A/N

Okay, this will not contain much Thaluke, as I don't ship it much and I don't share much of a connection with either Luke and Thalia. If it is poorly written, or feel like it lacks heart, that's why.

Also, that's why this chapter is shit. Also because I really want this to be over and done with. This way I can get onto the sequel.

I'm ridiculously happy. An Author friend of mine is actually putting me in a real book guys and I'm over the moon because something else happened and I've had caffeine and you don't even know asdfghjkl i cant right now.

Luke POV

The nerves were bundling together and building up, like a bale of hay.

The week was never ending, and it drew on and on and on. Every day was a new obstacle, holding more and more hay to add to the bale.

No one knew what to do anymore and no one knew what to say. We practised and we practised and we did dress rehearsal after dress rehearsal but for some reason I felt like we couldn't do it.
We just couldn't.

I had talked to Thalia. She was a little down but she said she felt happy for us, that we were still going. It felt selfish to say this, but I wasn't glad. The competition felt more heavy and tense without the girls to ease us all up.

From the back of the stage, in the wings, I could hear the crowds roaring. They were going loco, crazy, nuts. I didn't want to go on, and I didn't want to keep going, but I knew that once I got out there, I would see Thalia and then it would be okay.

"Are we ready?" Jason asked, raising an eyebrow at us. We were all acting like someone had gotten a handful of ants and shoved them in our jeans so we had ants in our pants. Leo was the worst. He was twitching and I could tell it was taking a lot of restraint for him to not be running around.

"No," I scoffed, feeling my heart crawl up into my throat. I was going to be sick.

"We'll be fine."

"I'm going to faint, I swear," Percy says to us. "That's how nervous I am. What if we don't make it? What then?"

I could tell Percy was feeling pressure from Paisley's other brother being here. He was in the audience, too. He was nice, though. So I don't know what Percy was so worried about.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Besides, second placers always get better deals than first place people do," Jason says. "I mean, One Direction didn't win and see where they are."

"I hate One Direction," Nico made a face. I don't blame him. They have cool accents and all but their music isn't my thing. However, if you wanted to impress a girl or something, they will become your best friend. Unless that chick is Thalia then you can forget it.

"Cher Lloyd?"

"Nah."

"Adam Lambert?"

"I can't even say his name after the other day. I am not ever singing that again," Nico states grouchily. Okay then, Oscar The Grouch. "I had nightmares about that."

"How about we don't think about what happens if we go home? We'll be fine," I say, pulling everyone into a group hug. "All we have to get through is today, and we'll be fine and everything will be fine."

I hoped it would be.

When we finally got out there, the crowd seemed bigger and scarier. Venus, Apollo and Juno were sitting at the judging panel, their gazes intense and ever-intimidating.

I could feel the tension rolling off the crowd and I wanted to scream.

"Another turning point, fork stuck in the road," Jason sang, the microphone projecting his voice around the room. He looked so confident from the way he stood to the way he tied his shoes. He radiated confidence and bravery.

"Time grabs you by the wrist, tells you where to go," As the pictures on the giant projector behind us play, I could hear a few chuckles.

It was the photo of Leo when he was little. He looked small and his hair was curly as ever, and he was just as covered in grease. His Mum must have let him in the shop.

At the end of the song, and a small clip of Percy swimming for the first time, we finished and the crowd let out a mighty roar. It resembled a lion and truth be told, I would imagine this was what girls felt like when they were being cat called.

I made a mental note to never do that again because this felt horrible. Their cries were making me more nervous and I could feel my heart beating against my rib cage furiously.

"Thank you for that awesome performance, boys! How do you feel?" Hermes asked us like it was a real question.

Before Leo could say anything stupid, again, Jason took the Mic and replied with a smart, "We're happy to be here. I mean as scary as standing here is, we're honoured that you've voted us in this long and we're really grateful for that."

The Matchbox Twenty song went flawlessly, too.

It was our last song that we were going to be performing on this stage. We were never going to perform here to this same crowd, for the same purpose, ever again. It was a rather daunting thought.

As soon as we were back inside the sanctuary of the mansion, I made a race to the bathroom for a relaxing shower.

Standing up on that stage would give someone like myself jitters for days. I hated standing there, knowing they were the people that would decide whether or not I was going to be famous. If I was going to be remembered locally in New York, or if I would be worldwide.

That, too, was scary just thinking about. Those teenage girls, and the odd guy, had no idea the power they had in their hands. To them it's just a button. A vote. But to the people receiving them, such as myself, who knew what authority they held in their unknowing hands, it was more than just a vote.

Votes decide who leads the Government, and if we voted wrongly we would be in the stink.

Votes decide who we elect as class president, and if we didn't the teacher would have a harder job.

Votes decide peoples future, whether the people voting want to recognise that or not.

People in certain countries fight, and put their lives on the line just to know that they have a say in what goes on around their countries or in people's lives. And here we are taking voting for granted.

Well then, a lack of sleep makes me deep as hell.

Waiting for the results never felt so long.

We were bored out of our minds. We could have been practising new songs, but we all agreed on the fact that we had let the competition get to us. It was taking over our lives like a leech sucking blood.

The girls weren't allowed over as they weren't a part of the competition anymore, which in itself sucked.

When the time came for the results, we were all buzzing.

We wanted this to be over and done with as soon as it could be done. It was a lot of work.

Make up and hair went flying around as we all got styled for the five minutes we were going on stage.

There is definitely no business like show business.

When it was our turn to walk up on stage, the crowd went silent. No one dared to speak.

My hands violently shook.

The voters better have made the right choice.

"So here we have our last two teams... Any comments before we continue?" Hermes grinned cynically. When he realised none of us looked too keen to take the mic, he retreated his hand back to where the mic could pick up his voice. "No one? Okay.

"In my hands, I have the winning band. One band will be going home, and one will win this competition and win a recording contract at Apollo Records."

I tried not to concentrate on the blunt words, instead finding Thalia's eyes in the ocean of people.

She smiled up at me and shot me a thumbs up.

"So here goes..." Hermes said to us. "Are you ready?!"

If I wasn't I wouldn't be here, now, would I?

"The winning band is... OUTCASTS!"