The Voice (Luke Hemmings)

62. The Final: Part 4

As soon as I was in the dressing room I plopped down on the couch and turned on the TV while hugging the pillows tightly. Charlotte was standing on the stairs, strumming the opening of the song. I sniffled and took a sip from the water bottle I brought with me. I need to do something. Stop moping around. I stood up and took a deep breath. I looked into the mirror and saw that my makeup was a bit... Smeared all over my face. I wiped everything away and applied some mascara and eyeliner that I had in my bag. After that I put my hair in a high ponytail. What am I going to do? Watch Charlotte from the audience? Yeah, I'll do that. I walked towards the door until my eyes fell onto a big piece of cardboard. I went through the drawers of one of the drawers and smiled when I saw a permanent marker lying there. I grabbed the piece of cardboard and wrote on it in big letters: 'Charlotte, I'm your biggest fan!' With a large arrow pointed downwards so it would be pointing at me when I held it above my head. I quickly walked to the audience and showed the guard my backstage pass, which also could be used as having front row places. I saw Ashton, Calum, Michael, Anna and my mom sitting there so I walked towards them. I cleared my throat and my mom looked up. "Honey! Ah, you were amazing! I'm so proud!" She said and I smiled while hugging her. I did a short hugging round. "You were great!" Calum said. "Yea seriously. Almost better than us." Ashton said. "Almost. Not quite there yet." Michael said. I chuckled "Thanks guys. But I actually have to go again... I'll be back... Sometimes. I don't know. Probably after the show." They nodded. "Okay, see you at home?" Anna said and I nodded. "Byee." I said before walking as close to the stage as I could. I held the cardboard above my head while swinging along to the music. When the song ended I cheered loudly. "Wooooo Charlotte! WOOOOO!!!" Damnit, she didn't see me. The presenter came walking on stage, towards Charlotte. "That was amazing!" I saw her mouthing a thank you to him. "Did you know your biggest fan is here tonight?" He asked and she chuckled. "My mom? Yes, I know." She said. The presenter chuckled. "No, another one. Look there." He pointed at me and I began cheering and holding the cardboard higher above my head. When Charlotte read the cardboard she looked down and saw me grinning. Her face went from 'A fan how cool' to 'Are you kidding me Sky'. I chuckled and she shook her head. Meanwhile the camera caught me and I did this crazy fangirl thing in front of it, which I know I will regret as long as I live. Ah whatever. I saw all the judges looking at me, some laughing some looking at me with a 'what-the-fuck' look so I calmed down a little bit. "So... Judges. What did you think?" The presenter said. This was my queue to leave. I'll have to be on stage in a couple minutes again. I walked back through the audience, to the backstage area and walked past a vending machine. And you didn't need money for it. Hell yas. I got a bottle of coke before walking towards the stage. I quickly drank it and held my burp in before the presenter asked me to join them on stage. We were both standing on one side of the presenter. "Okay, the time for voting has come." He said mysteriously. "If you want to vote for Charlotte, text CHARLOTTE to 4876 or call 0900-4876. If you want to vote for Skyler, text SKYLER to 3765 or call 0900-3765. We'll be back with the results after the short commercial break."

