C💚H💜U💛M💙S

Judgement

Even though it was only seconds before Simon started talking, it felt like hours passed. 

We stood there, on the edge of the stage staring at the four judges. Amanda, Alesha and David were smiling while Simon looked confused. 

"I'm going to be honest," Simon began. Our hearts dropped. Simon always began his worst criticisms with that phrase. We snuck peeks at each other knowing what was about to come. We were going home and would not be returning for the semi-finals. We kept brave faces on and even managed smiles while we waited for him to finish.

"I expected to hate it. Your mix of instruments? I mean, spoons? Really? It's not like you're an orchestra. You're not even a concert band. You're a mess of instruments mashed together to create this..this...'fandom band'..which is ridiculous to begin with..."

I could feel Evy shifting from foot to foot as we heard Simon's assessment of us. My hands started shaking and I felt as if I might cry on the stage right to begin with. We could hear Emily trying to hold back sniffles. 

"But I absolutely loved it." All at once thirteen sighs of relief filled the stage and we all began tearing up with happy tears. "You ladies did a great job with the instruments you had. The arrangement was great. It was a fun song."

"I agree. It was wonderful. I don't think it's ridiculous at all that you're band grew out of a fandom. That's what a fandom does. It brings people from around the world together for a cause. And you ladies proved that. You proved that you can be in different countries, work hard apart, and come together to make something great." Amanda praised and smiled. 

"I loved it. I love the song. I love the mix of instruments. You are definitely unique and that's what makes you perfect for this show. You ladies are lovely." Alesha smiled and nodded.

Our smiles grew wide as we looked toward David for the final judgement. 

"I really don't have-"

"Sorry...Sorry..Sorry..." Ant interrupted David as he came out of the wings.

"Yep, sorry. We have an important announcement." Dec said as followed Ant. 

We all turned to look at Ant and Dec and then each other. 

As Ant and Dec walked down the front steps of the stage to the judges' table we all realized at once was about to happen.

"Do you want the honors," Ant asked Dec.

"Oh, no. You can do it," Dec said.

"Alright, how about together, " Ant laughed as he put his hand over the golden buzzer in the middle of the judges' table.

Dec put his hand over Ant's and together they pushed the golden buzzer. 

We all screamed and jumped up and down, hugging each other, as gold confetti covered us from the ceiling. Ant and Dec came running up the steps of the stage. They hugged each of us.

"You ladies were amazing. You really were, " Dec said as he hugged us. 

"We were really touched, " Ant added with a smile. 

While the stagehands cleaned up the golden confetti so the show could continue, Ant and Dec stayed with us so we could get selfies, group photos and autographs with them. 

We all felt like we were in dream. Our goal was to audition so we could meet Ant and Dec, we never believed we would get the golden buzzer. 

When we got back to the hotel we all fell onto the beds in one room and cried happy tears. we looked through our phone galleries of photos and recounted meeting the lads we had come so far to see.