria said she would drive me to the airport and leave school early to do so. I picked up my luggage and dragged them downstairs to the front door and turned on the TV for a bit. There was a knock at the door and I got up to answer it.
"Coming!" I shouted on my way to the door. I opened it and Victoria was there. Her eyes were a little red, like she'd been crying or something.
"Are you alright?" I asked her. She didn’t say anything and just hugged me tightly. I held her back and buried my face in her hair.
"I don't want you to leave." She mumbled.
"Me either, this is my dream though." She pulled back and I wiped her tears away. She caught my hand and held onto it.
"I know." She said. We loaded my bags into her car and rode off to the airport. Both hands were on the steering wheel and she didn’t even look at me.
"Don't be mad." I pleaded.
"I'm not." She spat.
"You're obviously upset." I stated. She loosened her grip on the wheel and sat back in her seat.
"You don't what'll happen. You might never come back." I put my hand on her knee.
"That's not true. Whatever happens I'll always come back. You're my other half." She smiled and we pulled into the airport and parked. It was pretty packed inside and it took us a little bit get through security. I recognized a few other contestants that tried out and they came up to me.
"Ted!" I said giving him a hug.
"Harry man, how are you?" He said cheerfully.
"Good. This is my girlfriend Victoria." I said introducing them. She shook his hand and they exchanged greetings.
"You told me you had a girl but not a hot one." He laughed.
"She's mine." I teased. We talked for a little longer before he walked off to get something real quick.
"Flight 182 is now boarding. Flight 182 is now boarding." The announcement said.
"That's me." I said to her. She just smiled weakly.
"Don't forget me okay?" She asked.
"Never. I'll tuck you in every night on the phone." I said wrapping her in a hug. She pulled away and kissed me before I turned to leave. She waved goodbye as I started to board and stood there with her arms crossed over her chest. I looked down trying to not cry and I boarded the plane.
We landed in boot camp territory about 2 hours later. Everyone on the plane were contestants as well and I felt pretty nervous. There were some people that were about my age but I didn’t talk to them.
Vans were outside to take us to the place and we all piled into each one. The hotel we were staying at was pretty massive when we arrived and I grabbed my bags and headed inside.
I shared a room with Ted and we were all soon called down. Simon Cowell along with the 3 other judges were seated at the front of the big room. He called everyone on stage and gave us the details of what we should be expecting.
"Obviously you all know that not all of you can stay. Eliminations will be starting today and there will be a handful of you that will be sent home. You will perform solo first, then in groups. After solos we will choose who can stay for groups and so on. We wish you the best of luck and don’t forget to give it your all." Everyone shifted in place and started to shuffle around as people started to perform. Not even 2 hours into the boot camp 150 out of 500 was eliminated. The stage director told me it was my turn and I took a deep breath before heading on stage. The judges smiled at me as I sang my song. Simon kept quiet while the others were complimenting me and I headed off pretty confident.
When my group of people was done singing we were called back on to see who got to stay. We were in one long line and my heart started to race as they called names out. More people stepped forward then back. I wasn’t called and I didn’t know if that was good or bad. I prayed that I would be safe but it was anybody's guess.
"Front line, sorry but you're going home." I silently thanked the heavens and looked at who was leaving. I was sad to see Ted being one of them.
"Take well mate." He said to me as he exited the stage. I had no clue what was going to happen next and I was terrified. By the end of the day 300 were eliminated and there was still more to come by the end of the week. We were dismissed and we all headed back to our rooms. Some people went out to eat or went to other rooms to hang out. I was too tired to interact with others so I called it a night. I tried calling Victoria but she didn’t pick up. I really wanted to hear her voice now more than ever. I needed her to tell me everything was going to be fine and that there's nothing to worry about.
Victoria's P.O.V
Ali and Katie couldn’t hang out when I got back from the airport so I called Logan and Kyle instead. They were together (like always) and said they'd be over as soon as possible. It's not weird having them over since they're like brothers to me. I sat in the teen zone as my parents would call it and just watched some TV until they both arrived.
"OKAY WE'RE HERE!" I heard Kyle shout.
"In here!" I responded. The two of them walked in panting a little bit.
"What were you guys doing?" I asked.
"We sort of ran over." Logan panted.
"Why?" I said slowly.
"Exercise." Kyle said. I nodded slowly and watched them collapsed on the couch.
"So how was the airport?" Logan said smiling.
"Fine I guess." I said looking away.
"Doesn’t sound fine." He said. I shrugged.
"How can it be? I don't know what'll happen." I said. Kyle, Logan, Ali, and Katie, and my parents, are the only ones I told about Harry trying out for X Factor.
"It'll be fine, you'll see." He assured me. I agreed and slapped my hands on my lap.
"So what do you guys want to do?" I asked.
"Nothing involving any more movement." Kyle ordered.
"Take out it is then." I grabbed the home phone and dialed the closest pizzeria and ordered a delivery. About 15 minutes later the doorbell rang and I got up to answer it. I opened the door and a handsome teen about my age smiled at me.
"Victoria Bentley?" He said reading the order slip.
"Yep that's me." I said. He handed me the pizza box and bag of fries I ordered and I paid him.
"Nice house you got here." He stated.
"Um thanks." I politely said. I closed the door and shook my head ignoring what just happened and walked back to where the guys were.
"Here you go." I said dropping the food on the coffee table.
"Uh sodas?" Logan said with a stupid face. I rolled my eyes and headed into the kitchen and brought back three 2 liter bottles of Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, and Sprite. We dug into the food and talked and watched TV the whole time. I missed 'guys' night' as Kyle put it. Before I met Ali and Katie, it would just be the three of us and we had so much fun. Not that the girls don't mean anything to me but they just didn’t complain and whine as much.
"It's midnight already?" I said in total shock. They looked up at the clock that was hung up on the wall.
"We got to get going." Logan said standing up and wiping his hands on his khakis.
"Yeah, our mums are gonna want to know where we are." Kyle added. I walked them to the front door and hugged them goodbye.
"We have to do this again soon." I said hugging Logan.
"We will. Next Friday?" He said to me.
"Sure." I giggled. I watched them until they got to the sidewalk before closing the door. I straightened up the teen zone and threw all the trash out and then checked my phone. One missed call from Harry. Shoot. I redialed the number and waited patiently while it rang.
"Hello?" A tired voice answered.
"Hi babe." I said softly.
"I tried calling you earlier." He said. I felt kind of bad in a way.
"I know, Kyle and Logan came over and we lost track of time. My phone was no where near me. Sorry." I apologized.
"It's okay." He said.
"So how was it?" I asked kind of nervous.
"Did you watch the show?" He asked.
"No." I said.
"300 out of 500 were eliminated in the first day! Including Ted." His voice sounded a bit shaky.
"Wow. Are you still in?" I asked.
"Yeah I'm still in. Tomorrow is the last day though and it's anybody's game now." He said.
"You'll make it don’t worry." I coached.
"Thanks."
"I'm gonna go to bed. Love you." I never said that to him before and I meant it.
"I love you too, goodnight." I hung up and got ready for bed. I wonder if they'll keep him or not.