I glared at the speaker as if it would take my name back. I half expected someone to pop inside the class and shout "Ha! You've been fooled!". Honestly that would have been a lot more relieving. But as I stared at the speaker that had gone silent, nothing happened.

I was sure that it was my name that had been called since I could practically feel the not-so subtle glares of some of the rejected Participants had been directing towards me since my name was called. I turned a little to see Shelly smirking. She must be thinking about the humiliation I was in for especially if she was my competitor. Not to forget the fact that she was out for blood, which I had a feeling would be mine.

But I was confused. How did I manage to get selected when I never even auditioned? It had to be some kind of mistake. No one else did know that I sang except Sam and Candy.

I could deny all I wanted, but I knew that there was a tiny part of me that was happy on being selected. That part of me was delighted at the fact of singing again. But the major part reminded me of just one word that drowsed my happiness. The same nine letter word that I dreaded.

Attention.

Just like if you have a bad experience, let's say if you were bitten by a dog when you were small, you get a little phobia of dogs as you grow up. You might not want to go near a dog ever again because it reminds you of the traumatic experience you suffered from when you were a kid.

It's the same with me and attention. I tend to get paranoid when I attract even a bit of attention.

"Hey, you alright?" Someone asked and I turned my head to see the new comer with a questioning glint in his eye.

I gave him a slight nod and resumed glaring at nothing in particular.

I had a slight idea about the culprit behind this. It had to be Candy or Sam. They were the only ones who wanted me to participate so desperately in the Hunt.

As soon as the bell rang, I bolted out of the class, without sparing even a single glance to anyone. It might've seemed rude of me to leave the class without saying anything to the Brit boy but I was more eager to catch hold of my best friends.

I bolted towards my locker and pushed my books inside. I waited for Sam to show up by the locker.

After a few minutes, I saw the auburn haired girl coming in my direction. She seemed excited about something since she was supporting a huge smile and was skipping.

The moment she caught my eye, I expected her to bolt out of there in horror but to my surprise, she squealed and came running towards me. I was startled as se engulfed me into a massive bear hug.

"I'm way too happy today," she sang as she let go of me.

"And may I ask the reason behind your excitement?" I asked eyeing her suspiciously

She gave me a confused look but it morphed into the previous one just as soon as it came.

"Well, first of all YOU GOT SELECTED!!! And I wanted to be mad about the fact that you never told me that you actually auditioned, but I couldn't since you're my bestie" she started rambling.

"Wait a minute. What you mean to say is that you didn't get me into this competition?" I asked, trying to see if she was lying or not.

She seemed confused at my question. "What do you mean?"

I sighed. "Sam, I didn't enter the competition. In fact I never auditioned," I told her, leaning onto my locker.

"What? But your name was announced as a finalist. Wasn't it?"

I nodded.

"But you're saying that you didn't audition. How's that even possible?" She asked, thinking over it.

I shrugged. Suddenly a Taylor Swift song started playing, snapping Sam out of her 'thinking mode'. She quickly apologised and picked up her phone.

I randomly began humming 'enchanted' by TS when I suddenly ventured back to the time I sang it to Candy. It was when he had come home and requested for me to play something for him.

I straightened up at the memory. Did Candy do something to get me into the Talent Hunt? I jerked up at that thought.

It was possible. Did he record it or something and give it to the judge? Knowing him, he was capable of doing this. Suddenly, anger came over me and I quickly excused myself from Sam and began searching for him.

I found that devil in front of his lockers, chatting animatedly with her 'Barbie with no brains'.

I went towards them and when I was in his hearing range, I purposely dropped the only book I had been carrying with a loud 'bang'.

This grabbed the attention of both of them. Shelley gave me a disgusted look before saying something about me being a disgrace to the females.

I ignored her and glanced at Candy, who wore a startled expression. The look that I was giving him clearly told him that I wanted to talk to him. Urgently.

He seemed to get the message since he began talking a bit loudly than his normal voice.

"Hey Shelley? I'm going to get some air in the school ground. I'll catch you a bit later," he said to her.

I got the message and started my way to the parking lot which was in the opposite direction.

This was our way of meeting in school. He would take the name if a place and we would meet in the place farthest away from the mentioned one. We did this so that no one could find us easily.

I reached the parking lot and sat under the big old oak tree as I waited for him.

I soon spotted him jogging towards me with a grin lighting up his face.

Oh how I wanted to slap that off.

As he reached me, his grin began to falter when he noticed me shooting daggers at him.

"How did you do it?" I asked, folding my arms across my chest.

He gave me a confused expression.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean how did you manage to get me into the competition when I clearly didn't enter it?"

"What the hell do you mean by not entering the competition?"

I gave out a frustrated sigh. "Aaron, I didn't give the audition."

"But I heard your name being announced on the intercom,"he spoke.

I eyed him warily. Was he genuinely confused or was he faking it? After judging his expression for a minute, I decided to ask him. If he hesitated, it would be a dead giveaway that he was responsible for it.

"Just answer this, did you or did you not do something to get me into the competition?"

He seemed to get more confused as he answered,"I don't understand what you're trying to say at all. How would I even get you in the competition without making them hear you sing?"

"Well, I don't know. Knowing you, you're capable of recording my void or something like that to just get me in the competition. Not forgetting the fact that your immense popularity helps too."

He gave me a flat look.

I gave out a deep sigh.

He was telling the truth. But if he was telling the truth, how did I get into the competition?

More importantly, what was I going

to do now? Could I participate? But the only thing that was stopping me was the incident itself.

I was in a crisis that I had no idea how to solve.

The only problem was that I had too many options to get out of this problem, but all of them included a tough barrier which I didn't know how to break.

***************

Hey people!!! (Before you you read ahead, I have a request: pretty please check out my story 'Against The Odds'. It would mean a lot to me)

Yeah so now, continuing,

Honestly, I wasn't going to update until the end of next month. But you guys are incredibly awesome, so I decided that you deserved it. (Sorry if it is short)

Also a late Happy Bday gift to a friend....(sorry for being a bit too late)

Anyway, what do you think will happen next? Who do you think got Ali in?

Do you think Aaron's lying?

I'd love to hear your thoughts...

So keep commenting, voting and sharing.

Love you all