CHAPTER 59

Two months later, it was finally the big day of Finn's audition and to say that he was nervous was an understatement. He woke up at 5 am that morning and couldn't find sleep again, so he decided to go on a 8 mile run to clear his head. As he ran, he admired the breath-taking New York Skyline. He spied the Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty and Chrysler Building in the distance.

Once he successfully tired himself out, his stomach started growling from hunger. To his delight, there was an H&H bagels at the corner of the street, so Finn stopped inside and bought himself an everything bagel, which was delicious. Much better than the crap they got in Lima. However, practically everything was better than Lima. As Finn chomped into his breakfast, he pondered about what he was about to do later that day. There were two possible outcomes to what he was about to do… the first was that the judges would hate him and he would embarrass himself in front of millions all over the world. Not a great outcome, Finn thought. The second was miles better… he would do well, advance to the six-chair challenge (the second round of the competition), and possibly kickstart a music career that he desperately wanted all his life.

Finally, at 1 pm, Finn made his way to Time Square, his guitar case in his hand. Him, Cisco, Caitlin and Barry had agreed to meet there at 1:15, and from there, they were going to walk to Madison Square Garden, where the auditions were taking place. Madison Square Garden! Finn couldn't believe it! He was about to play in the biggest, most famous venue in the country, in front of a crowd of around 10,000 people. When Finn arrived at Time Square, his mouth dropped in shock…

Standing there were not only Barry, Cisco and Caitlin, but also Santana, Brittany, Rachel, Mercedes, Quinn, Puck, Sam, Mike, Artie, Tina and Mr. Schue. Basically the whole Glee club but Bella and Kurt, and he was glad they weren't there. The last thing he needed to be was distracted. Finn walked over to them and gave them all massive hugs.

"Hey guys! What are you doing here?!" Finn exclaimed, turning to the Glee Club.

"Well we heard from a little bird that you were performing, and we wanted to come and support you." Artie said, glancing sideways at Cisco. Finn smiled widely at them.

"Wow, I can't believe you guys came all the way here for me! I don't know what to say… thank you so much."

"It was our pleasure." Tina said. "And besides, you're about to become the only person in New Directions who's famous, and we weren't about to miss that."

"Hey, I'm famous!" Rachel exclaimed, indignantly.

"You spent one summer as an extra in a Broadway play. You're not famous, Rach." Mercedes said and everyone laughed and Rachel blushed. They all began walking to Madison Square Garden, and they caught up with Finn while they walked.

"How are you guys? I feel like I haven't seen you in ages! Since the reunion!" He remarked.

"Well yeah, it has been a while. You're not exactly an easy guy to get in touch with."

Finn laughed and nodded.

"That is true." He remarked. Finally, they arrived at the infamous Madison Square Garden, and Finn was briefly whisked away to sign in with the producers and give a quick interview for the show with Dermott O' Leary - the host. Finn shook hands with him.

"Hey, what's your name?" Dermott asked, knowing full well what Finn's name was, but asking anyways for the benefit of his audition video, which would be uploaded to Youtube later that day.

"I'm Finn Hudson." Finn replied.

"And how old are you?"

"I am 22 years old."

"Where are you from?"

"I'm from a really small town in Ohio called Lima. I live in a studio apartment. It's not the Ritz, more like a walk-in cupboard."

"And do you have family here?" Dermott asked. Finn shook his head.

"No family, but a lot of friends."

Dermott nodded.

"Well, is there anything you would like us to know about you? Maybe about your past, what you do for a living, etc."

"Um… so I was born and raised in Lima, Ohio. I've lived there my whole life. I joined the Army for 5 months during my senior year. It was pretty rough. I was also wrongfully imprisoned for murder a couple of years ago. I was slapped with a life sentence without parole to be served in a supermax prison in Illinois. I was proved innocent four years later, but during that time, I lost my family."

"Wow… um… I'm really sorry. That's really rough."

"It's fine. I mean, I've come to live with it. After prison, I joined the WWF and I travelled all over the world for a year to help protect wildlife, but after that, I decided to try and become a singer. But after nearly a year of no success, I just hope this platform can be my way into the industry."

"Just one more thing before we can let you go inside, nowhere in your backstory did you mention any musical experience. When did you start singing?" He asked.

"Um… I started singing when I was about 5. My dad taught me how before he passed away. I've always loved singing and writing my own songs. Oh yeah… also, during sophomore, junior and senior year, I was in my high school's Show Choir and we won National Championships."

Dermott nodded.

"Ok, thank you so much for having a word with us. Good luck with your audition. If you get through, I'll have another quick interview with you after."

Finn smiled nervously.

"Thank you." Finn replied. Finn and all of his friends were led inside the building, which was bustling with noise and energy, but mostly… nerves. When Finn was brought to the waiting area, he could practically cut the tension with a knife.

Eventually, Finn and his entourage were brought backstage, as Finn was up next. Finn's friends were told to wait in a certain area, but Finn was brought all the way backstage, so close that he could see the current performer from his vantage point. He listened to her quick interaction with the judges.

Her name was Zoe Alexander, and she worked as a P!nk Tribute Act for a living. She looked a lot like Pink too, to be honest. She started singing, and Finn immediately got the impression that she wasn't very good. She started by singing So What, by P!nk. Not the greatest song choice for an X Factor audition. Around 30 seconds into the song, Simon Cowell, the head judge and the iconic music mogul and founder of the show, raised his hand and the music stopped. Finn gasped to himself. If she was getting interrupted in the middle of the song, that was certainly not good news for her. Intrigued, Finn listened in to what the 4 judges were telling her.

