"One, two, three, four…" Jude slowly counted the steps to the stairs with Jamie by her side. He didn't lead her though, Jude prided herself on her independence. She heard Georgia's voice, "Jude, hey…" Jude smiled, and held out her hand which Georgia shook, then she said, "this is E.J, she's PR" Jude nodded, "hi.", then she heard the woman's voice, she was young, twenties maybe, and a little edgy, "Jude, I just want to say right now, we wanted our Instant Star to be someone, a little less…", Jude piped up helpfully, "blind?"
"Not Tommy Q!" Jude wailed miserably, then she heard a voice, she thought coming from the walkway, "Never call me little Tommy Q again." her blood ran cold, she knew the voice, it was Tommy Quincy. She murmured a sorry, then realized he was probably waiting for her to 'look' up at him.
Tommy Quincy was watching the girl insult him over and over, the girl called him little Tommy Q. He spoke sharply, she responded, and didn't turn her head immediately, finally turned her head up to where she heard the voice. Quincy realized something shockingly, no one had told him the Instant Star winner was blind. He didn't know how he hadn't realized this, but now he knew.
"Show me what you got." she heard Tommy say, Jude nodded and she started to play. Then after a few minutes, she heard him say, "would you stop, you're hurting my ears." Jude frowned as Tommy came into the room. "You're playing it too slow, it's not a funeral dirge. Here…" Jude thought for a second, oh, probably wants the guitar. She took off the guitar, and held it out, and was very relieved when she felt him take it out of her hands.
"Sing…faster…" Tommy ordered her as they sat in the studio. She obliged him and sang, then he stopped, "what's with these lyrics? We're on the road, we're not giving in… Who's we Jude?" Jude smiled lightly, "its about me and my best friend, Jamie." she made a broad gesture to the recording booth. Tommy frowned, "Jude, this song's served its purpose, it won you the contest, but you have to rewrite it, the lyrics aren't personal enough. No one cares about your friend Jude, they care about you…" with that, Jamie walked in, "Jude, we have that thing." Jude was confused for a minute, then said "oh, okay." with that, Georgia told her she could go. With that, Jude unfolded her white cane and carefully walked out the door, leaving Tommy hearing the light tap, tap, tap as she walked out the door.