Chapter 2- Giving In

"That is it!" Erik Destler announced turning away from his lap top screen. "I am never going outside again!"

Nadir Kahn had just finished eating a bagel in the kitchen of their spacious apartment, and his eyebrow rose at the sudden exclamation he heard coming from Erik's office. After thinking about it for a few seconds, though, he sighed tiredly and shook his head, as if this happened all the time. I should probably see what it is this time. Three times in one week? This is becoming ridiculous. He walked towards Erik's office and stood in the open doorway. "Erik, what is wrong?"

Erik turned his desk chair towards him and yelled, "I will tell you what is wrong! My life! My existence! It is a joke!" He raised his hands in the air feeling quite exasperated.

"What happened to cause this?" As always, Nadir was curious. Yes, Erik did these sorts of things quite frequently, but each new reason always seemed more humorous than the previous.

He waved his hand towards the lap top in front of him. "This! It is complete filth!"

Then why do you look at it? Nadir thought. He walked around the large desk until he was able to see the screen. The web site's headline read, 'Erik Destler No Longer a Bachelor?'. There was a large box underneath the title with two separate pictures, one of Erik on the left side and one of a famous Hollywood actress on the right. There were three paragraphs of text under the pictures. He rolled his eyes. Such nonsense. Why must Erik react so rashly to what anyone who has half a brain would know is a lie? "What does it say?"

"I don't know!" Erik exclaimed. "It is concocted trash, and I will not have it! Who in the hell is she, anyway?"

Nadir almost laughed. Only Erik wouldn't know who one of the most famous actresses in Hollywood was. "She is Anna Bordesky. Erik, you shouldn't become so upset by these articles. Why do you even look at them?" Now that was a question he was curious to know the answer to.

Erik growled and glared at the dark-skinned man. "Well, by the looks of things, I need to know what is going on at all times." His eyes returned to the screen. "The magazine that posted this, Stretch, is going to hear from me right now!" He reached for his cell phone.

"Erik," Nadir interrupted. "Stretch is a magazine known for making up humorous stories. The magazine is full of lies. Everyone knows that."

Slowly and with warning in his tone, Erik asked, "Are you saying that this is humorous?" He didn't reply. "It isn't! It is indecent, that's what it is!"

"Just calm down, old friend. It isn't the first time this has happened, nor will it be the last," Nadir pointed out calmly. "I suggest you discard it from your mind. Becoming angry is exactly what they want. The press eagerly waits for you to make any unforeseen move. Do not please them."

Erik crossed his arms. "Well, they certainly know how to toy with the wrong person," he grumbled. "Perhaps I will ignore it, though. But this is the last time!"

Nadir walked towards the doorway to leave and felt like shaking his head. You have said that many times before. "Maybe you should play piano. It would help you calm down."

"I am calm!" Erik yelled defiantly. Changing moods, though, he said, "I suppose being with my music would be nice.."

Chuckling, Nadir left the room and headed towards his own office. One month until auditions for Pulse begin… January… I wonder if Erik can last until then..


It was the second week of January, and Christine was wearing shorts and a T-shirt! Georgia weather is so strange, she thought while walking towards her Business Ethics course. It was 2:20 pm. This was her last class of the day. Let the weekend begin.. The thought made her smile slightly. Friday's were good days.

"Hey, Chris," Meg said when Christine took a seat beside her in the classroom. "How are you?"

Christine shared most of her classes with her best friend, which made things a lot better. She was never as prepared as Meg, due to her already busy schedule, so since they had classes together, they were able to share notes. "I'm good. You?"

"I'm great!" she replied. While both of them opened their notebooks and grabbed pens to take notes, Meg asked, "So, what do you want to do after this?" Without giving her time to answer, she continued, "There are some shoes I'm dying to get from Daphne's."

Christine's brow furrowed. Meg hadn't been shopping since the last time they went together… "How do you know Daphne's has something you want?"

Meg laughed. "I'm psychic," she joked. "No, but I went to their web site, of course."

She shook her head. "You and your Internet addiction." Christine didn't have a lot of time for developing an addiction, especially with something like a computer. She only had time for school, work, occasional hang outs with Meg, and taking care of her dad. That was her entire life in a nutshell.

Her bringing up 'Internet addiction' made Meg grin, trying to withhold telling her something she'd been able to keep hidden for almost five months.

"What?" Christine asked curiously. "You've been grinning like that so much lately. What's going on?" She pondered over what it could be. Her birthday was coming up.. Please don't let her be planning some surprise, she thought with dread.

Meg had to admit, Christine was observant. Perhaps she hadn't been being as secretive about it as she thought. "Oh, nothing," she responded mischievously.

Now Christine was really curious. "Come on, Meg, please tell me. You know I hate not knowing things."

"Nope, not going to happen," Meg said with her arms crossed. She watched as the teacher entered the classroom.

"I won't go shopping with you," Christine said, hoping to get an answer.

"Ha! Not even that will make me give in."

She didn't want to have to resort to this, but she knew it would work. "I'll tell you something I know that you don't."

With a smirk, Meg said, "You don't know anything."

"Yes, I do. It's something you'd really want to know, too."

"You're a horrible liar, Christine."

She wouldn't give up. "It's something that has to do with John.." John was the name of a guy Meg currently liked. That lie would do the trick.

Suddenly, Meg sat bolt upright. "What?" she demanded. "What do you know?"

Now it was Christine's turn to take charge. "I'm not telling you until you tell me what's going on."

