-Naomi-
'We've got 200 acts that we need to whittle down to just twelve. We need three girls, three boys, three groups and three over 25's that are going to make our live shows interesting and make people want to pick up the phone to vote.'
I was leaning back in my chair listening to Anthea prattle on, fiddling with my pen and not really paying too much attention. She seemed to think that none of us had been involved in the show before and was meticulously going through every detail.
'Naomi?' I sat up straight and looked at Anthea.
'Yes?'
'Are you listening to me?'
'No' I answered bluntly and truthfully, leaning back into my chair again as the others in the room giggled appreciatively.
Anthea sighed and stood up before walking to a massive board that had been put up on the wall which had photographs peppered all over it of the acts that we had to decide between and continued to inform everyone in the room of what we already knew. I looked around and saw that Cook was stealthily texting underneath the boardroom table, Effy was doodling idly and JJ was still listening intently to Anthea. I rolled my eyes and glanced around at the other members of the production team were sitting round the table making notes of everything that was being said. I spun my chair around and looked out of the large window while still twiddling my pen in my hands thinking back to Emily's audition for the millionth time that day. She was easily the best female singer in the competition and endearingly didn't seem to know it. She'd looked really good up on the stage as well, I mused, letting my mind wander back to the way her body moved subconsciously when she sang.
'NAOMI' I heard Anthea yell. I spun my chair around and faced her.
'Still not listening Anthea' I said sarcastically before pulling my chair into position under the table and resting my elbows on it. 'All we need to know is that tomorrow, after the duet stuff, we are going to have to choose 12 people to come back for day three, and they will be our final twelve…right?' I asked, looking at Anthea for confirmation.
'Well, I, well, actually…' Anthea stumbled before nodding, defeated. 'Okay. We'll sort this tomorrow; it has been a long day after all. You can all go' she finished, waving her hand in the direction of the double doors of the boardroom exasperatedly. Everyone jumped up, smiling at me for effectively ending their torture.
'Nice one Blondie' Cook said, slapping me on the back.
'Someone had to end it, or we'd have been there all night!' I joked, walking out of the room with them and wondering what tomorrow would bring.
'Hey' a recognisable voice said behind me, and I turned around to see Emily standing there dressed casually in a mostly unbuttoned blue checked shirt and skinny jeans.
'Hey Emily' I said, turning round again and perching on the low wall I'd been leaning against, soon joined by the redhead who pushed herself up and sat on the wall. 'You probably shouldn't sit there, you know, when I'm smoking. Your voice…' She laughed huskily and I snapped my head round to look at her to see her looking at me with a raised eyebrow. 'Good point' I said.
We sat in a comfortable silence for a minute or so before she broke it.
'So, have you seen anyone you liked?' looking at me expectantly as I snapped my head round to look at her before looking down, feeling a slight blush start to creep up my cheeks.
'Erm, yeah, there's been some good acts coming through' I said, nodding, before taking a pull of my cigarette.
'There's been some shit too' she joked, causing me choke a bit on the smoke as I laughed.
'Yeah, that too' I chuckled when I regained my composure.
'Where are the others?' she asked, obviously referencing the other judges, looking around the empty smoking area pointedly.
'They went in…I stayed out here to smoke more' I said, pulling a face. This earned me another throaty laugh and I smiled at her before averting my eyes back to the far wall of the smoking area.
'Thanks, by the way' I looked at her questionably, curious as to what she meant. 'For yesterday, I was so nervous, so the fact that you liked it…' she paused, shrugging, 'meant a lot.' She held my eye contact and I smiled, drawn into her chocolate brown eyes.
'No problem' I said, looking away as I did. 'How're you feeling about today?' I asked, trying to keep the conversation going.
'It's pretty nerve-wracking, the whole thing. I still don't know what we're singing yet though, but from what we've seen others singing already, it ain't going to be good'
I laughed and nodded in agreement, looking around the smoking area again, turning to face her when I heard her push herself off the wall, laughing a bit as she wiped down the back of her jeans to get rid of any debris from the wall.
