"Are you sure you brought everything, Theo?" Thomas asked worriedly as he looked inside the car again to make sure nothing had fallen out.
"Yes, Dad, I checked everything." Theo said in a relaxed voice as he raised one hand with the guitar and pointed to the backpack with the other.
Confirming that everything was all right, Thomas finally relaxed and hugged Theo. "Don't feel pressured by everything that's going on, Theo, I trust you and I'm sure you'll shut up everyone who's doubting you."
Feeling encouraged, Theo smiled and wrapped his arms around Thomas too. "Thanks, Dad, don't worry, I'll show them what the blacks are capable of!"
Hearing this, Thomas began to laugh and complemented him as he raised an arm and strained his muscles. "That's right, kid, show them that the black family aren't easy to intimidate."
Today was Sunday, a week since Theo launched Hope on social media and the day of the next episode of Divine Idol.
In the last few days, Theo has focused entirely on practicing swordplay, physical training to keep fit and, above all, vocal training.
Considering how destroyed his voice was last Sunday, Theo used every tactic he knew from his previous world to improve his vocal range as much as possible this week, and the training paid off.
Even though he was still far from the level he had in the other world, he was already miles ahead of the level he was at when he arrived in this world.
The video he posted to promote Hope and his clash with Miguel on social media also paid off, causing his Blink profile to rise from the original 10k followers to almost 40k!
Many of these followers came just to hate on him, but the daily posts that Theo started to make during the week showing his routine in an intimate way managed to win over some of these people.
After seeing so many people dealing with cancel culture in the other world, Theo had several ideas of what to do to deal with it in the best way, for example:
For example, he answered acid comments from haters with humor, posted clips of his rehearsals showing mistakes and successes, shared little behind-the-scenes stories from the reality show and even ran polls asking the public's opinion on things he should do on the show, always leaving absurd options in the middle to surprise the public and get a few laughs.
Instead of defending himself directly, he let people get to know his more human and carefree side, turning every interaction into an opportunity to bring together even those who started following just to criticize.
He wisely avoided talking about Miguel's accusation altogether, only saying that in the next episode of Divine Idol he would prove Miguel wrong, which made the public's anticipation for the episode rise ever higher.
After chatting for a few minutes, Thomas finally left for work, but not before confirming to Theo that he would be here to pick him up when the show ended.
Although the show started airing at 8pm, the participants were asked to arrive at least two hours beforehand.
As he approached the studio entrance, Theo was surprised to see a group of people gathered outside with posters and matching outfits.
[I love you Jordan!]
[I'm here for you Ace!]
[Hannah, you're my goddess!]
[Show the Chinese power, Avery!]
[...]
Among the various posters, most were for Jordan Mitchell or Hannah Brooks, the two most popular Idols on the show.
Jordan was the typical arrogant Rockstar, a persona that was difficult to deal with but attracted a lot of attention from the public.
This style was the most similar to my current style, which could be a problem later on in the show.
Hannah, on the other hand, was the blonde country girl who came from the countryside and was a bit slow-witted.
The two of them had the most popular styles in America, and apart from their talent, that's what made them stand out the most.
Of course, among the other participants there were also some who competed with these two, or others who didn't attract as much attention but showed more talent in music, which balanced out the competition a lot.
Of the 10 original participants in the show, Theo was the only one who didn't have the talent for it, which I even believe was deliberate in order to contrast the quality of the other participants.
But as I took over in the last round, Miguel, who wasn't even Theo's least popular opponent, was eliminated in my place.
As I approached the entrance to the studio, I looked for a sign with my name on it and saw that surprisingly there was a girl holding up a sign with my picture on it!
The poster was large, made of vibrant blue cardboard, with his name written at the top in bright white letters, outlined with gold paint. Small hand-painted white rays ran up the sides as if they were protecting the words in the center.
Just below the name [Theo Black], a phrase occupied the main space: [Our Hope burns brighter with you on stage!], with each letter carefully cut out and glued, with glitter that sparkled every time the poster moved. Scattered across the background were hearts, musical notes and tiny swords and chains drawn, as if each detail had been made with care and patience.
