Rise To Stardom

"Yo James! Haul your ass over man! The game's about to start!" a guy said to one of his friends who was getting drinks for them from the kitchen.

"C'mon Liam. The match starts in ten minutes so there's still time! And for the love of god, please go drag Austin from the front door and tell him to stop flirting with the pizza-delivery lady!"

Whipping his head around from the couch, Liam did see that James was indeed right and their third buddy was once again at it with his annoying habit.

Groaning, the young man got up, retrieved the pizza they had ordered with a polite smile from the pretty lady who Austin was still flirting with, tipped her generously, and then dragged their friend back inside like a bouncer on a mission.

"You gotta learn to keep it in your pants man. Not everything that wears a skirt needs to be chased after" Liam advised his friend with tired sigh.

"Oh come on now. I was just having a friendly conversation with her" Austin simply replied while opening a can of beer.

"Yeah right! You were practically already undressing her, right there at the doorstep, with your freaking eyes!" James scoffed in disdain.

"Well it's your life anyway. Don't say we didn't warn you though" he finally made his way over to their living room and placed the bag of chips on the table too.

Rolling his eyes in slight annoyance, Austin then spoke.

"Well, let's just watch the game. Pretty sure my team will be winning against yours"

"Sure they will… when pigs begin to fly" James retorted with a condescending grin that earned a scowl from Austin and a good laugh from Liam.

Not minding their reactions to his snarky words, James just switched over to sports channel.

However, the moment he did, he was met with the message that their subscription had ended, instantly making all three feel like a huge bucket of cold water had been poured over them.

"Ah fuck! We've been so busy with our individual movie projects we even forgot to renew our subscription!" Liam cursed.

"And it'll take almost an hour for them to fix it if we do renew it now. By then, the football match would be over…" Austin frowned while James just gave up on the entire scenario, slumping tiredly onto the couch.

However, Liam, not wanting their one chance to get some much needed and well-earned rest over the week be ruined, soon began to switch between channels, looking for an interesting show to watch.

Eventually, the man stumbled upon the Ink-Stone Channel which had just started airing the sixth episode of their reality TV show and then left it there when he saw a familiar face.

"Hey Austin, ain't that the stunner of a babe who rejected all your advances last year?" Liam questioned as he saw Lily and her bandmates warming up to go onstage.

"Yeah. She's too proud for my taste" Austin pretended not to care when he noticed the gorgeous lady, all whilst taking a slice of pizza from the carton.

Giving him the side-eye, James and Liam focused their attention on the show, not minding their friend's pretenses, especially when they remembered him buying $10,000 worth of jewelry just to impress her, a gesture Lily had politely turned down.

To both friends, it seemed like Austin was just putting up a tough front before them, the rejection he had experienced from the lady, still fresh and very much etched into his mind.

🎤🎸🎵🥁

They say we're scary~,

They say we're bad~…

🎤🎸🎵🥁

"Damn! She's got a fantastic voice!" James commented as he bopped his head, sitting up straight as he felt the edgy music seeping into his bones.

"Tell me about it!" Liam replied, a small grin on his face.

Austin on the other hand, still kept deluding himself that he wasn't interested but judging by the way he was lightly tapping his foot on the ground, the music seemed to be doing its job.

🎤🎸🎵🥁

Take a raincheck on that,

Cause we're gonna burn it all down!

🎤🎸🎵🥁

Eventually, Lily's team performance continued till it ended and James let out a small whistle while Liam let out an impressed comment;

"Yeah, the other teams don't even stand a chance with such a banger performance!" he nodded his head, both he and James already forgetting their football match.

Briefly after, a short interview was shown of their group where Lily and her bandmates discussed over how they made the song even better.

After that, more and more performances were shown in the same format where their song would be announced first, the bands would perform and then, their interview would come after.

As the guys watched, although the performances were enjoyable enough, it didn't come anywhere close to the very first performance from the sassy goth girls and the [Maverick] song which they performed.

"Hmmm… nothing really comes close to Lily's band" Austin subconsciously let a thought slip out and his friends just stared at him for brief moment while shaking their heads.