'What?' she questioned, furrowing her brow slightly but still smiling.
'It's just that you have to jump down from sitting on this wall, this LOW wall' I joked, laughing as she stood, shocked.
'Fuck off!' she exclaimed, reaching over and jostling me, causing me to stumble a bit and drop my cigarette.
'Hey!' I laughed, looking down at the cigarette dumbly before stomping it out and kicking it away and looking back at her, 'this is the bit where you apologise…' I started sarcastically, rolling my hands in front of me in gesture.
She stood in front of me and raised one eyebrow, before narrowing her eyes in challenge.
'No'
I shook my head. 'Ever heard of the phrase 'don't bite the hand that feeds you'?' retorting to her challenge.
'Ever heard of the phrase 'smoking kills?' she countered immediately, smiling devilishly, and lifting her chin smugly.
I smiled, 'touché' impressed at her confidence, enjoying the easiness of the conversation.
'I'd better go back in, I probably shouldn't be fraternising with the enemy anyway' she said conspiratorially, leaning in towards me. I laughed with her and watched her leave before taking out another cigarette and putting it between my lips, lighting it and inhaling deeply as I stared up at the sky.
'Some of these song choices' Effy laughed, looking through the list of songs again 'Don't Go Breaking My Heart is on here.' She continued, pointing at it and showing me.
'I knew we shouldn't have let Anthea choose them!' I said, looking at the list 'I did try and tell her that if she was going to choose duets like that then to at least let them decide which one they got to sing, but she's assigning them' I grimaced, feeling sympathy for the acts having to sing love songs with people they didn't know.
'I don't think I can listen to another one' Cook grumbled from where he was laying on the large sofa in my dressing room, which they all seemed to prefer over their own as they never seemed to leave. 'They're so….'
'Cheesy' JJ said, looking at Cook with a smile on his face.
'Yeah, mate' Cook nodded, sitting himself up straight and rubbing his eyes. 'WAY too cheesy. But we should probably get back out there at some point'
'It'll be over before you know it Cookie' I said, slapping his shoulder as he strolled past me with Effy under his arm, laughing slightly at his downtrodden face.
'Emily and Freddie are next' Effy whispered, looking at me with a smirk before picking up her cup and sipping her drink.
'So' I said, staring her down.
'Just saying' she said, shrugging her shoulders and looking back towards the front where a piano was being dragged onto stage by guys dressed in black. She is so infuriating, I thought, turning to the front just as Freddie and Emily walked onto the stage. Freddie was dressed casually in a grey polo shirt and black jeans and I watched as he took position in front of a microphone as Emily took a seat behind the piano, looking over at the judge's panel confidently, more so than yesterday, obviously feeling at ease with Freddie on the stage as well.
'Hello' Freddie said into the microphone with a smile 'the song that we have been GIVEN' he emphasized, causing Emily to giggle quietly and turn away so as to hide it 'is Come What May' he turned to Emily and nodded, and I watched as she positioned her hands over the keys, the smile still on her face from giggling, before she composed herself and started to play, her brow furrowing and her tongue peeking out between her teeth in concentration. I smiled at the sight when I glanced over at Effy who was watching me intently, smiling knowingly and giving me a nod just as Freddie started singing;
Never knew I could feel like this
Like I've never seen the sky before
Want to vanish inside your kiss
Every day I love you more and more
Listen to my heart, can you hear it sings
Telling me to give you everything
Seasons may change winter to spring
But I love you until the end of time
Come what may, come what may
I will love you until my dying day
He sang it beautifully, his voice complimenting the piano, the emotion palpable. Soon after he finished singing, Emily began her part of the duet, continuing to play the piano as she sang;
Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place
suddenly it moves with such a perfect grace
suddenly my life doesn't seem such a waste
It all revolves around you
I watched as they began harmonising, the room having gone completely silent as the crowd watched the performance.
