Song of my heart

Chapter Twenty: Nightmares are a type of poison

"When you fall asleep tonight, remember that we lay under the same stars."
                               -Shawn Medes
Guys! Check out the trailer for the book! I found it! Thanks so much Bea!
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Chapter Twenty: Nighmares are a type of poison

When Maxine arrived at the studio after the brawl between Jesse and Oscar had calmed down, she found Dani waiting for her. Only, to her disgust, Oscar and Redfoo were also there.
"What's he doing here?" Maxine asked, not caring about how bitchy she sounded. Dani raised her eyebrows.
"Maxine?" Maxine shook her head, trying to clear it.
"I'm sorry. I mean, how nice to see you Oscar! I see you've recovered from being beaten up? How's that going for you?" Oscar scowled at her.
"I'm not here to argue with you Maxine." He said, turning away from her and heading towards the music booth. "I'm here to practise a duet with you." Maixne gaped at him.
"What?"
"I ment to tell you before Maxine." Dani said, taking a step forward, "but the audience voted for you and Oscar to open the night by doing a duet together. I've picked The Last Time by Taylor Swift." Maxine felt sick. She wanted to punch something. She grabbed onto Oscars coller and yanked him round to face her. Dani shreaked and Redfoo took a step towards them, but Oscar waved him off.
"That's what you told Jesse wasn't it?" Maxine hissed. "That's what you told him to provoke him didn't you!" Oscar simply looked at her. "Didn't you!" Maxine shouted. Dani and Redfoo both jumped at her sudden outburst, moving away from the two of them. Oscar didn't even flinch. He simply looked at her which made Maxine more sad then angry. Finally, she let go of his coller and pushed him away from her. "You make me sick." She hissed, stalking towards the booth. After straightening his collar and without a word, Oscar followed her, sending an apologetic glance towards Dani and Redfoo. In the booth, Maxine ran her hands over her face, trying to calm herself down. She knew better then anyone that if she didn't get herself under control then she would only end up letting both herself and Oscar down. And even though she was mad at him, hell, she was furious, but that didn't mean she was going to be unfair and let him down. She closed her eyes for a couple of seconds and took a deep breath before lifting the headphones off the stand and put them on, excepting the sheet of lyrics that Dani offered her. There was nothing she could do now but her best and hopefully everything would sort itself out.

Half an hour before the performance, Oliver came in behind stage. He was in costume, a smart button down white shirt and black dress pants. Heartbeat was the last group to perform so he didn't have his hair of makeup done yet. Maxine was getting her hair styles and she was reading while it was being done, trying to take her mind off having to perform on stage with Oscar. She looked up when Oliver tapped her on the shoulder.
"I wanted to say thank you." He said, glancing down at his hands folded in his lap. Maxine blinked at him, confused.
"For what?"
"For helping with Jesse." Said Oliver, running a hand through his hair. "Noah couldn't have done it on his own."
"Well it was partly my fault." Said Maxine with a sigh. "Oscar was teasing him about doing a duet with me and that's what got to him." Oliver shook his head.
"That didn't give him any right to react like that." He said. "He was acting like a jealous boyfriend. I would have sent him to apologise, but... " he trailed off and his gase came to rest on Oscar who was on the other side, getting the final touches to his hair and makeup.
"I can hear you." He called, without turning his head to look at them.
"Good." Oliver called back. "So you should you..."
"Oliver." Maxine interrupted. "Leave it." Oliver sighed. He ran a hand through his hair and then turned his head to smile at her.
"Good luck out there." He said, nodding towards the stage doors.
"You two." Said Maxine, reached forward to give him a hug.
"Please." He said, spinning round in a circle as he headed for the doors. "You and I both know that we will totally rock that stage!" Maxine rolled her eyes and showed him out of the room. He went without a word still grinning.
"You're friend is a smart lad." Oscar called from the other end of the room. "Why don't you bang him instead of Jesse?"
"Why don't you shut up?" Maxine called back hotly. "And I don't remember asking for your opinion." Oscar simply smiled and took the microphone that that was offered to him.
"You ready?" He asked, suddenly serious. Maxine took a deep breath and nodded, squaring her shoulders.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the X-Factor Australia. Tonight we have a series of breath taking events for you and tonight will be the first time we have the battle rounds between the bottom two. But for tonight as a special treat, we took together your votes and as voted by you Australia we have for you two contestants who will be opening the show for us tonight. As voted, these two will immidatly gain access to the next round and not have to face elmination. So please, ladies and gentlemen. Singing Taylor's Swifts The Last Time, please give it up for Oscar Martins and Maxine Waters!"