okay i have one more day left of my skills challenge, thank god! but i don't know when i'll be updating tomorrow because i'm in from 8.30 in the morning until 3 in the afternoon, or possibly staying in school until the actual final starts at 6.30, and i don't have a clue when i'll be getting home! i shall try to add tomorrow, but, i don't know as of yet, it all depends on whether or not my group decides to let us come home for some sort of break or not.

398 Dougies POV

"can we hear it?" Harry asked, looking at Carrie, holding me in his arms. I couldn't even look up right now, too scared to see Tom. He looked so frail, and so alone, even through the mask he was wearing, the tough mask that said he hated us. Tom looked tiny in his little corner, like he hadn't eaten in days, had been cutting so much there was barely any blood left in him. I couldn't face it, admit to myself that we had caused this. "no." Tom sounded adamant, but scared at the same time. "go on, show them! Its an awesome song, a really, really awesome song!" Carrie encouraged, going over to Toms rucksack.

Tom grabbed it first, holding his bag close to himself, protecting it. "I'm not playing it!" Tom growled, and continued to refuse for hours, every time we asked, he said no. It was the only words he said all day, just continuing to say 'no' over and over again. I don't know why we didn't just give up, but I guess it was for the best, to try and get Tom to realise that we weren't going to hate his ideas. "can we at least look at it? The lyrics, or anything?" Danny bargained, Tom shook his head. "no." Tom answered, scratching at his arm again.

"why not though?" I asked, speaking up for the first time in a few hours. "its mine thats why." Tom glared again, yanking on his arm as Carrie grabbed it, stopping his scratching. "but we want to hear it." Harry sighed, running his fingers in patterns over my back from where I was sat on his knees. "well, you're not going to." Tom stood up, going out of the room, we all followed along behind.

"why not? Whats so wrong with it? Cause if you don't like it, we can work on it too. We can work on it together." Danny managed to get his arms wrapped around Toms waist, holding him still. "get off! You're not hearing it!" Tom shoved Danny off him, the panic rising in his eyes. "okay, okay. Maybe some other time, then? Maybe once you're happy with it, yeah?" Danny hid the hurt he was obviously feeling well, trying to calm Tom.

"fine, are we going home now?" Tom looked away, but continued to face us, well, his body was facing us, his head was looking at his shoes. "er, no, we've still got to do some rehearsing, even though we don't have a song picked yet." Danny shook his head. We had been so busy trying to get Tom to let us see his mysterious song, we hadn't even picked a song to play for our next performance. At least we had thought of a few songs we could maybe play, but no idea for certain what to pick.

"pick whatever you want, I don't care." Tom moved to sit on the windowsill, then jumped back down. "well, want to help us at all, and get practising?" Harry asked, rubbing my side. "give me a minute, I need some air." Tom gave in, chewing on his sleeve. "alright, we'll be in the studio when you're ready." Danny smiled a little, hesitating before following me and Harry back to the studio, leaving Tom and Carrie in the corridor together.

399 Harrys POV

Danny sulked until Tom came back into the studio, biting on his nails, like it would help calm him down. But even when Tom walked in, Danny continued to chew, possibly chewing even more, practically eating his fingers. "feeling better now?" I asked first, grabbing the Boltoners hands and pulling them away from his mouth, hearing him whimper needily. "yeah, decided on a song?" Tom nodded weakly, sitting by his piano on the floor.

"no, we can't think of anything to be honest." I lied, we had two songs to choose from, but we wanted to see if we could get Tom to let us see any other songs, or if he would at least help us choose a song. "really?" Tom looked suspicious, staring at the sofa between us. "yeah, can't think of a thing." Danny nodded, squeezing my hand a little. "we want to play a song that has an impact, that we either haven't play much, or at all. One that still says that you're still a band, and you're not just a series of constant stories that an exmanager keeps on revealing." Tommy carried on, making Tom chew on his lip in thought.

"oh, don't we have anything like that?" Tom asked, picking at his fingers. "well, no, not really. All of our best songs we've used as singles, that we've played so many times. We want a good, new song, that will show the world that you're still amazing." Tommy answered, putting a hand on mine and Dougies shoulders. It seemed wrong when he did that, I felt like it was making it seem like we were a unit, and Tom wasn't a part of it. Us sitting here like this, facing Tom on his own, with only his little sister by his side, it wasn't right. Tom needed to be over here with us, a part of our group, because he was a part of our group, he was our leader, he shouldn't have had to sit on his own, thinking the worst of us. I just wished he was over here with us, instead of looking so lonely.

"thats why we need to see your songs Tom, so we have a bit more choice to choose from." Danny carried on, his eyes practically begging Tom to believe him. "aren't there any other songs you've got to chose from?" Tom whimpered, he looked quite scared to be honest. "no, none of ours are good enough." Danny shook his head, Tom whimpered loudly again, we seemed to be getting somewhere though, so maybe it was worth it. "oh, erm... well, maybe you can see my song...if you really need it." Tom mumbled, like he really, really regretted saying that.

"we do! So, are you going to play it or...?" I trailed off, not really knowing how to ask Tom what he was going to do now. "erm..." Tom looked confused, looking at Carrie helplessly, like she had the answer. "I'll sing if you want me to Tom, while you play." She suggested, sliding closer. "no, no... erm, can we just play it, without singing?" Tom scratched a little at his arm, revealing how awkward and scared he felt. "yeah, and we can just look over the lyrics too, if thats what you want." Danny grinned, practically bouncing. I just hoped this song didn't have the same tone of My Happy Ending and Behind These Hazel Eyes, so this excitement didn't end.