Page 28 of Wylder and the Secret Rockstar
“Tell me, Logan Cook.” Wylder leaned forward. “Do you sing? Because you’ll have to sing if you write the lyrics.”
He stared at her for a long moment, his eyes narrowing. “Fine. I’ll do the music. Somehow.” Logan gathered up his things just before the bell rang.
“Sit down, Mr. Cook. We aren’t done yet.” Mrs. Shepherd pointed to his seat. “I would suggest a duet. You will both perform the song live on stage, and you will come up with a creative way to set your performance apart from the others. Lighting is a good place to start for Logan, but Wylder, you will need to do your part on the creative front too. I suggest you come up with something quick because neither of you are leaving until I have a decent proposal.”
“Yes ma’am.” Wylder sighed, wracking her brain for something creative she could bring to the table. “Can we get outside help?” Wylder asked as an idea occurred to her.
“What kind of outside help?”
“Like a … an expert with computer code?”
“Interesting idea.” Mrs. Shepherd leaned back. “What are you thinking?”
“Something to work alongside Logan’s fancy lighting. Like a hologram or something flashy and three dimensional? I can work on the concept, but I’m thinking it would be a way to help tell the story of the song. I would just need help with the coding part.”
“You know someone?” Mrs. Shepherd asked, a glint of interest shining in her eyes.
“Yes I’ve worked with him before, and I’m positive he can help us bring our story to life.”
“I like it.” Mrs. Shepherd nodded. “It’s a good concept, but you two are going to have to learn to work together or this is going to implode.”
“We’ll figure it out.” Wylder grabbed her bag and headed for the door. Like it or not, Logan was going to do his part, because Wylder’s interest in the project was about to take on a life of its own. She could see the big picture, and it excited her. She just had to figure out how to write a song, considering she hadn’t played a note on a single instrument in almost two years. Except that one time in Nashville. But that was just a fluke.
* * *
Wylder’s stomach growled as she headed for the dining hall for lunch. This day was not working out for her.
“What are you doing, following me?” She whirled around to find Logan right behind her. He was there wherever she went. He was in all her classes, in Killian’s dorm, and it was like the universe was conspiring against her when he was assigned as her lab partner in Organic Chemistry.
“I can’t help it if we’re going to the same place. It’s my lunch period too.” Logan shot past her, and Wylder vowed to get as far away from him as she possibly could.
Moving through the line, Wylder rolled her eyes when she saw the meal of the day was hibachi salmon and steak with diced zucchini and mushrooms and some kind of exotic looking rice that was nothing like the fried rice she got when her family ordered Chinese takeout. Sometimes she really wished her school wasn’t so snooty. She’d give her right arm for a frozen pizza and a pile of tater tots and ranch dressing. Not that she was going to turn down the fancy salmon and steak.
“I’ll have double steak with some salmon and all the fixings.” Wylder inched along the line, craning her neck to see if her friends were already at their regular table. She needed some Logan-free time and a latte before she could face the rest of her day. “Oh, I’m going to need like a bowl of the white sauce too.”
Grabbing a Razz-Cranberry Seltzer water from the cooler, Wylder balanced her tray on one hand and scanned her dining card with the other. She headed across the crowded dining hall to the large round table by the fireplace. Yeah, her school was really fancy. Their dining hall looked more like a five-star restaurant than a cafeteria.
“Check it out.” She caught the sound of Killian’s laughter. “She’s totally amazing, right?”
Wylder dropped her tray on the table, making everyone jump.
“What ishedoing here?” She couldn’t even with this guy. Logan sat between her boys.Herboys.
“There she is. Pull up a seat, grumpy pants.” Killian kicked a chair out for her.
“Scooch over, Diego.” She wiggled in between Logan and Diego. She couldn’t do anything about Killian having Logan as a roommate, but Diego was hers. “Don’t you have friends of your own to sit with?” She turned to Logan.
“I do and I am.” Logan leaned toward Killian’s phone, watching a video.
“I suppose she’s pretty good.” Logan smirked.
“Good? She’s amazing, right, Wylds?” Killian winked.
“What are you talking about?” She dove into her steak and salmon and froze as the sound registered in her ears. “No.” She reached out and grabbed Killian’s phone. “Turn that off!”
“Why so screechy? It’s not like the whole world hasn’t already seen it.” Killian rolled his eyes. “It has like four million views.”
Once again, Wylder wanted to murder her brother for pulling her on stage last year at his concert at the Cincinnati music festival. He’d forced her to sing a duet with him, and it went viral online.
