Rise To Stardom - Chapter 82

Chapter 82: Ruined…?
As the crowd cheered in excitement, Mike slightly nod his head in satisfaction, an immensely prideful expression on his face.

“I love you Mike!”

“I want to have your babies!”

“Take me home with you!”

Listening to those cheers and crazed screams from different ladies, booming over the large crowd of people and cascading over into his ears, Mike felt like how this was how it should be.

‘Yes. This is where I’m meant to be! In the spotlight! No one else should be higher than me!’ he declared to himself, his prideful smile never leaving his face.

“Thank you! Thank you everyone!” he soon said into the mic, waving over to the crowd as he finally exited the stage.

Moving over back into the waiting room to pick up his stuff, Mike’s mood immediately turned sour when he entered the room, his eyes landing on Kyle who was currently being checked out by an amused Lily.

Initially, when he had arrived, the lady had been the only one in the room and he had tried to hit on her, despite her been clear on her stance of disinterest.

However, considering he seemed to have forgotten the stupid controversy he had started online a week back, Lily simply took advantage of that by saying;

“I don’t think you’d want to talk to a stepping stone, would you? Wouldn’t that make you a bit cuckoo talking to an inanimate object?”

Those words had dug so deep into his soul that he had ended up sitting as far away from the lady as possible, a frown on his features.

That frown had then deepened even further when the rest of the artists, all of whom were his former contestants on Rising Voices, had arrived.

Considering they had all been recipients of the controversy he had caused, they stayed as far away from him as possible, completely isolating him in the room.

Mike on the other hand, had a condescending smirk on his lips through that entire period, deluding himself into believing that they were all embarrassed to face him after losing to him on the charts.

That countenance of his continued until one of the stagehands, requested for him to take the stage.

Considering the order of performing on stage, depended on how the event and concert producers had arranged it, Mike simply did as he was told.

Also, a timetable of sorts had also being sent to all attending artists a few days prior so each knew exactly when they would be going on stage.

Now that he was back in the room though after his performance, a gnawing inferiority complex that he had always tried to suppress, reared its ugly head again as he watched Kyle conversing with the others.

Bumping into Ryan’s shoulder as he picked up his stuff, the latter wondering what the hell was wrong with him, Mike left the room in a shitty mood whilst thinking to himself;

‘You won’t be smiling for long. I promise you that Kyle.’

Pulling up his phone after finding himself in a secluded area, Mike texted the people who Drake had helped him hire.

{You better not fuck this up! Remember, if you fail, I won’t be giving you the $100,000 I promised.}

Almost instantaneously, a reply came in;

{I won’t fail. Just get that money ready boss.}

Nodding his head at that, satisfied by the swift response, Mike then finally texted his sister to know where exactly at the VIP section of the outdoor Amphitheatre they were.

He really wanted to see Kyle’s misfortune unfold from the best view.

* * *

Watching as Steven performed on the big screen present in the waiting room, Kyle couldn’t help but feel giddy with excitement.

It would be his turn just after and his excitement was slowly soaring through the roof by the second.

Seeing the crowd cheer Steven on even after he was done performing, showed volumes about how much they had liked his performance.

To this, Kyle smiled genuinely, happy for his friends.

They too, just like him, were doing absolutely fantastic in their respective careers.

The others too had gotten similar receptions when they had performed, Lily a bit more than the rest though.

Now that Steven had waved them goodbye and made his way back into the waiting room, he and Kyle exchanged words of appreciation and encouragement.

A few seconds later, Steven also left the room to go to the VIP stands where the artists could easily watch the rest of the performances without having to stand among the audience.

Although artists and their agents were given free access to it, other people who wanted to get a chance to watch the show from up there, would need to pay a hefty sum.

To be fair though, this was the only thing one ever had to pay for at GrooveFest.

This was mostly done with the wealthy in mind, most of whom could easily afford it and also, didn’t want to mingle with the sweaty crowd standing and screaming their lungs out like fanatics.

Poking a head out of the door was a female stagehand, one who quickly informed Kyle that they were ready and he could now take the stage for his performance.

Brightening up like the fireworks on the 4th of July, Kyle beamed at that news and instantly made his way onto the stage.

No sooner had he done that though, his steps landing onto the wide stage, he was met with such a deafening scream of cheers from the crowd, one that was laced with such feverish excitement, Kyle found it hard to believe.

Even his friends didn’t get this level of elated reception!

Beaming at the crowd and waving over to them, all whilst greeting them with the words; ‘Hello Vancouver!’; the cheers got even louder than before!

Waiting for all of them to calm down, Kyle then spoke into the mic, his tone humorous;

“Guys, guys. At this rate, a good portion of you will either be having sore throats or slight hearing problems tomorrow.”

No sooner had he uttered those words, most of the crowd burst into laughter.

“Please. Be nice to yourselves and take care of those lungs and those ears.” he added, further adding more to the wave of laughter that was cascading over the large Amphitheatre.

Smiling, having gotten the crowd to relax and calm down a bit, Kyle was about to motion to the stagehand who was waiting for his signal to start playing his song when suddenly, a scream echoed through the crowd!

“Kyle! Take off your shirt!”

“No thirsty lady whom I know not of, I won’t! We don’t do that here!” he played along with the voice, while gesturing with his hands.

Once again, the crowd couldn’t help but burst into another unified wave of laughter!

Honestly, it was one thing for most of them to have seen Kyle being witty on a talk show and an interview. For all they knew, he could’ve been faking that persona.

But, actually seeing him respond to an individual whom he had probably never met in his entire life with the same wittiness and charm, solidified that belief in most of their hearts that he truly was just being himself.

Unfiltered. In every sense of the word.

As his friends, along with Oliver and Christina (whom Kyle had paid for all her expenses), met in the same VIP room, watched the interaction, they couldn’t help but chuckle a bit at the entire scenario.

Even Haley and her girlfriends were completely taken by his charming stage presence, the only exception being Mike who had a deep frown on his features.

‘He’s getting even more reception than me!’

Calming himself down though, knowing what was coming, Mike watched on, a malicious glint present in his eyes.

Watching their wave of laughter die down though, Kyle then finally signified to the stagehand with a small nod.

As the crowd waited in immense anticipation for the ethereally dreamy tune of [Strange Canvas] to begin, all they were met with was a resounding crackling sound!

Kyle who was onstage, along with everyone backstage, heard the sound the loudest.

Something had definitely exploded backstage!

Noticing that, the crowd whom were in a slightly panicked state before, had their moods slowly take a dive for the worse when they noticed small plumes of smoke coming out from backstage.

“Why?! How did they let this happen?”

“This might actually ruin GrooveBox’s reputation.”

“Does that mean we won’t be able to watch Kyle’s perfomance? I was really looking forward to that the most…”

“This sucks!”

Those were the string of murmurs that were emanating from the crowd after the sudden scenario had unfolded.

Oliver whom had known that Kyle had been really looking forward to this, had a deep frown form on his face, a rare case of him being a bit pissed.

Even his friends, were in similar moods, wondering why that had suddenly happened.

Mike on the other, pretty much having being the orchestrator of the entire thing, did his best to suppress and hold back a wicked grin.

‘With this, his performance is ruined!’ he inwardly gloated.

Mike knew, that by the time they had sorted the entire issue out, Kyle’s time for his performance would’ve expired and so, another artist from the other charts would have to take the stage, leaving him with no performances for the day.

‘Now let’s see the expression on his face.’ Mike hummed inwardly, only to have his smile drop when he landed his eyes on the young man.

Kyle was… smiling?