"That Indian-American and that French lady's band performance was really good though…" James gently stroked his chin.

"But so far, there hasn't been a boy band that really stood out. That Paxton guy's band wasn't too bad but it wasn't anything special either" Liam commented while opening a bag of chips.

Austin on the other hand, soon had a frown form on his face when he saw two familiar faces about to go perform.

Ryan was someone he could still overlook but Kyle, now that was someone he genuinely did not like ever since the first day he had arrived at their club.

"That bastard… Stealing my role in the club…"

The moment the other guys heard that, they were understandably surprised because their friend wasn't someone who really cared much for his college's theatre club and in his very own words, the only reason he had joined, was because there was no shortage of beautiful girls there.

Soon enough, the song Kyle's group would be tasked with performing came up and Austin had a legitimately wicked smirk surface on his features as he laughed and declared;

"Ha! I'm sure their performance is going to suck ass with [Dancin' On The Edge]!"

Not really understanding the hate their guy had for the dude in a black jacket who was about to go up and perform with his band, they agreed with his statement still.

The song their band had been assigned wasn't a particularly great song already so their expectations were at an all-time low.

However, the moment their performance began with a highly energetic and attention-grabbing electric guitar riff that wasn't even in the original song, all three of them had an instant shivery thrill, run down the length of their spines as Kyle's powerful voice boomed through their speakers!

🎸🎵🥁 🎶🎤

Suddenly I'm in a trance! (Ow!)

She took my heart along for a joyride!

🎸🎵🥁🎶🎤

Widening their eyes in genuine shock, Liam and James especially, sat upright as their head instantly began to bop to the song.

"Yo! This is actually fire!!!" James soon sprang up from his chair while moving to the beat.

"Haha! What was that Austin said about it sucking ass?!" Liam taunted his friend who just sat there in absolute shock, unsure of what to say.

🎸🎵🥁🎶🎤

Then she twirled around,

Dazzled me with her smile!

🎸🎵🥁🎶🎤

Although Austin had heard about Kyle being a really good singer in campus over the past few weeks, he actually hadn't bothered to check up on any videos online.

I mean, why bother when the guy wasn't anything remotely special or worthwhile to him.

Now though, he didn't even need to check it out anymore as he was witnessing for himself just how true those words were.

🎸🎵🥁🎶🎤

Met her in a club in L.A! (Ow!)

Had an uptown vibe about her!

🎸🎵🥁🎶🎤

As the song kept going on and the guys watched on, Liam and James so excited as the adrenaline coursed through their veins, the bridge part soon came and they both let out exclamatory remarks when Ryan and Joe pulled off a perfect backflip!

"Oh yeah!!!!!" Liam shouted!

"Nah nah nah! These guys cooked for real yo!!" James grinned from ear to ear as he spoke in slangs.

Eventually, the song came to an end and both guys just slumped back onto their chair, an electrifying wave of energy still coursing through their very beings.

Glancing over to themselves, both of them felt like they had just witnessed a concert of their own right there in the comforts of their home and they couldn't help but laugh at that.

The only times they ever usually behaved like this was when their favorite football teams won a match but it seemed like even if they weren't able to watch their football match today, they had still received the exact same fuel of adrenaline.

As the scene on the TV then transitioned over to the interview section, the two guys were still grinning happily and excitedly while Austin couldn't help but just purse his lips, a slight frown on his features as he kept glaring at Kyle from the screen.

---

"Truth be told, I'm still feeling quite giddy from the adrenaline I felt"

"Yeah. It still feels quite surreal. I mean, I know we gave it everything we got but still, it's just amazing when everything comes together so perfectly"

"And honestly, we couldn't have done without this guy here!"

"I just really wanted all of us to individually shine while also delivering a great performance"

"You have to own up to your achievements man! Take pride in it!"

"I guess I will… Thanks guys"

---

As the part where the guys were still very much excited by their own performance was shown, Liam and James couldn't help but properly commend the guy that Austin so much disliked.

