I Hope You Dance

Chapter Two

Conveniently, everyone else in LA seemed to be operating on the late system as well. The minute I walked through the door a man came in and announced that the audition would begin at 3:45 instead of 3:30. I breathed a momentarily sigh of relief that I could actually stretch before the audition and not make a complete fool of myself. While I stretched, I looked around the massive room that was packed wall to wall with hopefuls sharing the same desire I had. Some of them assumed an air of confidence cockily eyeing their competition and doing impressive tricks pretending that no one was watching when in reality they wanted everyone to see. Then there were others off by themselves, like myself, calming their nerves and listening to their iPods as they made last minute preparations. For this occasion I had decided on wearing my lucky Jawbreaking "shoot for the stars" t-shirt with a hot pink sports bra underneath and hot pink PINK sweat pants. I felt comfortable but the hot pink also made me stand out which is a good thing when you are competing with a thousand other people. I was determined not to be intimidated despite the fact that half the people in the room looked older and more experienced than my 18 years. I pulled my chocolate wavy hair into a high ponytail and let my thoughts wander in the remaining minutes. I smiled as What Makes You Beautiful came on shuffle on my iPod. I wondered if the One Direction boys would be here to oversee the auditions. Wishful thinking on my part, they had more important things to worry about than who was dancing behind them. Realizing that it was highly unlikely that a rookie on her first audition in LA would be hired on the spot, I just wished that I could have the chance to meet them. "Arrange yourselves in numerical order." I looked towards the door and noticed that the three people that were auditioning us had walked into the room. There were two men and one woman. I noticed one of the men, it was Simon Cowell. As if that didn't just add a thousand more stress points to this situation. Simon introduced the other man as Brian, the choreographer who would be teaching us choreography for Live While We're Young. The woman was actually Nicole Scherzinger which I realized after she had removed her sunglasses. Simon explained to us that out of the thousand some dancers in the room, they only needed 10 back-up dancers for the tour. He warned that it was going to be a long, stressful process and suggested that those not up to the challenge leave immediately. Of course no one moved an inch. One does not simply walk out on Simon Cowell. Simon then went on to say that the choreography that Brian was going to teach us was the actually choreography that the dancers would do during Live While We're Young on tour. We would have half an hour to learn the choreography and then they would begin auditioning us in groups in numerical order. He then wished us all luck and left the room with Nicole as Brian took a step towards us. "Alright, let's get started shall we?" Brian was very easygoing but his choreography was not, it was intense. Everyone was drenched in sweat after just ten minutes. I didn't really mind though because the choreography was fun. It wasn't quite hip-hop but not quite jazz. I guess you could call it LA jazz. After half an hour, Simon and Nicole returned and began calling for groups of 20 in numerical order. Just my luck, I would be the very last person in the very last group. They began cutting people almost immediately. My heart ached every time I saw another group of disheartened dancers exit the room with their dreams momentarily shattered. As it neared time for my group to go on I looked towards the door again and noticed a familiar face packing up and preparing to leave the audition room. When she turned towards me I realized that it was the tall brunette from the airport. At first, she furrowed her brow as if thinking hard and then realization passed across her face. She waved timidly as I gave her a sympathetic smile and waved back. As she turned to go, I heard my group being called. My heart began to pound as I stood up, shook the nerves out of my body, and walked as confidently as I could toward the dance floor. Before the music began, I looked each judge square in the eye. Brian. Nicole. Simon. Then the music began and I danced with more passion and athleticism than I ever had in my life. I enjoyed it so much I was slightly disappointed when the music ended. I stood alongside the group as we nervously awaited our verdict. "Numbers 1250, 1254, 1258, 1260, 1272,1275,1280,1291,1294 please step forward." Said Simon. 1294, my number. This was it I was about to hear the standard "Thank you for coming, but I think that's all we need to see for today." I closed my eyes and waited. "Everyone who's number was not called... you may leave. Thank you for coming but I think that's all we need to see for today." I nearly fainted on the spot, I hadn't been asked to leave. My first audition and I had made it through the first cuts. I was beaming as I left the dance floor both excited and nervous to learn the next step in the process. Simon came over moments later to congratulate the remaining dancers. There were still 100 of us left and they only needed 10. He told us that we would be dancing again in smaller groups and they would make the final cuts. I waited for a good hour and a half before my turn rolled around again. When my group was called a once again I walked onto the dance floor and assumed my position. The beginning pose had our backs toward the judges waiting for the music to start. Right before the music started, I heard the door open and close and the shuffle of feet. I assumed it to be the dancers that had just been cut leaving the room. The second the music started I whipped around ready to give it my all and nearly had a heart attack. The shuffle of feet had not been dancers leaving like I thought because sitting a mere 5 feet from my face were the boys of One Direction. For a split second I lost my cool and nearly fell into someone but I quickly regained my composure and jumped right back into the choreography. I have always had this desire to make eye contact with my audience when I dance. Make them feel as if I am dancing just for them. Dancing better than I had before I turned my flirty gaze towards the boys. I first made contact with piercing green eyes that had a cheeky glint : Harry. Next I saw kind, compassionate brown eyes looking towards me: Liam. I then saw twinkling blue eyes with a little crinkle next to them : Louis. I again saw blue eyes, but these were the clearest, bluest eyes I had even seen : Niall. Finally my gaze shifted to the last one. This one's eyes were dark, brooding, and mysterious they weren't quite brown nor were they hazel but they were beautiful. The smolder was tangible and I could not tear my eyes away from them. When he first turned his eyes toward me he appeared disinterested. As I held his gaze I watched as his lips turned up in a slight smirk which he quickly concealed. I was mesmerized by him. Midway through the dance I saw Harry whisper something to Simon who nodded and the next thing I knew the boys were leaving the room. My heart sank when I realized I wouldn't get the chance to even say anything to them afterwards. They left and soon after the dance ended. The judges left for half an hour to deliberate. I sat there replaying my interaction with Zayn unable to get his intriguing eyes out of my mind. When the judges finally returned they once again had us line up. They began calling out the numbers that they wanted to stay, the dancers that had made the cut. My heart began to flutter as they neared twenty. "Thank you all for coming, you were all wonderful but we can only take 10 dancers. Great work today, everyone." My heart felt like it had shattered into a million pieces I was so close... Dejectedly I went to gather my things...