The teacher almost had her lap top and the projector set up to begin teaching. Meg's eyes went from Christine to the teacher and back again. "Fine!" she gave in. "Fine. I guess it's not that big of a deal, anyway. You were going to find out soon enough. Ok, it's going to be the best birthday present of your life."

Christine's face fell. "You know I don't want you to get me anything."

"I'm not," Meg said honestly. "It's not me who will be giving you something. Alright, you know the show, Pulse?" She watched as Christine nodded. "Well, auditions are being held from the fifteenth through the eighteenth of February in Atlanta, and we're going."

Christine blinked. Then, she blinked again. "What?"

"You heard me."

The teacher was about to start. She was opening her mouth to speak. Christine could only stare at Meg, though. "Meg, what in the hell are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking we're going to audition, make it, and compete," Meg said sounding very sure of herself. The teacher began speaking. Christine was about to say something else, but Meg whispered, "Shhh.. We'll talk about it after class."

Class seemed to last forever, and Christine couldn't focus at all. This isn't good for a person who's already making a C in the class. I need to be paying attention… But Meg has ruined all hopes of that! She kept glancing at her friend, who would sometimes catch her eye and smile encouragingly.

So Meg wants me to audition for Pulse.. Christine was already going over the negatives in her mind. First, we'd have to miss classes, which I can't afford. Second, I can't leave Dad. Third, getting off work is nearly impossible. Fourth, what in the world could I do for an audition? Fifth, I wouldn't make it in a million years. So why even try?

When class finally ended, Christine and Meg packed their bags quickly and left the room to walk out into the warm winter day. "Ok," Christine said once they were outside. "Now, let's think about this. I've already come up with every reason why I can't do it."

Meg knew this was coming. She'd been preparing for months. Nothing was going to stop this from happening. "Name your reasons, then."

Christine didn't like Meg's confident attitude. "First, I can't miss classes."

"I've already looked at the schedules for each class. We don't have any tests that week. We can get somebody to take notes for us, no problem."

There was a pause. "Fine," Christine said with a frown. "Second, I cannot leave my dad for three days."

"We're bringing him with us."

"What?"

"Look, I've already reserved two hotel rooms. My parents can take one room, since they're ok with this, and we three can have the other. Problem covered."

Christine shook her head in disbelief but decided to move on. "Third, there's probably no way I can get off work."

"If you tell them tomorrow, then it'll be fine." I'm better at this than I thought, Meg thought proudly.

"Fourth, what would I audition as? A mime?" she asked sarcastically.

Meg laughed a little. "No, Christine. You would be singing, of course." The fact that Christine wasn't aware of her own talent was enough to really agitate a person. Although, it was also a likeable quality, which was all the more reason to audition with it!

"Singing?" Christine asked in surprise. "Singing? Honestly, I think you've lost your mind. And my fifth reason is that I would never make it." Before Meg could say anything, Christine said, "If you really want to audition, then go for it. I'll be cheering for you like crazy. But me? I don't think it would work." Their talk was now making her a little sad. Her life was just so complicated.

If Christine was a little sad, then Meg was even more so. "Come on, Christine. I really want you to do this with me. You're so much more talented than you think you are. You'll make it, I know you will. You deserve to have some fun. Please," she begged.

"I-I can't," Christine said softly while looking down. "I don't have what it takes."

"But you do," Meg assured. "I've seen you when you're singing. It's like you go off into another world or something. It's really beautiful. All three judges will love you."

Christine hadn't even thought much about the three judges. "My God, I hadn't even thought about that. You can't honestly expect me to get on a stage in front of three judges and a concert hall full of people?"

Meg smiled. "Of course. That's how it's done. Now, are you in?"

She wasn't near fully convinced yet. "No, I'm not."

Stopping in her tracks, Meg moaned loudly. "Oh Christine, come on! What is the worst that could happen?"

"I could end up on TV embarrassing myself in front of millions of viewers," Christine flatly stated while watching Meg's display of emotions.

"You're not going to make a fool of yourself! Auditions don't even come on TV until the show starts up in May. Anyway, I already know the song you can sing. You'll nail it. Please do this with me."

Christine let out a dry laugh. "What song?"

Meg couldn't think its name. "That song from Faust you've always loved. It would work great. And I've been practicing my dance for months. Oh please don't ruin this for me." If I make her feel bad for hurting me, then that's sure to win her over.

"How come you've gotten more time to practice than me?"

"Oh, don't give me that. You already know that song backwards, forwards, and upside down. Me, on the other hand.. Well, let's just say I've had to work my ass off. I'm not doing this without you," Meg said softly. "Please, just do it. Not just for me, either. Listen, if being on the show makes you famous, which I know it will, then you will have the ability to help your dad. The money you earn would change everything for both of you."

Those were the words that made Christine really think. She's right... But what if she's wrong? But what if she's right? Maybe it wouldn't hurt to try.. Am I going to regret this? "Ok, I'll do it," Christine said, though not at all sure of herself.

Meg wasn't expecting such an abrupt change, but without hesitation, she moved forward and hugged her best friend. "You won't regret this. I know it. You're going to surprise all of them. Now, let's go practice."

They continued walking towards their apartment, Christine trudging along behind Meg. She was already nervous about this entire thing. What have I gotten myself into?


Thank you so much for the reviews :) They really made my day a whole lot better. I decided to post this now since it was ready. Really no point in delaying it. Well, I hope this was enjoyable. I will try to have the third chapter up soon!

-Lauren