It Only Happens Once

(Janelle's POV)

Eleven hours of driving, two of them wasted in traffic, four empty Venti Starbucks cups, six hours of waiting in line for registration, and one very grumpy Adi later we were finally in the lobby of the Cow Palace in the beautiful city of San Francisco. I stared at the mass of chairs and people that stretched out in front of me. A smile grew on my face as I realized that I was finally here. I did it.

"Can you belie-" I started, but before I could finish, I turned to see Adi sprinting to a couple of empty chairs near the front before anyone else could take it. I laughed quietly to myself and quickly followed her to claim my seat as well.

"Finally!" Adi exclaimed, throwing herself onto the chair, "My legs are KILLING ME!" She sipped on her fifth cup of coffee. She had insisted that she drive the entire way so that I could get a few hours of sleep before my audition. Though I had politely declined the offer, she never stopped the car or woke me up to switch places. We had been sitting for about a minute before I heard one of the crew members call out names. They called about five before reciting the last name on their list.

"… And Janelle Noble! Please come backstage. You are on deck!"

Adi's eyes, which had been closed for "resting" shot open, a furious expression on her face. "Really?1 I just sat down!" she screamed throughout the lobby. I felt bad for her, considering she had sacrificed sleep to drive me all the way to this audition.

"Maybe you can stay here, I mean you don't have to watch me sing. Just go take a nap." I suggested to her. She wasn't having it.

"You're kidding. I didn't stay up for the past 24 hours straight just to wait for you in the lobby. I came to hear you sing your heart out whether you like it or not!" She stood from her chair, making sure she still had her cup of coffee in hand. "Now get your ass movin'! We have an audition to kill" We linked arms and strutted our way backstage. Adrenaline pumped through my veins as I passed by other auditionees preparing. Some sang scales, others were rehearsing their songs, a few were touching up on their make up, and some were even talking to themselves. I caught a glimpse of myself in a mirror and my feet cemented themselves to the floor. I stared in horror as I realized that I had forgotten to get ready. Adi turned back after realizing I had not been by her side and put a hand on my shoulder.

"What's wrong," she asked, "Are you nervous?"

I shook my head no, but the look of horror remained on my face.

"Then what's wrong, Jay?" I looked up at Adi, turned her towards the mirror and pointed at my face. I thought I heard her gasp as she took in the image that had been set before her. She recovered nicely though. "Eh, at least now you'll have a story right?" I turned to her and slapped her in the shoulder.

"Adi, I look like shit. You can't expect me to go on stage and perform looking like this!" I gestured to my face as well as my wardrobe.

"Ugh, fine!" She led us to the nearby restroom and to fix me up. Looking me over, a smirk graced her lips and said, "You're lucky your best friend's a fashion major".

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"Janelle, they're ready for you," A crew member said to me as they handed me a mic and led me to the bottom of the steps. As I waited for my cue, I felt my feet grow cold and the palms of hands started to sweat. This had never happened to me before and I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was. The words tumbled out of my mouth before I realized what I was even saying.

"I can't do this" I spoke bluntly.

"Oh yes you can" Adi replied quickly before I could take off for the car. But I simply shook my head.

"No, no. I really can't do this."

"Janelle Louise Noble, get up on that stage right now!" Adi gently pushed me up the stairs as I continued to protest. With one last push I felt the adrenaline rush through my body once again, but as soon as I got to the center of the stage and found the judges staring at me, it vanished. I looked back at Adi who motioned at me to turn back around to face the audience. Louis Walsh, the man substituting for Simon that day, smiled at me and spoke.

"Hello there, love. What's your name and where are you from?"

I brought the mic up slowly to my mouth and said, "My name is Janelle Noble and I am from Los Angeles, California." A tiny spark of confidence lit me up, but it wasn't enough to help me get through the entire audition. I snuck a peak at Adeline who was looking as nervous as I was bouncing from foot to foot. She was so supportive, and I couldn't help but laugh a little. That girl is so crazy sometimes. I turned my attention to the judges smiling back at them as they each looked over their papers. This time, Demi looked up and asked me a question.

"How old are you, Janelle?"

"I'm 18 years old, but I don't look like it, huh?" I replied wittily. I slowly started to regain my confidence as the judges interviewed me more.

"You don't, actually. I thought you were only 15 or 16" Demi stated as I giggled at her compliment.

"It's ok," I spoke back, "I get that a lot." I smiled as the judges shared a quick laugh with each other at my comment.

"Well, Janelle, what song are you going to sing for us?" Once again, I found myself looking over at Adi backstage. She looked at me with confidence and gave me a thumbs up. I smiled and gave her a thumbs up back and turned back towards the judges.

"I'm going to sing Quicksand by Bridgit Mendler." I nodded over to the sound booth and my track started to play. I gripped the microphone, took a deep breath, and let the music take over.

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(Niall's POV)

After landing in Los Angeles and getting situated in our LA pad, Simon had called Paul, our manager, and told him to take all five of us to his hotel in San Francisco for a business meeting. The boys and I had just started our vacation after a long period of touring and were ready for a few months of relaxing. But no, instead we were being called in by the man who made it all happen. Obviously we couldn't refuse. We were currently sitting in Simon's hotel room waiting for him to get off of a phone call. A few more minutes passed by until finally he hung up and faced us.

