"I still don't understand why we had to come two hours earlier. And this tie is mighty uncomfortable." Jamie complained as he walked beside Ari and adjusted the uncomfortable tie around his neck.
He was wearing a dark gray uniform, which consisted of a gray blazer and matching pants, a white shirt, and a black necktie.
Keeping his country boy origins at the forefront, Jamie also had on black cowboy boots and a black cowboy hat that shadowed his handsome face, but kept his shoulder-length blonde hair in place.
He carried his trusty guitar case on his back, and as he walked, it repeatedly thumped his back, wrinkling the uniform jacket.
"Because it's better to be safe than sorry. Now stop holding the guitar that way or you'll look like a wrinkly rag."
Ari smacked his back as he walked beside him.
He was dressed almost identically to Jamie, except for wearing a black turtleneck and black gloves, and holding a rented trumpet case.
He was unbearably hot from the LA sun, but the air conditioning inside the building would cool him right down.
As he and Jamie entered and quickly signed in, receiving their numbered badges, they followed a staff member to the waiting room, which surprisingly had a few contestants already in it.
Giving Jamie a knowing look, the two of them sat down in the large room and stared at the large TV in the center of the room.
Right now, it displayed live footage from the stage of the staff setting up the judges' table, and where the contestants who made it into the top 100 would sit.
The contestant seating was completely over the top and organized in rows of 20.
The first-ranked seat was a flashy, gold, throne-like chair, and the 6 following it were slightly less flashy thrones.
From the 8th to the 20th seat, they looked like comfortable leather armchairs, like those you would find in a waiting room.
From the 21st to the 40th, there were slightly nicer armchairs made of wood and cloth.
From the 41st to the 80th, there were black metal foldable chairs.
And from the 81st to 100, there were thin wooden stools that had no back support.
Seeing the blatant discrimination that the program planned to enact, Ari couldn't help but laugh to himself.
It seemed that the program would be emphasizing ranking straight from the beginning.
The waiting time continued, and soon, Ari could see the audience of mainly young women begin to fill the audience seats, and his heart began to pound at the thought that this was really happening. In less than an hour, he was going to be on stage.
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud
Jamie's leg was attempting to drill a hole into the ground, but Ari didn't have the time to comfort him.
He continually glanced around the room filled with well-styled and nervous contestants, looking for a particular smug face, but couldn't see it.
Where was that bastard?
The contestants were here, the judges were in their seats, and the MC on stage was about to start talking, yet he and 34 other people still hadn't shown up?
It was crazy!
"Hey, NOVA, didn't you say he was part of the program? Where is he?" Ari whispered harshly while pretending to check his trumpet.
[He is.]
[Have patience, it's about to begin.]
Despite Ari's complaints, the MC displayed on the screen began talking.
**************
"Hello, Everybody, Welcome to Pop Star Academy: Project 777! I think you're all looking beautiful today!"
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEk!!!!!!"
"Wooooooooooooooooooo!!!!"
"Ryan, I love you!!!!!"
Ryan Leary, a decently popular MC and comedian, waved to the excited audience members before continuing his prepared lines.
"I love you too!!! Today is the Official Start of Pop Star Academy, where you will choose the top 100 members among the performances you see today. You all got your clickers right? Can you please put them in the air?"
As Ryan Leary looked over the audience, they all held up little white remotes with a little keypad and a mini screen.
"Great! Now you know the deal! The performers will come out as a group or individuals, and their profiles will appear on the screens to my left and right."
Ryan Leary paused to point to the screens before continuing.
"When they finish performing, you first press yes or no to decide if they deserve to be part of the top hundred or not. If you have a specific ranking in the top hundred, you want to give a contestant, you can enter their assigned letter and enter the rank from 1-100. As a test, let's do me."
The two screens immediately change into a silly photo of Ryan Leary dressed in an oversized pink unicorn costume with remnants of whipped cream and sprinkles from when he had been pied for charity all over his face.
Seeing it, the audience immediately burst out laughing.
"No. No! Don't laugh. Please vote whether I belong in the top 100 contestants, so I can live my dream of being a top global popstar. I'd appreciate it if you gave me the number 1 spot. Look at how charming I am. Mwah~"
Ryan pretended to blow a kiss at the audience and poked his cheek while winking.
