Ladies First (Zayn Malik) Book 4

Chapter 18

I hold my breath, my heart pounding in my chest. All of us were lined up, clinging to one another. This was it. No bottom two this time. No competing to save yourself from the judges. It was completely up to the votes.

"The first act that will be going to the finals, in no particular order is..." the host says and I want to beat him over the head as he holds out for suspense. 'Just tell us already!' I scream in my head. "Lilly" he announces a roar of approval arising from the audience. Her knees fall out from under her in relief and if she wasn't being held up between Chris and Carmen I think she would have hit the floor. Happy tears in her eyes, she gives us all hugs, hugging Brittany, her mentor, as they exit the stage. "The second act to make it through is..." he says, when they've cleared the stage and the crowd quiets down. "Ladies First" he announces and I go into shock. We made it to the finals. Carmen and Hannah are jumping around, jostling me but I can't do anything but stand there, mouth open. Eventually I snap out of it as I'm pulled into a group hug and the smile splits my face. We made it to the final. I feel a wave of relief rush over me and feel the tears prick my eyes. I manage to blink back the tears until we are off stage when I completely break down laughing and crying at the same time. The guy filming our reactions probably thought I was insane but I couldn't help it. Thinking where I was a mere three months ago compared to now. We had a chance of winning this whole thing. I'm mobbed as Maddie, Haley, and my mom appear backstage. They hadn't been able to come to all the performances, but I'd made sure they'd gotten time off work and had tickets to this one and the finals assuming we'd made it.

"We made it" I choke out, the tears streaming down my cheeks as they hug me. "We're in the finals."

"I know. I'm so proud of you," my mom says her voice strained from crying also.

"What about the boys?" I ask, realizing they weren't safe yet. Imagine if the three of us got to the finals? It'd be unbelievable.

"The final act through is..." I hear from my position off stage. "Jason!" And just like that, all my happiness disappeared. They hadn't made it. I watch from the side as Jason jumps up and gives Simon a hug, the boys standing there in shock that they didn't make it. A roar of protest erupts from the crowd as the Next Gen'ers boo.

"How are you guys feeling" the host asks the stunned boys.

"We're glad we made it this far but we'd be lying if we didn't say this sucks," Josh admits. The host nods sympathetically.

"I'm sorry, boys. Best of luck in the future" he says.

"This isn't the last you'll hear of Next Generation" Nathan assures the upset crowd. Demi and the boys head off stage and as soon as they are out of sight of the crowd I run at them.

"Shhh it's ok" Chris says soothingly, petting my head, as tears stream down my face as I cry hugging him. He was the one eliminated and I was the one crying. Figures. "Everything's fine. We got fourth place and a huge fan base already. We'll get signed." He says reasonably. I can't respond through the tears and he just hugs me tighter, pressing his lips to the top of my head.

"Who am I going to talk to all this week?" I finally manage to get out through the tears.

"You have the girls and Lilly. Besides, there are these things called phones. You can call people anywhere with them," he says teasingly.

"What about our lunches?" I ask. We'd made a thing of our lunches, every Monday we'd go out for food, just the two of us.

"There's only one left. I'll take a rain check though," he says with a smile. I choke back a laugh and pull back wiping my eyes, nodding my head.

"It's up to you now. You need to win this ok?" he asks. I nod my head and he pulls me back into his arms for one more hug before the boys are ushered away for some interviews.