Page 69 of Wylder and the Secret Rockstar
“To tell that it’s you singing on Luke Cook’s chart-topping albums?”
He nodded.
“No, it’s not.” She moved to sit on the couch, patting the place beside her.
“How did you figure it out? We’ve been so careful.” He sat wearily, his head hanging like he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders.
“Well, I’m a musician,” Wylder began. “A musician who was once completely obsessed with Luke Cook and his incredible music.”
“And then you met him?” Logan leaned back beside her.
“Yep. No offense, but your twin is kind of a jerk.”
“He wasn’t always.” Luke sighed. “The fame kind of went to his head.”
“I don’t understand.” Wylder shook her head. “Why the pretense?”
“You have to keep this to yourself. It could ruin everything.” He turned desperate eyes on her. “You don’t understand what this means.”
“Is that what you’re worried about?” Wylder frowned. “That I’m going to snitch? That’s not my style, Logan. Your secret’s safe with me. It’s just … doesn’t it bother you?”
“Bother me?”
“That you have such an incredible talent for music and songwriting, but your brother takes all the credit for it.”
“You underestimate how much I hate performing.” Logan heaved a deep sigh. “Luke’s a natural on stage. And he has a great voice too, just not quite as good as mine.” He shrugged. “It works for us. And it all just kind of happened.”
“But the gold and platinum records. Those belong to you.”
“I don’t care about all that, Wylder. I just like making music in the privacy of a recording studio. I know it’s hard to understand, but I just want the music, not everything that comes with it.”
Could this guy be any more different than his brother? “You just want to sing.”
He met her gaze. “This… ruse we have going, it lets me do what I love without getting caught up in the fame.”
“I get it.” Her voice softened. “It’s about the music.”
“It is.”
“The spotlight is an intense place to be.”
His expression relaxed. “Then we’re good?”
“Of course.” She reached over, almost taking his hand but thinking better of it as she curled her fingers in. This thing with Logan, whatever this friendship was, she wanted it. “I won’t tell anyone. I promise.”
19
“Oliver Twist.”Mr. Cook paced the front of the classroom. “Can anyone tell me what was so innovative about Dickens’ second novel?”
Wylder rolled her eyes as several hands shot into the air. She was never the hand up kind of student, though she often knew the answers.
“Prancie.” Mr. Cook nodded to a girl in the front row. The twitch of his lips told Wylder what he thought of the ridiculous name. The Sebastian she knew would never be able to say that name with a straight face. Apparently, Mr. Cook could almost pull it off.
“It was the author’s singular focus on poverty among the working-class families of the time,” Prancie said, sounding like she’d swallowed the textbook on Dickens.
“While that is true, your answer could apply to all of Dickens’ works. I’m looking for a more specific answer toOliver Twist.” Mr. Cook glanced around the room. “What did Dickens bring to his readers that none of his contemporaries ever had before him?” He turned around, looking for a victim when his eyes landed on her. “Miss Anderson?”
“Uhh …” Wylder sat up straight, grabbing her well-worn copy ofOliver Twistwith the cover of a young Oliver running at the head of a pack of street urchins. “It was the first time an author of his time created a central character of Oliver’s age. Most of his contemporaries wouldn’t have even considered making their main character a kid.” Wylder frowned. “So that would probably makeOliver Twistone of the first YA books.”
