Guitar Hero (Cape High Series Book 12) by R.J. Ross Read Free Book Online Page A

falls out of her bunk and is now sitting on the floor, looking confused. I might be recording that little scene on my phone--don’t tell her, though.
    “’ello, Grandpa?” she says as she reaches the phone. All she gets is a dial tone. “Darn it,” she mutters.
    “What’s wrong?” Malina asks sleepily. Okay, so it’s ten in the morning--we didn’t get to sleep until about four hours ago. It took us that long to figure out how to expand the tour bus--well, and other things. There might have been a karaoke machine involved.
    “Grandpa called,” Emily says sleepily, falling onto her back and tapping on her phone.
    “Andre?” Falconess asks.
    “Nuh uh, the other one.”
    “What other one?” Freddy asks, his eyes barely opening to look at her.
    “Grandpa Superior.”
    “WHAT?” all three of my bandmates demand, waking up instantly.
    “I gotta call him back before he does something stupid,” she says, bringing the phone up to her ear. “Darn it, he’s not answering now. Wonder why.”
    “What do you mean, ‘does something stupid’?” Cole asks.
    “Grandpa Superior likes to be involved,” Emily says, as if this wasn’t the most shocking conversation ever. “I think he’s making up for failing so much with Mom and Nico, so now he does all sorts of stuff to keep his grandkids happy--he even went with Aubrey to deal with bullies just last week.”
    “We’ll be pulling over for a picnic brunch soon,” Alphonse says over his shoulder. “Nathan worked it into your schedule, as per Falconess’s request. I suggest you get dressed in your training uniforms.”
    “Training uniforms?” I repeat.
    “You DID promise Freddy you’d spar every other day,” Falconess says.
    "Where IS Nathan, anyway?" Emily asks, getting to her feet and digging her training uniform out of her bag. "Wasn't he going to ride with us?"
    "Nathan told me that he would show up when we reach our next destination," Alphonse says. "He's got a meeting with Mega lined up—something about changing the plans for his protege?"
    "Ward," I say, echoed by both Malina and Freddy. "You can't really blame the guy, Mega's been gung-ho on getting him pinned down ever since he found out about him," I say to them. Now usually I try and keep out of their business, but in this case I have every right to mention it—I've been tossed at Mega at least a dozen times as a distraction technique. Ward is always happy to throw me under the bus. I head for my bags, digging out the white and gold uniform that Nico provided and heading to the bathroom door to wait my turn.
    "It's funny," Malina says, much to my surprise. I thought for sure she would speak up about how Mega is terrorizing poor Ward. "What?" she asks me as I just stare at her. "I love him, but it's still funny seeing him run off screaming."
    "He doesn't scream," Freddy says with an evil little grin, stripping down to his boxers without even bothering to look at the bathroom door, "Mega caught him faster the one time he screamed, so now he just shoves the nearest person between them and races away silently."
    "How come I'm always the one between them?" I demand, giving up on modesty when Malina pulls out her uniform and walks over to stand behind me. "You can go next," I tell her, feeling a hint of a blush cross my face as I head to the back of the bus to change. It doesn't help when Lonny wolf-whistles at me.
    "Somebody's been working out!"
    "I thought he'd be a skinny little twerp all his life!"
    "Shut it, already," I yell. "You pervs!" I reach up, covering my chest with the suit to add to the joke. "Can't a guy get some privacy around here?"
    I hear Malina laughing behind me, so I guess it wasn't THAT bad of a thing.
    It's mere moments before the bus pulls to a stop and the door swings open. "Okay, everyone, we've found a somewhat private place to stop," Alphonse says. "Falconess, are you ready?"
    Falconess walks past us in a pair of shorts, a t-shirt with Star Spangled written on it, and a