31 One week

Back in the venue

"Sam Petit, congratulations. I won't ask you to surprise us as I already know that you will !"

Finally every finalist's name was announced, as Sam's name came in ninth there was only one person left after him, a singer girl with a very beautiful voice : her name was Lucie and she was somewhere around her mid twenties Sam guessed.

"Congratulations to all the finalists, for those that didn't make it you still need training, you can come back when you feel like you reached these 10's level, we will be happy to judge you again."

Once again his words were harsh but he wasn't wrong, maybe telling them like this would hurt them more but it would also motivate them to come back and challenge the judges.

"Finalists listen to me well, the finals arrangement will be just like today. The audience vote and the judges vote after your individual performance. It will happen a week from now, be ready."

From today on it wasn't like the auditions were it was devised in lots of episodes, actually what the people liked the most in this show was the surprise effect brought by the auditions rounds, the semifinals and finals rounds weren't as popular so the auditions rounds had way more episodes. Now the audience had started to fade away so they wanted to end it soon, of course people that watched the auditions would still be curious on who was the winner so the finals still had a lot of viewers.

Finally after three hours in there it was time to pack up, Sam was tired as hell and Rena had fallen asleep during the last hour of the show, she woke back up only when Sam got back on stage to cheer when it was announced he would go to the final round, she had came to see him so she didn't care about the rest of the performances.

After the 10 finalists's names were announced Sam went back to the waiting room and changed very fast, as he didn't have make up remover at home he used very fast the one that was left in the changing room for the contestants to use and left right away, Rena was already waiting him outside.

Then they both took the subway home and parted ways soon, they just wanted to lie on their beds and fall asleep, this day was very tiring even though Sam had guessed the result before the show even started.

Sam walked from the subway station to the apartment and climbed the 4 floors stairs, finally even though he was tired he still took the time to take a shower to take off all the sweat and the remaining make up, not even taking the time to eat anything he just went straight to bed and slept, expecting the result wasn't enough to make it easy, he still stayed focused all day long to give the best performance he could and so he didn't stay awake even a minute and fell asleep in a second.

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The next morning Sam woke up later than usual, it was already 10:30 PM when he woke up. He had a missed called from Em this morning but he couldn't call her right away as she should be in class at the moment, he would wait until tonight to call her, as the next round and final round of the talent show was in only one week he didn't lose time and started thinking of his final show after eating a copious breakfast, he hadn't eaten anything yesterday and was starving.

He decided that he would dedicate this week to training, he didn't know if a level three skill book was enough for him to win the show so he wanted to gain every little advantage he could to win it without buying anything on the system's store, EVs were his most precious possession at the moment. Using them he could buy anything he wanted, even some overpowered cheat items so he was starting to save them for any situation that could pop out at any moment just like the day when he had to buy the gun to save Em.

While eating his breakfast he started to think about what he would do with the 100 000€.

Even though it wasn't a very big sum for some people, it was very big for him. At first he thought of buying a car with that money and leaving some for living but he had a car now, sometime during the past week he had got the confirmation that his car was now parked in front of his apartment in Toulouse with a picture sent by the company.

Now that he didn't need to buy a car he was thinking of other things, France was a good country but their entertainment scene wasn't advanced enough, for exemple the French singers that were known worldwide were very few. In the United States it was very different, whenever someone reached a certain level of fame they started to get known worldwide, it was the same for actors, the number of worldwide class french actors could be counted on one hand's fingers.

Obviously he was thinking of leaving France for a bigger stage, there was a lot to do before but that was his immediate goal : moving to the United States, once again he started thinking of what to do with Em, changing school in the same country was hard but still doable, suddenly changing school and going to an English speaking school would be way harder. Since he wasn't planning to move permanently he could also find a way to leave her here, once again.

His goal was only to get a bigger stage, not to find a new home so he could just go there for a month or so, the time to do a name for himself.

He could use that money for this goal but moving out wasn't as easy as it seemed, just getting a visa alone would take him months so he went back to the present, for this week he should focus on what song to sing and how he would dress, without losing time he called Rena

"Hey Rena."

"Good morning Sam, did you sleep well ?"

"Haha tiredness made me sleep like a log until morning, what about you ?"

"Me too ! What did you call me for ?"

"Can't I just call to check on you ?"

"Don't make me laugh, you are so busy with the final round coming that you wouldn't call me if it wasn't because you need me haha."

"You started knowing how I am hahah ! Yeah actually I need you once again, I was thinking of what to wear during the final and I actually don't have anything special in my closet. Do you have something ?"

"I do have a few, you should come by to try them out and so I can make changes to it before the final."

"Can you do it that fast ?!"

"The clothes are actually done, all I have to do will be adjusting them to your size. So when are you coming ?"

"I'm still taking breakfast, how about I come to school after I'm done ? I'll treat you to lunch !"

"Hahah I'll take that offer, I was planning to eat Five Guys today, you gotta take me there !"

"Wherever you want ! Thanks again Rena, I owe you one."

"Don't worry I'm actually winning in this trade also, it gives visibility to my stuff and maybe I'll be able to impress a brand or whatever. I have to go back to class, I'll see you later Sam."

"Yeah see you."

Times and times he would have to rely on her for the clothes as she was the best he knew, actually she was the only one in that domain he knew. Since she didn't mind of course he wouldn't either, her clothes had added a charisma point to his stats so he would try it out once again to maximize his chances of winning.

He still had 6 days until the final round.