Insanity

The fated first day of X Factor Bootcamp came about a month and a half later, when all auditions were finished. From what I heard, after the dozens of thousands of people, only two hundred of us remained. This was some awfully scary pressure.
I'd packed five days worth of clothes in a small suitcase, double-checked to make sure I had every other necessary essential I needed, then made my way down the stairs of my apartment to where the coach bus was waiting in front of my doorstep. Quite a number of seats had been filled already, but I saw a familiar face near the back waving me over with a big, open smile.
I all but broke out in the same identical grin as her, scooting in next to the open seat that Stacey had probably saved for me. "Are you excited?" I asked her, linking our hands together.
"Unbelievably!" she responded. "But I'm also nervous again... I mean, this is bigger than the auditions. There's so few of us left."
She was right. Every season of the X Factor I'd watched prior to getting the courage to go on myself, half the acts would be sent home by the end of the first day. It would continue in that fashion until only twenty-four remained; those would be the acts going to the Judges' Houses to perform.
It, surprisingly, didn't take long at all before we reached the Hammersmith Apollo arena. Everyone began loading out of their buses, dragging a small suitcase behind them. Stacey and I stayed close by, holding each other's hands for support. Quickly glancing around at my competition, I thought I caught a glimpse of a familiar afro hairstyle a ways down to my right, but didn't think much of it for now. I could probably find Jamie later.
We all set our suitcases down in a back room and made our way onto the stage. I assumed Stacey's nerves were coming back, because she gripped my hand a little tighter. Not to mention that everyone was now crowded together in a bundle on the stage, so I kept hold of her hand to keep her close by.
Thankfully, we only had to wait about ten minutes before four figures emerged through one of the doors in the back of the seating area and walked down to the table. Everyone broke out into applause and cheers. Simon welcomed us all to Bootcamp, and after telling us a little bit about what to expect, Danni opened her mouth to speak of our first challenge.
"You're gonna team up in groups of three acts," she explained, "And you'll get to choose who you be with, but every person is going to have to take a lead vocal role."
Luckily, we had all day to decide who would be in our team, but I already knew one person who shared the same idea as me. Stacey and I immediately paired up and seated ourselves at a table back in the room, looking around at everyone else who still needed a group. My head turned left and right, looking for the one other person I thought could go really well with our voices. Where was he? Where could he be-
FOUND HIM.
I nearly catapulted off my seat when I spotted who I had been looking for, but had to kick myself and remain calm. Stacey didn't call back for me, however. Then again, she probably knew.
"Jamie!" I called out his name, and when he turned to face me, I was surprised my knees didn't buckle mid-run.
"Elise, hello!" he greeted me with a smile, pulling me into a one-armed hug when I reached him.
I stuffed my hands in my jean pockets. "So, by any chance, did you still need to find a group to join for the challenge tomorrow?" I questioned, surprisingly calm. "Stacey and I could use one more person, so I figured I might ask you."
Right after the words left my mouth, his grin faltered. "Oh, Elise..." he sighed. "I'm sorry, some other guys asked me to join their group first."
My expression soon faded as well. "Oh..." But I had to try and act like it wasn't too big of a deal, so I simply shrugged. "Well, that's alright. I can probably find another person."
Jamie's smile started to come back as he put an arm around my shoulders and pulled me to his side, pointing back over to where Stacey was sitting. "Maybe she might have already done that for you?" he pondered aloud. I looked to where he was gesturing to, and saw another girl sitting at the same table as her.
"Guess so," I replied, a smile of my own returning.
I bid him farewell for the time being after he shook my shoulders playfully to cheer me up. The other girl, who I found out was named Lucie, came all the way from a tiny village in Cardiff to be here. And when I heard her sing, I knew she was the perfect fit for us. We then headed right back to our room in the hotel to pick out and practice our song for tomorrow.
"I have a couple in mind," Lucie voiced, flipping through the packet of paper that was stapled together. "But I wanted to run them over by you girls first."
"Sure, what did you pick?" Stacey and I moved next to our teammate, who pointed to a couple of songs that were underlined and circled in sharpie.
My finger touched the paper. "Well, I really like this one that you chose..."
"Yeah, me too," the youngest of the group agreed, to which Stacey nodded as well. "Looks like it's settled then!" I jumped off the bed and clapped my hands together before scurrying over to the mini-fridge. "So what do you say we girls practice? Not without some coffee and tea first, though!"
Lucie and Stacey broke out in identical smiles. It would turn out to be a long night, but it would all be worth it in the morning.

It wasn't half. It was worse. More than half of us would be leaving today. It had been going around as a proven truth that two-hundred would become fifty by tonight.
Not only that, but there were already a vast number of people that were being sent home right after their performance. If Stacey, Lucie and I weren't careful or didn't perform to our very best standards, that could be us.
I almost felt sick.
The youngest of the three of us squeezed my shoulders, a fad that now seemed to become quite common for me. "Hey, hey, don't worry too much," Lucie attempted to console me, "You're gonna do great. We all will." And as nervous as I was, I believed her.
When we finally went on stage, Stacey, Lucie and I all held each other's hands for support as we lined up in front of the judges. An arm that belonged to a figure with a very noticeable hairstyle was waving to me a few rows to the back, and immediately, I felt more relaxed.
"Hello girls," Louis greeted us this time. "Would you just care to remind us what your names are?"
"Stacey Solomon," she started off on the right.
"Lucie Jones," the middle girl added.
"Elise McCready," I finished. I thought I heard someone cheer after I said my name, and I was pretty sure I knew who it was.
We'd gotten the 'okay' right after, and Stacey started the song while Lucie and I sang a harmony backup. Then I sang with them as my background, and Lucie ended it, belting out the last notes perfectly.
"You girls came out here, and you made that song your own," Cheryl complimented us. "You owned it."
It didn't take too much longer for them to make their decision, and all the while, the three of us held each other's hands again.
Simon gave us all a smile. "Congratulations, you three. You're all through."
After we celebrated a little, Stacey expressed her thanks from all of us to them, and we shuffled backstage, ear-to-ear grins on our faces. Lucie brought the two of us into a bear hug while we all screamed in delight. Though, as soon as she let go, I took off down the hallway back to the audience seating doors.
"I'm gonna be back out there, you guys," I told them as I ran, "I can't miss his performance!"
"Whose performance?" Lucie asked me, to which I shouted one more thing before I disappeared behind the corner.
"Jamie's!"
The youngest girl grinned and turned to my friend, who had stayed behind with her. "And who's Jamie?" she questioned, to which Stacey whispered something in her ear with a giggle.
"Ohhhhh!" Lucie chuckled.
"That's what I said!" the blonde replied, smiling wide.

