I woke up at 4:30am, an ungodly hour, to get ready for breakfast. Even after the noise of the shower, hairdryer and all the normal banging noises you make even when you try to stay quiet, Carla hadn't budged. I have no idea when she came in last night. I went to bed at 10pm and put my headphones on so I wouldn't hear her. I guess she found something to do other then talk on her cell phone, or at least a different place to talk on her cell. As soon as I closed the door to my room I saw a very energetic Carly and a zombie like Amanda.

"Good morning." Carly waved.

"There's nothing good this early in the morning without coffee." Amanda grumbled.

I laughed and we all started walking towards the elevator. "I agree and I'm a Starbuck's snob so unless they have a mocha waiting for me, it's going to take some amazing brew."

Amanda nodded and grunted. When the elevator doors opened there were a few sleepy people going downstairs for breakfast also. We kept quiet on the ride down and were surprised how few people were down there knowing that we had to be in the auditorium no later than 8am. I scanned the crowd for David and his posse but didn't see them. I figured he wouldn't make it anyway. He looked like the type that slept 'til noon. As soon as the first whiff of food wafted towards me, my stomach turned. I guess my nerves kicked in. All I could force myself to eat was a plain bagel and a small glace of orange juice and even that was a struggle to get down. When the girls questioned me about it I just claimed diet and they both let it drop. After her cup of coffee Amanda became less zombie like and even started chatting with the other people at our table. It wasn't until I started to get up to put my dished away that I saw David walk in. I could see him scanning the room, so when our eyes met he nodded and started walking towards me. I put my dished up and moved a few steps towards him.

"I'm sorry. My roommate took forever in the shower this morning."

I shook my head. "It's no big deal." I patted his arm. "I'll see you inside."

"Oh, uh…" He looked over his shoulder at his friends. "You want to join us anyway? I know you've already eaten, but, you know…"

I nodded at his friends that were looking our direction. "I wish I could, but I need to practice. Maybe at lunch." I felt a rush of embarrassment sweep over me. I had no idea why I was turning him down. "Good luck today." I smiled at him.

"I'll find you inside, okay. We'll sit together."

I nodded towards his friends. "Sounds good. Now go get something to eat. I'll see you in a little while." I waved at one of his friends that was pointing at us and the guy that Carly said she thought was named Michael smiled and nodded at me. I walked towards the exit where Carly and Amanda were waiting on me as David rejoined his group.

"Who was that?" Amanda smirked. "Was he the hottie from last night at dinner?"

I shook my head as we walked out. "Yes." I rolled my eyes. "His name is David something. We ran into each other last night. Like literally ran into each other."

Carly raised one perfectly arched eyebrow. "He looks like he's got a bit of a crush."

My cheeks flushed and I looked away from the girls. "I doubt it. We've had a total of 5 minutes of conversation. Now, can we focus on what we're here to do?"

Amanda chuckled in a low gravely pitch. "Our girl's got herself a crush too."

I rolled my eyes but couldn't fight off the smile that had crept onto my face. "Whatever." We all went out separate ways to practice for about 15 minutes and met back up at the doors to the auditorium. I saw Carly standing there waiting for Amanda and I with Michael, David and a few other guys chatting. I smiled at everyone as the guys waved at me.

Amanda walked up behind me and whispered in my ear, "There's your boyfriend."

I glared at her but kept the smile I had plastered on my face. "Witch."

She just smiled as she bumped my shoulder. "Everyone ready to go in?" We all nodded and did our introductions as we found a row for the 7 of us. We ended up sitting Carly, Michael Johns, David Cook, myself, Amanda, Luke Menard and Jason Yeager. It was nice to have last names since it seemed like everyone I met here was named David, Michael or Jessica. Got to love parents with no imagination.

David leaned over to me. "Nervous?"

I let out a small laugh. "Very. You?"

"A bit." He nodded. "You know, I'm here by total accident. My brother wanted to audition and wanted me to come with him and somehow I got here and he didn't."

I laughed. "Me too. One of my students wanted me to go with her. She didn't make it past the second round but wanted me to keep going."

David nodded. "You a voice teacher?"

"No. Math and cheerleading."

