Page 12 of Wylder & the Rising Rockstar
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know. They’re all avoiding me. Becks used to stop recording sessions when I called because he didn’t want to miss me. Now… I don’t know. Something is going on.”
“Your parents too?”
“My dad couldn’t even look at me tonight.” She swallowed another bite. “I even asked him about hockey. He loves hockey and had very little to say. I don’t know. I don’t like it.”
“Sounds like they were probably just tired.” He bumped her shoulder. “You know, Sebastian and I can go an entire car ride together not saying a word.”
“Yes, but you both are weird.” She smiled to let him know she was joking.
He smiled back. “True.”
“My family isn’t like that. Most people think we talk too much.”
“No, really? I’d never have imagined that.”
“Shut up.”
“Make me.”
“Oh, I will. Just as soon as I finish eating.”
“I see where I rank.”
She only grinned. Saying it out loud, telling Logan she thought her entire family was hiding something made her feel crazy. They wouldn’t do that. They weren’t that kind of family.
So, she tried to let the worries go. It wasn’t hard with Logan at her side, but she knew they’d come back.
4
Wylder sat at her desk in ConMus class—the desk she normally shared with Logan, but he wasn’t sitting beside her yet. Tapping her pencil against the flat surface, she wondered what Mrs. Shepherd had to speak with him about so badly that she pulled him into the hall before class started.
All sorts of thoughts about Luke and Logan and the tabloids surged through her mind. She couldn’t help but think of the worst possible scenarios. Like, maybe the label was going to press charges against them for misrepresenting themselves. Wylder’s pencil shot out of her hand and sailed across the room when Logan stepped through the door.
“Ouch!” One of their classmates cried out. Logan arched a brow at Wylder, and she shrugged as he bent to pick up her pencil and took his seat beside her.
“What was that all about?” she leaned in and whispered.
“You’ll see.” He sank low in his chair the way he did when he was trying to disappear.
Mrs. Shepherd leaned against her desk, crossing her arms as she gave them all a serious look. “In this class, we’ve mostly discussed the positive aspects of the music industry. We’re meant to use this class to give you a broad introduction to the field of professional entertainment to help you prepare for a potential career, both on and off stage. However, with Logan’s permission, I’d like to discuss some of the dark underbelly of the music industry.”
A few snickers sounded across the room, and Wylder shot her classmates a glare.
“Lesson number one,” Mrs. Shepherd continued. “There is such a thing as bad press, and it’s no laughing matter. What Logan and his family are going through is anything but funny.” She leaned back on her desk, sitting on the edge. “Unwanted media attention. How many of you and your friends or family have experienced that? Show of hands.”
Wylder was surprised to see nearly every hand in the room shoot up in the air. She’d expected it to just be her and Logan.
“It’s not fun, is it?” Mrs. Shepherd asked. “It’s a total invasion of privacy, but when you put yourself out there as an entertainer, you’re agreeing to become a public figure.”
“Personally, I’d rather get a root canal,” Logan said, and everyone laughed.
“And those of you who have found themselves on the receiving end of bad media, how often does the press get the full story? How often do they get it right?”
“Never.” A brunette girl in front of Wylder shook her head. “They never get their facts straight about my mom.”
Wylder had a vague idea that the girl’s mother was a famous actress who spent a great deal of time in the tabloids after a nasty divorce from her actor husband.
