Full Summary:

Christine Daae and Meg Gene are two talented college students. Christine's passion is singing and Meg's is dancing. After watching and becoming addicted to season 7 of the popular televised talent show, Pulse (which is similar to America's Got Talent, Britain's Got Talent, American Idol, The X Factor, etc.), Meg sees that there will be auditions for season 8 of the show and signs herself and Christine up to compete.

The three judges of the show, Nadir Kahn, Madame Giry, and Erik Destler, are pleasantly surprised by the girls' back-to-back auditions and vote unanimously to let them compete. As the competition progresses, Christine and Meg continue to impress the judges. But, the hard part is that there can only be one winner...

Meanwhile, Erik, the judge who is famous for his reclusive ways and insulting comments, begins to shed his fierce exterior while becoming more and more captivated by the one competitor who continuously blows him away- Christine. Modern day, E/C

Chapter 1- Season Finale

Christine Daae sucked in a breath and held it, as did Meg Gene, the blonde-haired girl sitting beside her. Both were tense with anticipation as they stared at the television screen. Their favorite reality talent show –and the only reality show Christine ever watched- was airing its finale. The show was called Pulse, and the girls had been avid viewers all season.

It was the last five minutes of the final episode, and the competitors were down to two. Who would win? Would it be Roy Atlas, the twenty-year-old rock singer/guitarist? Or would it be Carrie Baldwin, the twenty-two-year-old insanely flexible gymnast?

Both were talented, but Christine and Meg wanted Roy to win. He was just so passionate when he performed.. plus, he was gorgeous and had an amazing voice. Carrie was gorgeous, as well, which the girls thought served as her main promoting factor. Every guy who watched the show would probably vote for her.

That being said, both Christine and Meg were nervous.

"And now, the winner of Pulse season 7 is," the host, Chris Roberts, slowly began.

The camera moved back and forth, showing Roy's face and then Carrie's. They were holding hands, and Roy's eyes were focused downward while Carrie's were closed. Tension mixed with hopefulness and readiness for disappointment were evident on their faces.

A good fifteen seconds passed. Christine and Meg were ready to pass out from lack of breathing.

Finally, though…

"Roy Atlas!"

Christine and Meg jumped to their feet simultaneously while screaming and hugging each other excitedly. The television audience was also cheering wildly.

"Oh, my God!" Meg yelled in surprise, her long, straight blonde hair bouncing as she jumped.

"I can't believe it!" Christine belted joyfully, while feeling a bit silly for being so excited.

The camera showed Roy's complete and total shock as his hand let go of Carrie's. His shock slowly turned into pure bliss as he hugged her. Tears were evident in his eyes, which made Meg and Christine let out tender "Aww's".

They could tell Carrie was forcing happiness as she congratulated the winner beside her. Colorful confetti rained down upon the stage while a jubilant melody played. All of the season's competitors raced out to congratulate Roy, as did his family.

The camera then turned to the judges. Two of them were standing, cheering, and clapping excitedly, but the third sat in his seat clapping and looking rather bored. It was obvious that he was ready to leave.

Truthfully, the show wouldn't be half as good without the judges. Nadir Kahn, Madame Antoinette Giry, and Erik Destler were their names.

Nadir Kahn, originally from Iran, moved to the United States in the 1970's and became an extremely famous guitarist. He was most well-known for being a member of the band, Healer. Healer was a rock band that gained worldwide fame in the 1980's. They retired in the 1990's, but Nadir's name didn't fade away like the others. Instead, he started a charity organization that helped millions worldwide. It was created in the late 1990's and had since grown to become one of the most successful fundraising organizations in history. He was the creator of this competitive talent show, which was the most watched show on television, and had been judging since the first season.

Madame Antoinette Giry, regularly called Madame Giry, gained her fame in the 1980's when she became a well accomplished ballerina. She trained with the New York City Ballet Company and earned the lead in many performances. She retired after nearly twenty years but kept her fame by judging many dance competitions throughout the world. This was her fourth season judging on the show.

Erik Destler, though… Well, Erik was a mystery. Everything about him seemed to be hidden, including half of his face. What was known was only what was seen. He never ceased to wear black clothing on the show, he always had a white mask covering the right side of his face, and he had judged on the show since the beginning. It was his form of judging that was the cause of his national fame. Erik was "the mean one". Really though, he was just brutally honest, whether it be with good or bad comments. And when he gave a bad comment, he gave a bad comment. The man had a way with wording criticism, and it never ceased to make jaws drop in shock. It was rare for him to compliment a contestant.

So, it was no wonder he was sitting in his judging chair waiting to leave, while the huge celebration was going on around him.

Christine and Meg didn't have time to comment on it, because the camera immediately returned to Roy and the host, Chris.

"Roy, how does it feel?"