David leaned back and gave me a look. "Math…I suck at math." I shrugged. "The cheerleading thing is cool, though. Were you a cheerleader in school?"

I shook my head. "No. I danced all throughout high school and college. This cheer thing had been a new experience for me the past year and a half." A movement caught my eye and as I turned my head the crowd began to clap. Paula, Randy and Simon had walked on stage and were addressing us so we stopped our chatting and paid attention to them. We were surprised that no one would get sent home today and were equally surprised that there would be no group performance and you could get moved to the final audition round based on today's performance. It upped the pressure for today's performance but took the stress of trying to create a group and make a silly song sound good. They had given us a list of songs to pick from last night when you checked in that were available to perform today. I picked Come To My Window by Melissa Etheridge. I chose to sing it straight to show off my range. Plus, my lower register wasn't as strong as my middle and upper register and this song would show me off properly. By the time I was supposed to go most of the group I was sitting with had gone and went straight to round 3. It really seemed like playing an instrument was helping and I knew that wasn't my strong suit. I could play the piano enough to help me figure out a melody, but once I started dancing I quit piano lessons and only learned a few songs throughout the years after that. I walked on stage, doing my best to shake my stage freight and caught Carly standing up in the back waving at me. It brought a smile to my face and helped melt my nervous. I did a pretty good job and even got a smirk from Simon. They passed me onto the third round. I was ecstatic because that meant I could sleep in and go see some sights around LA tomorrow. The guys decided we should go out and celebrate tonight so the 7 of us went to a nearby pub to get dinner and drinks with some of their spouses. I was enjoying having a group of people around my age to hang out with but realized that I was hanging back a bit. These people didn't know me and I didn't really know them. It was not my thing to be so open with complete strangers, so I did a lot of listening and nodding while sipping my Crown and Coke and listened to everyone tell their stories. Everyone had such a diverse background and they all had some kind of band or bust music deal or musical theater background. I felt like such a novice compared to them.

"So, what about you, Jessica? What's your story?"

I looked at all the inquisitive eyes and had to swallow hard against the lump in my throat. "Well, I'm a 8th and 9th grade math teacher and I coach the high school cheerleading team. I've been singing since I was little but nothing as formal as any of you. This kind of just fell in my lap and I'm going to ride it as far as I can." I looked down at my drink trying to avoid the eyes I swore were judging me.

"She dances too." David proclaimed. I looked up and he smiled at me.

"You do?" Michael got a gleam in his eye. His wife elbowed him in the ribs.

"Yeah…did. I was on the dance team in jr. high, high school and college. I've also been doing competitive dance and studio work since I was 8. I still go to studio classes on occasion, but it's hard to fit it in between school work and games." I took a sip of my drink. "Maybe I should have tried out for So You Think You Can Dance instead." Everyone laughed.

David shook his head. "You've got a great voice. I see why they picked you to be here. You're one of those 'diamond in the rough' types."

I smiled. "Thank you."

David grabbed my glass. "Want a refill?"

I looked around and realized everyone was on their third or forth drink and this was still my first. I stood up. "Sure. I'll go with you."

"Anyone else?" David pointed with the bottom of his beer bottle to the other people at the table. They all shook their heads. David shrugged and we walked to the bar to wait on a server. We stood their quietly waiting then David bumped my arm with his. "You really are good. Singing, I mean."

"Thanks." I blushed.

David nervously bounced as he stood next to me. "I mean, I'm sure you're a good dancer too. I mean you'd have to be for as long as you've done it. I've just never see you dance before so I wouldn't really know." David dropped his head and stood still. "I sound like a putz."

I patted his arm. "Maybe you don't need another beer." He looked up at me and smiled when he saw me smirking at him. "Hey, you want to get out of here? I could use some fresh air." David nodded, caught Michael's attention to tell him that we were leaving then offered his arm as we left our empty drinks on the bar. We walked back across the street to the hotel in silence and in step. David towered over me but he must have been taking short steps as to not drag me along behind him. We walked to the back parking lot to a small grassy area where there were some picnic tables set up. We sat on top of one and looked at the dark sky.

"No stars tonight." David leaned back on his hands.

"I don't think there are stars in LA. Too much city light. Little Rock's the same way." I pulled my feet up so that I was sitting Indian style.

