"I haven't even watched it before." I whisper to Samuel and he nods. "Me Neither!" Damian shouts to me from the other end of the line and I nod. "Well at least I didn't say it in the studio!" I say to Samuel. He laughs and a camera crew burst in and run around us. We walk out and smile and laugh. "Here we go." Samuel says to me. I nod. "I'm scared." He nods. "Don't be, it's just a couple million people that watch it." I hit him and he nods. "Yeah, I Deserved that." I smile and we all stop.
"Presenting the contestants of THE GLEE PROJECT, CLASS OF SEASON 1!" Robert Ulrich shouts and we all stand together. We strike a pose for the paparazzi and Samuel puts his arm around me. We all smile. "Samuel, Nicola, Hannah, Cameron, Lindsay, Alex, MyKynleigh, Bryce, Marissa, Damian, Emily and Matheus!" He shouts and we all do the 'gLee' pose. We see people screaming and smile. "Hi!" I say to one little girl as we go towards the limo. "I was hoping you got through!" She shouts back and I smile. "Thanks." I say to her and Samuel looks at me. "A girl that is about 10 just said I was hot." I nod. "Go get her tiger." I wink and he laughs. We get into the limo.
"Well that was crazy." MyKynleigh says to us. "And they haven't even heard us sing yet." Cameron says. We sit back in our seats and it stops. "We can't be here yet." Emily says and the door opens. Robert Ulrich gets in, beside Alex and Lindsay. "How was that?" He asks us. "Scary." I say and he smiles. "It's just the beginning." he says to me and Samuel rubs my back. "It's going to be fine." I smile. "Thanks." Robert looks at a sheet. "So you all got the sheet to show you what you are singing?" We nod. Firework, By Katy Perry. He nods. "Well, we will do a quick rehearsal before we go on, and then you go out, sing it and then do the interview." We nod and Samuel smiles at me. "Ok guys, you need these." He hands out passes and we put them around our necks.
We get out to be greeted by more paparazzi. We smile quickly and walk inside in our line again, we go through security and are put into a room, Robert Ulrich walks somewhere and we all just nod at each other. He walks back in and quickly puts us into place. We go through it quickly with very little choreography, which apparently is 'Perfect' for our first performance ever. Damian nods at me. "Y'ready?" I nod. "This isn't the county finals no more." He nods. "You got that right." We stand together at the edge of the stage. "Good luck" Samuel says to me and I nod. "You too." He winks and they call us. "In 5 guys." Robert Ulrich says and we all get ready. "Please Welcome The Contestants Of The Glee Project! Who are going to perform Firework by Katy Perry!" We all walk out and stand in place and sing it, my nerves quickly disappearing.
When we finish, we all go to sit on the couch, but there isn't enough room, they cut to a break and bring another one in, I sit between Bryce and Alex. "Let me start off by saying hello and welcome to Good Morning America. You guys are the final 12, out of 40,000 people, how does that feel?" Lindsay smiles. "Amazing." We nod. "Now, three of you are actually not from America." Damian, Matheus and I nod. "I am from Sao Paul, Brazil." Matheus says. "And I am from Derry City, Northern Ireland." Damian says. "And I am from County Derry, Northern Ireland." I say. She nods. "So you are both from the same place?" Cameron and Samuel half laugh. "It's a bit like living in a miniature Los Angeles y'know, you're from the same area, but you don't know each other." She nods at Damian. "You have a very strong accent, where as you don't Nicola." I smile. "I have an accent that is alot like Damian's, because we are from the same area, but mine is like, not as heavy." She nods. "So you all got into the house last night, how was it getting to see everyone again?" Hannah nods. "It was really good seeing each other again, but we hadn't met Nicola and Damian because they had been on a flight here when we were getting to meet each other, so it was pretty cool having two more people to meet." She says. "Filming hasn't even started yet? is that right?" We nod. "Yeah, we start filming in a week and two days, which we are all excited for and it is going to be great." Bryce says. "Is there anyone in the group that you feel you can relate to or that you feel you are really going to get on with?" We all half nod. "I think we are all getting on alot better than I thought we would have. I think I am really going to get on with the likes of Damian, Cameron and Nicola, I think we all get on quite well." Samuel says and I smile at him.