"So what did you want to talk to us about, Uncle Si?" Liam asked.

"I called you here to ask you boys a favor." The lads and I looked at each other with puzzled expressions. Simon had never asked us for favors. He usually called us in to tell us about new interviews, concerts, music videos, or projects that we had to do. That, or we had done something that required damage control; those meetings never went well. But this time he was asking for help. He must have seen the looks on our faces as he sighed heavily. "I need you to stick around LA long enough to possibly help me win a bet that I had made with Demi."

"Oooh, Demi," the boys cooed. They nudged my shoulders and winked at me at the mention of her name.

"Shut up!" I shot back at them. Rumors had been spreading around saying that I fancied the young and talented singer. I had said once that I found her attractive but that didn't mean that I liked her in that way. I brushed off the cheeky comments the boys made and continued to listen to Simon.

"Anyway, it would be great if you boys could help me train my team once the live shows start."

"That sounds great to me" Liam started, "what's the bet?" Simon sighed once again before revealing what was at stake.

"I had bet Demi that if a member of my team won or was more popular than a member of her's at the finals she would have to publicly admit that I am better than her."

"And if you lose?" Louis asked.

"If I lose, I would have to wear a shirt on National Television that says 'Demi Lovato is my favorite Judge'" The boys and I laughed at how lame the bet had been, but we all knew that it was a big deal for Simon. He never liked losing and especially never liked admitting that others were better than him. The boys and I looked at each other once again and nodded.

"Of course we'll help you out, Uncle Si" I said enthusiastically, "Demi will wish that she never messed with you." I chuckled a little at how serious he was taking it.

"Great! Thanks boys!" He got up from his seat and was about to walk out the door when Zayn stopped him.

"Where are you going?" Zayn asked.

"I have to get back to the X Factor auditions. Louis' been taking my place while I talked to you boys."

"Can we go with you to watch the auditions?" We all asked. Simon stood there contemplating for a while when finally he said,

"Go ahead. But keep a low profile, or else we're going to have more damage control meetings."

We all ran to the SUV that was waiting outside of the lobby for Simon and pushed and shoved each other in. Simon just shook his head as he hopped in to the front passenger seat, seeing as we had taken all of the seats in the back. His hotel had not been too far from where the auditions were being held. The driver took us through to the backstage lot and dropped us off. As soon as the car left we sprinted over to the sound booth to watch the remaining auditions. We had arrived in the middle of one girl's audition. She was incredible. I wanted nothing more than to listen to her forever when I felt someone tug on my shirt. I slowly turned my head, trying to watch the girl for as long as I could. I was met with an irritated look on Harry's face.

"Niall, I'm going backstage" he stated monotonously.

"What? Why? Harry, didn't you just hear Simon say that we have to keep a low profile?" I whispered back at him sternly.

"Yeah, but I don't really want to just sit here and watch people audition for this show. I've already done this, remember? Just cover for me, please? C'mon, I'll owe you." Harry spoke a little too loud, not caring if anyone noticed him. I rolled my eyes and just shrugged.

"Fine, I'll say you went to the bathroom if he asks. I'll call you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah" he replied as he walked away towards the backstage doors, something was off with him. As soon as he left, I continued to watch the girl. Her voice was so captivating, almost like a Siren Song: the more she sang, the more I wanted to know her and to be near her. Her face flashed up onto the screen and couldn't help but notice how passionate she was while she sang. Her face expressed the emotion in her song as if she was living out every word. She was just beautiful and I could tell that the crowd thought the same. All too soon her voice started to fade as the her song came to an end and the crowd burst into cheers. They had to put her through, I thought to myself, I need to meet her, and with that, I watched as the judges made their final decisions.

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(Janelle's POV)

As the song the finished, I felt my heart race as the judges commented on my performance. My body went into autopilot saying "yes", "thank you" and nodding my head when I needed to. All I could think about was my fate. Am I gonna crash and burn or will I make myself a star I asked myself and looked to the judges, nerves building inside of me. My surroundings come back to me full force. It was too quiet. My thoughts quieted as I looked to Louis knowing full what was about to happen. It was time to hear their decisions.

"Demi?" Louis asked.

"I'm going to say yes." My heart skipped a beat at the sound of the word.

"Britney?"

"Oh definitely yes! I love your voice" she smiled and I smiled back. That was two yesses. I could only hope that LA and Louis felt the same.

"LA?" LA was silent for what felt like an eternity, the anxiety building up in the pit of my stomach. Fuck, he's going to say no I swore to myself.

"It is a 100% yes from me. I only hope to get your category Miss Noble." The anxiety left my body and was replaced by excitement after hearing LA's verdict. I was in. I inhaled excitedly and thanked LA for the compliment. Lastly, there was Louis. I knew that I had made it in, but it would be icing on this perfect cake if he were to give me a yes as well. After watching One Direction's auditions, I knew that he was just as hard to please as Simon. He waited a few heartbeats before a smile crept up on his face.

"And it's a yes for me. That's four yesses, Miss Janelle, you are going through."