Rise To Stardom

The next few days after Kyle's audition passed by pretty quickly.

And then, on the last Saturday of the week, all of the contestants that would proceed to the next rounds, were flown out from Canada to Hollywood, L.A - also known as the City of Angels.

Most were pretty excited about being in a new environment and although the same was for Kyle, he was a lot more reserved about it.

Finally, by nightfall, they soon arrived in the hotel which had been reserved for them.

This time around though, only two people were required to share a room.

Unfortunately for Kyle, he was paired with an entirely new roommate this time around and the same went for all the others.

That however, wasn't too much of a big deal as Kyle's new roommate was a pretty chill Black-American guy with a cream-tinted high-fade hair and a pretty buff appearance that went by the name of Joe Micheals.

Leaving his new room to receive some fresh air, Kyle made his way over to one of the many balconies of the three-story hotel, each giving a pretty panoramic view of the busy L.A night life below.

'This is nice…' he thought to himself as the cool night breeze washed over him and gently tousled his hair.

"Pretty isn't it?" Kyle suddenly heard a familiar voice come from behind him.

Casually glancing over, he then watched as Lily slowly walked over.

"Yes. It is" he coolly replied while turning his head back over to gaze at the busy traffic and bright night lights below.

Leaning on the balcony in a relaxed manner, the gentle night breeze similarly blowing her dark-blonde hair backwards, Lily spoke again.

"Heard you sang a pretty emotional song during the knockout round?"

"Katie I'm guessing?" Kyle asked, his tone rhetorical.

"Yep. She said it was really amazing" Lily replied and then asked knowingly.

"She tried to rope you into joining the theatre club didn't she?"

"That she did" he nodded his head with a thin smile and then said;

"I also heard you gave a really sensational performance. Courtesy of Ryan of course"

"As expected" Lily chuckled and then turned her head over to look at Kyle.

"You're not wearing your glasses today?" she curiously asked.

"Trying out contacts again. Heard there's going to be a lot of make-overs to give us a 'visually-appealing image' as we progress" Kyle calmly replied.

"And you fear they might end up breaking it during the process" Lily picked up on the reasoning behind his words.

"Yeah. It's pretty expensive after all" he nodded in response.

"Well believe me. I know just how expensive they can be" Lily familiarly spoke, slightly shivering at the thought of how she had to shell out $300+ the last time her younger sister's broke.

Noticing her small shiver, Kyle simply decided not to pry any further into the matter and just returned to his scenic gazing.

"You know, you're quite easy to talk to. I would've never expected that" the beautiful lady then said with a thin smile, her eyes scanning a few people on the busy street below.

"Thanks" Kyle replied casually, similarly enjoying the scenery below.

In the next few minutes following that, both individuals just took in the sights, a pretty comfortable atmosphere settling between them.

And then, as if to destroy the peaceful ambience, Lily's personal smartphone beeped first which was then followed by Kyle's, both messaged by Katie and Ryan respectively.

Retrieving their smartphones, they both read the message on it and in the second after that, slowly left the balcony together to head for the central living room present in the hotel.

The first episode of Rising Voices was finally going to air in a few minutes!

Walking side-by-side until they reached the living room, they watched as multiple contestants had already crowded the large room.

Eventually finding a place to lean his back against, Ryan and Steven walked over to Kyle while Lily split up to meet up with Katie and her roommate named June from the previous round.

An interesting thing that did occur as this happened, was how Steven and Lily directed fiercely competitive glares at each other, surprising both Kyle and Ryan.

After asking Steven about it, he had made mention of how he and Lily actually had a bit of rivalry going on even way before the competition.

Apparently, the two had a ViewTuber face-off one time with a particular singing quiz and Lily had aced it by leaving him in the dust. That was the cause for their current shenanigans.

Now staring at the large screen in anticipation after Steven was done explaining, they all awaited the show to begin as a few commercials played out.

And then, a few minutes after that, the show finally aired for real as the logo of the show rapidly spun onto the screen from nowhere.

Familiar with its opening sequence, the contestants in the room then watched as the Chris Palmer's charming voice began to narrate.

{Currently the most popular singing reality TV show, Rising Voices has inevitably returned for another fantabulous season!}

On the screen, following those introductory comments, it was shown as the camera quickly brushed past multiple screaming and smiling faces of various contestants!

"Hey! That's me!" one guy suddenly spoke out loud with a wide grin as he saw his face for a split moment, and others in the room also let out excited comments and cheers the moment they saw themselves.

{Having had three successful seasons with three fantastic winners who stole the hearts of everyone all over America and had even gone on to become singing sensations across the world, the fourth season is here again to find a new, rising star, in the making!}

After the next narration, snippets of people lining up as they were filtered into the lobby, giving their tickets and then finally making their way over to the waiting room was shown.

The show proceeded forward at a very rapid pace as a few conversations between the judges were shown, with Kiara been introduced as the new judge this year.

And then, just like that, the first contestant was shown and someone in the room, a fairly pretty lady to be exact, squealed in excitement.

Envious gazes were directed towards her but she didn't even seem to notice as she kept staring at herself on the screen with an excited gaze.

A few more auditions were also shown and those who were on TV couldn't help but be happy while others just cursed at their luck.

Katie and Ryan had even seen their own auditions and were clearly excited when they saw it.