"MyKynleigh?" She nods. "The girls and Bryce, but really we all get along, we haven't exactly got little cliques yet, we are all kind of getting on and finding out about each other." She nods and we all smile. "Is there anyone out of all of you that actually shocked you when they came in?" They all nod and suddenly all eyes go on me. I clear my throat and smile. "Hi." I say and they all laugh. "Nicola is a self-professed metalhead, who likes rock music, which we really didn't expect, since she came into the house with a pink t-shirt and a very girly skirt." Marissa says and I look down and shake my head smiling. "Uhm yeah, I mean, I like music with a lot of feeling and I don't think we always get that from the pop media culture we live in today." She nods. "And you are trying to win a part on Glee?" She snips back. "Glee has a lot of issues raised in it and a lot of meaningful songs and I still like RnB and Pop, but if I had to choose, I would be doing the likes of Rock music, it's just what I am into." She nods and continues, after another 5 minutes she turns around and looks at the monitor, before looking back at us. "Well thank you guys, the show starts, in two weeks?" We nod. "And goodluck." We nod. "Thank you" We wave and all walk out.
We walk back into the waiting room and here the music playing for the break. She walks in. "Well Done, and good luck." She says to us and she walks out. We sit and wait on Robert Ulrich and Samuel moves over beside me.
"How was that?" I nod. "Alright." I look out at everyone, "Yeah, thanks for sticking me in that guys!" They all laugh. "Sorry." I smile and Samuel turns around to me on the bench. "It was better than I expected." He says and I nod. "So what's wrong with the rest of us Samuel?" Lindsay asks, half smiling. "You said you were going to get on well with Cameron, Damien and Nicola!" He tries to make words come out, but they are staying where they are. They all laugh. I smile at him. "That was scary." I say and he rubs the side of my arm. "Get used to it." I smile. "Ok, Pink shorts." I say and he laughs.
Robert Ulrich walks in. "Well done guys." He says. "There will be some fans out front who want to get pictures and stuff with you, so please take some time to talk to them before you get back in the limo." We nod and he gives us all Sharpie markers. "Ok guys, let's go." He says and we all walk out, we see a lot of screaming fans and start taking pictures with them, they give me random items; paper, t-shirts and a pair of pink glasses to sign. Alex is first to get in the limo but we all stay behind. "Hi, my friend wanted to meet you, but she was sick, would you mind recording a little thing for her?" I shake my head. "Sure, what's her name?" She smiles. "Sophie." I nod. "Who else does she like?" The girl smiles. "Lindsay and Cameron." I nod. "two seconds." I walk over to them and we all walk back over, she holds up a video camera. "Hi Sophie, it's Cameron, Lindsay and Nicola from the glee project." Cameron says. "Sorry you couldn't come out and meet us today, that totally sucks." Lindsay says. "We just wanted to say, get well soon and we hope you enjoy the glee project when it starts in a few weeks, so yeah, peace out." I say and the girl smiles. "Thank you so much."
We nod and move on down. I bang into Damian. "Hey." I say and sign a girls t-shirt. "Your the Irish kids!" Someone says to us and we nod. "Yeah." We laugh and take a few pictures together. "Who else is in the limo?" I ask him. "Emily, Matheus, Bryce and MyKynleigh." I nod and walk on down. "See you in a bit." I say and sign more autographs. "Nicola" I turn around and see Samuel calling me. I finish signing a The Glee Project poster and smile "Hey." I say to him. "She wants to take a picture of us together." I nod. "Ok." I stand beside him and smile, He wraps his arm around my back and I put my hand on his shoulder. "Hot!" Damien shouts. We laugh at him.
