October ninth.

The first live show.

I'm beyond nervous.

Backstage of the X Factor is incredibly busy. I wouldn't expect it any other way. Workers are running around all over the place with headsets on. Men are walking around filming random things on camera. All of the performers are in their own dressing rooms, preparing for the group performance. That's what I'm doing now.

I have already changed into my outfit for the group performance. I love everything about my outfit tonight except for my shoes. I have a white lace dress on that stops a few inches above my knees. A black leather jacket is over the dress and fits me perfectly. The theme for tonight's outfits are black and white. I even have black tights on. Everything about this outfit is perfect. Well, just about everything. My stylist said I have to wear these black ankle boots for the performance. The heels are about four inches high.

I can't walk in heels.

I told her this a million times, but she just waved me off. How does she expect me to walk around the stage in these things? I can barely walk over to the bathroom. I've been trying to quickly practice walking in them, but I just wobble. I must be the most uncoordinated person in the world.

My hair is up in a messy, but cute updo. A few pieces of hair are hanging in my face. Light make up has been applied to my face. My stylist, Bonnie, did a good job of picking this outfit out for me. I tried to tell her that, but once again, she waved me off. We haven't even have a conversation. All she told me was to sit down and not move. She's not very friendly.

"Carter, you are needed by the stairs." A short, plump woman strolls into my room, gripping a clipboard in her hands.

"Okay." I smile, uneasily.

I manage to stand up and wobble over to her. I'm going to fall. I just know it. The woman leads me through the backstage area to where the stairs lead to main stage. Rebecca, Wagner, Mary, and Belle Amie are already getting their microphones hooked up. I wave to Rebecca.

"Nervous?" Rebecca makes her way over to me.

"Just a little." I mumble. "I'm going to warn you now. I might be grabbing your arm a lot during the group performance."

Reneges frowns. "Why?"

I point down at my feet. "I have to wear these."

"Did you tell your stylist you can't walk in heels?" Rebecca questions me.

I nod. "I did. She isn't much of a talker."

"I won't let you fall." Rebecca gives me a side hug.

"Thanks." I smile at her gratefully.

Rebecca has a black one shoulder dress on. The one sleeve is really wavy and loose. Her hair is up in a tight bun. She has plain black heels on making her a little taller than me.

Rebecca smiles at something behind me. I turn around to see my five best friends walking over to us. They each have a different outfit on.

Niall is wearing white jeans with a white shirt that has a black pattern on it. Louis is practically in all white, too. He has white jeans with a white collared shirt. The only black he has on is his belt and shoes. Zayn has white jeans with a black button up and a white shirt on underneath. Liam is wearing all white, but has a grey scarf around his neck. Harry is the only one wearing black pants. He has a white button up shirt on with the sleeves rolled to his elbows.

They all look incredible. Louis definitely looks the best out of all of them.

Louis runs forward, breaking out of their synchronized walk. Rebecca puts her hand on my back, in case I stumble backwards. Louis's arm wrap around my waist and pulls me closely. I fling my arms around his neck to help me balance. I stumble backwards, but Louis keeps me stable.

"You look beautiful." He whispers in my ear before kissing me cheek.

I blush a deep shade of red. "You look pretty handsome yourself." I fix his collar.

Louis grins at me and keeps his arms around my waist. "I thought you couldn't wear heels?"

"I can't. My stylist is forcing me to where them." I pout.

Louis's eyes drop down to my lips. I watch him stare at them with a pained expression on his face. The rest of the lads make it over to us. Niall pulls me out of Louis's arms and hugs me. That was weird. Why did he look so upset?

"My turn!" Harry embraces me. "You look beautiful, love."

"What's with all of the compliments? I'm only in a dress." I step out of Harry's arms. "Do I only look pretty in a dress?"

"You always look pretty." Liam bends down to hug me.

"D'awh." I blush. "You guys will make great boyfriends one day."

"How about we make that one day today?" Harry nudges my side.

I take Harry's face in my hands. "Harry, I love you." I say, completely serious. Harry's jaw drops open and his eyes widen. "But only as a best friend. Sorry." I kiss his cheek.

Harry frowns. "I thought you were serious."

"I was. I do love you, but you're one of my best friends. That's it. Besides, I'm pretty sure you like Cher anyways. Wouldn't want to stand in between my two best friends, now would I?" I pinch his cheeks.

Harry's face turns red. "I don't like Cher."

