Chapter 28 - The X Factor Audition

"Ladies and Gentlemen! Your final performer in the first round of the X Factor US Season 2 - Mr. Finn Hudson!"

Finn walked up to the front of the stage. He stood on the X at the center of the stage. The judges looked at him and Simon Cowell began to ask Finn some questions.

"Hello, Finn. How are you today?"

"I'm really good, thank you."

"So, Finn. There has been a lot of media about you in the past few weeks. Do you care to comment on that?"

"Ummmm, I don't know what to say, really, except that I'm not a hero. I was just doing my job."

"Well, that's the biggest understatement I've heard all day. You are definitely a hero. And of course, your escape from Bangladeshi custody headlined the news. How did you manage to escape?"

"Well, I'll try to say as much as I can, leaving out the gory details. So, I knew that I couldn't die in the dark cellar I was locked in. I had a family, and a girlfriend who I thought cared about me. I managed to outwit the people who were holding me hostage, and I made it to a helicopter. I managed to take off, but the helicopter was about to die, as it had been shot up a bunch as I was taking off. I jumped out of the helicopter right before it exploded, and parachuted into Kathmandu, Nepal. I then stowed away on a private plane that landed in Calgary. Then, an hour later, I was on a plane back to the States."

The judges and audiences stared at him with shock.

"I'll repeat what I said before," Simon Cowell said. "You are definitely a hero. Wait… you said you thought you had people that cared about you. What happened with them?"

Finn laughed. "Wow, I didn't think anyone would notice that. Well my family is great, but my ex-girlfriend kinda cheated on me while I was away."

"Awwwww," the audience all said.

"Wow." Louis Tomlinson said. "I'm so sorry. That's like the lowest thing someone can do: cheating on someone while they're serving their country."

"You're telling me!" Finn remarked and the audience laughed. He hoped that Quinn watched the video and heard this when it went out on youtube.

"Well, Finn," Simon said. "If you do well in this competition, I'm sure you'll have girls lining up around the block." The audience cheered. "Anyways, the floor's yours. Sing your heart out."

"Thank you," Finn said. The music started and Finn closed his eyes. He let the music overtake him and he gently swayed. He then opened his mouth and started to sing.

*Sings Young by Tulisa - James Arthur X Factor Cover*

Finn poured his heart and soul into the song. He channelled all of the heartbreak and pain he had felt over the past few months. He channelled all of the anger that came along with it. He sang the song with so much emotion and it showed. The judges gave him a standing ovation. He could barely hear the judges speak because of the screaming and cheering audience.

"Wow, that was incredible," Tulisa said. "You absolutely crushed it!"

"Thank you," Finn said.

Louis Tomlinson spoke second. "Yeah, Finn, that was awesome. I'm the mentor for the guys, and if you keep singing like you just did, I can't wait to mentor you to the Finals."

"Thank you so much," Finn said, starting to get excited. Could there be a chance that he actually makes it to the live shows?

Nicole Scherzinger was third. "Yeah, I agree with both of them. I wouldn't be surprised if in a few months time, I'm hearing the words: And the winner is… Finn Hudson!"

"Thanks," Finn said.

Finally, Simon Cowell gave his feedback. "You know, I always try and find flaws in every audition, but honestly, right now, I'm struggling. That was superb. Now for the voting… Tulisa?"

"It's a yes from me"

"Louis?"

"Huge yes from me." He said. Finn smiled.

"Nicole?"

"Yes." Finn couldn't believe it. He had made it through the first audition and was through to bootcamp.

"Congratulations Finn," Simon said. "You've got 4 yesses."

Finn was overwhelmed. He thanked the judges, waved at the cheering audience and walked off the stage. He was immediately approached by the producers and was given the details of bootcamp. He would be emailed about it later so he didn't pay much attention to what the producer was saying. Finn was walking on air the rest of the day. As Kurt had demanded, Finn called him as soon as he left the building. He told Kurt that he had made it through unanimously and that was met by loud screaming from Kurt's side of the phone. Once Kurt had calmed down, he congratulated his brother. Kurt was coming into New York in two weeks time to start his life there. Kurt was trying to make it on Broadway so was staying in New York even though he had graduated. Quinn, however, was moving to L.A. Finn was relieved. At least he wouldn't have to see her again - except maybe during holidays. It gave him the chance to get closure and finally move on from her.

