From Skid Row to Superstardom: An Idol System Novel-Chapter 176: Team SuperNova (1)

"When’s Carlos performing?" Antonio asked while standing on the seat and staring at the stage.

"I don’t know," Gabriella replied while staring at the stage as the team that had just performed.

Even though she didn’t like country music, she had to admit that it had been a really good performance, and the boy who was playing the guitar really caught her eye.

It made her look forward even more to seeing her brother perform.

She knew that he had a good voice from the few times she had heard him sing random things at home or hymns in church, but she had never seen him perform on stage.

The few times that he had tried to get their family to come to a performance had been canceled by their parents for one reason or another.

"Has Carlos already performed?"

"How would I know that, Luis? I got here at the same time you did. Besides, we saw his outfit in the car. Does anyone on stage have that outfit?"

"You don’t have to be so rude." Luis muttered with a bored expression.

"And you can always use your brain, estupido."

"What song are they performing?"

"I can’t see."

"Can I have a snack?"

As her irritation grew from having to answer stupid questions from her little brothers, Gabriella began questioning how Carlos somehow managed to be gentle with a smile on his face all the time when they were home.

Because she wanted to throw them into the trash can, and she wasn’t even in charge.

Thankfully, the babysitter who had been hired passed over a bag of chips and a juice pack to Antonio, and then handed over the concert itinerary pamphlet, written in big letters, to Luis, and they both quieted down as the next three team performed.

Although she knew the song, the team performance wasn’t as good as the first one that she had seen, and there was still no sight of Carlos or (reluctantly) Ari.

It seemed that the audience felt the same way because some of the high school and college-aged looking girls near her looked disappointed while saying ’he’s still not here?’ and ’when are they going to bring him out?’

As the team on stage cleared out, the MC, whom she recognized from hosting a cooking show for terrible cooks, came back on stage.

"Did you all enjoy the last performance?"

- Yeahh

- It was okay!

Mixed reactions came from the crowd, and the MC simply laughed it off before continuing.

"This is the final team before we let you get to the regularly scheduled programming. The next two teams will be performing SuperNova by the Avatars. You all know the drill by now, so let me get out of the way and let the teams perform. The team going first will be the SuperNova Astronauts. Good luck!"

As the MC left with a wink, eight boys wearing white jumpsuits with multi-colored patches and_ clear astronaut-like helmets walked onto the stage.

Gabriella scanned the faces that were visible inside the clear helmets, wondering if maybe Carlos and Ari had changed outfits, but didn’t see them.

It looked like Carlos’ team would really be the last ones to perform.

Since she knew and liked the song that would be performed, Gabriella prepared to watch the first team’s performance with an open heart while already knowing that she would be voting for her brother’s team, no questions asked.

The familiar electronic intro to the song sounded out as the red-haired boy in the center began singing into the headset microphone that was visible through his helmet, while the rest of the boys posed dramatically before throwing off their clear helmets.

While the boys sang and danced to the song, but thought that the choreography wasn’t as good as the original, and that the energy that made it a fun, campy song was missing.

Rather, it felt like the boys thought it was cringy and didn’t perform to their full energy, and as the old people in the audience began complaining loudly about not getting the music, it felt like their performance got worse and worse.

Once they were done performing and introducing themselves with the help of the MC, Ryan Leary, he dismissed them and made the final announcement.

"And for the final performance by the Pop Star Academy contestants, this is the SuperNova team performing SuperNova!"

After the MC left the stage, 7 people wearing black jumpsuits and helmets with different coloured circuitry lines on each suit walked onto the stage and posed with the person in the black and red jumpsuit at the center.

The black suits were sleek and hugged every contour of their body, making them look like superheroes or car racers, and several people whistled in appreciation.

It was the team Carlos belonged to, and despite none of the faces on stage being visible, she and her siblings instantly recognized him not only by his build but also by the black and green jumpsuit and helmet that he was wearing.

As the younger women in the audience who were familiar with the show began chatting while trying to guess who was who by their height and build, Gabriella felt her arm grabbed by the person standing beside her.

"Gabby, look. It’s Carlos!" Antonio pointed excitedly at the stage while hopping up and down.

"I know. I see him. Let me go." Gabriella ripped her hand away from Antonio’s sticky fingers while keeping her eyes on Carlos.

Even though she couldn’t see his face, she thought he seemed a bit nervous as he kept looking around.

In fact, the whole team seemed nervous as their heads kept swiveling as if they were looking for something or someone.

"With all the outfits lined up like that, I guess it does look pretty cool." Luis reluctantly admitted while admiring the boys standing on stage.

With the stage lights directly beaming on them, the colored lines on the jumpsuits seemed to glow, making them look quite cool like video game characters.

"But where’s Ari?"

"Oh yeah, where is he?"

No matter how the three of them looked, they couldn’t spot a person with an all-black jumpsuit until Gabriella spotted a familiar black motorcycle helmet with red joker-like lips and a white star drawn over the visor talking to a person wearing a staff shirt at the edge of the high stage while gesturing with a hot pink toy gun before the staff member ran out in a hurry.

"What is he doing over there? He needs to hurry up and get on the stage right now!" Gabriella muttered.

It didn’t make sense for Carlos to be on stage when Ari had run in first.

What the heck had he been doing? Playing around?

Or had he been delayed because he was dropping them off?

As a feeling of guilt filled her, the familiar, intense electric bass sound of the song began ringing through the speakers as the boys on stage got into position.

Ari seemed to be jumping and yelling something while trying to get the attention of the people on stage and finally the boy in the black and yellow seemed to look down and spot him, elbowing the rest of the people around him to look over at the right spot before getting into his position to the right of the boy in red in their triangle formation.

All at once, the atmosphere seemed to relax, and everybody on stage seemed calmer.

Zooooooom~

As the final line of the intro sounded out, the performance began.

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