Starstruck

“Hello love, what’s your name?” Simon said to me, with his elbow leaning on his desk, not looking to impressed.
“Jessica Whiteman”
“How old are you Jess?”
“18, but I’m 19 in a couple of months”
“Okay, so what made you audition today then Jessica?”
“Well, singing has been a big part of my life since I was little, and I’ve been playing the guitar since I was about 8 years old. Then a few months ago my mum saw the advert for the auditions on the board outside and took a leaflet with the email address and number on it. She gave me the idea of auditioning because she knew how much music means to me. So that’s why I’m here today.”
“Well, what are you going to sing for us today then honey?” another one of the female judges asked me.
“Come on get high by Lilygreen and Maguire”
“ I haven’t heard that one, or heard of them if I’m completely honest with you, what made you chose this song?” the same judge asked
“Well, my friend and I went to a concert last year and Olly Murs was performing there with his support act, which is Lilygreen and Maguire. They played a few songs but this was our favourite song and we hardly stopped playing it when we got back” I sat there on my stool with the guitar propped on my lap smiling sweetly.
“ Well that sounds like a good enough reason to me, when you’re ready” Simon said waving his hand slightly in the air signalling for me to start.
Niall’s POV:
I ran through the main entrance and dodged round the acts that were still waiting to perform on stage. I kept running towards the stage entrance and went crashing through the door almost falling onto my face in the wings.
“Niall! What are you doing here?” Jessica’s mum sounded surprised, but pleasantly I hope.
“Well I thought… that it would… be mean of … me if I missed… her audition” I said between gasps for air and let a smile creep across my face.
“Well you’re only just in time, she’s just about to start.” She pointed out through the wings towards the stage where I could see Jess sat on the stool playing the guitar.
We switched our gaze towards the TV screens in front of us and continued to watch her performance.
As she finished off with the last few lines of song and notes on her guitar the crowd erupted into a mixture of cheers, whistles and people clapping. She’d nailed it, I could tell by the look on each of the judges faces.
“ Wow. I certainly wasn’t expecting that” Simon said laughing gently at himself. “ I like you, I really do. You have a very mature voice for your age. I have never heard that song before but I enjoyed it.”
“Thank you” She said with a smile on her face.
“Jess,” one of the female judges started, she was new, and I hadn’t seen her before. “ You have a truly astounding voice, and I think that it is so hard to find the right song for someone’s voice, but I definitely think that was the right song for you....”
Another judge butted in “You hit the notes beautifully, I believe you could go far in this competition, but you have a way to go before you’re… you know, top notch sort of status. If you understand where I’m coming from…”
“Yeah, I completely understand, thank you.” She nodded at the judges , before re-adjusting the guitar strap on her shoulder.
“Right” Simon intervened “before we go any further I think we need to vote.” He looked down the row of judges “ Cheryl, what do you think?”
“Like I said, you have a way to go, but you do have a beautiful voice, so it’s a yes from me” she smiled sweetly at Jess.
“Thank you” Jess smiled back
“Louis?” Simon moved onto the next judge
“I think you also have a great voice, and I agree with Cheryl that you have a way to go just yet, but I still think it’s a yes from me.”
“Thank you” the smile on Jess’s face brightened and made her look even more beautiful.
“Samantha?”
So that’s the new one’s name, I wondered why I hadn’t seen her before.
“Well, I still stand by what I said earlier before I was rudely cut off” she shot a menacing look across to Cheryl. “ So I do believe you have a lot to give to this competition, and I would love to have you on board, it’s a yes from me! Now that leaves us with Simon. So Simon, what do you think?”
“I think you have a lovely voice and I like you, you didn’t come on the stage to shy but you didn’t come on over confident which I like in a performer. I think the song worked quite well with your voice and it suits acoustic, quite a lot actually. So, you’ve got four yes’s.” He smiled widely at her and laughed when she smiled even wider at the judges.
“Thank you, so much!”
She walked off stage into the wings, her mum was already crying tears of joy. She hadn’t spotted me yet so when she saw me she was pleasantly surprised.
“What are you doing here?” she asked as she wrapped her arms around my neck and hugged me tightly.
“Well I thought it mean of me if I missed your audition, and I’m pretty glad I didn’t” he smiled down at her.
“Well, I’m glad you didn’t either, where are the others?” She looked behind me.
“I had to leave them in the main hall, security wouldn’t let them through, I sort of barged them out of the way and made it just in time” I laughed nervously down at her and watched her as she laughed.
“Come on the girls…and guys of course… we have some celebrating to do!” her mum laughed and fist pumped the air before leading the way out of the door into the main hall.