Over the course of the next 2 weeks, he had completed boot camp and was getting ready for the judge's house round. His mentor was Louis Tomlinson, and the judge's house round would be taking place in his gorgeous mansion in Beverly Hills. Finn landed in L.A the night before his audition. He had gotten a lot of messages of good luck from his family, Mr. Shue and the Glee club. He had one more step before the live shows. He was picked up in the airport by a courier and brought straight to the mansion. He was met by Louis, who gave him a huge hug and showed him to one of the guest rooms for the night. Finn put his duffel down on the bed, and followed Louis into the sitting room, where there were 6 other guys sitting on the various sofas. They were introduced to each other. Their names were Arthur, Jahmene, Jacob, David, Dalton, James and, of course, Finn. Despite the fact that they were competing and by the end of the week, three of them would be going home, they were all really nice to each other. They spent the whole night jamming. Finn and one of the other guys had brought their guitars so they were accompanied by them. They also spent some time learning about each other's pasts. One of the boys, Dalton, had grown up in Jamaica in extreme poverty. Another guy, James, put himself in foster-care at age 15, to get himself away from his divorced parents, who were constantly yelling. Finn's story was very different to everyone else's. He talked briefly about his early childhood and foster care, and also talked briefly about his time in the Navy. The other guys were amazed. They ended up going to their rooms to sleep at 2 am.

Throughout the week, the 7 guys spent a lot of time together. One of them was performing each day. They weren't allowed to watch each other's performances so when someone was performing, the other 6 of them toured around L.A. They visited Griffith Park, Universal Studios and Hollywood, as well as spending time busking on the streets. They had a competition of who could earn the most money in an hour. Finn won, earning 47 dollars. On the day before Finn's audition, the seven guys and Louis had gone to a steakhouse for dinner. They were given menus and, 5 minutes later, a waitress came over to their booth to take their order. Finn's heart dropped. It was Quinn. Her mouth dropped when she saw him.

"Finn…" she said, still in shock that he was sitting two feet away from me.

"Hi, Quinn." he said, forcing a fake-smile onto his face.

"Do you two know each other?" Louis asked. All of the guys could sense the tension between them.

"Yeah, this is my ex-girlfriend, Quinn. She cheated on me a bunch." The other guys nodded, sympathising for ther friend.

"Finn," Quinn started. "I'm so sorry I cheated on you. Please, give me another chance. You're amazing, caring, supportive, talented and so handsome."

"You know," Finn responded. "I actually thought you took my breath away, but…"

"But what?" Quinn asked, hopefully.

"But I just realised that I was simply suffocating from your bullshit."

The other guys gasped at how harsh their normally laid back friend was, and Quinn's eyes filled with tears. "I'll meet you guys back at the house." Finn said, grabbing his jacket, and walking out of the restaurant. He took a cab back to the mansion, and he walked straight to his room. He shut the door and spent the next hour and a half working hard on his song, for the next day. An hour and a half later, Finn heard a knock on his door.

"Come in!" Finn shouted. Louis walked into the room.

"How are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm OK, I guess. I'm just trying to focus on tomorrow." Louis nodded and put a hand on his shoulder.

"For what it's worth, she doesn't deserve you. Oh, we brought you some food for the restaurant," he said, holding a bag.

"Thanks, but Quinn's probably spat in this."

"Oh don't worry. She hasn't. In fact, she left a couple of seconds after you did."

"In that case, thank you so much. Don't mind if I do," Finn opened the doggy bag and began eating.

"Look, Finn. I have a hunch that you'll be in the X Factor all the way to the finals, so I get the pleasure of being your mentor. I'm going to help guide you in your path, and that isn't just limited to music. It's also your personal life as well. So if you ever need anything, don't hesitate to come to me."

Finn nodded. "Thanks man, that means a lot."

"Anytime," Louis responded and left the room. Finn quickly ate his food and spent one more hour practising. He didn't want to strain his voice so he stopped and fell asleep shortly after. The next morning, Finn walked into the kitchen and started preparing breakfast. It was a Saturday, so the cook had the day off. Finn started cooking pancakes, frying bacon and scrambling eggs all at the same time. Everyone came downstairs one by one and they each took a plate. Finn was by far the best cook among them and everyone gobbled down the food like animals. After breakfast, there was an hour until Finn's audition. The other guys wished him luck and they went out to Santa Monica Pier, leaving just Finn and Louis in the house. Finn forced himself to stay calm. He could do this. He had to.

