Page 67 of The Star

I find her wrapped in a robe once I’m fully dressed, standing at the edge of the room with wild eyes. “You need to jump over the balcony.”

My eyebrows shoot up. “What?!”

She waves her hands around like a maniac. “Do you see any other option?”

I whisper, so she doesn’t tell me to shut up again. “I could hide in the bathroom until she leaves.”

She shakes her head, whisper-yelling back at me. “No! What if she needs to go to the bathroom?! Go!” She points to the balcony, then starts chasing me toward the sliding glass door. Hayden and Levi are still sitting on the balcony of our room when I get outside, and they give me questioning looks as I start to climb on top of the railing of her balcony to jump to mine.

I shake my head at them. “I’m going to kill her.”

thirty-one

LOGAN

Once I see Carson catapulting over the edge of my balcony railing, I rush back inside to get the door. My heart is racing inside my chest like I’m having a damn heart attack, so I take a few deep breaths to calm my heaving chest.

Slapping a smile on my face, I pull the door open to find Sara with a curious look on her face. “Hi, Sara! What’s up?”

She curves her brow in question. “Am I interrupting something?”

“What?” I blurt. “No, of course not, come in.”

Holding the door open, I spread my other arm out toward the inside of my room, and she chuckles as she walks past me. She pulls a chair out from the little table that’s sitting just inside the room and takes a seat. I follow, sitting across from her as I mess with my robe to make sure it’s secured tightly.

“Sorry to just show up like this, Logan. There’s something I wanted to talk to you about.” She lays her hands on the table.

“Okay…”

“So, I didn’t say anything before, and I haven’t said anything to your dad, but I did get a call from the school. They said that you had been in some sort of fight.” She presses her lips together.

“Oh,” I answer, unable to come up with anything else to say after the last five minutes of my life shaking my nervous system so bad.

“Yeah, I’m on the board of Luxington High… and I figured you’ve been through so much that you’re bound to have bad days. Just try to stay out of trouble, okay?”

I nod. “Yeah, of course, Sara. I’m so sorry to put you in that position.”

My mind travels back to that day, to what the kid in the auditorium said to me about Carson and Hayden…“Unless your parent is on the school board.”

Sara must have pulled some strings to make sure I didn’t get into trouble, and that makes me sick to my stomach. I don’t need anyone taking care of me, and I certainly don’t need anyone’s money to pay for my spot at school when I’ve broken the rules.

I start to feel anger flaring in my belly.

“You have nothing to apologize for, Logan. They told me it was involving Cassidy. She’s a tough queen bee to sit under.”

I ignore the sassy remark I want to spit back. “Why are you bringing this up to me right now?”

She sighs. “I’m close with Cassidy’s mother, and they’ll be at the wedding tomorrow.”

“They?” I ask.

Nodding, she gives me a sympathetic smile. “Cassidy will be coming with her parents.”

My eyes go wide, a mixture of anger and dread settling deep inside of me. “Oh.”

“I just wanted to give you fair warning, before you were surprised to see her. I don’t want there to be any issues tomorrow, Logan. This is a huge day, a day that needs to be about me and your dad… I need you to promise me that there won’t be any problems.” She gives me that damn smile again, and I so badly want to clap back with a bitchy retort, but I bite my tongue.

“Of course, Sara, I totally understand.”

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