Some other contestants like Mike though who had already been eliminated, were even shown but they would probably only see that from the comfort of their homes.

As the auditions continued, reaching midway, Kyle's audition was then shown from the moment he entered, down to every little conversation he had with the judges.

His face was even zoomed in on the moment he uttered the words about being hopelessly in love with music and instantly, Kyle felt as the stares and gazes intensified on him, making him feel a bit uncomfortable.

Ryan and Steven on the other hand just kept patting and shaking his shoulders respectively with happy grins on their faces.

But as if that was just the beginning, his original song was also shown as he played from start to finish, going even as far as the time judges gave him their verdicts.

Already feeling like they were showing too much of him, Kyle watched as the show even included the moment he told Chris he had an in-course assessment.

'What the?! I even said that in a whisper!' he squinted as he kept staring at the screen.

"Hahaha! Man! It seems like the production team really loves you!" Ryan let out a hearty laughter while Steven just nodded in agreement.

Not minding their gestures, Kyle suddenly felt like he had suddenly become everyone's main target as the eyes in the room were now directed at him with enviously strong, fiercely competitive and jealous gazes, the only exception been Lily and Katie who were just lightly smiling at him instead.

In a few minutes after that though, everyone's focus soon returned back to the screen as the show kept on airing.

Heaving a sigh of relief as the gazes on him lessened considerably, Kyle then watched as the last twenty-five minutes of the one-and-a-half-hour show, listed out a few contestants who had been given special slots due to their small and growing ViewTube Channels, snippets of their videos being shown.

Joe Michaels, Kyle's new roommate was among, followed by Helena Cadieux, a French-looking young lady, June Roberts, Lily's new roommate and Paxton Brown, a Canadian ViewTuber.

However, two specific contestants were even shown more than the other four, taking up about seven minutes of screen time each.

Steven Andersson and Lily Lockhart!

Both of them, each had a video from their ViewTube channels playing as they sang some really tasking songs with literally no instruments or accompaniments, their raw singing skills being the highlight.

This time around, all the buzz that was generated by Kyle was instantly directed towards those two and the others that had previously being mentioned but they all seemed completely unperturbed by it.

And then with a few more formalities and a snippet of the theme for the next round, the show ended with a reminder that it would air again at the exact same time next week.

* * *

"What are we gonna watch today?" Jennifer, a pretty, brown-haired lady in her nightwear, said to her friends, a mixture of three females and four males.

They were all in a pretty modern and well-furnished living room, the fluorescent lights further adding to the nice atmosphere.

"Let's watch the new horror series ChillFlix released. [Night Crawler] or what's it called?" her date, Drey, was the first to respond but she quickly shook her head while responding.

"No. I hate horror movies"

"Then a re-watch of [Stuck On You]?" two of her friends, Cassie with violet-dyed hair and the other, Betty, with blonde hair styled in a messy bun, said in unison.

Their own dates, Sean and Bill, were in total disagreement with their choice, a small frown gracing their faces in an instant.

"No! We just binged the entire season last week! I'd rather wait for the next season" Jennifer quickly refused, agreeing with the guys who were genuinely relieved.

Also, with a pretty nasty glare directed at Seth and Haley who were passionately making out, the lady voiced out a bit in annoyance;

"Will you two get a room for fuck's sake!"

Honestly, she really wished her friend had an acting gig right now. At least that way she'd be busy doing something worthwhile and not just making out with Seth who had cheated on her more times than all of them in the room could count.

"Fine. We apologize" Haley mischievously giggled while the other five just shook their heads in resignation.

"How about we tune in to Rising Voices? I hear they're airing the first episode today" she then spoke again excitedly while the others offered pretty enthusiastic nods and replies.

"Yeah sure."

"Why not?"

"Let's do that."

"It should be fun."

Haley especially, was excited to see her brother on TV and almost everyone knew that was the major reason as to why she was actually interested in the show.

"Well, I guess we can. Not like there's anything I'm particularly interested in at the moment anyway" the young lady, choosy as ever, reluctantly agreed and then switched the TV's station over to the Ink-Stone Channel.

Having decided that she could at least pass the time with the reality singing TV show, she comfortably settled into her date's laps as the show which had already started airing, kept on playing.

And then, with a few remarks and comments, they all laughed and made jokes about the contestants that were rejected while commending those that were accepted.

Eventually, Mike's audition came up and Haley was squealing like no tomorrow while her friends even commended her brother's performance, most especially the girls who really liked his handsome appearance.

And then, Haley, as if already losing interest the moment Mike's audition was done, instantly resumed her make-out session with Seth.

"What the… That's Kyle right?!" Drey suddenly said, surprise evident in his voice as Kyle walked into the audition room, snapping both Haley and Seth straight out of her smooching session.

Visibly shocked by the occurrence, all of them could say that that was the liveliest they had ever seen the Campus Loner being their entire lives.

Watching his performance which was even far better than they had anticipated, Haley and her female friends most especially, had been the one to be the most astounded by what they were viewing.

And then his audition ended and everything else phased by like a film tape in their minds, the only other thing catching them by surprise again being Lily Lockhart's, Katie Chopra's and Ryan Parker's appearance on the show.

Everyone except Haley who was also in the theatre club and pretty much knew about the other three's involvement in the show.