Page 52 of Wylder and the Secret Rockstar
“The salsa.”
“But it’s medium.”
“I can’t do medium. Mild is tolerable.”
“Are you kidding?” She giggled.
“Nope.” He coughed and shook his head. “I don’t do hot stuff.” He reached for another nacho and scraped the salsa off.
“So your idea of good nachos is cheese and chips?”
“Pretty much.” He groaned. “My brothers always make fun of me.”
“More for me.” Wylder reached for another chip and sat back with her feet crossed under her and her notebook across her lap. “Not like your brother has room to talk.”
An awkward silence stretched between them at the reminder she knew more about Sebastian than she should, and she could’ve kicked herself for saying anything at all.
Logan glanced at the lyrics in her lap as he sucked in a breath. “We need to decide what story we’re telling here. Which side is going to win.” Ignoring what she’d said? She could totally get on board with that plan. If he wanted to act like the whole Sebastian thing hadn’t happened, who was she to stop him?
“Let’s give it a happy ending.” The duet was about two people torn apart by circumstances. Logan’s lyrics spoke positively about making it against the odds, and Wylder’s spoke of hesitation and doubt.
“So we have the guy convince the girl they can have it all.”
“Yeah, but I think I need to hear it again before I can focus on the missing parts.”
“Let’s run through it.” Logan sat forward to tap out a beat for them.
With his attention on the song, Wylder set her phone to record it. She wanted to be able to listen to it later to see if her growing suspicions were right. Logan could sing just as well as his brother.
He glanced up once, his cheeks going red when he saw her with her phone lifted, but he didn’t stop her.
They ran through the first and second verses and the chorus a few times before she felt like she had what she needed to finish the final verse.
They sat with the plate of nachos between them, bouncing off ideas for the final segment of the song.
Laughing at a particularly awful suggestion from Logan, Wylder threw a pepper at him.
“I think we’ve hammered at this long enough tonight.” Logan closed the notebook. “We need to sleep on it, but I think we’re getting there.”
“I like it. It’s coming along really well.”
“We just have to figure out how to make the performance creative enough to get a decent grade.”
“I need to get Diego on that.”
“That hologram thing you were talking about?”
“Yeah. I’m thinking two figures. Silhouettes, dancing across the stage as we sing—preferably from somewhere the crowd can’t see us. They come together and fall apart—like literally break apart into tiny pieces of light and then they come together again and again until they get it right at the finale of the song.”
“Can you do any of what you just said? Because that sounds like a really cool idea.”
“Not a lick of it.” Wylder tucked her feet under her. “But Diego could probably do it in his sleep.”
“Diego could do what in his sleep?” Killian barged into the room without knocking.
“Write computer code.” Wylder glanced over the back of the couch.
“I’m pretty sure he does write code in his sleep.” Killian stuck his head out into the hall. “In here, Will. I knew it was coming from Wylder’s room.”