I sign more autographs and more people get in the limo. "We need to go soon." He nods, people have been leaving. My sharpie runs out and I walk over to the limo. "Can I borrow a Sharpie?" Emily gives me hers and I pop my head back out. I walk back over to Damian, Cameron, Marissa, Lindsay and Samuel. We all stand together and get some pictures taken. I slap Damian. "That's for earlier." I say and he laughs. I keep signing and Marissa gets back in the limo with Cameron.
There are about 50 people left. We keep signing and Lindsay gets in, soon followed by Damian. We sign the last few autographs and wave. "Well that was fun." I say and we get back into the limo. "You guys took your time." We smile. "We wanted to get around everyone." I say and we sit up. We are driven back to the house and are called into the choir room. "We are now going to do your interviews, where you tell the public a little bit about yourselves." We nod and one by one we go into a room and say our piece. My turn.
"Ok, just tell us about your self Nicola." Robert Ulrich says to me and I sit down on the chair.
"I am Nicola McDowney. I am 18 years olds, from County Derry Northern Ireland, and I am one of the final 12 on The Glee Project, like." I say and a 'whoosh' sound plays. "I like rock music, I am a self-professed metal head and I love Glee, like. Which people like, do not expect at all. I grew up in a little town in Derry and watched Glee from when it began. I wanted to be part of it. Now I am getting the chance I always dreamed of." I say and he nods. I put my hand to my head and make the gLee sign. Robert Ulrich nods and shouts cut. "That was great." I smile and walk back out to the guys.
Samuel hands me a page. "What's this?" He nods. "The song for the first week." I nod. "Individuality week." I say as I read the chalk board and he nods. "Yeah." We all sit on the bleachers. "Signed, sealed, delivered, I'm yours." We start practicing and move about and put some kind of moves to it. When we finish Alex goes over it again and again. I get up and walk back into the girls room. I sit up on my bed and Marissa is sitting with Samuel. "Hey guys." I say and walk back out with my jeans and a T-shirt. I get changed and hang my dress back up in the wardrobe. Samuel walks out and Marissa smiles at me. "What?" I say to her. "He likes you." I nod. "Yeah, we're friends." She nods. "Ok." I nod and Hannah walks in with Emily. "Hi guys." I smile. "You hungry?" I say to them and they half nod. I walk out and into the choir room. "You hungry?" They nod. "I'll help." Samuel says to me. "Ok, Pink shorts." I say and he laughs. "You need a nickname." I nod. "Ok." I say and start taking the chicken out of the freezer and peppers and onions. "Cut those up pink shorts?" He nods and I smile. "So, how are you?" He says to me. "Good." I say and smile. "You?" He nods. "Yeah, having fun?" He says and puts the peppers and onions in the pan with the cooking chicken. "Why are you acting weird?" I ask him. "I'm not." I laugh. "You are." I say and poke him. "Don't poke me." He says and pokes me back. I start laughing. "What? are you ticklish?" I near burst and end up on the floor. "Ha ha I ha need to hahaha check hahahahahaha the ha chicken!" He lets go of me and Lindsay leans against the door with Bryce and Mykynleigh. "Hey guys." Samuel says and helps me up. I fix my hair and stir the stir fry.
Lindsay smiles and Bryce nods. "Ok." Lindsay says and they all walk out. "Guys, you might want to get your phones out. The chefs in the kitchen are like, 5 seconds away from making out!" MyKynleigh shouts and he takes rice out of the cupboard, everyone runs in and stares at us. "Hi guys." I say and Samuel half nods. "Is there any good clothes shops around here?" He nods. "Yeah, there is a few about 10 minutes away." I nod. "I might just check them out tomorrow." He nods. "Yeah, I'll show you." I nod. "Sounds great." I say back and take out plates. He spreads out the rice and I put some stir fry on ever plate. "Here you go." I say and they all sit around the table. Samuel sits in front of me and we eat. "This is good." Alex says. Samuel smiles at me. "Not to bad guys." Hannah says and I get kicked in the shin by Samuel. I kick him back and he laughs. "You ok Samuel?" Cameron says and he nods. "Yep, fine." He says and kicks me back. We both go to kick each other at the same time but our legs touch and we both smile, putting our legs back on the stools.
