Finding My Voice

~17~

//A/N//: i lowkey do not know what to writeeeeeeeeeeee. lord save me. dear goodness. this is going to be a short one btw.

pray for me. :O x - s

...

We have been practicing in the studio without Niall for the next few days. We are paired against an extremely powerful singer, Carolyn Morgan, for the Knockouts round.

For this round, Niall can be present during practice and give suggestions, but he is not allowed to pick out the songs or the arrangement. What makes this round even more nerve-racking is the fact that we have to watch our competitor perform as well as perform our song.

What we have started to do in preparation, is sing a few different songs to find one that we all think is the best option. Then practice, but also study our competitors. So any spare chance I can get, I am watching the clips of Carolyn's Blind Audition and Battle. I am analyzing everything the judges have said about her, reading their reactions, and learning what components I might need to contribute to our performance. We have also been studying what types of songs Niall has chosen for his winners in the past and what songs he suggested for us to use in the previous round. To summarize, we are mainly using this time that we have to make us a better group. And of course, they need to get used to the addition of my voice.

Let's be honest here, Niall is the professional. Whatever he says goes.

Also because he's Niall Horan. C'mon.

Luckily, Alex had the idea to take a picture of the list of songs he suggested for our Battle. Which has resulted in us practicing every song and picking out arrangements, before deciding which ones we want to cut. We want to cut our list down to three songs and perform them in front of Niall to get his opinion. Though he cannot choose the song for us, we think we could benefit from watching his reaction and hearing his thoughts.

Well at least, that's the plan.

So far our top three have been The Name of the Game by ABBA, Hey Jude by the Beatles, and my personal favorite: What A Feeling by One Direction. Of course, the last song wasn't recommended by Niall, but Claire thought it would be a funny song to sing.

I'm not too sure how the other competitors are doing, but we sound good. Every time we practice I cannot stop thanking Niall for keeping us all together. It's kind of funny how fast I've 'merged' into this group; it's like as soon as we had our first rehearsal it felt like I've known them all for years. Well at least most of them. Alex still kinda sticks to himself. No matter how much I try to talk to him, he still is a creepy little loner boy.

We're going to be performing in front of Niall in a few minutes after we finish running through each song one more time. Then after he tells us the verdict, we are going to practice until we can't anymore. Not actually because that wouldn't be very good for the competition.

"Alright, so how are we feeling?" Anthony asks once we finish.

I look around at everyone and find them all smiling. "I, for one, feel fantastic! I can't wait to see which one Niall chooses!" Jamie says. Everyone else nods and agrees.

"Pyper? How do you feel?"

They all turn to me as I shrug my shoulders and nod. "I mean, I'm still getting used to it but I guess I feel fine. At least we can hear from Niall which one he prefers, right?" I say.

Claire nods, "Yeah. We don't have to be scared guys. We sound really good in like all of the songs, so no matter which one Niall chooses just know we sound hella good. No need to worry."

"I agree," Anthony says as he puts his arm around Claire, "Just be chill guys. Peace and love." He laughs out.

"Yassss! Live, laugh, love!" Jamie cheers. "Group hug before Niall comes in?" He says with his arms out.

We all laugh as we go in for a hug. "Ya know, I like this group." I hear Alex mumble from next to me.

"Heyo, what's popping?" Niall's voice startles us. "I am ready to judge y'all so hard."

We let go of each other and walk over in front of him. "I'm ready but the question is are you guys?" He smiles. "Whatcha gonna sing for me?"

Claire smiles and says, "We have three options for ya. We just want to know what you think of each of them before we make our decision."

He nods. "Alright. Hit me with them."

Anthony looks over at the band and nods. The music starts and we all start singing the first song.

...