More laughter filled the room as people entered their choices, and the results showed at the top of the screens.
[Ryan Leary: Rank 100.]
"What! I can't believe it! I clearly asked for the top spot!"
As Ryan Leary pretended to be angry, Larry Jackson grabbed the mic and began teasing him from the Judges' seat: "Sorry to tell you, Ryan, but I think you're a tad bit too old to join the program."
"Le Sigh!" Ryan held his hand dramatically to his forehead, "There goes my 10-second dream of becoming a global idol pop star."
As the audience laughed again, he quit playing around and got back to his main script.
"Now I'm sure you all noticed our beautiful and handsome judges here, so allow me to introduce them to you."
"First, we have the beautiful Selena. You might recognize her by her beauty, but also her hit songs like 'Breaking Free', Savage Love, or 'The World Is Mine'. Please give a round of applause for our beautiful judge!"
- Woooooooooooo~
The audience cheered loudly, and as a snippet of one of Serena's new songs played as background music, Serena, dressed in a beautiful dress and high-heeled boots, waved happily before sitting down.
"Next up is the Larry Jackson. You might know him as the lead performer in the band SOS, and I'm sure many of you have heard his top hits such as 'SOS!', 'Devil May Cry', 'World Wonder!', and 'Needing Your Love!', Please give a round of applause to a one-of-a-kind talent and one of the greatest ever to do it."
As Larry stood up to wave, a snippet of his newest solo single also played in the background as he waved and flipped his hair at the screaming fans.
"Next up. Straight off a plane from Korea is the man in charge, the executive creator and performance director of Soundwave Music,, who has brought you amazing groups like BTZ. Please give a round of applause to Bing Yongsun!"
The Korean man waved as he observed the audience with a polite smile.
- Wooooooooooooo!!!!
Seeing the audience riled up properly, Ryan Leary smiled wildly before continuing with his lines."
"We have a lot of performances to get through, so shall we get started?"
- Yeah!!!~
"The first performance is by a group of 7 from the agency Music Boss; Please welcome William Forbes, Levi Temple, Choi In-su, Tae Young, Daniel Kim, Suzuki Rei, and Jerome Tyler!"
In the order they were called out, a tall, handsome, platinum-blond young man with piercing blue eyes smiled as he walked forward in a well-tailored grey uniform that highlighted his long, lean body and broad shoulders.
Following him was a young man with buzzed blonde hair, a chiseled face, and sharp blue eyes, giving him a more aggressive appearance as he scowled while looking around.
The Korean young man after him had permed dark blue hair and a sharp impression as he smiled, showing off slightly sharp canines.
The next young man who followed had a more intellectual look. He had thin-framed glasses perched on his nose, perfectly pomaded hair, and a small, practiced smile as he looked at the audience.
Right after him was a slightly shorter Korean boy with shocking orange hair. As he smiled cutely, he showed off the dimple in his left cheek which caused an outpouring of rabid screams.
Then, a young Japanese man with a red and black two-block haircut and a bold lip piercing followed behind, coolly waving to the audience.
Rounding out the group was a young black man with medium brown skin and short hair with stars shaved along the sides.
All 7 boys greeted the audience with cheerful waves and William Forbes, the blond man who was acting like the leader, grabbed the mic and turned to the judges.
"Today we'll be performing a cover of the song 'The Real" by BTZ, and I hope you all enjoy it." William Forbes waved gently to the crowd, smiling like a prince, and many of the younger girls in the audience began screaming and fanning themselves.
With a slightly mischievous smile toward the audience, he gripped his hand mic tighter and got into position at the front and center that he and his teammates had been practicing ever since he found out about this program, which was over 6 months
He planned on debuting at the number one position and wouldn't let anything get in his way.
And the first step in doing that was to create an overwhelming impression on the audience. So much so that every other performance looked lackluster when compared to him.
Turning briefly to catch the eyes of his teammates, William Forbes barely moved his mouth as he whispered.
"Don't mess this up for me. Or else."
Seeing their expressions tighten, William Forbes eased his expression into a smile and turned around, dropping his head.
And as the music began playing, his head snapped up with a smile.