𝑾𝑯𝑬𝑵 𝑰𝑻 𝑨𝑳𝑳 𝑺𝑻𝑨𝑹𝑻𝑬𝑫 | 𝑛𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑙 ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑛

•Chapter 3•

'Sorry, I didn't see you there.' I hear someone apologise. A boy. A boy with a really nice voice and an excellent tackle.

I look up and look directly into the clear, green eyes of a boy. Beautiful eyes. that were closer than I expected.

'It's okay.' I say and smile to him.

He helps me stand up and puts my suitcase right up again. 'Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?'

'You can bring me and my parents to Manchester.' I say as a joke and laugh.

He laughs too. 'You need to go to Manchester too?'

I nod softly.

'Just drive with us. No problem.' he says on a sweet tone.

'O-okay?' I say shy.

'Call your parents over, we're parked there.' He points to a black car and walks in the same direction.

I take a deep breath and get my parents.

'What do you mean "I got us a ride?"' my mom asks stunned.

'Moooom, I always explained it. Twice. I bumped into this cute guy and I made a joke about him taking us to Manchester and he said we actually could.' I say and roll my eyes.

My parents look at each other in amazement, nod and walk behind me.

'There they are mom.' says the boy with the green eyes and points at us.

'Aaah, you are our carpool buddies?' his mom asks with a small grin. 

'Yeah.' I smile.

 'Jump into the car and we're ready to go.' She tries to get everything into the trunk of her car together with my dad.

I get into the car and sit next to a girl, who looks a lot like the boy.

She smiles friendly to me. 'Hi, I'm Gemma. Harry's sister.' So his name is Harry.

'Hii, I'm Samantha.' I say with a smile. 'But you can call me Sam.'

'I will, Sam.' she winks at me and giggles.

The others get in too and the mom starts driving.

'Why are you going to Manchester?' asks Harry curiously.

'The x Factor. I'm auditioning for the show.' I say softly and look at him. 'You?'

'What a coincidence, me too!' he says laughing.

I laugh together with him. 'This is too creepy.'

'Yeah it is.' he says with a smirk on his face. When he smiles, he gets really cute dimples in his cheeks.

'Which song?' I ask him.

'Isn't she lovely.' He looks at me. 'You?'

I look back at him. 'Grenade.'

'I love that song, it's really good.' he says enthusiastic and I chuckle.

***

We hurry out of the car and to the lines. There is no one outside anymore. 

I look around quickly. 'Are we too late?'

'Maybe not.' Harry says confidently and runs to a table when a woman is still sitting. 'We are here to audition.'

'Alright, you're in luck. I was just about to clean up.' she says friendly.

'Thank you, thank you, thank you!' I say happily.

We register and go stand in the line. It's our turn pretty quickly, considering there's almost no one left. 

Harry is before me, I'm the very last one.

When Harry is singing on that stage, I could not believe it. He sounds amazing and has an incredible voice.

The audience cheers loud after his performance and the judges love him. He goes through to the next round easily. 

'Congratulations!' I give him a quick huge, before walking onto the stage.

'And who might you be?' asks Simon.

'I'm Samantha Meijer.' I say shyly. 

He nods. 'Tell us something about you Samantha.'

'I am sixteen years old and live in the Netherlands.' I look at him, no muscle has moved in his face; He keeps looking at me emotionless. 

'It must have been a tough trip coming here.' he concludes.

I nod. 'But I'm here.'

'With which song will you entertain us?' he asks again.

'Grenade by Bruno Mars.' I say, and grab the microphone more firmly in my hand.

'Good luck.' he says on the same tone and the music starts.

And here I stand. After tough trip through France, Ireland and London, I'm still standing here in Manchester. I get a smile on my face while singing and the judges look surprised.

'But darling I'd still catch a grenaaaaade for yaaaaaaaa! I'd throw my hands on a blade for ya. I'd jump in front of a train for ya. You know I do anything for ya.' I sing the lyrics. I look up to the judges for the last part. 'Oh you wouldn't do that same. Oooh no, no, noohohohoh.'

I examine the stern faces of the judges and wait for their commentary.