RAF MILDENHALL, England — Bo Bice could wake up Thursday morning as the reigning American Idol.

But his success on the show has already made him the idol of London Central High School, which he attended for three years in the early 1990s.

“It’s been my three months of fame,” said Pat Reynolds. “I’m the teacher at London Central who knows Bo Bice.”

Bice, 29, attended the school from 1991 to 1993, from eighth to 10th grades. He is remembered as a popular and talented kid who performed in rock and country bands and brought his guitar to class.

“What you see on TV is exactly what he’s like,” said Cary Sand, the school’s music director. “He’s just laid back and lovely.”

“American Idol” is an immensely popular television show in which contestants sing for a panel of judges and then are either voted off the show or allowed to continue. The auditions draw literally tens of thousands of idol wannabes.

Both Reynolds and Sand, who have talked to Bice since his emergence as a budding star, said the idea began with a bet between him and his mother, Nancy Downes.

Sand remembered Bice telling him the story.

“He said he was lying on the couch drinking a beer and eating Cheetos out of the bag when his mother called,” Sand said.

She urged her son, who had spent most of the past decade performing in various rock bands, to go to an audition in Florida. He agreed only after his mother agreed to go with him.

Now he’s on the verge of winning the competition, having only Carrie Underwood, 21, of Checotah, Okla., as a rival. The two were to perform on a show taped and broadcast on the Fox network Tuesday. The result of the voting by viewers was to be announced Wednesday night.

Bice attended the London school because his father, Earl Downes, worked for Coca-Cola in London, Reynolds said. He remembers being chastised when Bice spotted a Diet Pepsi on the teacher’s desk.

“He said, ‘I’m disappointed in you,’” Reynolds recalled. “He’s a real people person. People will follow him.”

Sand said he encouraged Bice to join the school chorus, making him the first boy to do so.

“The tradition of men singing in the choir started with him,” he said.

Both teachers expect Bice to be the American Idol, but they also said that, win or lose, Bice is assured of having a future as a singing star in America.