Roy sighed loudly while still crying somewhat and laughing. "Man, it's just.. unreal.. I can't believe it.. I'm just.. so happy!"

Chris laughed loudly and said, "Well, we can see that!" The camera flashed to the audience, and more applause erupted. "Roy, it's time for you to take the stage again. We want to hear our winner!" Even more applause and cheers could be heard as Carrie came on stage carrying his guitar. A smile was plastered on her face, although it didn't quite reach her eyes. She handed Roy the guitar and stepped back, as did the rest of the people on stage.

Roy strummed the beginning chords of his most popular song, the song that really made the judges –well, two of them at least- think he had a chance of winning the competition.

Christine and Meg squealed with excitement and sat back down on the couch to watch the performance. Everything was perfect, the confetti, the lights, the emotion in his voice, the way he looked, just everything. The girls couldn't help but stand and cheer when he hit the final high note.

The show was almost over, but when the TV camera flashed once more to the judges, Christine's brow furrowed. Madame Giry was standing with tears in her eyes, Nadir was standing with a big grin on his face, and Erik was just.. standing. He was probably ready to get away from such happiness.

Christine just couldn't really understand why he looked so negative. She'd never gotten into the show before this season. Sure, she'd heard about it, and about him, but she hadn't ever sat and watched it before. Over the course of the season, though, she had pondered many times trying to think of why he acted the way he did.

Meg turned off the television and turned towards her with a wide grin on her face. "It was perfect, huh?" Meg had been watching the show since the first season. It was she who had convinced Christine to watch it with her. It was summer, and both girls really didn't have anything better to do.

Both of them were 19 years old, about to be juniors in college. They'd met through a freshman-level English course and had become best friends. In fact, they became so close that they decided to room together their sophomore year. Currently, the two of them were looking to share an off-campus apartment for the coming school semester.

'Friendship' wasn't the only thing Christine and Meg had in common. They were both also very talented.

Meg Gene was a dancer, a ballerina to be exact. It was once her dream to be a part of the New York City Ballet, just like her favorite judge Madame Giry, but that was before she entered college. Her parents were the ones responsible for making her see reality. Only one in about one million truly gained fame through dancing. Madame Giry had only been lucky. So, after finally accepting her parents' viewpoint, Meg had decided to go to college and major in Business. As it turned out, she was actually quite good in her field.

Christine Daae was another story. She was an excellent classical soprano singer with the talent to make it in the music industry. Unfortunately, her life wouldn't allow it. When she was fifteen, her mother, Beth Daae, had died in a car wreck. Her father, Gary Daae, already suffered from health problems and had his entire life. Before her death, Christine's mother had taken on everything, working a job, taking care of her husband, and taking care of her daughter. When she died, their lives were torn apart. No longer was there anyone to care for Gary and earn a living to pay expenses. Christine had, at the age of eighteen, taken charge. When she wasn't at school, she was either working or taking care of her father. Singing had to serve as an occasional hobby, for there wasn't much time to devote to it. Her major was also Business, as she didn't really know what else she wanted to do.

Currently, it was a Thursday night, and they were at Meg's house. "So, what do you want to do now? Go find Roy Atlas?" Meg asked with a smirk, still excited from the show.

Christine laughed and unconsciously played with a strand of her brown, curly hair. She then looked down at her watch, and her eyes widened. "Actually, I should probably get back. I need to make sure Dad took his pills." Just the thought of him not doing so caused her face to pale. "This was fun," she said in a hurry. "Thanks for letting me come over." She began walking towards the door.

Meg forced herself not to show disappointment that her friend couldn't stay longer. It was understandable. Christine was responsible for everything in her small family, from taking care of her father to working to pay the bills. It really made Meg feel sorry for her. She wished she could help in some way. "Ok, girl. Be careful driving home. We'll talk soon." She watched Christine wave and leave before walking to her bedroom.

Without having anything else to do, Meg got on her computer and visited her favorite web sites, one of them being the official site of her favorite show -and the show they'd just finished watching-, Pulse.

Scrolling the home page, her eyes suddenly scanned a very promising link entitled, Audition for season 8 of Pulse! In a matter of seconds after clicking the link and viewing the page's contents, a plan formed in her mind.

Season 8 auditions were to be held in eight cities throughout the United States, one of them being Atlanta, Georgia, which was only about an hour away from their hometown, Athens, Georgia. Atlanta auditions were in February.

It was all coming together in Meg's head. She'd always wanted to be a famous dancer. This could be her chance… And Christine? Well, she had the talent to be a famous singer, and this could be her way of getting there.

A grin came to her lips. Pulse, here we come!

I hope you liked the first chapter! (I know some of you reviewed this in the past, but reviewing again would really make me happy haha.)

As for anyone new to the story who reads it, reviews would be nice :)

Thank you!

-Lauren