Damian and Lindsay smile at me. "Practice after dinner?" Alex says and we all kind of look at him. "I was hoping to just chill out in my room for a while." I say to him and he nods. "Ok, Nicola is out. The rest of you in?" Marissa, Samuel and Damian shake their heads. "Yeah I think we will just hang out to." Damian says. Alex nods. "Does anyone want to practice?" They all shake their heads. "Well you know where I'll be." He says. "We'll do the washing up." Bryce and MyKynleigh say. We smile. I finish my food and put the plate in the sink. I turn on my ipod and get about a million messages from Twitter. I sit on my bed in the empty room. I turn on the video camera.
"Hey guys. So, I guess you have all heard that I made it into the final 12 of the glee project, which is really cool. We filmed some opening sequence stuff today and went on good morning America, which was undoubtfully the scariest thing I have done yet. So yeah, that's all I gotta say really, we did a signing outside of the studio, so if you have any pictures of us or anything, I would love to see them, just tweet them to me NicolaMcDowneyTGP and we will take it from there." I say and go to hit the button. My bed bounces. "And you can follow me SamuelLarsenTGP Samuel says and I laugh at him. "Oh, I got your nickname by the way." I look at the screen and back at him. "What is it?" He nods. "Miss T." I look at him. "Miss Ticklish." I laugh. "Such a nerd." I say. "Yeah, but my fans love me." I poke him. "What fans?" I say and he makes a shocked expression. "Meanie." He pokes me back. "Well, this is Nicola." "And Samuel, Peace out!" He says and switches is off. "Nerd." He laughs. "There is nothing wrong with being a nerd!" We look over at Cameron and burst out laughing. Samuel gets up. "I need to change." I nod at him and he walks out with Cameron. I quickly change as well, he walks back in with his pink shorts on and I laugh. Damien walks in with Marissa and they lie on the bottom of my bed. "What do you want to do?" They shrug. "Play pool?" I smile. "Yeah, I can't." I say and laugh. "But you guys can." I say and Damian looks at me. "Oh my god. Your Irish and you can't play pool?" I look at him. "And I try to get rid of these stereotypes and of course another Irish kid has got to prove them." They laugh. "I'll help you." I nod at Samuel. "Ok." We get up. "Ok, you can break." Samuel says to Marissa and she does, potting no balls. "Go." She says to me and I lean over the table. He stands beside me and fixes my hand. "Line it up, pull it back." He pulls it back with me. "And shoot." He says and lets go. I pot a red spot and jump. "We did it!" I say and he nods. "Yeah, you did." I smile and we look each other in the eye. "Either make out, or play pool." We give him a dirty look and I walk over to him. I lean the cue against the table and Damian stares at me. I smack him. "No more." He nods. "Yes ma'am." I nod. "Or else i'll clip your ear." He nods and I take my cue and miss it. "Your turn." I say to Damien and he misses it. Samuel takes his turn and pots three. "Show off in pink shorts." I say and he laughs.
(10 Minutes Later)
I pot the black ball and Samuel hugs me. "We won." I smile and stick my tongue out at Damian. He laughs and Marissa takes out a piece of paper. "Damian and Marissa: 0 Samuel and Nicola: 1" She says and sticks it to the wall. I lie back up on my bed and start looking through pictures that they have tweeted me, I save the good ones and get to the one of me and Samuel. "Look." I say and show it to him. "Nice." He says and takes my ipod from me. "What are you doing?" He smiles. "Emailing it to my cell." I nod. "Ok." He hands me back my ipod and I smile.