The lights brightened, meaning it was now the commercial break and we weren't live anymore. I turned to Charlotte and gave her a hug. "You're the craziest motherfucker I've ever met." She said and I chuckled. "I'm honoured." I said and she shook her head. I pulled away and we were silent for a while. "This feeling sucks." She said. "Well, in a couple of minutes it will all be over... Gosh I'm going to miss you. And Marcus. Not Elliot." I said and she chuckled. I saw the presenter walking towards us, meaning the commercial break was almost over. I held her hand tightly and the presenter stood next to Charlotte. "At least one of us is going to win..." I tried to lighten up the mood. She chuckled. Suddenly Hayley and Ed were standing next to us, dragging us to both sides of the stage. So Charlotte was now standing on the left side with Ed, and Hayley and me were standing on the right side. We were both standing behind curtains so no one from the audience could see us anymore. I took a deep breath and Hayley hugged me tightly. "You were really amazing tonight. Almost like a real star." She said and winked. I laughed, but it sounded really strange because of the nerves. I felt sick to my stomach. The lights dimmed and I held Hayley's hand tight. "Sorry if my hands are clammy." I said and she chuckled. The presenter walked on stage, to the middle and began talking. "Tonight is the night that Australia chooses their new voice. They had the choice between the two finalists, Charlotte Davis and Skyler Mitchell!" Ed, Charlotte, Hayley and me began walking to the middle of the stage, from both sides. We met each other in the middle. On my left was Hayley, on my right was Charlotte, Ed and the presenter. I was still holding Hayley's hand and grabbed Charlotte's one too. "Okay, judges, contestants... This. Is. It." Staph with the super dramatic voice u stupid little fuck. Even now, the presenter was annoying me to no end. Fuck. Suddenly all the lights were pointed at us, and I felt Charlotte tightening her grip on my hand. We were in the fucking finals. The finals! "Australia voted and I'm about to reveal the winner of The Voice. The winner will go home with 40.000 dollars and a record deal with Capitol Records..." The fuck? Why would you need a prize when you won the Voice? I looked at Charlotte and saw her looking at me with wide eyes. I guess she also didn't know. "Thousands of people applied, but it has all come down to this moment." The presenter said. I took a deep breath. The nerves were making me nauseous. "Good luck to Charlotte and good luck to Skyler." The audience began screaming and applauding already. "I can now reveal the winner of The Voice Australia 2015." The presenter said while opening the envelope. "And the winner is..." He better say it quickly because else I'm gonna... I don't know what I'm going to do, but- "Skyler Mitchell!" He interrupted my train of thoughts. I could not believe- I... I what? I looked to the right and saw Charlotte nodding while looking at me with a smile. My eyes and my mouth were just wide open and I tuned out the sound of the audience. She pulled me into a hug and I was still frozen. After a while I wrapped my arms around her too and tears blurred my vision. I won? I won The Voice? How? I felt someone hugging me from behind and I knew it was Hayley. Someone was making weird sobbing noises until I realized it was me. Tears were running down my face and I couldn't be more happy. I broke from the hug and Ed hugged me after. "Congrats! You really deserve it." He said. I just nodded, not being able to say a word. Then I realized Charlotte didn't win. So I hugged her again. "I'm sorry." I said. I didn't know what for though, but I just was. "Don't be silly. You really deserve it. I had no chance against you and I already knew you were going to win when I heard we were both in the final." She said. I sobbed and hugged her again. When I broke free I saw Katy and Luke walking towards us and Katy walked to me with her arms wide. I walked towards her and hugged her. "You were really great. Welcome to the business." She joked. I chuckled through my tears and thanked her. Seconds after she broke free someone else's arms were wrapped around me and I knew it was Luke. "I'm so, so, so happy for you. Gosh." He said and I chuckled. "I'm so proud of you. I'm dating the winner of the Voice!" He said in my ear and I chuckled. He wiped the tears away from my face. "Skyler, how are you feeling?" The presenter asked. I took a deep, shaky breath and answered. "I'm... I'm so so so grateful for all the people who voted, and I-" I let out a sob. "I'm so happy, I just... Thank you all so much. Especially Hayley. You're the best." I heard the roar of the crows again and I smiled brightly. "Hayley, what do you think?" The presenter asked. "I'm so proud of her, from her audition I knew she was going to be something special and I was so happy when she chose me as a mentor. And I just... She really deserves this. She worked really hard for this and I guess it paid off." She said and I chuckled. I smiled at her gratefully and wiped my tears away. "Charlotte, how do you feel?" The presenter asked her. "Like Skyler said, I'm so grateful for the people that voted for me, and I'm really happy I ended on the second place because Skyler's an amazing person and there's no one else I would want to be the winner." I started crying again and hugged her tightly. "Thank you so much." I said. After a couple seconds Everyone was guided off stage and only me and Hayley were left on stage. A backstage guy ran towards the presenter, trying not to be noticed, and gave him a CD case. "Well, look at this! It's your winner's EP, with Kids In The Dark and Still Into You on it!" He handed me the case and I took it from him with shaking hands. I looked at it with wide eyes. It looked so... Official. Awesome. "And, you'll get 40.000 dollars and a recording contract at Capitol Records!" My eyes grew wide. I totally forgot about that... I looked at Luke. He was signed there too, just like Katy, Sam Smith and a lot more. He smirked and winked. "I... I... Thank you so much." I said, still a bit shaken up. The presenter nodded and smiled. "Well, you're going to sing one more time for us right?" The presenter asked and I nodded. If you won, you had to sing your audition song again. So that was Teenage Dirtbag. I hoped it would go well, since I was crying and my voice was quivering. Hayley walked off stage and shot me a wink. I smiled at her and grabbed the microphone tightly. The music begun and I started singing, without my guitar.

His name is Noel
I have a dream about him
He rings my bell

I got gym class in half an hour

Oh, how he rocks
In Keds and tube socks

But he doesn't know who I am
And he doesn't give a damn about me

'Cause I'm just a teenage dirtbag, baby
Yeah, I'm just a teenage dirtbag, baby

Listen to Iron Maiden

Baby, with me, ooh

My voice was still quivering, but less now. Luckily.

Oh yeah, dirtbag

No, he doesn't know what he's missing

Oh yeah, dirtbag

No, he doesn't know what he's missing

Man, I feel like mold

It's prom night and I am lonely

Low and behold

He's walking over to me
This must be fake

My lip starts to shake
How does he know who I am?

And why does he give a damn about me?

I've got two tickets to Iron Maiden, baby

Come with me Friday, don't say maybe

I'm just a teenage dirtbag, baby

Like you, ooh

Oh yeah, dirtbag
No, he doesn't know what he's missing
Oh yeah, dirtbag
No, he doesn't know what he's missing

I broke down at the end of the song. I wasn't crying, I was laughing. Well, more like grinning while tears were running down my face. Fuck. I was so fucking happy. "That's my baby!" I recognized my mom's voice from the audience and chuckled. "Love you too mom." I said. "Thank you all so much again." I said. I tried to hold back a sob because this was the last performance on the Voice, ever. I stood there for a couple more seconds, letting the information sink in and mentally saying goodbye to the audience. I won the fucking Voice of Australia. And I'll be signed to Capitol Records. And I won 40.000 dollars. And I have a boyfriend. Jup, auditioning was definitely the best thing that ever happened to me.