The response to this was amazing so thank you all so much. I'm going to try and get the final of this to coincide with the final on Saturday - so here's the next chapter!

Vince looked up. The 'X's were still white. Well that was a good thing at least. The noise in the hall was deafening but that was exactly the problem; he couldn't make out if they were booing or cheering. He tried to pick the crowd out of the darkness (he knew Leroy was there and Naboo and Bollo, in a disguise) but they just remained a noise in the black. Besides, his eyes kept being drawn to the three people sat behind a desk. Three people with the ability to make him or break him in one fell swoop. He let out a long shuddering breath, looked to Piers Morgan and waited for the verdict.

"Vince." Piers began steadily, his expression completely unreadable "When you said you were going to be singing a song your friend wrote, I was worried for you. Traditionally, original songs go down very badly on this show." Vince could hear the audience now, they were booing so loudly Piers couldn't make himself heard. But Vince couldn't work out if the were booing him, or the judge's comments. "BUT!" Piers bellowed over the noise, holding a hand up to quieten them. "Buu-uut, I thought that… was brilliant!"

The crowd erupted with cheers. Vince thought his ears would explode and he beamed into the blackness. They'd liked him and so had Piers.

"I particularly like that move you do." Piers continued over the wall of excited cheering, as he brought his hand down his face and then across his eyes. "I think that will be done by every child in every playground in Britain tomorrow morning."

Vince nodded. He could feel his chest swell with pride, happy tears pushing against the back of his eyes. He'd never been this lucky when it came to music; never. Something always went wrong. Then he shook himself back to reality. It wasn't over yet. There were still two more judges and the dreaded voting. He swallowed thickly and croaked;"Thanks Piers" into the microphone before turning to Amanda, who was fanning herself with some cards.

"Vince Noir." she said, "You were incredibly sexy on that stage!"

Vince flashed her his trademark grin.

"And that smile," she continued pointing at him with a long manicured finger tip, "Is gorgeous."

Vince grinned again, wider this time.

"Oh stop it. You're making me weak at the knees." she giggled.

A small chuckle reverberated around the room and Vince laughed too. He was enjoying himself now. This couldn't be going better.

"I loved it." Amanda continued, finally composing herself enough to say something constructive. "I thought you commanded the stage well, you sang well, the song was catchy and you had the whole audience up and dancing along with you."

The audience cheered their agreement.

"It was brilliant." she beamed.

"Thanks Amanda." he smiled and then everyone looked to Simon, who was sat in his chair with a look of strangled disbelief and mild annoyance on his face.

Everyone held their breath. The whole world knew that whilst it was nice to get good comments from all the judges, Simon Cowell was the only one anyone really cared about. From the wings Howard was having a sort of mental breakdown. He was so nervous for his friend that he could hardly breath and Ant and Dec were virtually holding him up but Vince was still retaining an air of indifference and was above all acting very, very cool.

"Right." said Simon self-importantly (thought when does he say anything that doesn't make him seem self-important).

"Vince, I thought you were great."

Vince would be pleased but his tone was weird, like there was a big but about to come along at any second and ruin everything.

"Your look is good."

Well, obviously.

"Your attitude is good and you've got quite a nice singing voice."

Here comes the 'but'.

"But,"

Told you.

"That song was a musical nightmare."

WHAT!?

Vince's whole body language shrunk. How dare he? How dare he insult Howard's song?

"Did you say your friend wrote it?" Simon continued maliciously

Vince nodded. He was too angry to speak.

"Then you need to find yourself some better friends."

Vince looked to the wings. He spotted Howard. His friend looked hurt and almost guilty, as though he somehow deserved to hear such cruel things. Vince was not going to stand for that. No one made Howard feel like that, except maybe him but that was usually by accident.

"Everyone else seemed to like it." Vince answered suddenly and the audience roared. Excellent. They were on his side, not Cowell's.

"Yes we did." Amanda backed him up further. "Is your friend here with you today?"

"Yeah, he's just there." Vince pointed to where Howard was stood.

"Let's see if we can get him out here. What was his name?"

"Howard."

"Right."

And then, something magical happened. Everyone started to chant Howard's name, well, almost everyone. Simon still looked thoroughly angered by this whole charade.

"Come on Howard." grinned Vince, "you can't keep your public waiting."

This was true. Howard Moon could not leave his adoring public waiting too long but he was nervous. He was always mocked when he was on stage. Audiences always turned on him when they saw his shifty eyes and smoke-thin hair. He was just contemplating running away when he felt four hands plant firmly in his back and he was shoved unceremoniously on to the stage by two Geordie lads. Howard stumbled out from behind the curtain and the theatre exploded with noise. The cheers were deafening and Howard gave a nervous wave before scurrying to stand next to Vince.

Simon just sat shaking his head angrily.

"Okay, this is getting ridiculous." he said "They liked you Vince. And you." he turned to Howard, "should have stayed away from this whole performance. Nobody like the song."

Howard's shoulders visibly drooped but he nodded in agreement.

"Howard's a great song writer." Vince bit back angrily. "He's a multi-instrumentalist."

"He's a mentalist." retorted Simon.

"You shut up about him!"

"Vince." Howard said softly, "It's okay. It's fine."

"Listen to your friend Vince." Simon said smugly. "Okay, lets do the votes. Amanda?"

Vince suddenly grabbed Howard's sleeve anxiously. This was it, the moment of truth. This was what a whole life time of practicing had been leading up to.

"100% yes!" she beamed "I love you. Both of you."

"Piers?"

Vince and Howard looked at Piers as he struck the electro-boy pose again and said; "It's a yes from me, Vince."

Two yes's. Two yes's. He was through. Vince was through! But there was still Simon's vote and despite himself, Vince still desperately craved the third 'yes'.

"Right Vince." Simon said. "I'm going to say 'yes' to you but 'no' to the song. A song we all know in the semi-final please Vince."

The electro-poof was about to say something but Howard hissed;

"You're through, shut up."

So the younger man opted to nod mutedly.

"Right. Three yes's." Simon smiled, "Vince Noir, you are sailing through to the next round."

Suddenly, Howard felt the grip on his sleeve release and Vince was leaping around like a frog on acid, whooping and cheering like a madman. The audience laughed happily for him and Amanda almost shed a tear.

Later, after Ant and Dec had finished talking to him and Vince and Howard were driving home, Vince said quietly;

"I wanna play one of your songs in the semi-final Howard."

"I don't think you should." The older man said nervously. "You don't want to annoy Simon."

"I don't care about Simon. I like singing your songs. I want everyone in Britain to hear me singing your songs."

"Look I don't think it's a good idea. It could jeopardize your chance of winning."

"But I-"

"Look" Howard cut him off. "we'll discuss this later. Okay? For now, let's celebrate. You're through."

Vince grinned and put Queen's - 'We Are The Champions' on as loud as it would go singing along in style. But in the back of his mind, he couldn't stop worrying about the next round.

He wanted to sing another one of Howard's songs but would it cost him the chance to go on to the final?

So? What song does Vince choose to sing in the semi-final?? You decide! =]

I tried to take a bit of all your ideas and put it in this chapter so I hope you all liked it!