Page 74 of Wylder and the Almost Rockstar
Logan Cook was born to be a star. Music was in his blood. If they took that away from him, what would be left?
“I’ll drop you guys off at the dorms.” Sebastian wiped a weary hand over his face as he crept through the school gates. “I have to meet with the headmistress before I go home, but try to get some sleep, Logan. You should be focused on school and not all this music drama. You’ve got college to think about.” Sebastian slowed to a stop in front of the dorm. “Thanks for all your help, Wylds.”
“Thanks for the ride.” Wylder slid out of the back seat, slinging her overnight bag across her shoulder.
Logan stood on the curb, watching his brother dive away.
“You okay?” Wylder grabbed his arm, turning him to face her. He wore a stunned expression. “Hey, Logan.” She shook him to get him to snap out of it. “What’s wrong?”
“Did he say college?” His brown eyes lit with confusion.
“Yes. Though, I’m of the opinion it’s not as big of a deal as everyone likes to make it. Like it’s this thing that has to happen the moment you graduate high school or the world will come to an end.”
“College?” Logan blinked. “I never even thought about it.” He hitched his bag up on his shoulder.
“Is that a good or bad thing?” Wylder asked.
“I don’t know. It wasn’t ever an option before. I had a career.”
“Pretending to be Luke?”
“No. Yes. I mean the songwriting and recording. Luke and I split everything fifty-fifty. I never thought about another career or college. It didn’t seem worth the trouble when I already had my dream job.”
“And now? What would you do if you went to college?”
Logan walked toward the entrance to Thomas Hall. He glanced back over his shoulder. “I have absolutely no idea what I’m going to do with my life.”
The weary tone of his voice broke something inside her. Wylder wasn’t sure she’d ever heard anyone sound so devastated before.
* * *
“I can’t believe we have to sing this ridiculous song.” Logan shoved a hand through his messy hair. “It’s so bad.”
“Beyond bad.” Wylder looked up from her copy of the lyrics and the less than stellar music they’d managed to cobble together in the days after their return from Nashville. Nothing they did would salvage this song.
“We aren’t going to be ready to perform in a half hour. It’s just not possible.”
Mrs. Shepherd had gathered and reassigned the songs their classmates had written more than two weeks ago, but with everything they’d had going on, neither Wylder nor Logan had given their cheesy pop song much thought. They had till the end of the class period to finish preparing for it before they were expected to perform the song for the class, and they weren’t ready.
“I think I fixed the music.” Logan tapped out a beat on the floor where they sat. “But that’s not saying much.”
“I can’t believe someone got our super awesome tractor song, and we got this piece of fluff about shopping for prom.”
“I get crippling anxiety about performing professionally written songs that top the charts… performing this… I can’t do it, Wylds.”
“I’m with you on that.” Wylder shook her head. “It’s too humiliating.”
“We’re going to have to do it, though, aren’t we?” Logan banged his head against the wall.
“Yep. And the only way to get through it and keep our cool cards is to own it. We’ve got to get out there and totally sell this piece of garbage.”
“In the next thirty minutes.”
“Twenty-five.” Wylder groaned.
“Let’s run through it again.” Logan picked up his guitar.
At least this wasn’t a full-on performance on stage with costumes like last time. This time it was just a classroom assignment.