"So Finn, you ready?" Louis asked. Finn nodded and followed his mentor to the living room. There was already a piano set up, with an accompanist sitting there, ready. Finn had given him the sheet music a few days before so he played the piano part flawlessly. Finn listened to the first 4 bars of the piano part before he started to sing.

*Sings Dancing on my Own by Calum Scott*

After he finished singing, Louis and the pianist both stood up and gave him a huge round of applause. A lone tear rolled down his cheek when he finished singing and Louis walked over and gave him a hug.

"Finn, once again, that was excellent. You did an outstanding job."

"Thanks," Finn said and gave his accompanist a high five. A few minutes later, the other guys walked in and collapsed on the sofa. They all watched a Chiefs vs Rams game on TV while Louis was deliberating on who advanced to the Live shows. 4 boys out of the 7 would qualify. After the deliberation, 4 of the guys would go back to New York with Louis, and the rest would go home. Finally, after 3 quarters of the game had finished, Louis walked into the room. The guys immediately turned off the massive TV and everyone's attention immediately turned to Louis.

"OK guys, I want to start by saying that it was an honor being able to listen to and mentor all of you guys. You guys are all amazing singers, and if it were up to me, all of you would…"

Dalton interrupted him. "Louis, my man, you're killing us. Who made it to the live shows?"

"Well, the first spot goes to Finn. Congratulations." Finn smiled widely and all of the guys fist bumped him.

"The second to James." They all patted him on the back and high fived him.

"The third to Dalton." The Jamaican man was over the moon.

"And finally, the fourth spot goes to… Jahmene. Congrats to the four of you. You have made it to the live shows. To the rest of you, well done for getting this far, and know that your singing careers are not over. You are all immensely talented. Keep working and you will make it." They all gave each other hugs, and then left their rooms to call their families. Finn walked to his room and called Kurt, Burt and Carole on a group call. They all answered pretty quickly.

"Finn! How are you?" Burt asked.

"I'm OK, I guess. I had my judge's house audition today and Louis made the decision of who makes it to the live shows."

"Well, how did you do, son?" Carole asked, curiously.

"I made it. I'm through to the live shows." He smiled. He heard Kurt, Carole and Burt start shouting.

"Finn that's awesome!"

"Congrats, Finn!"

"Well done, Finn!" They all shouted.

"Thanks guys," Finn responded. "Still a long way to go, though. We fly back to New York tomorrow and the first live show is in three weeks. We're going to start preparing for the first week as soon as we get back."

"I'm so proud of you, son," Carole said, with tears in her eyes. The four of them spoke for 5 minutes, before Carole and Burt had to leave. They were travelling the world, as they were now retired, and were right now in Rome. Kurt and Finn were left on the call.

"So I heard you saw Quinn," Kurt started, cautiously.

"Yeah, she was waitressing at the steakhouse my friends and I were eating at. She tried to apologise and wanted to get back together."

"What did you say?" Kurt asked.

"What do you think I said? I insulted her and walked out."

"Yeah what did you say to her? She was really cut up when she called me that night, but she refused to tell me what you said."

"Well she started complimenting me. Calling me all kinds of stuff like caring, supportive, handsome. The whole nine. She apologised for cheating and asked if I would forgive her."

"And how did you respond?" Kurt asked, egging his brother on.

"Well I said verbatim: 'I actually thought you took my breath away. But I realised I was simply suffocating from your bullshit.' I then walked out."

"Yeesh," Kurt said. "Look you know I'm on your side, but Q's my friend too. I'm not asking you to get back together, but could you at least be civil?"

"Sure, it actually felt great to get off my chest. It gave my closure and I feel like I'm finally moving on."

"That's good to hear, Finn." Kurt said. "Look I gotta go. I have an audition for an off-broadway play."

"That's amazing! Good luck, brother." Kurt hung up the phone and Finn threw his phone on the bread. A wide smile crossed his face. He actually went and did it. He was in the X Factor live shows! Millions of people were going to watch him perform, including music producers and heads of record labels. He spent the night having some fun with Louis and the 6 other competitors, both eliminated and still safe. They went into Louis' breath-taking back lawn and played a game of 4 on 4 touch football. The piano accompanist - who's name was Thomas - played with them. Finn was quarterback of his team and had the best throwing accuracy so his team won. They ended up going inside at 12 am and they all grabbed huge tubs of ice cream. They watched highlights of a recent Lakers game and at close to 4 am, finally went to sleep.

Guys, Please review and follow. It would mean everything to me, and I can help improve and add to the story