The Heartbreak Factor - Part One

Chapter One.

My name is Samantha Leona Jones, but everyone just calls me Sammy, unless you are my mother and you’re furious with me. I'm a seventeen year old law student who lives with her mum and step-dad in the historical city of York in Northern England. I’m not really a stereotypical teenager that the media portrays us all to be – party animals that crave sex, drugs, rock and roll. It's fair to say that the only thing exciting that happens in my life is the odd party that my friends' decide to have, but that's only on the rare occasion. I have had bad times in my past, but who hasn’t? I’m the sort of girl that does things before thinking and I never regret or dwell on anything as it’s those sort of things that have helped to build my strong character and personality up.  I like to think of myself as a strong and independent person but at times, I can be vulnerable, but again, who isn’t? My life isn't anything over the ordinary - I'm just average. Well, I say average.. that was until one day in July 2012. 

"Are you okay?" Michael, my step-dad asked me, turning around from the driving seat of the car to look at me as I sat staring into space out of the window whilst the world flew by Michael’s BMW. 

I nodded with a half-hearted smile; but to tell the truth, I wasn't - I had never been so nervous in my whole life. Today we were driving down to London for my X Factor audition that I had been preparing for since I signed up on my seventeenth birthday at the end of last year. As the car continued its journey to London, I continued to daydream of the 'what ifs' and 'maybes'. With every thought that ran through my mind, my heart pounded and my stomach got invaded by more and more butterflies. My hands were trembling with nerves as I clutched onto my phone. 

Once we arrived, the nerves in my stomach intensified to the point where I felt like I was going to be physically sick. My nerves got even worse as we walked up to the entrance of the O2 Arena. Thousands upon thousands of people were queued up in orderly lines beside the auditionees' walkway which me even more nervous as I looked at all their faces watching me walking towards the arena entrance. Once we got inside, my nerves didn't calm down the slightest at all - seeing all the other auditionees made it even worse. As we walked up the front desk, mum grabbed hold of my hand for support. "Name please," the woman asked as she looked up at me, smiling a friendly smile that had probably been drawn on her face since 6am this morning.

"Sammy," I replied as my voice quivered from the uncontrollable nerves. "Sammy Jones." 

"Ah right, Sammy. Well, welcome to the X Factor. Here's your audition number," she smiled again, handing me a number on a sticker before ticking my name off on a clipboard. "If you go and wait around, we'll call out this number when it is your turn to see the judges. Good luck." 

As I went to say thank-you, the woman had already started to see to another auditionee behind me. Walking around the corner from all the hustle and bustle of the signing in booths, we were met by more hustle and bustle in the designated waiting area. Michael found us a few spare chairs in one of the corners of the room so we sat down and waited. 

"101057," mum smiled to me, reading out the number on the sticker that I had placed on my jacket. I was too busy fretting about my audition song to reply. "Sammy, you're going to do amazing," mum reassured me. "Just keep calm and don't let your nerves get the better of you." 

An hour slowly went by. Michael had resorted to finishing a crossword in a paper that one of the auditionees had left behind in the waiting room; mum was flicking through her pile of magazines that she’d brought along and I was sat staring into space, worrying about everything that could possibly go wrong with my audition. What if I forgot the lyrics? What if I lost the ability to speak? What if I threw up all over the judges? What if I ran off crying? All these ‘what if’s were running through my mind, apart from one – what if I actually did well in my audition?