"Again." Brian demands, watching us from the front of the dance studio. "Three, two, one."

Cher, Rebecca, Treyc, and I walk forward like we've been practicing all day. We hold our fists up to our mouths, pretending that we are holding microphones. I could do this with my eyes closed.

Matt, Aiden, Nicola, and Pajie step from the right side. As the song continues, One Direction and FYD stroll forward from the middle. Diva Fever and Belle Amie walk in between us girls and the guys in the middle. Wagner, Storm, Mary, and John are on the opposite side doing the same thing.

I walk next to Cher to the middle of the room with the other two girls behind us. Matt and Aiden walk to the middle to meet us with Nicola and Pajie behind them. I smile at Aiden who is standing right in front of me. We dance to the music a little while singing along quietly to the music. We all turn away from each other and head to the far side of the room. The rest of the contestants move forward to fill in the huge gap. We all fist pound the air repeatedly. Then we wave one hand in the air. We lower our hands and dash to the middle of the room. We all crouch down next to each other for the end of the song.

No one dares to move until Brian says something. I lean against Matt with a smile still on my face. Brian stares at each one of us intently. He slowly starts to clap and grin at us. I let out my breath I was holding in.

"We are finished for the day. Remember your part and practice. Good job, guys." Brian stops clapping. "You are dismissed."

Everyone straightens up from our positions. Most people grabs their bags and leave the dance studio. The few that stayed behind are just standing around and chatting. I walk over to where my drawstring backpack is lying on the floor. I sit down on the floor and yawn. I didn't get much sleep last night.

I glance around the room to see Louis talking to the rest of the lads. I rest my head on my bag and shut my eyes. He will wake me up when we are about to leave.

These past three days have been pretty fun. I've been doing what I love. Tuesday went pretty well. My vocal coach said that the song was a good choice for me. He said that no one has been such a risky song for the first week.

Wednesday, we recorded the song for our group performance. I didn't remember the whole song. It didn't take me long to learn it. Most of the group have never heard of it before. Only Wagner, Storm Lee, John, and Mary knew the song by heart. They must have listened to it when they were younger.

Today, we learned the choreography for the group performance. We have been practicing since eight in the morning. It is now seven at night. I am exhausted. We only got a break every two hours. I'm surprised I didn't fall asleep through the practice. I was yawning the entire time.

I'm not sure why I got such little sleep last night. I just couldn't fall asleep until five in the morning. Everyone woke up at six to get ready. I've been running on one hour of sleep.

We got four new people added to the X Factor house. The judge's wildcards were picked. The girl added was Treyc Cohen. I was glad it was her and not someone else. Treyc and I got along pretty well at Cheryl's house. The guy that was added from the boy's category was Pajie Richardson. I learned that he is a really cool guy. From the group's category, Diva Fever joined us. Diva Fever consists of Craig Saggers and Josef Al-Smadi. The last person to join is Wagner, as everyone calls him.

They fit in the house easily. Everyone gets along with them. Treyc and Rebecca are really close friends now. Some people had to move rooms. Esther went back to the Belle Amie room. Mary is in the room with all of the twenty eights. Craig, Josef, and Pajie have their own room. Treyc is in our room now. Nicola decided to move into a different room because he said Matt snored really loud.

"Carter." I hear a voice say my name. "Carter, we're back at the house."

"Go away, mum." I groan, reaching for the blanket to pull over my head. My hand keeps grabbing air. Where's my blanket?

"Carter, open your eyes." The voice says.

That doesn't sound like my mum. My Mum's voice is feminine. This voice sounds manly-ish.

"Carter, love. Wake up." A large, warm hand rubs my arm gently.

My eyes flutter open to see Louis standing outside the van. How did I get in the van? I thought I was in the dance studio.

"Come on." Louis reaches for my hand.

A yawn escapes my mouth. "I don't want to get up." I snuggle into the seat.

Louis sighs. "At least, come out of the van. I'll do the rest."

I groan, but slowly crawl out of the van. I lean my back against the door of the van and shut my eyes. I feel an arm on the back of my knees. My eyes snap open to see Louis knocking my knees out from underneath me. I wrap my arms around his neck as he picks me up bridal style.

"Go back to sleep." Louis instructs me.