Holding the poster was a small girl, apparently only 16 years old, wearing a black bomber jacket with white details, dark jeans and a gray T-shirt, clearly inspired by Theo's look in the first episode. Her hair was light brown and tied up in a ponytail, and on her face there was an excited smile.
Despite being there for almost an hour, not for a second did she put the poster down, wanting to make sure Theo saw it.
And Theo was touched to see someone so excited to see him.
In his previous world, there had also been some fans who had emerged over time, but after hearing the rumors about him, they had all disappeared.
As they approached, Theo looked at the girl and smiled politely.
Noticing a movement approaching, she now looked in the direction and saw Theo, wearing an oversized black long-sleeved shirt, a silver cross necklace, several silver rings on his finger, black jeans and white sneakers that seemed to shine on his feet.
Certain that it was Theo, the girl got even more excited and shouted. "Theo, I love you! Thank you so much for the song you made!"
Hearing the girl's shout, the people around them fell silent for a few seconds, looking at Theo suspiciously and nobody said anything.
In the group of almost fifty people, only the girl was excitedly shouting at Theo, while the others just looked at him with suspicion and disdain.
"Isn't he the kid who copied a song?" A girl with a Jordan poster said with an expression of disgust.
"Yes... he should have been eliminated instead of Miguel, even if Miguel didn't sing so well, at least he made an effort to write his own lyrics." Another girl commented dismissively.
"Boooo!" A teenage boy started booing Theo, causing the other people around him to start booing him too.
This caused the girl who had been excitedly shouting at Theo to become confused, look around trying to understand what was going on, and become embarrassed.
Theo felt bad for the girl and went over to her, completely ignoring the booing from the other people around.
"Thank you so much for the support you're showing me, know that I'll remember this forever..." He said with a warm smile on his face.
Seeing Theo coming towards her, the girl stopped listening to the booing and focused completely on him, shocked to see him talking to her like that.
Being only 16, Ashley wasn't prepared for the attention that Theo, the boy she had developed a crush on over the last week, was giving her.
'God, I didn't think he was going to come and talk to me!' she thought desperately, not knowing how to react. 'What do I do? What do I say?
At this point, the surrounding booing had completely disappeared for her.
Gently, Theo took the poster from her hand and with a pen he had brought in his backpack, he signed the poster. "Thank you very much for your support."
Then he turned to the rest of the people, who were still booing, and raised his hand for silence.
Surprised, the people stared at him blankly, unconsciously keeping quiet.
Satisfied with this, Theo saw that there were some cell phones pointed at him recording and spoke in a calm voice. "I understand that not everyone is going to like me, but don't take what Miguel said as absolute truth, at least watch today's episode before you decide... if I could say a few words, the level of emotion Miguel delivered in his songs sounded a lot more like someone who hired a Ghost Writer than me..."
As soon as he said this, the people in the group were shocked, not expecting that Theo was not only not going to apologize, but was actually going to attack Miguel back!
And what he said made some people think, as it actually made sense.
Everyone had watched last week's episode, they also agreed that Theo had sung with much more passion and truth than Miguel, which showed even more that Theo could be right about this!
Realizing this, some people who recorded this interaction with Theo quickly saved the video and posted it on social media.
Theo, on the other hand, didn't care anymore and after a smile and a wink to the only girl who believed him, he started walking into the studio.
But before he reached the entrance, the shouting of the people outside got loud again, as several girls screamed. "Ace, Ace, Ace, Ace!"
Looking back, Theo saw a much better reception than the one he'd had, and on the path he'd just passed was Macus "Ace" Carter, a 22-year-old with black skin, shaved hair with stripes down the sides, gold grills on his teeth and an arm full of tattoos.
If Theo had a bad-boy image, Ace took it to another level, going for a more gangster style.
This style, combined with his bad boy personality, meant that Ace was one of the most popular Idols in the competition, second only to Jordan and Hannah.
Unlike Theo who stopped to talk to his fan, Ace just waved to the girls with a confident smile and continued his walk to the studio.
As he passed Theo, Ace commented. "Your change has been good, Black, keep it up." And kept walking.
Theo looked at Ace and cracked a small smile.
Despite being the scariest looking contestant, Ace was the only guy who still treated him well, even though he had performed so badly in the first few episodes.
Watching Ace walk away, Theo smiled. "Relax, I still have a lot to show..."