Rise To Stardom

The buses transporting the contestants came to a halt in the parking lot of a fairly popular hotel in Montreal, the contestants soon alighting.

Having paid for all of the expenses that would cover their stay for the next two weeks, the staffs and receptionists in the hotel welcomed the contestants and showed them to their rooms.

Upon reaching his room, Kyle soon realized, just as everyone did, that they would be required to share a room with not one, but two people.

The beds had already been arranged to accommodate them and keys had already been provided to each of them in the order they came.

They would also be required to share the bathroom and toilet but the hotel would serve them meals for the entire duration of their stay.

Of course, males and females were ensured to be separated and there was no mixing of genders.

"Ah~ So comfy!" Ryan plopped onto his bed the moment he and Kyle walked in with their small traveling bag.

Having received their keys in succession to each other, both males inevitably ended up being paired with each other.

Now they only had to wait for their last roommate.

"What do you think the last person would be like Kyle?" Ryan asked, rolling over on his bed like a man child.

Not minding his childish mannerisms, Kyle slowly walked over and picked a bed of his own while sitting down on it as he responded;

"I have no clue"

"Let's guess then!" he offered, resting both of his palms on his face as he turned over while gently kicking his legs in the air.

"I'd rather not. Horrible at it" Kyle lied down on his bed and stared at the white ceiling fitted with fluorescent bulbs.

"Come on man. Just play along will ya?"

Letting out a small simper at Ryan's obvious attempt to get him to speak more, Kyle asked a question instead.

"Why exactly are you in this Ryan?"

"Same as everyone else. To win a million dollars!" he declared with a coy grin.

"I don't buy it" Kyle angled his head on the bed sideways to face Ryan with a small squint.

"Fine. I just wanted to gain some experience. Be a better singer you know? Not really in this to win" the brown-haired guy truthfully replied this time.

"What about you Kyle? Since it's so hard to get a read on what's swirling in that head of yours, I can only stay curious. Why are you in this?" Ryan immediately followed up with a curious question of his own.

"To spread my own songs" Kyle replied instantaneously.

"And to also win obviously" he then added while sitting up on the bed with a determined expression.

"But it's more important that you achieve the former though than the latter, right?" Ryan arched an eyebrow questioningly and Kyle replied.

"Yes. It is"

"Then you're absolutely different from Katie and Lily" Ryan nodded his head and said, a meaningful expression gracing his face, one that ignited a slight curiosity in Kyle's mind.

No sooner had he uttered those words though, the doors burst open to reveal a handsome Swedish man who was seemingly in his mid-twenties, cursing under his breath in an audible mutter.

"Freakin' hell. How'd I get lost again?!"

Noticing the gazes of the two individuals already in the room on him, the good-looking man with blonde hair and emerald-green eyes quickly introduced himself.

"Hi. I'm Steven Andersson. This room 035?"

"Yeah. Hello Steven" Ryan replied to his question while Kyle just gave a small nod.

"Thank-Freakin'-Goodness! Almost ran out of my mind trying to locate this room" Steven sighed in relief and slumped onto the only bed left.

Ryan just stared at him in mild perplexity, wondering what he was on about when the room was in no way hard to reach.

'Probably has a terrible sense of direction' Kyle on the other hand mused to himself and then decided to appraise Steven.

___________________________

{Steven Andersson} – 24 years

Singing › Level 10

Dancing › Level 4

Instrumental Mastery (Piano/Guitar) › Level 8/6

Skills – [Immersion], [Perfect Pitch]

___________________________

'Yet another monster appears…' Kyle inwardly sighed and closed the appraisal window.

Just as he did this, a sudden beep rang out on all three of their assigned phones and swiftly, they all retrieved it to check the message.

On the journey to the hotel, a few of the PR production staff members had explained to them that their registered phone number or e-mails, would not be used to reach them regarding the rest of the information pertaining to the second round and possibly, even later rounds.

Instead, new batches of smartphones had been provided to them, each with specific new numbers attached to it for the duration of the show.

A confidentiality agreement had also been signed by all of the advancing contestants earlier today at the hall, prior to the judges' arrival.

Considering it detailed just how careful each and every one of them needed to be regarding disclosing any information about the show itself or their fellow contestants, they all avoided doing so like the plague, fearing the pretty heavy clauses that would severely punish them if they did.

Clicking on the message, Kyle soon read the names of his oppositions while also reading out some of the other information and instructions.

