Six hours 17 minutes and 52 seconds! Till the first step in changing her life!

Jude paced the living room floor like she had been doing for the last 30 minutes. Tonight was it, the first night of the live shows in the Instant Star competition. She still couldn't believe she had made it this far. After the completely nerve racking first audition she had been to several callbacks and passed the second round. But now the competition got hotter, this was now between the best of the best. And damn they were good.

There were 8 of them through to the live performance rounds, and from here it wasn't just the judge's votes that she had to get, it was the audiences too. To make it through the cut they added your final score out of thirty and the percentage of viewer votes you received, so you had to be good. Needless to say this was making Jude a bit of a wreck. What if she messed up, in front of all those people and live on national television. She could not handle this!

'Jude will you sit down, you're making me dizzy!' Jamie complained from the couch. 'Your gonna be fine and you know you are so stop worrying already.'

She did know then when it came to it she would perform like never before, but thinking about it made her feel sick! She ignored Jamie and left the room. She needed to calm down and there was only one thing that did that. She grabbed her guitar from beside her bed and opened the French doors to the terrace. The moment she sat with the wood between her hands and her fingers on the strings she relaxed. After all this was what she was born to do, right? She definitely felt that way.

A couple of hours of practice later she was back to her nervous state. It was now only 2 hours 38 minutes until the show. Jude was down at the theatre backstage. Her hair was being pulled off her face roughly by the stylist. He muttered to him self as it fell back in to loose curls on her shoulders. She kind of liked it that way, she never was one for all the girly stuff. The advertisers supporting the competition, Herbal Essences, wanted her to look more sophisticated. She tried to explain that this was about as sophisticated as a 15-year-old girl got but they weren't impressed. However the label running the competition and giving out the winning 3-year contract was more into Jude's rocker girl style. She had left them arguing among themselves until finally it seemed the PR rep from G Major, a loud and obnoxious Asian woman named EJ, won. So rocker chick she would stay, thank god!

'Jude, how you feeling?' asked a tall sandy haired guy. His name was Leo and he was another of the finalist in the competition. He played piano amazingly and was really friendly.

'Not bad.' Jude lied. Leo just threw her a disbelieving look. Was she that obvious?

'Yeah you are,' he practically read her mind. 'Don't worry though, you feel better when the music starts.' He smiled and headed for the dressing rooms in the very back of the theatre. Jude waved as he left. If anyone won this competition, she really hoped it would be him. No one else was close to as talented or as amazing. But as much as she wanted him in the final, she would hate to compete with him in the end. They had become good friends and he treated her much like a little sister.

'Right people line up here!' the stage manager was shouting over the music playing out to the crowd. The show was about to begin, the lights went down and the presenter began.

'Welcome to the very first LIVE performance of Instant Star.' The crowd roared there must be over a thousand out there.

Jude took deep steadying breaths. She was last up why was she panicking now? She must have missed the Judges entrances because next thing she knew Kyle left the group and took her space on stage.

Jude watched intently from the wings with the six other contestants. Kyle was really going for it, holding the Mic tightly and swinging his thick black hair. He was doing a cover of The Cure's Friday I'm in Love. It sounded great, but Jude new he hadn't chosen it, she would be shocked if he even knew who The Cure was.

The show was going great, the crowd was full of anticipation and excitement for each act and so far no one had gone wrong. Just as this thought cross her mind Tarrow a shy girl, still in high school like Jude, made her way on stage. The music started the crowd cheered…and then nothing. She didn't sing. Didn't make a sound. She looked completely terrified. Jude couldn't watch, she felt so bad for her.

The petite brunet ran from the stage tears streaming down her face. No one knew what to say. They all just looked at each other. The presenter took the stage, apologized and announced that Tarrow was automatically eliminated, she hadn't performed and was no longer a contestant eligible to win.

Jude started to panic now, Tarrow was one before last. Now it was her go. Her chance to prove to the judges and the viewers that she could be a star!

She walked out on to the stage her head held high. The lights were so bright she couldn't see past the judge's table, she was quite glad about this. She gripped the neck of guitar tightly and readier herself. She paused, look out across the audience and smiled. She began to play. The song came as easily to her fingers as the one at the very first audition, even though she had only written it a few days earlier. Her voice echoed around her, she heard people cheer and clap. She saw posters waving and the energy from the room was electric.

As the last chord fell, she looked up to the judges, smiled once more and left the stage. She couldn't have done better than that, and it felt fantastic.

'Now it's time to announce who is through to the next round and who…is going home!' the presenter spoke in to the microphone in front of her.

'First through to next week, the semi finals is…with the highest votes and points…. Leo Jenson!' The crowd screaming as Leo stepped forward out of the line of nervous singers and made his way to the safe zone. Jude clapped just as loudly and hugged him as he past.

'Well done.' She whispered in his ear.

'Your next!' Leo replied as her left her embrace.

'The next person through, with the second highest votes is … Jude Harrison!'

Jude couldn't believe it she was through, one more round to the final and she was still in. She ran over to join Leo and hugged him again. He lifted her up and swung her round like a child. She was so happy it was crazy. She just wished her dad had made it to watch her. At least now he had another chance, he promised he would come if she got through, and maybe even Sadie if she could handle seeing Jude in the spotlight.

The next ten minutes went by in a blur, she really didn't take any thing in until the two people leaving were hugging her and congratulating her. Billy an older guy with a very cabaret voice and a R n B style girl, Jenna were the ones to leave. Jude was sad to see them go but now it was down to the final five and she couldn't wait for the next performance. It was like a drug to her. The anticipation, the excitement and finally the rush of actually getting though was unbelievable. But it was her life now. How it had change!