And there's no mountain too high, no river too wide
Sing out this song and I'll be there by your side
Storm clouds may gather and stars may collide
But I love you until the end of time
Come what may, come what may
I will love you until my dying day
Oh come what may, come what may
I will love you
Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place…
Come what may, come what may
I will love you until my dying day
The room stayed totally silent when the performance finished, the whirring of the cameras the only noise that could be heard. Emily caught my eye with a panicked look on her face at the crowd's unusual reaction, and I just stared right back into her brown eyes as it stayed silent for another thirty seconds before it exploded into the loudest applause I'd ever heard. Cook stood up next to me, clapping his hands wildly, prompting JJ and Effy to do the same. I remained in my seat before standing up to join them, clapping feebly, Emily's eyes remaining on mine from where she was still sitting behind the piano with a look of shock on her face, and I finally caught myself and smiled widely at her. She smiled back equally widely just as Freddie ran over to her and pulled her into his arms, spinning her around before they left the stage, watched by the entire room who were still cheering manically.
'I tell you somethin', the two of them are goin' through. No matter what' Cook bellowed into my ear over the noise. I turned to him and gave him my best 'no shit Sherlock' look before taking my seat again, biting my lip nervously at the butterflies that had taken over my stomach.
'Wow, wow, wow' Anthea exclaimed upon walking into the boardroom, dumping her bag and paperwork onto the table and looking at us all. 'We have ourselves a show!'
It was five thirty pm and Boot Camp day two was over and done with, the Emily and Freddie performance being the talk of the day. Effy, JJ, Cook and I were now holed up in the boardroom with Chinese take-out and we all looked up at Antheas exclamation with facefuls of food and raised eyebrows.
'Now, Naomi, as you so politely pointed out yesterday, you guys know how this works and we don't want to be here all night, we've got to call everyone who is being invited back tomorrow. So, we'll make this quick and painless and get rid of the definite no-no's' she said, walking over to the board and purposefully ripping off a photograph of an act we'd seen at Boot Camp who had successfully murdered both songs he'd attempted. She scanned the board and ripped off another three as we all watched. 'Little help?'
Cook jumped up, taking his take-out container with him, pointing at each of the acts he thought should go as we all agreed, and debating over the ones that we thought should be a maybe. After fifteen minutes the board was looking dramatically sparser as we'd got more callous at cutting the acts down.
'So, any definite yeses?' Anthea questioned, looking at the board with her arms folded across her chest.
We all looked at her as if she was mad while Effy stood up gracefully and pulled Freddie's photo off the board and moved it to a bare section of the board, before doing the same with Emily and another act from the girl's category that had impressed us with her strong diva voice.
'So, we've got 80 acts on the board, 3 have been put through – two in the girls, one in the boys – which means we have 77 to whittle down to 9' JJ said, looking at his watch and grimacing. 'and there is only one space left for a girl'
We all looked between each other hopelessly as we realised that any hope of this being an early one had gone out of the window, before standing up in a line in front of the board and staring at the photos as if the right 9 acts would come leaping out at us.
It was ten o'clock before we'd finally chosen our final twelve and I clapped before standing up and stretching after hours of sitting down deliberating.
'Thank god it's over' I said dramatically, before grabbing my bag and checking my phone.
'It is for you, I've now got to go and let all the people who don't need to come back tomorrow know' Anthea said, looking at us for sympathy.
'Poor Anth' Cook teased, walking over to her and planting a kiss on her cheek. 'See you tomorrow gorgeous' he said cheerily, running out of the room as she reached out to clip his ear. She turned around and laughed; she enjoyed their banter and was pleased that Effy had Cook.
'Bye mum' Effy said, wandering over to Anthea and hugging her, a hug which she accepted with gratitude, smiling at her daughter proudly as she stepped back and began to follow Cook out of the room. I watched and immediately thought of my mum, knowing I should call her at some point this week. I said my goodbyes to Anthea and wished her luck with her phone calls, laughing as she grimaced, before making my way down the hall towards the lift.
A/N - Hope you liked it, Boot Camp day two is done, they both made it through (well done them) so i'll mainly skip over day three and go straight to the celebrating. I think...this could change depending on what happens when I start writing it...anyway, thanks for reading!