"Okay, um…" Tulisa, another of the 4 judges, and a professional singer song-writer said. "I actually quite liked your image when you came out. And when you told me about P!nk, I realised that you've clearly based your performance on her."

"No, I didn't base it on P!nk." Zoe cut in, arguing with the judge. She clearly had a temper. Finn watched eagerly as the next bit unfolded.

"Oh, you didn't?" Tulisa asked, surprised.

"No, I'm trying to get away from the P!nk thing." She said.

"Ok, the problem is that you came out saying that you wanted to find your own identity, but then it was very confusing for me, because your audition was like watching a P!nk tribute act."

"Should we get a second song?" Louis Walsh - massive boyband manager and 3rd judge of the competition - asked.

"Yeah." Simon said, decisively. "Zoe, I want to give you a chance because you kind of blew it on that. Can you be yourself, not P!nk?" He asked. Zoe nodded.

"Yeah." She replied.

"Then off you go." He said. "What are you going to sing, Zoe?"

"Emile Sande's, Next to Me." She declared. The music started, and once again, she blew it. This time she didn't sound like a P!nk tribute act, she just sounded like a bad singer. The judges stopped her once again, this time around 15 seconds into the song.

"Ok, thank you Zoe." Simon said. "Um… Nicole?" He asked the fourth judge - multi-platinum award winning superstar from the girl band Pussycat Dolls, Nicole Scherzinger - for her feedback. Out of the four judges, Nicole was by far the nicest judge, and was in fact, out of the four of them, the only American.

"Hi, Zoe." Nicole said, kindly. "I really like your energy up there. I think you have a pretty good voice. I honestly think that you need to go away and take the time to find yourself as an artist. Who you are."

"Yeah, Zoe, I'm also confused about the identity issue." Simon said. "You came out saying you wanted an identity, then you sang a P!nk song. I thought that the second song was much better, um… but I do think, like Nicole said, you need to go away and really find what sounds right for your voice. Because at the moment, it just sounds like just the average kind of singing voice."

"Yeah, Zoe, it's a pity because you've got a great look. You absolutely look like a pop star." Louis said. "But the vocals were just very, very average. I think, with time, you could be fantastic, but I think you need to go and find yourself and come back as Zoe, not a P!nk tribute artist."

Zoe was getting increasingly worked up about the judges' feedback, and Finn could tell that she was holding back a few insults.

"So, let's vote." Louis said. "Simon?"

"Zoe, I'm afraid it's a no from me." He said. "Nicole?"

"I'm sorry, it's a no today. Tulisa?"

"Sorry, it's a no for now."

With that, Zoe had officially been eliminated from the competition. Finally, she snapped and began to talk back to them.

"You told me to sing a P!nk song!" She exclaimed, angrily to them. That was definitely false. Finn knew, from his own experience, that there were no restrictions or limits on what contestants could sing. The audience gasped at Zoe's sudden outburst, but the judges remained calm.

"We never told you to sing a P!nk song." Tulisa said, calmly.

"I didn't want to sing a P!nk song!" Zoe continued. "I wanted to be ME! You guys told me to sing a P!nk song!" She shouted, rudely at them.

"Woah, woah, woah." Tulisa said, annoyed at the belligerent contestant. "We also gave you a second song. And we never told you to sing a P!nk song. Did you hear that come out of any of our mouths."

"Zoe, it was your audition, and you messed up." Louis said. "I'm sorry."

Zoe stomped her foot on the ground and stormed off stage. The judges grumbled about her once she was off stage. Suddenly, someone pushed past Finn and walked towards Zoe, who was angrily standing backstage. It was her dad. Much to the judges' surprise and horror, the man walked Zoe back on stage, presumably to apologise. A look of fear flitted on all four judges' faces, especially as she approached the judges' table.

"No, baby no!" Nicole said, standing up and gesturing at them to stay back.

"Stay on the stage." Simon demanded. Zoe's dad looked at his daughter, expecting her to apologise, but instead, she did something nobody expected. She started swearing her head off, screaming at the four judges who, in this case, were absolutely in the right.

"That took me all fucking month to prepare for!" She bellowed, coming closer to the judges.

"Stay on the stage." Tulisa demanded.

"You bitch!" She screamed, and the 10,000 members of the audience gasped, but Zoe wasn't done yet. "You cunt! You're all cunts! Fuck all of you!" She screamed, storming back offstage. Suddenly, she threw her microphone at the people who were gathered backstage, one of whom was the tall, male, brunette contestant who was next to come on. Before Finn could react, the microphone hit him square in the jaw.

The projectile was thrown so hard that Finn groaned in pain, and felt himself swallow a tooth. Crap! That wasn't good, especially not before the biggest audition of his life! Luckily, the tooth was a molar, so wouldn't affect his performance too much, but he couldn't be sure. Little did he know that his face was also bleeding. The producers gave him a tissue to dab his face with, and he realised that there was quite a bit of blood dripping out of his cheek.

Meanwhile, back on the stage, Simon had just received word about what happened.

"Wow." He said. "Things are really kicking off backstage. Apparently, she just shoved over a cameraman and threw her microphone at a contestant's face."

"Inappropriate!" Nicole exclaimed.

"I tried to help her!" Louis said. "We gave her a second song. She got the same chance everyone else gets."

"Anyways…" Simon said, reading his phone. "The next contestant is going to be a couple of minutes. He's having his face bandaged up."

"Oh, poor thing." Nicole said, sympathetically. She knew how stressful auditions were for every contestant, and having that kind of ordeal happen right before an audition couldn't help their nerves. Eventually, Finn was finished getting cleaned up by the medic, and he walked on stage, to the cheering of the audience.

Okay, I know this sounds like another story I wrote but trust me… it goes in a whole, completely different direction. Just keep reading and reviewing!