"None in Tulsa either. The joy of city life."

I nodded. "I haven't really seen stars since I lived in Texas. We lived in a little town there and it was beautiful." I tucked some hair behind my ear.

"Where in Texas?"

"I lived in Athens but was born in Tyler."

David nodded. "I was born in Houston."

"Really?" I looked over at him. "Never been to South Texas. Stayed in East Texas until we moved to Arkansas when I was in the 6th grade."

"Big family?" David shifted to get more comfortable.

I shook my head. "No. Just Mom, Dad and I. Only child. I think that's how they could afford all my dance stuff. I cost a fortune." I bumped David's shoulder. "You?"

"Two brothers, Andrew and Adam, and some step sisters. Dad's been married 3 times and mom twice. It gets to be a bit much to keep up with."

"Any nieces or nephews?"

David nodded and I saw his face light up. "A few of both. Love them to pieces. Makes me want to have kids."

I nodded. "I've always been a bigger fan of being an aunt than a mom. I guess teaching really is good birth control." I laughed. "I guess I'll have to marry a man with siblings."

David looked over at me. "You dating anyone?"

I shook my head. "Not since Thanksgiving. My ex and I went to meet his parents over Thanksgiving break. We'd been dating about 6 months and thought it was time to do that type of stuff." I paused and looked at my lap.

"And?"

I bit my bottom lip. "And his mother didn't really like me and made sure I knew it." I shook my head. "She thought being a teacher was just glorified babysitting and that I got paid way too much to do that. She didn't think I was pretty enough to be dating her son and when he told her that I had auditioned for American Idol she informed me that my job as Phil's girlfriend was to support him in his job, he's in the entertainment industry, and that he didn't need to be worrying about my career while his was on the rise right now." I rolled my eyes hearing her voice bounce around in my head.

David looked at me in shock. "Are you serious? She said all that to you?" He shook his head. "What was he doing that was so much more important than your job?"

I paused not sure if I should honestly answer his question. My whole life I had never been normal and that trickled down to my dating life also. I took a deep breath and looked at David. "He's a professional wrestler." David's eyes got wide. "Do you know anything about that…that…" I didn't really know how to phrase my question.

David nodded. "Yeah, I've watched some off and on throughout the years." He looked at the ground. "Who is he? Anyone I might of heard of?"

I bit my lip again. "Maybe. His real name is Phillip Brooks, but he goes by CM Punk. He's on Tuesday night's ECW show. It's a branch of the WWE."

David looked at me in shock. "You're dating CM Punk?"

"Past tense. Dated. After all the lovely things his mother said about me he chose to break it off on the flight back." I shrugged. "It's all for the best. His career really is soaring right now and he needs to be focused on that. And I've been in and out of the wrestling family for years now. It was about time for me to get out. Probably for good this time." I could see the huge list of questions that was scrolling behind David's eyes but decided I didn't want to talk about it anymore. "So what about you? Got a lady back in Tulsa waiting to hear the good news?"

David let out a sigh. "Broke up with my ex a few weeks ago. She didn't want me to come do this. I told her this might be my only shot. She made me choose and I chose this."

"Sorry." I felt my stomach turn.

David shook his head. "It's fine. I was over it anyway and we had only been together for a few months. It's not like she had a ring on her finger or anything." I nodded in understanding as the breeze sent a shiver up my spine. "You cold?"

My mind screamed no. This was such a nice moment but my body was telling a different story. "Yes, a bit." David nodded, stepped off the picnic table and extended his hand to me. "Thanks." I said as I took it. He helped me off the table then put an arm around my shoulder as we walked inside. "Who knew LA was cold?"

David chuckled. "It is January."

"Yeah, I know, but still it's California."

He squeezed my shoulder. "Tomorrow we'll make sure to bring you a jacket." I nodded then blushed realizing that David planned on doing this tomorrow night also. We walked into the hotel and decided to part ways for the night. We said our goodbyes on the elevator with a hug and an awkward silence before it got to David's floor. He waved goodbye as the elevator doors shut to take me to my floor. I hadn't felt this way towards a guy since I had met Phillip for the first time and it was a nice mixture of butterflies in the stomach and my brain trying to tell me to keep focused on the competition but still have fun.