Just like he did at his first audition, Jamie came out with a big grin on his face, waving to the crowd and playing it up for them, which caused me to smile and laugh. He'd introduced himself as Jamie Afro this time, which got me to smile more. He must've spotted me standing up in my seat when he said his name, for he looked in my direction and shot me a wave.
While he sang his song with the other members of his team for the day, I smiled and clapped along with the beat. His voice was just amazing. He had this unique little edge to it that made me smile every time I heard him. After he and everyone else had finished, Simon turned to Jamie. The first thing that left his mouth was, "Jamie, you're a really good singer."
YOU'RE DAMN RIGHT HE IS.
I cheered when Simon announced that he was also through to the next day of Bootcamp.
But by the time all the remaining acts had performed, there were still around one hundred of us left. They were going to cut the number in half again by nightfall. And the nearly hour wait that it took until someone came back to announce the names in groups of four was antagonizing. But eventually, it came.
Everyone was going to be divided into groups that would be placed in one of four rooms. Depending on which one you entered, you were either still here for another day, or you were headed home.
Names for the first room began to be called out. "Rachel Adedeji, Dominic Harris, Stacey Solomon, John and Edward, Lucie Jones, Olly Murs..."
I listened for my name, but it wasn't called. Stacey and Lucie hugged me before picking up their bags and heading out the door with everyone else in the first room. The second and third group of names were called out then, and I wasn't in either of them. Then, the fourth and final group of names were called out.
"Lloyd Daniels, Danyl Johnson, Elise McCready, Jamie Archer, Kandy Rain..."
Well, this was it. My fate would soon be decided.
I sat my little suitcase up from off the floor and began rolling it out of the room, quickening my pace when I saw Jamie waving me over from the doorway. We passed by one, two, three doors, until we reached the fourth one at the end of the hall. Everyone gathered in a bundle in the center of the room; I stood near the back- only because I was too afraid at that moment to face the judges upfront.
I felt a body shift next to me and looked up to lock eyes with the only person in the room that I knew. "I've never been more nervous in my life until now," I spoke in a hush. "Like, this is only one yes or no, but it's gonna ultimately determine everything until the next day." He wrapped an arm around me as I bit my lip. "It's gonna feel like forever..."
One more, Jamie rested the hand from the arm on my shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze. "You'll be okay," he whispered to me. "We'll be okay. We'll make it through this."
I just hoped he was right.
Ten minutes felt like an eternity, just as I predicted. But when the doors finally opened and the judges entered the room, the tension in the room increased ten times over.
"I know it's hard, standing here and waiting for a simple word to be said," Danni told us. "But we've thought long and hard, and now it comes to this."
I shifted uncomfortably in my spot, slowly covering part of my face with my hand.
Simon opened his mouth next. "We've come to a decision, and now I'm gonna put you all out of your misery.
'Oh, god...' I thought dreadfully. 'This is the end...'
"Our decision is..."
There was a long, very uncomfortable silence.
Unconsciously, I reached over and took Jamie's hand in mine. He gripped it just as tightly in response.
I couldn't bear to open my eyes.
"...You are all through to the Top Fifty!"
The entire room erupted into screams and shrieks of pure elation. Everyone was jumping up and down in delight, and I was right with them. I broke out in an ear-to-ear smile, jumping so high I thought I could have touched the ceiling. Jamie was just a few feet away from me, punching the air victoriously.
I couldn't help myself at this point.
Running back over to where he was, I leaped onto him in a hug, throwing my arms around his neck and securing my legs around his waist. My heart soared when he caught me and returned my enthusiastic embrace, spinning me around in circles. During this celebration, I had started crying tears of joy, and Jamie allowed me to scream happily and bury my face into his cotton-covered shoulder.
This must be what being on Cloud Nine feels like. I never wanted to come down.
"Now, there's only one more surprise tonight," Simon told us after we had managed to compose ourselves. Somewhat. "You are only half of the top fifty."
That's right, I remembered. There were only twenty-five acts in the room. Where were the others?
The main judge then gestured to the doors with a grin. "So, allow me introduce you to the other half."
When the doors opened, and I saw Stacey and Lucie leading the pack of the other group of elated finalists, I screamed again, barely having any time to think as they all but tackled me to the floor, obviously sharing my feeling of being on top of the world. From next to where I previously stood, Jamie laughed, helping the three of us up and pulling each of us into a long, thankful hug. When he'd finally wrapped his arms around my waist for the second time that day, I swayed in his hold, standing on my toes to rest my head on his shoulder and allowing my eyes to close.

The smile never left my face.