It was November and I was planning for my trip to Hollywood. By now, I had told Figgins that I would need some time off. I knew that if I made it past Hollywood, I was planning on quitting.

"Faith, I want you to make sure that you have fun out there." He told me. "Also don't lose sight of what's important and that is the music."

"Thanks for the advice, Sir." I replied. Even though I didn't really like the job, I didn't have a problem with my boss. He treated me fairly and with respect. There were definitely worse things that I could be doing.

"If you get to the television rounds, I'll be voting for you." He declared. "Also don't end up like that Ke-dollar sign-ha."

"It's pronounced Kesha." I remarked.

The next day, I headed to Hollywood for the week. There were about 150 of us and only 24 would make it to the live rounds.

"Okay, now this is just serendipity." Sam told me. "I can see it now. We're going to get married."

I couldn't help but smile at his stupid joke. At least, I hoped that he was joking. I wasn't going to marry him. I noticed that he had brought his guitar with him.

"So do you play anything?" He asked.

"I know how to play a little guitar but I don't have one of my own." I stated.

"You know I could teach you." He offered. "In fact I could get you your own guitar. My dad's a professional songwriter, so I have a lot of them at home."

"You don't have to do that." I told him.

"You know your hair would look better if you grew it out." He declared. I had had it shorter so it wouldn't get in my way at work, but I supposed if I was going to be doing this, that wouldn't be an issue.

"I'll grow mine out if you grow yours." I retorted.

"Okay, deal." He agreed as I noticed the judges walked into the room. Performances were about to start.

I needed to put the finishing touches on my outfit. I already had a grey tank and faded black leggings and a black jacket, but I wanted something else to make me look like a rockstar. I grabbed a pinstriped scarf off the rack and let it hang from my neck.

At that time, Jesse was going into his narration.

"We first met Sam Evans in Atlanta. Now here he is trying to make his sister proud." Jesse replied. I had a feeling that was something that I needed to talk to Sam about. He then began to sing and play his guitar.

We both lie silently still in the dead of the night
Although we both lie close together we feel miles apart inside
Was it something I said or something I did, did my words not come out right
Though tried not to hurt you, though I tried but I guess that's why they say

Every rose has its thorn
Just like every night has its dawn
Just like every cowboy sings a sad, sad song
Every rose has its thorn

I didn't really have time to ask him because I was next. We wouldn't know if we were moving on until after everyone had performed.

This world will never be what I expected
And if I don't belong who would've guessed it
I will not leave alone everything that I own
To make you feel like it's not too late it's never too late

Even if I say it'll be alright
Still I hear you say you want to end your life
Now and again we tried to just stay alive
Maybe we'll turn it all around it's not too late it's never too late
It's not too late it's never too late

I then went over to Sam.

"So what's that about your sister?" I asked.

"My sister has a kidney disease." He explained. "If she doesn't get a new kidney soon, she's going to die."

"Oh." I replied. I didn't really know what to say. Would they show that part if she didn't make it? "Well I hope that someone will give her one."

I then waited for them to announce who was moving on.

"Sam, step forward. Faith, step forward." Sue declared. "Rachel step forward and Dani step forward. Front row, you're moving on. The rest of you are going home. Now get out."

There was another day of first round auditions before they cut the numbers in half. After that was the hardest part of all of Hollywood: the group rounds. It was basically having to rely on others to show that you could move on. It was always the most dramatic and picking the wrong people to be in a group with could end up costing you.

I decided to find Sam because he was the only person that I really knew. It turned out that it wasn't true because I found someone on the phone.

"I'm not gonna be home tonight." Quinn said. "I know. Just be good for Frannie. I love you."

"Who was that?" I asked as she hung up the phone.

"That was my daughter Beth." She replied. "She's 7."

I was a bit surprised by that since she didn't look that old herself. I could have been wrong.

"23." She answered. "Yeah, I had her in high school. So do you wanna be in a group with me?"

"Yeah, I guess so." I stated. "Do you have any idea where Sam Evans is?"

"I think I saw him." She replied as the two of us began to look for him.

We ended up finding him with a girl with long dirty blonde hair and brown eyes wearing a leather jacket and blue dress. She was very pretty.

"Hey Sam, this is Quinn." I introduced as she shook his hand. "We were wondering if you by any chance wanted to be in a group with us."

"Sure." Sam replied. "This is Dani and she needs a group too."

I realized that then that I had seen her in the first stage of auditions. She had sang "Drops of Jupiter" by Train.

"Okay, so it looks like we have a group." I declared. "We're going to need to find a song that we're going to sing and also figure out who's going to be singing what parts."

"Well we need to see what's on the list." Dani replied. "I'll go see if I can find one while you guys try to come up with a name for the group."

I wasn't sure why we needed to have a name. We weren't going to be performing together in the future and it took the focus away from what was really important which was learning the song.

A few minutes later, Dani came back with the list.

"Okay so what songs do we know on here?" I asked as I looked it over. "I really like 'Shake It' by Metro Station."

"Could we do 'You Belong with Me' instead?" Dani suggested.

"No, that's basically a song that it's hard for anyone other than Taylor Swift sing and I have a feeling that if we try, we'll all go home." Quinn argued.

"Well I'm okay with whatever you girls wanna do." Sam stated. It was at that moment that I noticed a Latina girl yelling at her group members.

"Bitch, we're doing the song that I want to do." She yelled.