I snuggle my head into his neck and shut my eyes once again. Louis tightens his arms around me. Louis smells really good. Like really, really good. I inhale deeply. I probably look like an idiot, but I'm so tired that I don't care.

"Awh. Look at that. Louis carried Carter in." Cher gushes.

We must have just entered the house. I hear a chorus of 'awhs' from some of the girls. I snuggle closer to Louis, trying to block out their voices. Why are they being so loud?

"You should bring her up to her room." Mary tells him, quietly.

I feel Louis nod his head. He starts moving again, most likely heading upstairs. I have the greatest best friend ever. Riley would have never carried me to my room. He would have told me to get up and walk to my room myself. I miss Riley now. I haven't heard from him in forever. I should call him soon.

I'm cold.

I feel a pair of warm lips on my forehead. "Night, love."

I open my eyes to see Louis leaving my room. No wonder I'm so cold. I'm not in his arms anymore. I stretch for my blanket at the end of my bed. I pull it over me.

•

Four twenty one in the morning.

I went back to sleep after Louis carried me to my room. Apparently, my body decided that I got enough sleep and it was time for me to wake up. So, here I am. I've been staring up at the white ceiling for the past twenty minutes. I was hoping that I would eventually fall back asleep. No such luck.

Then I realized I really had to pee.

My bed is pretty dang comfortable. I didn't want to get up. I knew if I didn't get up, I would most likely pee the bed. That would be quite embarrassing to explain.

I never realized how creepy this house can be at night. There is no light in any of the hallways or rooms. They could have at least put a night light in the main hallway on the second floor. I have snubbed my big toe at least seven times. I'm not sure how I managed to not scream when I did it the first time. It felt like I had been shot.

After searching for the bathroom for five minutes I had finally found it. My bladder was satisfied when I finished. No peeing in the bed tonight for me. Or ever.

"I'm hungry." I say to myself.

I sound like Niall now. He would be hungry at four in the morning. I wouldn't be surprised if he was dreaming of food right now.

I manage to make it downstairs to the kitchen without running into anything. The trip back upstairs will be dangerous. The refrigerator light literally blinds me when I open it. I should have brought some sunglasses with me or something. My eyes adjust after blinking them several times.

I decide on oreos and milk. The perfect midnight snack. Well, perfect four in the morning snack. My sleeping schedule will be so messed up tomorrow. I carry my glass of milk and plastic container of oreos to the living room. There is no way I am heading back upstairs. I will trip over everything.

I'll just stay downstairs.

I jump on the biggest couch in the living room and turn on the television. Four in the morning and nothing is on. What a surprise. I'll just let the inner kid in me come out and I'll watch Scooby Doo. I always wanted a dog like Scooby. That when when I was looking for him I could say, 'Scooby Doo, where are you?' That would be completely awesome.

"Mind if I join you?"

I hold in my scream, but end up jumping off the couch and having oreos flying all over the place. Louis sits down next to me, laughing hysterically. I straighten up and slap his arm. I thought I was about to get murdered or something. Why in the world is he up so early?

"You jerk!" I slap his arm again.

"Your face was hilarious." He laughs. "Way more funnier than the photo shoot."

I frown at him. Apparently, at the photo shoot when Harry and Louis kissed my cheeks, my face turned bright red and my face was in complete shock. I can only imagine how I looked just now.

"Shut up." I blush. "Why are you up so early?"

"I could ask you the same thing." Louis eats an Oreo off of the couch.

"I woke about thirty minutes ago." I explain.

Louis nods. "I couldn't sleep. I have a lot on my mind."

I dunk an Oreo in the milk. "Like what?"

Louis smiles at me. "It's a secret."

"You do realize everyone will be getting up in two hours to start the day and we are wide awake." I change the topic, knowing he won't tell me.

Louis shrugs. "We can be tired together."

I rest my head on his shoulder. "You make a good pillow. Thanks for carrying me in earlier."

"Anything for my best friend." Louis hugs me.

Who knew those two little words would hurt so badly? Best friend. Sometimes I wish we were more than that.

•••••

Author's Note:

Kind of a boring chapter, but I wanted to post one more chapter before the show.

Comment! Comment! Comment!

Question. Favorite candy?

Mine is most definitely Reese's or Skittles. Buy me either of those and I'll be your best friend.

So, yeah. Tell me what you think of this chapter! :)