Wild {Wesley Stromberg}

Alice POV

My alarm clock rang, blasting "Knee Socks" by the Arctic Monkeys. I grumbled, rubbing my tired eyes and flopping out of bed. I sat up on the floor, yawning. I looked at my window first. It was pitch black.

"Wait, what?" I asked in surprise. It's Saturday and I'm up before dawn? Is this some mistake?

"Why is my alarm set so early? What the hell?"

I scrambled to my phone. Reminders flashed up on the screen.

X-FACTOR AUDITION TODAY!! GET UP!!

PROBABLY SHOULD GET UP!!!!!

GET YOUR ASS UP!!!!!!!!!!!! FORREAL!!!!!!!!!

"Shit!!" I yelled and hopped up off the floor. I ran to my closet and swung it open.

"WHY DIDN'T I PLAN THIS AHEAD OF TIME!!" I said, cursing my procrastination. I'm stupid. Scouring through my closet, I picked out a black floral dress with pink and red floral print on it. It was tight on the top and flowy on the bottom: a skater dress. I flung out a white denim best with studs on the pocket. I laid out all the clothes by my bed. I pulled out black Doc Martins and Marc Jacobs sunglasses, even though it's dark right now. It would be lighter and hotter later, waiting in that forever expanding line.

I sprinted to the bathroom and combed my long brown hair. My hair went to just past my ribcage and was very thin. People say they wish they had it. That's fine with me, they can take my hair! It's an utter pain. I pulled it back into a voluminous ponytail, using simple tricks to make it look fuller. I applied mascara to my short eyelashes and black eyeliner to make my ice blue eyes pop. I sprinted to my mom's room, practically breaking the door in half.

"MOM MOM MOM MOM MOM MOM MOM!!!!" I yelled like a broken record. I shook her back and forth.

"Bethanie go back to bed!!" she grumbled and rolled over. Bethanie is my little sister; and by little I mean a lot younger. I'm seventeen and she's five. Big age difference. Don't ask where she came from.

"Ok, first of all, I'm Alice; and second of all, WE'RE LATE FOR MY AUDITION!!"

At that, my mom's eyes flew open.

"What's the time?!" she said, hastily throwing on her shoes.

"It's 6. It'll take us an hour to get there and we should be in line at about 7:10," I said, reciting the times I learned so well.

"Oh my God! We are late!" She yelled and sloppily combed her hair. She looked terrible but she wasn't the one auditioning, right?

"Grab the keys and all your stuff! Quick!" She commanded. I did as I was told and threw my bag with the basic necessities in the trunk. My mom wanted to drive so I started ignition for her. It was well under 40 degrees this morning, but knowing Los Angeles it would heat up later. I clutched arms and hugged my legs to my chest, trying to preserve what little body hear I had.

"MOM!! HURRY IT UP!!" I yelled out the window. I probably was waking up 10 neighbors in the process, along with Bethanie. My mom ran out the door with a bowl of soggy oatmeal and a breakfast sandwich. I looked at the clock and it was 7:15. My mom grumbled and the engine roared to life. We sped out the driveway, headed to the big city of Orange County.

What? There's more to Orange County than LA? Well actually there is. We live in a suburb called Rancho Santa Margarita. Our home isn't right along the water, but it's a walking distance away. It's usually sunny but also very blustery because of the sea breeze.

Every time I've been out of state people have asked me if I was one of those typical Cali beach babes. And well, I guess I am. I spend my time penny boarding along the beach, strumming my uke or guitar, or surfing. I don't however tan, curl my hair to go to the freaking beach where it'll get ruined, or have like 24 boys at my side. I mostly just go on 7/11 runs to get slurpies when it's hot or try my luck at the street corner playing my music. I write a lot of my songs, but my most absolute favorite song to cover is Santeria by Sublime. It's such a calm song and something that other beach goers would expect to hear. I get a few tips by playing it. It's that song I'm playing today at the audition, and it's that song I'm hoping will be enough. I'm going to play my ukulele and maybe music I can play will help my case.

I run my hands through my hair, thinking and dreaming about the audition.

"Don't do that to your hair!" My mom said, so rudely interrupting my fantasies. I sighed and flopped my hands to my lap. I couldn't sit still.

"So...still gonna sing Santeria?" She asked. I nodded.

The car slid to a screeching halt. "Did you grab the ukulele?!"

I gave myself a few seconds to recover from like dying and nodded. I pulled the ukulele from under my chair. She exhaled a sigh of relief. We continued speeding until we arrived to the parking lot.

Massive jam.

"Shiiit," my mom mumbled under her breath. We were already late, and now we would just be later.

"Hop out," she said turning to me.

"Without you?"

"Yeah. You're 17. I park you sign in. Hurry!!" She said. I hopped out of the car and ran as fast as my little legs could carry me. The line was crazy. It stretched from inside the building, winding and twisting until it ended a block and a half away from the studio. I groaned and walked up to the check in stand.

"Name?" They asked me.

"Alice Newman," I said. They checked me in and gave me my audition name.

18093

I pinned the paper to my shirt and walked all the way to the very end of the line. I saw interviewers about 30 people in front of me. What if they decide to interview me? Nah. I'm nothing special. I shrugged it off and went through basic vocals. My mom finally came about 10 minutes later. By now the interviewers were 5 people away.

"How'd you park so fast?" I asked my mom in surprise.

"Well, I paid someone to do it," she shrugged.

"Valet?"

"Nah."

"So basically they could've stolen our car?"

She didn't answer. I raised my eyebrows at her. The interviewers broke our awkward silence.

"Hello, what's your name?" They asked me.

"Alice Newman."

"How old are you? Where are you from?"

"17 and I'm from Rancho Santa Margarita."

"What will you be singing?"

"Santeria by Sublime."

"Good luck Alice!"

And that was that. All of the interview. One minute long. Lovely.

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Hope you liked it! Pretty basic chapter. :) I have big plans for this and I actually have it planned out!! Eek!!!

Xx kristin