"I was too taken in the moment," she admits. "I was just so sad and upset that I hadn't made it that I wasn't thinking of the Wild Card. But then afterwards, everyone was like, 'Leah's there always the Wild Card, don't be sad.' Then I thought about it afterwards."
In the Wild Card round, Leah earned positive notices from Randy and Paula, earning the "Straight Up" star's Golden Ticket into the Round of 12. It was that support that let Leah know that something was wrong after she performed "You Keep Me Hanging On" last Tuesday night. Her two biggest boosters turned on her and said she wasn't at her best.
"Coming from Randy and Paula, when they say something mean... That hurt the most just because they've always been nice to me from the jump," Leah says. "To me, they're the most honest, they give the realest opinions."
The next night, Leah was left standing alone under the spotlight watching her farewell montage on the giant "Idol" screens.
"I felt like I had died," she says. "It was very well put together and I liked it, because it showed my experience and it was a great thing to have. But it was just so sad, just to see everything I went through and it reminded me of how much fun I was having throughout the whole thing and I how much I wanted to be there that much more."
The daughter of two Bulgarian pop sensations, Leah already understands the music business well enough to know that there's no point in second guessing the path that led to her dismissal. After all, more than 70,000 people tried out for the show (12,000 from her New York audition alone), so there's little shame in finishing 12th. In fact, while Leah questions the logic behind some of the voting, she doesn't even protest on her own behalf.
"It's moreso coming to the point of personality and popularity more than talent a lot of times, because I can't understand why Jennifer [Hudson] was in the bottom three," observes the high school junior. "There are certain things that go on where I don't necessarily know what America 's voting for."
Leah also holds no grudges against predictably ornery judge Simon Cowell, who rarely had words of praise for her. The closest the British judge came to a compliment was the oblique assessment that she was like a beautiful designer dress with a rip in it, a piece of semi-constructive criticism she's still trying to figure out.
"Simon. You know, he's Simon," Leah says, following a prolonged and audible sigh. "He's made out to be worse than he really is I think. A lot of times he says stuff for TV. He does stuff to conflict with the other judges, to make controversy. I can't really be mad at him because he's expected to be mean, so that's what he has to do."
While she's been pitted in a competitive and adult talent show, it's easy to forget that Leah isn't even old enough to buy scratch tickets, except when she starts gushing about the things that make her happiest, things like the show's host.
"Ryan Seacrest is great," Leah burbles. "He's so nice, ohmigosh. He's just such a genuine person. He's so honest. He's so down-to-earth. For being so successful, he's really really cool."
For now, Leah can only make plans for the short term, eagerly anticipating her return to Garfield High School . She hopes to visit her "Idol" friends later in the season and refuses to endorse any one of the remaining Finalists.
"Honestly, I don't know," she says, stalling for time. "The show goes in so many different directions... Whoever wins is going to be deserving of it, because they've gone through so much to get there. So I'm rooting for all of them."