Crash ~Justin Bieber~

Chapter 17 ~ Co-Host

(Rachel's POV)

We got the all clear from one of the stage directors.

Justin was given permission to fill in for Jeff.

The judges still had no idea that this was happening but we didn't have time to negotiate with them. The second act was readying themselves for their performance and Justin and Rachel still had to entertain the crowd during the commercial break.

"Here," Taylor handed Justin a pile of cue cards "Play Q&A with her, that way you can do all of the talking while Rachel just has to read these questions"

It took the spotlight off of Rachel and put it onto Justin.

"I can't believe I use to hate you" Justin smiled at Taylor, "You're a genius!"

Justin took Rachel's hand and together they walked back onto the stage that we had only just left.

"So - we all know who this is..." Rachel called, "It's Justin Bieber!!"

The crowd roared at the mention of Justin's name.

"So I am going to be hosting with Rachel tonight - because - Jeff is a little sick and my group is all finished up. So who liked Group one?"

I realized we had a good chance at delivering a win because the crowd roared at the mention of our group's number.

"And Justin is here because Jeff is from the Philippines..."

"Oh dear god..." I muttered.

"Er - yeah that too" Justin played along, "So Rachel is going to ask me some questions and I am going to answer them..."

He passed her the cue cards.

"Oh my god these are squares!" she gasped, "Look! Justin! They are squares!"

"Yep - squares - so just read the cue cards - ask me questions..."

It was an easy enough instruction but Rachel tossed the cards to the floor and decided that she had better questions in mind.

"Justin - do you think that cats have dreams?"

"Pick up the cue cards..."

"Do you think - that cats - have dreams?"

"Um - sure. They dream of fishes in the ocean...."

"WRONG! Cats hate water! You are a LIAR and THIEF!!!"

Taylor began pulling at her hair, "This is bad..."

"It's okay" I breathed, "Justin can save this, he can fix it..."

The crowd was so receptive to Justin's presence that they laughed and cheered whenever he motioned for them to.

"Ha-ha good one Rache," he grinned, "She's - she's so - so funny"

"I know my alphabet," she nodded "All twelve letters"

"Rachel...here let me get the cards..."

Justin picked up the cue cards and handed them back to Rachel. Rachel may have been holding them but she was not reading them.

"Justin, are you left or right eyed?"

"What?"

"Answer the damn question!"

The prompter was flashing red and calling for Justin and Rachel to wrap it up.

"Oh my goodness!"

Rachel misunderstood the red light as a warning and she bolted from the stage, clip clopping along in her heels and whimpering in distress.

"Coming up next - my bro Rob Moretti will be taking the stage with Monet Shortler and Oliver Drake! Lets all get up and get ready!!"

Justin's booming introduction covered up for any previous strangeness that Rachel may have created. He got the crowd dancing and he danced with them before running off of the stage in hype and adrenaline.

"Justin - we can not let her go out there again"

He frowned at Taylor, "Why she did good?"

"She did good? Justin - wait - she is going back out!"

"What?"

"Look!"

Rachel was about to make a re-entrance with Group 2 as they strode onto the stage in peace.

"No, no, no, no little one," Justin swept her legs up and held her "Stay here"

"I party hard..."

"You do party hard" he agreed, "You bring the party to the party,"

"I do..."

Taylor was convinced that we had to pull Rachel from the stage but Justin swore the crowd had been receptive to her.

"They just think that she's being funny. Trust me, I know how to read a crowd. They don't think anything's up"

I trusted him. Justin would never risk Rachel's career or reputation for anything. As long as he was on stage with her and making up for her mistakes then she was safe.

The show was actually very enjoyable.

Not only were the performances this week stronger the the last, but also Justin and Rachel were a vibrant duo and a joy to watch. They had dance offs, played games with the audience, answered questions and even sang some songs.

"She can sing," Justin acknowledged "She tries to pretend that she can't - but she's a Green. The girl knows how to sing"

Rachel was going to kill Justin once she came to her senses. She could sing very well but she hated singing.

"And now in group five - I've got two of my boys in the one, Harry Miller, Ben Stiles, and lets not forget the very beautiful Samantha Leroy!!"

Harry, Ben and Samantha sung and then left the stage full of liveliness after performing a humorous song about being in love with cigarettes. Weirdly enough the concept worked and both Ben and Harry achieved their goal of having the word 'cigarette' in every line.

Justin's introduction for Blaine's group was very condescending and sneaky.

"Next up we have group seven, Monique Court, Tanner Stiles and um - who is this Rache? Oh - I don't know that name? He can't be that famous.... Blaine - Blaine Cormish?"

The audience believed that Justin was simply being playful, but the comment was a move to set Blaine off of his game and affect his performance.

It worked.

Blaine stumbled. He didn't hit all of his notes. And even though their break-up song was well written and clever, Blaine's own mistakes set Tanner and Monique off of their game too.

Was Justin's remark childish? Yes, but I didn't care. How could Blaine have been working with Tanner all week and not have told me?

I didn't stay to hear who was in 'Group seven' when they called the names out on Sunday, I had left with Justin after they called 'Group one'.

Blaine knew this, and i had seen him during the week many times. He never mentioned it.

Justin was onto something after all. I couldn't trust him.