"Yes, you do." Rebecca joins the conversation. "We're girls. We know these things."

"Awh. Does little Harry have a crush on Cher?" Louis teases him.

"Who has a crush on me?" Cher pops up in our little circle. She has one eyebrow raised.

"Oh, that would be-" A hand covers my mouth, preventing me from continuing. I look to the left to see a mass of brown curls.

"Some fan told us that they had a massive crush on you." Harry lies. "As big as Carter's crush on..Ow!" Harry yanks his hand off of my mouth. "You bite me!"

"I don't know what you're talking about." I smile, innocently.

"Is anyone else confused?" Cher asks everyone else in the circle.

Everyone raises their hand except for Rebecca. Of course. She knows what we are talking about. Rebecca starts laughing at the two of us. Harry is rubbing his palm and glaring at me. I'm just smiling like I'm an innocent little kid.

"Five minutes!" A worker runs by us.

All the blood drains from my face as I realize we perform in five minutes. I can't do this. I'll be on live television. Thousands of people are in the audience. What if I forget the lyrics? Or I trip and fall? That will be extremely embarrassing. What if I forget the steps?

"Carter." Louis's face appears right in front of mine. "It's okay. Nothing is going to happen."

How did he know what I was thinking?

"But-"

"No." Louis covers my mouth with his hand. "You are a brilliant singer. Stop worrying. If you worry too much, you will lose focus and mess up."

I nod my head, realizing he is right. Louis removes his hand from my mouth. I hug him one more time. I'm not sure what I would do with him in this competition. Then I would have Harry The Pervert to comfort me.

"Tori, why are you wearing heels?" Aiden throws his arm around my shoulders.

"My stylist." I reply. "Ready for our stare down?" I ask him.

"I'll win." Aiden smirks.

"I doubt it." I say.

"Positions!" Brian runs up to us. "Girls, you have two minutes to get in your spots. You go on in three minutes."

Cher and Rebecca both grab my wrists and rush over to our spots. I struggle to follow them in my heels. I shoot everyone behind us a smile as we run away. These heels are deadly. We make it in front of the large doors. We get handed black microphones and ear pieces. I put the ear pieces in quickly.

"Here we go." I tell them.

A guy off the the side counts down from ten on his fingers. I stand on the end with Rebecca right next to me. Cher is next to her then it's Treyc. When the guy has one finger up, the doors open up slowly and the music starts.

The four of us walk forward singing our part of the song. I stare straight at Cheryl and try to ignore the audience. There are so many people out there. Cheryl grins at the four of us.

Rebecca and I stop on the second step down. "Oh sunshine in an empty place." We sing.

"Take me to turn to and babe I'll make you stay." Cher and Treyc sing together.

The four of us walk down the remaining steps as we hear the guys sing their part. I turn my head to the left to see Matt, Aiden, Nicola, and Pajie. FYD and One Direction walk out of the big doors in the middle. FYD all do a move with their arms at the same time. I stop watching everyone else sing and stare out in the crowd. I can't lose my focus.

Rebecca casually nudges my arm. I move to the front of us girls and start to walk to the middle of the stage. Aiden mimics my moves to meet me in the middle. We both stop with a few feet in between us. Aiden and I stare each other down while singing. He blinks right as we both turn away from each other.

I wobble to the far side of the stage. These heels are going to kill me. I stand still, but move my arm in the air like everyone else. I will probably trip and fall when we all run to the middle of the stage. We all stop singing and lower our microphones.

Here we go.

We all rush to the middle of the stage at the same time. I lose my balance and my right ankle bends towards the ground. I bite my lip to keep myself from screaming in pain. I continue to the middle and lean against Matt like rehearsals. Everyone smiles at the crowd. I put a fake smile on my face.

I knew I was going to get hurt in these heels. Oh well. I'll just ignore the pain. I can't let this ruin my performance. The audience stands up and claps for us. The four judges do the same thing with huge grins on their faces. I guess we did a good job.

Each of the judges take a turn to say something about the final sixteen. I block out their voices and lean into Matt, keeping the weight off of my ankle. Dermot comes up on stage and says we will be going to a commercial. Everyone heads off the stage to get into our new outfits for our individual performances.

I limp and wobble back to my dressing room. Bonnie is waiting for me and pushes me into the bathroom. I kick off my heels as soon as the door clothes. I wince in pain when I see that my ankle is swelling. That's not good. Oh well. I have to deal with the pain until my performance is done. Then I can get a paramedic to check it out. I'm the tenth contestant to sing. That's not that long of a wait.

