As soon as we’d finished, every member of the audience was on their feet. A complete standing ovation.
Harley walked back out onto the stage and beckoned for us to stand at the side of her.
"Okay, guys, that's your first performance of the evening and I think the audience liked it." There were more screams. "Now let's see what the judge's thought, starting with your mentor, Bill." Harley gestured to him.
Bill looked smug as the camera returned to him.
"Bill, what an opening to the show. You must be ecstatic right now."
Bill looked directly into the camera, holding up his hand. “What can I say? I told you when I first met these guys, they were the ones to watch, and lads you just owned the stage.”
Next, the camera panned to Carmela. She flicked her fringe, pushed out her hand with her painted talons and roared. “I'd marry you, for sure. Wow. What a smoking performance." She fanned herself, while making sure to squeeze her outfit so her boobs popped out more. From there it was Maxwell, the only one who didn't have an act in the final, who said, “You made it your own. It was phenomenal.” Finally, Marianne told us, “The girls at home will love you. You deserve a place in the final performance a million percent.”
The audience were still screaming. I looked at my bandmates and every one of their faces held a huge grin, and I knew then, that continuing with the competition had been the right thing to do. For them, at least.
Harley turned to us. "I think the judges liked your performance, don’t you?” She beamed her large ‘teeth-gleaming under the lights’ grin.
“It’s always fantastic to hear great comments from the judges and we couldn’t ask for a better audience.” Zak said blowing a kiss and getting the audience in a frenzy again when Harley had only just got them to quieten down.
She looked out at the audience and smiled and asked for quiet again. “So, before the audience all explode again, is there anything anyone else would like to add?”
“Just to pick up the phone and vote for us,” I said.
That was it. The audience were once again deafeningly loud and you could hardly hear Harley as she talked us off the stage.
"Did you see that?" Zak was bouncing off the walls. "Oh my god, the audience were insane. I think we might actually win this thing."
"Steady on, Zak." I was excited myself, but I didn't want us heading for a huge disappointment. "There are two other really good bands against us."
"God, I can tell you're a vampire, because you suck the life out of anyone's joy." He clapped my back. "We're in the final, my friend. For God's sake, enjoy it, and please stop looking like it’s the end of days."
"Yes, Noah, enjoy yourself." A familiar voice came from the doorway and I spun around to find Mya standing there.
"How did you get past secur—" I stopped when I realised the answer. Compulsion.
"Sorry, I'm late. I watched your first act on my phone on the way, but I'm here now."
"Where's Mr Chirpy?" Zak snarked.
"De-nny is around. He'll say hi later." Mya said. "Okay, well good luck, guys, and I'll catch you after the show."
She disappeared at superspeed and we watched as Seven Sisters took to the stage.
The beginning notes of Since u Been Gone by Kelly Clarkson started up. Mmm, I couldn’t help but think this was entirely targeted in my direction and also would help the band as the viewers speculated that it was part of the feud between us. Stacey's vocals were amazing as always, but something seemed off. She didn't seem her usual self. In fact, the band themselves as a whole had a weird vibe.
They still however did a fabulous performance and got great praise from the judges, with the exception of Bill, who played up to his nasty reputation by saying he felt it wasn't the right song choice.
When Harley asked the band what they thought, Donna took the mic off her and told him that he obviously needed a hearing aid.
I saw the shock in Stacey's face at her bandmate's outburst.
Bill shrugged it all off as a joke and Seven Sisters left the stage.
I'd never really thought of Flame-Grilled Steak as our main competition. Dray and his band were talented, but they didn't hold a candle to Seven Sisters or us. But you should never underestimate the underdogs, especially when they're competitive shifters.
They swaggered onto the stage and began singing their chosen track, The Rolling Stones (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction. They'd performed most of the song when suddenly the band placed down their instruments. The audience went quiet, looking at each other wondering what was going on. Marianne, whose band it was, stared smugly at the other judges as their expressions of ‘what’s happening’ struck their faces, even though we knew that nothing that went on stage hadn’t been totally agreed beforehand.
And then Flame-Grilled steak began to dance. They took off their shirts, turned and shook their arses, and ran their hands down their body like they were in Magic Mike and the crowd went insane.
Stacey was standing a few people away from me and I turned and looked at her. Her cheeks were puce and she shook with anger. “Betrayed again. Yet another man puts his music over me. The absolute bastard.” She stomped off, one of the other band members trailing after her. Dray would be lucky if that was the only cursing she did after his performance.
With one song down each, there was still everything to play for. But rather than be focusing on our next performance, all I could think about was Stacey.
There was a live performance from Carmela up next, so while I had the opportunity, I decided I'd go and check on my ex.
But it wasn't to be.
“Right, lads.” Bill came walking towards us. The guy had a presence and seemed to bring a sense of power in with him, but he didn’t smell of magic. It just seemed to be a genuine charisma. “That stunt Marianne pulled. I knew it was coming, but honestly, I thought they’d look ridiculous. Didn’t expect it to be such a success, so what are we going to do to get this back on track and you winning this thing?”
Rex opened his mouth, no doubt to make a suggestion, but Bill was talking rhetorically. “I’ll tell you what. You’re going to sing Stay by Shakespear's Sister as if it’s the last song you’ll ever sing to your terminally ill wife on her death bed. I want collapsing on your knees and tears streaming down your cheeks, Zak. Then the others come crowd round you. Let the audience think there’s been some past lost love and the song has reminded you of it. Okay?”
“Will it get me women falling at my feet?” Zak asked.
“They’ll be queuing, mate.”
“Done. Prepare to send it for consideration for a BAFTA.” He shook Bill’s hand and we got quickly changed and then we were back and they were calling our name to take to the stage for the final time if we didn’t win through at the final phone vote.
Stacey
“I’m going to kill him.” I was pacing backstage. “They stole our signature moves. He watched us at the rehearsal, and he pinched our idea, transferred what we were going to do with the final song into their first song.
“So now what do we do?” Meryl asked.