'Mike Woods and Jeremy Taylor…'

Seemingly having no idea of whom they were, Kyle just decided to trust in himself and give it his all.

From the other information provided to them, it also seemed like this round was giving them the freedom to choose whatever song they'd like.

This time around though, they were given five minutes to perform instead of the three minutes they were given for the preliminaries.

They had also been told to inform the production staff that would come around every morning and night from tomorrow henceforth, a few days before the day of their actual performance, the type of instrument they would use for those who wanted to.

For those who wouldn't be performing with any musical instruments though, they only needed to focus on actually singing since the instrumentals for whatever song they would be performing, would have already been prepared for them.

'Next week Wednesday at 7:30pm huh…' Kyle mused to himself after which he then declared almost immediately.

'Let's give it our all.'

Deciding that he had no time to be playing around, he immediately got off his bed while heading out.

"Where you headed man?" Ryan curiously asked.

"To practice" Kyle curtly replied with a small nod and then closed the door behind him.

Making his way to the middle-floors of the hotel via the elevator, the young man soon located one amongst the many music rooms which had been remodeled and made available to the contestants, each of which were fitted to the brim with all the instruments and equipment they would need.

Stepping into the very first music room though, Kyle's eyes widened slightly in mild surprise when he saw Lily already there, playing a soothing and melodious tune with the violin in her hands.

Her eyes were closed in immersion and even the sound from the violin was really muffled considering she was in a smaller sectioned portion of the room which was sound-proofed with wall paddings.

These smaller sectioning with large transparent window panes had probably been done so that more contestants could use the music rooms at the same time without disturbing one another.

Not wanting to interrupt her, Kyle quietly made his way over to the other sectioned end of the large room, sitting by the piano which was placed there.

Running his hands across the tiles, a nostalgic feeling washed over him and a light smile graced his face.

Although he had been learning how to play the guitar too in his past life, Kyle always felt more at peace whenever he played the piano.

'Since I'm planning to sing [Embers], I should keep practicing the tune from now on till the D-day' he thought to himself as his fingers slowly began to dance atop the tiles in a familiar manner.

* * *

(Around the exact same time in the hotel…)

Flirting with one of the pretty receptionists, a fairly tall, handsome man with reddish-brown hair and light-brown irises, felt a sudden beep in his pocket.

"Sorry beautiful. Gotta check this" he winked at the blushing receptionist and then walked away while retrieving his smartphone.

"Jeremy Taylor and Kyle Kestis…" he muttered to himself.

'Hmmm… I remember seeing that Jeremy guy… He was nothing special at all…' he thought to himself and continued;

'I do remember also seeing the audition of that Kyle guy too. Sang an original but his voice was a bit meh'

'Guess I have nothing to worry about next round. Should hit a nearby bar…' Mike casually decided.

Coming from a very wealthy family that had pretty much stuck a silver spoon in his mouth from birth, Mike was only joining Rising Voices so that he could get his face out there more.

Already having a ViewTube channel with over 50K subscribers and a few covers of some popular songs here and there, he had practically only joined the reality TV show to gather some more fame that would boost his channel.

"But Kyle Kestis… I feel like I've heard that name even before the auditions… but from where?" Mike questioned, a slightly curious expression on his features.

Just as he was pondering over this, a phone call came in and he quickly picked it up.

"Hey there baby sister" he smiled mischievously while asking.

"You and Seth off again?"

"Oh shut it Mike!" Haley huffed over the phone as her brother's words hit the bullseye, after which she then proceeded to ask.

"So will I be seeing you on TV?"

"You do realize there's a confidentiality clause that will severely punish me if I so much as disclose that kind of info" Mike raised an eyebrow.

"But I want to brag about it to my gals" Haley replied in a disappointed tone.

"Still won't tell you shit though" Mike replied without batting an eye as he heard his sister groaning in disappointment from the other end.

"Fine. Let's talk about something else then" she then spoke again after her long groan.

* * *

(Late evening at the hotel…)

Letting out a deep breath of air, Lily, satisfied with her performance, gently returned the violin to its corner.

Exiting the small sectioned portion of the room she was in, Lily heard a pretty somber yet muffled piano piece playing from the section opposite hers.

Not particularly curious though, she still glanced over and in a mild wave of surprise, watched as Kyle kept playing the piece, lost in his own world.

'Not bad…' she thought to herself and then walked out of the music room, seemingly now a bit more curious about the piece he was playing, a small hum leaving her lips.