Page 28 of Wylder & the Rising Rockstar
“This is incredible. With so many students supporting us, we might actually get the board to listen.”
“Just trying to do my part.” Wylder gazed around at the theater filled with students. She suspected some of them were here for lack of anything better to do on a freezing Saturday afternoon. “So what now?”
“Now we come up with a plan, I guess.” The girl left them to make her way up to the stage. She stepped up to the microphone, tapping it to make sure it was on. “Hi, everyone, thanks for coming. Um, my name is Meghan, I’m with the theater students. We’ve all been working hard to prepare for the Winter Review that’s been canceled due to recent events.”
Wylder turned around, looking for Logan. She was part of those ‘recent events’ but so was he. “Hey, where’s Logan?” She followed Killian to a row of seats down near the stage.
“He didn’t come in with us.”
“What? Why?” She started to leave.
“Just sit.” Killian pulled her down beside him. “All the music people probably think he’s the reason for the board canceling the show.”
“What? That’s ridiculous. He doesn’t think that, does he?”
“I mean, you guys are kind of the reason, you know. Not that it’s your fault, what happened. He just knows how important this is to you and wanted to bow out so everyone stays focused on getting the show up and running again.”
“He should be here.” Wylder sat back against the old velvet chair. She didn’t like it that he felt like he wasn’t wanted.
“So let’s ask her to come up and say a few words.” Meghan stepped back from the microphone and scattered applause sounded around the theater.
“That’s your cue, Wylds.” Killian nudged her.
“What?” She looked around at everyone staring at her.
“Come on up, Wylder.” Meghan called.
“Wait, what?” Wylder looked at Killian for help. “How did this happen?”
Killian just shoved her out of her seat, and Wylder had no choice but to make her way up to the stage. What was she supposed to say? What did these people expect of her?
Meghan walked toward her, hand held out to shake Wylder’s. “The petition is going around the room.” She grinned. “Everyone’s signing it.”
“What am I supposed to say?” Wylder hissed.
“Just welcome everyone and try to start a dialogue for a plan.” Meghan shrugged and grinned and left Wylder on stage alone.
She walked up to the microphone to see more than two hundred students staring back at her. “Okay, so I’m Wylder. Hi.” She waved. “Not sure how I ended up standing here, but let’s just run with it.” She looked to the back of the theater when the door opened. It was Logan. He moved to sit in the back row, giving her a thumbs up for encouragement.
She smiled, wanting nothing more than to run off the stage and tell him she wanted to be his girlfriend. But everyone was staring at her.
“Right, so a petition is making its way around the room. If we can get enough student interest in reinstating the Winter Review, we should be able to get the board to at least listen to our concerns. Like … it’s not really fair that certain events are canceled while other events are going on as usual.” Wylder fake coughed, “Hockey.” And the jocks all laughed.
“We love hockey, don’t get us wrong, boys. You’re our eye candy and our Friday night plans all rolled into one delicious package.”
Meghan stood from her seat in the front row. “But we need a plan to make sure we get to be your entertainment for at least one night this winter, it’s the least we can do.” She sat back down. For someone who started all this, she was quick to push it off on Wylder.
“So we need to give the board a compromise. A plan to beef up security at the Winter Review to keep all the students on stage safe from ending up on YouTube when they don’t want to be. That’s right, some of us really don’t want that kind of attention.” Wylder turned to the back of the stage where a whiteboard stood. She grabbed the microphone from the stand and went to the board. “Give me some ideas, guys. What can we do to make it safe for the performers? And remember it’s not really about the performer’s safety. It’s about their parents.”
She scribbled on the whiteboard. “Remember, we go to a hoity-toity school with high walls and security to keep us all safe from media attention. And when Logan and I ended up a YouTube sensation from a school event, y’all’s parentsfreakedout. So we have to set the parents at ease here.”
“No phones.” Someone shouted.
“That’s a given.” Wylder wrote that at the top of the list.
“Make everyone sign a pledge before they can get into the event,” someone else shouted.
“Oh, that’s a good one.” Wylder added that to the list.
