Small talk | Reece Bibby | Jake Sims | Stereo Kicks

iv

i v y

Leah and I made our way down to the beach. I guess you could say I was nervous, if that's the right word. My hair swept behind me in the humid air.

"There's the guys" Leah pointed towards a group of eight shirtless boys running around the beach. "Hey guys" Leah cried running down onto the sand and I followed close behind her, my awkwardness beginning to show. All eyes fell on me and I could feel my cheeks getting redder at the second.

"Hi, I'm Leah's cousin Ivy" I shyly smiled and Charlie wrapped his arm around my shoulders. "Hey" Charlie winked and everyone else introduced themselves, apart from Reece, but quite frankly I don't care.

"Reece, what's up with you? Introduce yourself " Casey nudged Reece. "Oh" I said through gritted teeth,"We already know each other." I folded my arms across my chest as Reece glared at me.

"So" James said, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. "Let's go swim" Jake cried and they all raced towards the sea. I pulled off my shirt and wriggled out of my shorts leaving me in a floral bikini. I put my clothes into my bag and then jumped onto Charlie's back as he was waiting for me.

Charlie raced into the beautiful sea with my giggling along, I noticed how well Leah was getting on with the boys. Charlie span around and let me go and I gasped at the coldness of the water. Charlie grabbed my hand and span me into him, hugging me. "I'm so glad that you're here, with me" Charlie whispered into my ear and I grinned. "Ditto."

"Oi, lovebirds. We're going to play chicken come on" James yelled from deeper in the sea. Charlie turned to me, a blush over his cheeks,"Is that okay with you?" I nodded,"Yeah, I'm just not the strongest swimmer." "I'll protect you" Charlie winked grabbing my hand.

The boys and Leah were in quite deep, I couldn't really stand but I was only around 5 foot two or three and most of the boys were 6 foot. The water went up to the centre of Charlie's stomach, so it was up to my neck. Charlie hoisted me up onto his shoulders and I looked around at my competition. Leah was on James' shoulders, Jake on Barclay's, Reece on Chris' and Tom on Casey's.

I cracked my knuckles to try and look slightly more intimidating and Charlie tightened his grip around my legs. "You ready to win Ivy?" "I'm always ready to win" I laughed as Casey yelled at everyone to simmer down (😏😉).

"Three... Two... one... charge!"

Tom launched himself at me, trying to knock me off of Charlie's shoulders but I stayed put, pushing him with all my force. In the corner of my eye I could see Leah and Jake laughing at each other in the water, splashing each other.

I let out a gasp as a hand hit me very hard and I plummeted, sideways into the water.

As I surfaced I rubbed my back where it hurt. Charlie shot me a fake sad face,"we didn't win." I giggle before climbing onto his back. "Who did win?"

"Me and Reece" Chris grinning high-fiving the blonde boy.

"Wow, Ivy. What happened to your back?" Leah wondered as she swam beside me. "What's wrong with it?" I asked as a pain shot through my back.

"There's a really dark bruise there" Jake commented.

"I bruise really easily so it's probably nothing" I shook it off, gritting my teeth due to the pain.

"Round two everyone?" James asked and everyone nodded. "Let's switch around, if you were on the bottom you're on the top this time."

"I think I'll probably drown if I go on the bottom" I piped up and Leah nodded in agreement. "You two can just stay on the top then and let's switch partners."

Jakes hoisted Leah up onto his shoulders and smiled up at her, I noticed a cheeky wink too. Barclay went on Tom's shoulders, Chris went on Casey's, Charlie went on James' and that left me to get onto Reece's shoulders. Reluctantly I grabbed a hold of Reece's hands as he helped me up onto his shoulders. His grip on my legs were loose and I immediately knew I wouldn't last long in this round. As soon as Tom yelled start Reece raced towards Jake and I squealed as me and Leah pushed at each other. After a couple of seconds, my cousin pushed me off Reece's shoulders at the same time Jake gave Reece a shove so I toppled ontop of Reece.

I could see Reece's eyes clearly through the water and he was staring at me intensely. I kicked off the floor and surfaced once again. I grinned at Charlie who was sitting triumphantly on James' shoulders.

We spent the rest of the day getting to know each other better and as the night came on we all became worried for the result that came tomorrow.

_____________________

I nervously held onto Leah's hand as we were waiting to be called to find out if we were through to the live shows or not.

"How do you think you girls did the other day?" Dermot asked us.

"I think it was one of our best performances but I don't know if it will be enough to take us through. I can only hope it is" I smiled shyly as him.

"You can go in now" a camera man cried and Dermot hugged the two of us.

"Hi girls" Louis smiled and we both shot him nervous looks. "As you know I can only take three acts with me through to the live shows. I love you girls, I see such great potential in you two but I'm not too sure if the public will vote for you because you don't really have a certain style. But, I'm sorry to say that it's bad news girls."

It felt as if my heart had been ripped straight out of my chest and shredded into pieces. I bit my lip but a sob still managed to escape my lips.

"You'll have to put up with me for longer! I'm taking you through to live shows!"

"What?" Leah gasped and my jaw dropped to the floor, literally.

"Congratulations" Louis cried and the two of us basically jumped onto him, hugging him.

"Thank you" I managed to get out,"We won't let you down. We promise."

Leah let out another scream of happiness before jumping straight into the pool and I followed into suite and Louis just laughed at us.

Finally we were allowed go back to the hotel and see the other contestants.

"We got through" I yelled as soon as I saw Charlie, I ran towards him, dripping wet and jumped into him. He wasn't ready and I knocked us both to the floor. Charlie chuckled and grinned,"so did we, I guess we'll be sharing a house from now on."

I giggled,"I guess we will." I turned to my right to see Reece glaring at me.

Oh, this will be so much fun.

(hello everyone Sarah here, I write about Ivy and Emilija writes about Leah. I know Charlie doesn't stay in the XFactor house but for the story he will. And also we are pretending that Blonde Electric weren't in the competition and that instead of them going Stevie did so the Small Talk girls are high up in the competition)