Page 17 of Wylder and the Secret Rockstar
Logan shifted his bag higher on his shoulder, looking anywhere but at Wylder. “She said I needed to come here for your approval. I’d have been here right after class ended, but this campus is a maze.” He gave no explanation about why he wanted to drop it.
Ms. Jones nodded. “I’m glad you were able to find your way even if I do not agree with the decision. I will sign off for both of you, but dropping classes also needs parental approval. Normally this can be done over the phone, but as both of you have closer access to your guardians, I want them to physically sign the form.” She handed one to each of them. “Wylder, you can have a pass to leave campus today. Logan, I assume your brother has shown you the townhomes our local teachers reside in?”
Wait, Sebastian was his guardian? Wylder had so many questions, but she knew she didn’t have a right to ask any of them. Logan barely knew her, and already, he hated her.
Ms. Jones wasn’t finished. “I am disappointed to see such promising students start the year this way. You both should think over this decision before it is final. It cannot be reversed.”
Effectively dismissed, Wylder walked back out into the hall. She didn’t realize Logan was right behind her as she pushed out into the early afternoon sun.
“You don’t have to drop the class just so you aren’t partnering with me.” Logan stared at his feet, and Wylder couldn’t decipher the emotion in his tone.
“I’m not,” she scoffed. “You have no idea who I am or why I don’t want to suffer through this stupid performance project. You’re just arrogant enough to believe you can affect me this way.”
He rubbed the back of his neck and lifted annoyed eyes to hers. “Arrogant? You thinkI’marrogant?”
“If the shoe fits.” She crossed her arms. “Or maybe I should say if the brother fits seeing as you’re just like him.” She couldn’t believe she was ever a Luke Cook fan. It churned her stomach.
Logan’s face reddened. “Should I assume you’re just a pretty boy airhead because your brother is?”
Wylder stepped toward him, her fists clenched at her sides. “At least my brother doesn’t treat people like dirt.”
He opened his mouth to say something else before slamming it shut, turning on his heel, and storming in the opposite direction.
Wylder couldn’t take her eyes off his retreating form. Something about Logan Cook angered every part of her, and she couldn’t quite tell what it was.
* * *
Wylder wasn’t used to leaving campus through the front gate. She’d mastered the art of sneaking past the security guards, but this time, she actually had a day pass. A day pass that would be easier to use if she had car privileges at this school. Her car was here, in a parking lot just teasing her with its presence. But a student only got access to their car if they earned it, and Wylder wasn’t really an earner.
She waved it at the guard and gave him a smug smile. They had a not-so-great history that included him chasing her, but never being able to catch her or prove she’d broken the rules.
Outside the gates, her Uber waited to take her home. Well, not home because she knew no one would be there at four in the afternoon. Her parents owned the hardware store on Main Street, and it didn’t close until six.
The place was as familiar to her as home. Before moving onto the Defiance Academy campus, she’d spent most of her free time working for her parents, saving her money for new pieces for her drum kit. Many evenings, the whole family would cross the street after the hardware store closed to grab a bite at the Main Street diner—Twin Rivers’ most iconic restaurant.
It was a much different life than she led now behind high walls, living in dorms with her peers.
The bell over the door jangled when she entered, and her step-mom turned from where she’d bent over a book at the counter, her face lighting up. “Wylder?” She rounded the counter. “What are you doing here?”
“Good to see you too, Mom.”
A smile stretched across her face. “It’s always good to see you.” She pulled Wylder into a warm hug, the kind of hug that had always soothed any turmoil. A motherly hug.
Wylder didn’t grow up with her biological mother. She’d left when her kids were young. Wylder’s step-mom filled the hole she’d left, but the hurt never truly healed.
During junior year—her first junior year—Wylder spent every moment trying to find her birth mother. She’d needed to know why she left, why she’d never come back. It was as if she hoped the knowledge would heal the long-broken part of her. Instead, it only broke it further. All-consumed by her search, Wylder started failing classes and eventually stopped going altogether until the school finally kicked her out.
And Wylder didn’t regret any of it, because she’d found her. She got to meet her mother, to know she’d never been forgotten. It didn’t last long though, because soon after meeting her, her mother was gone again, but this time it was cancer that took her.
This time she couldn’t come back.
Thoughts of her mother were constant, but they didn’t lessen her love for her mom, the woman who raised her.
“Something is wrong.” Her mom held her at arm’s length to look at her.
“I just really miss you guys.”
“Oh, honey, it’s only been a few days since we saw you last.”