"That's some insane talent right there. Also, the hardwork that must've gone into revamping and performing that song should not be overlooked!" Liam said while opening his own can of beer.

"Yeah. Dude literally took an 'ok' song and made it into 'that' song!" James took another slice of pizza as he said that.

---

"The backflip!? Whose idea was it?!"

"I'd really only just said it as a passing idea! I actually didn't expect Ryan and Joe to be so willing to go through with it!"

---

That particular scene, earned a good laughter from the two guys and they couldn't help but feel like they had a great night after the show had ended, despite being unable to watch their game.

At the same time, they weren't the only ones who had felt like that.

For those who just couldn't help themselves and wanted to share that exact feeling with someone else, soon took to their next stop for all things discussion-related; TweetTalk!

[Boy_Bands_Are_Cool: Boy bands are so fucking cool!!!

Princess Peach: OHMYGOD! OHMYGOD! OHMYGOD!!! I was literally screaming my ass off the moment the guys started performing! And Kyle you talented freaking genius!!! Ah!!! I need to update his fan page with my screenshotted pics from today!

Ana_MZ_27: @ Princess Peach; I shall now join that which is called the fan page. Send link!

Mamma Mia 0702: @ Ana MZ_27; Welcome to the club!!!

MakeWayForTheQueen: Lily and June's band along with Katie's and Helena were really the highlight for me! Go queens! You gat this!!!

InfinityStones_PowerStones_Iwantthemall: Truly this episode was a banger! From thinking Lily's band had already stolen the spotlight to having such an adrenaline infused ending from the guys, it was literally just chef's kiss! Muah!

Girl_In_Love: Ah Steven! My one true love! You really owned the stage again today with that beautiful voice of yours~

Peter_Writes_Fantasy: Paxton's band was good. Katie and Helena's band was great. Lily's band was really, really great! But the guys' band, wow! That was just out of this world! And really, Kyle is just something else I swear! It takes some insane hardwork and talent to take an already established song, tweak it, and then elevate it to unprecedented heights!

WeDoABitOfTrolling: …

Pro_noobs: @WeDoABitOfTrolling; Oh so now you're silent! Hahaha!

Where's_My_Golden_Ticket?!: Joe and Ryan would make for a perfect duo in my opinion. Any agency who fails to see it is just sleeping on some amazing talent.

WantNudePicsOfme_DM: Check out my OF and SexHub page!

Botkiller: @ WantNudePicsOfMe_DM Fuck off bot!

IWantAMagicCastle: Just seeing all my babies in one single team and wiping out the competition was a dream come true! Ah~ It would be so nice if they could end up performing as a band again in the future!

Piggy: Actually kinda hoping that Carl Finch sees this and decides to revisit this song. The potential had always been there for it to be better but these guys really brought it to life! Kudos to them!

This_Does_Bring_A_Smile_To_My_Face: I should be conquering earth right now but yes, I've decided to leave this planet after seeing such an amazing performance. Truly, this does bring a smile to my face.

Said_Dumbledore_Calmly: @ This_Does_Bring_A_Smile_To_My_Face; Purple alien-man, is that you?!

Heavenascendance: Honestly, I'm a bit conflicted as to who I'm even going to vote for since next round will surely feature some tough match-up based off of the team compositions this round.

Alise_N: @Heavenascendance; May the best contestant win!

Kuro_uzumaki: Yeah, hopefully that happens because a lot of the time, the audience just votes for whoever they like, not the people who are actually talented and deserve to move forward!

Ricky-Roll: @Kuro_uzumaki; I couldn't agree more!

Despicable_ME: So excited for the next episode now!]

As more and more comments continued to pile up, #Rising Voices, #BoyBands-GirlBands and #Dancin' On The Edge soon began trending on TweetTalk in just a few hours.

Due to this, a certain agent whose singer had just entered his luxurious camper van after another tiring day of his tour, soon showed the tired man a video of the guy's performance which had already been uploaded to ViewTube via Rising Voices' official channel.

Staring at the screen, the man's eyes soon widened in genuine surprise as he gently exclaimed to himself.

"That's my song!"