I peel my clothes of to change into my new outfit. Since I picked a slow song, I will be wearing a floor length dress. My dress is strapless and a light rose color. The upper part of the dress is covered in sparkles. The whole dress is absolutely beautiful. I slip it on and zip myself up.

Bonnie is waiting for me outside of the bathroom. She thrusts a pair of rose colored heels into my hands. More heels. My ankle is going to kill me. Hopefully, it won't get any worse. It hurts enough just by walking on it. Bonnie retouches up on my make up and sprays more hairspray in my hair.

•

My performance is in ten minutes.

Ten minutes and I'm alone on the stage.

The only people left to sing after me is Mary, Nicola, One Direction, Wagner, Aiden, and Treyc. Then the show will be over. After Bonnie was finished with me, I walked back to the main stage. I still had my heels in my hand. I didn't want to put even more pressure on it. Everyone else that already sung were incredible.

A bunch of arms wrap around me. I jump in the chair surprised. Louis, Aiden, Cher, Rebecca, and Niall are all hugging me from different angles. They must know how nervous I am.

"You're going to do great." Rebecca let's go of me.

They all let go except for Louis. I stand up and hug him back. I stand on my right foot with my left foot, hovering above the ground. I didn't tell anyone about what happened. I don't need them worrying about me when they perform. They need to stay focused.

"Just go out there and sing." Louis grabs my face in his hands gently. "You'll be fine."

"Carter, you need to get in front of the doors." A man comes up to me.

"Good luck." Louis kisses my forehead.

I let the man drag me away from my friends. We walk up the stairs and get in my position. I step back in my heels and ignore the pain in my ankle. I get handed my microphone and ear pieces.

This is it. Don't screw up, Carter.

I hear them announce my name and play a short video of myself. The video lasts for about three minutes before my song starts up. I take a deep breath. The doors slowly slide open, showing the whole room is completely dark. The spotlight lands on me. I start to walk forward as I sing.

'Love can touch us one time

And last for a lifetime

And never let go till we're gone

Love was when I loved you

One true time I hold to

In my life we'll always go on'

I stop in the middle of the stagehand sing out to the audience.

'Near, far, wherever you are

I believe that the heart does go on

Once more you open the door

And you're here in my heart

And my heart will go on and on'

Here comes the high notes. I take a deep breath.

'You're here, there's nothing I fear,

And I know that my heart will go on

We'll stay forever this way

You are safe in my heart

And my heart will go on and on'

The music slowly dies down. Everything is silent for a moment before the audience stands up and starts clapping. Did I do that good? I stare at the audience in awe. They are clapping for me.

"That was quite an amazing performance." Dermot walks out on the stage. He places his hand on my shoulder. "Let's see what the judges thought of your performance. Cheryl, what did you think of Carter tonight?"

"I thought she did an amazing job. I knew the song would be a big risk, but Carter said she wanted to stand out. Carter, you most definitely stood out tonight." Cheryl grins at me.

"I must say you did a very good job, Carter." Simon tells me. "Celine Dion songs are very hard to sing. You sung it very well." He nods in approval.

Oh my goodness. Simon Cowell just approved of my singing. Am I dreaming? Nope, the pain in my ankle proves it's not a dream.

"First, I must say that your dress is beautiful." Danni places her hands on the table. "I was a little worried when I heard Celine Dion start, but your voice blew me away.

"Carter. Carter. Carter." Louis Walsh begins. "That was an incredible performance. You hit all of the high notes. Your voice didn't even crack. I have a feeling you will be going through to the next week."

"Thank you." I grin at all of them.

"Okay, now it is your chance to decide if Carter stays through to next week." Dermot looks into the camera. He starts saying how the people at home can vote online or text a number.

I can't believe I didn't screw up during my performance. The only bad thing that happened today was my ankle swelling.

••••••

Author's Note:

Alright. I updated. :)

I went to see Step Up 4 today. I wish I could dance. I loved it when Moose showed up in the end. My favorite part.

Question..How did you discover One Direction?

I was on YouTube and saw their video diaries on the side. So, I watched all of them and then looks up 'What Makes You Beautiful'. I saw that one of my favorite bands (Before You Exit) did a cover of the song. So, I watched that first. Then I actually listened to One Direction.

So, yeah. Comment!