It's now Wednesday morning - feel sick - very nervous. I stared into my cornflakes and cursed ever entering the competition. At this point I didn't know whether it was me or someone else who had won, and I wouldn't find out until 1pm. I started to get anxious, worrying what the school would think (The Emmbrook School, Wokingham) about being interrupted in the middle of the day by such a high profile disturbance. My parents sent me off and wished me well. It was possibly the longest morning of my life as I tried desperately to focus in lessons, telling myself he would be arriving at another work place, not mine at all.
I discovered that at the anticipated time I was to be sitting in a sixth form assembly about higher education choices. When I got into the assembly, our Head of Sixth Form told us that he was not sure how far he would get with his talk as he may be interrupted. Interrupted...could it be? I sat restlessly throughout the talk, gradually becoming more and more sure that I had won, as Mr.Moss looked at the time constantly expecting his 'special guest' to arrive. The bell for the end of the lesson went, and we were all asked to wait where we were. Then through the doors came the Morning Crew presenters, led by Guy Harris (who I have met in the past and talked to about career advice). My heart jumped as they asked for Nicola Cutcher to stand on her chair. That's me. I did as I was told, and was asked to explain to my year group what was going on. Suddenly, all nerves rushed out of my body (talking to an audience has always been my forte) and I said that I thought I was going to meet Will Young. At this point, Guy (the master of commercial cruelty and suspense) said "Oh no, we never said you were going to meet Will Young". I stumblingly tried to mask disappointment and maintain composure, before he added "until now!"
The doors opened and Will walked in the room. I put my hands to my face in thrilled shock (eerily similar to Will's reaction when he later won the title of Pop Idol) and then leant down from my chair to give him a hug. The picture below captures that moment. Note that all the pictures I am using were snapped by local paper, the Wokingham Times. This was also the shot that the ITV cameras caught that has been repeatedly shown on television.