"The song that you want to do sucks." Some effeminate kid shot back at her. That was definitely something that was going to be on TV. I couldn't help but wonder if any of my stuff was going to air. I knew that being on TV increased your chances in the voting rounds even though I was pretty sure they didn't show Kris Allen at all until then and he won the whole thing (which was a travesty because he was not better than Adam).

"Okay, we'll do 'Shake It'." Dani agreed. I would have guessed that seeing that unfold had convinced her.

"So this is an energetic song, so we'll need to do some moving around." Quinn stated. "We need to find out who's going to be singing what parts."

"Well since the verse is kind of lower, maybe you and Sam should handle it." I suggested. "I can do the pre-chorus and Dani can do the chorus and then we can take turns when we get to the bridge."

"So we need to get some practice in so we can get some sleep." Sam stated.

We ran over the song for about an hour before we headed off to our rooms. I knew that getting a good night's sleep was important so I wouldn't blow it. As much as I wanted the other members of my group to advance, I did want it to be me the most. I did need to be focused on myself before everyone else cause even if the performance as a whole was a trainwreck, if I was good, I would still move forward.

In the morning, we volunteered to be the first group up because we would know our fate early and be able to leave and get some more sleep and stay and check out the competition.

"Before anyone performs, if you forget the words, you might as well beat it." Sue remarked.

Sam started the song off.

I'll take you home if you don't leave me at the front door
Your body's cold because girl we're getting so warm

Then Quinn came in.

And I was thinking of ways that I could get inside

That was when I entered and she sang with me.

Tonight you're falling in love let me go now
This feeling's tearing me up here we go now

Dani then sang the chorus.

You if he does it like this, will you do it like that?
Now if he touches like this, will you touch him right back?
Now if he moves like this, will you move it like that?
Shake, shake, shake, shake, shake it
Shake, shake, shake, shake, shake it
Shake, shake, shake, shake, shake it
Shake, shake, shake, shake, shake it
Shake, shake, shake, shake, shake it

Sam then started the bridge.

I saw you dancing and I couldn't get you off my mind

I reentered after it.

I could tell that you could that I was taking my time

Quinn then came back in.

And I was thinking of ways to keep you staying alive

Dani then came back.

Your body's shaking, turn me on so I can…

She had forgotten the words. It sucked for her. I then came back in for the chorus.

You if he does it like this, will you do it like that?
Now if he touches like this, will you touch him right back?
Now if he moves like this, will you move it like that?
Shake, shake, shake, shake, shake it
Shake, shake, shake, shake, shake it
Shake, shake, shake, shake, shake it
Shake, shake, shake, shake, shake it
Shake, shake, shake, shake, shake it

"Sam, Quinn, Faith, you're moving on." Will declared. "Dani, I'm sorry."

There would be one more day of auditions before they made the final cuts to the Top 40. It was the last thing that we had any control over.

I went up when my name was announced. There was a guitar but I decided not to play it because I was still a novice.

Let's talk this over, it's not like we're dead
Was it something I did, was it something you said
Don't leave me hanging in a city so dead
Held up so high on such a breakable thread

You were all things I thought I knew
And I thought we could be

You were everything, everything that I wanted
We were meant to be, supposed to be but we lost it
All the memories so close to me just fade away
All this time you were pretending, so much for my happy ending

It's nice to know that you were there
Thanks for acting like you cared
And making me feel like I was the only one
It's nice to know we had it all
Thanks for watching as I fall
And letting me know that we were done

She was everything, everything that I wanted
We were meant to be, supposed to be but we lost it
All the memories so close to me just fade away
All this time you were pretending, so much for my happy ending
So much for my happy ending
So much for my happy ending

After my performance, I was in a room with Quinn, but Sam wasn't in my sight. They had split us into three rooms. Two would move on and the other would go home.

"My brother's not here." This guy with a Mohawk said. That usually meant that only one sibling would advance. I really hoped that they wouldn't do that Top 36 thing from last year because it was a mess and good people probably lost out because they only got one chance.

After an hour of waiting the door opened up and the judges walked in.

"You made it!" Emma declared as we erupted into cheers.

We then came back for the final judgment. They were going to meet with us individually to let us know if we were in or not.

I walked into the room. I was pretty confident that I would go forward.

"How are you Faith?" Emma asked me.

"I'm good." I stated. "I would be a lot better if you told me that I was going to be in the top 24."

"Well I guess it's good news." Sue declared. "You're in."

They then got all of us together and told us to dance. I was not a good dancer, so I kept it pretty simple. Jesse was reading off our names.

"For the girls we have: Rachel Berry, Tina Cohen-Chang, Sunshine Corazon, Quinn Fabray, Faith Hudson, Mercedes Jones, Santana Lopez, Sugar Motta, Brittany Pierce, Marley Rose, Kitty Wilde, and Lauren Zizes." Jesse explained. "And the guys we have: Artie Abrams, Blaine Anderson, Mike Chang, Sam Evans, Rory Flanagan, Joe Hart, Kurt Hummel, Dave Karofsky, Ryder Lynn, Puck, Matt Rutherford and Sebastian Smythe. These are your Top 24 America, who will you be voting for?"

So Faith made it to Top 24 and we got some appearances by Santana, Kurt, and Puck. The songs are "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" by Poison, "Never Too Late" by Three Days Grace and "My Happy Ending" by Avril. Please don't forget to review.