Life of Wren

TWELVE

Lana got a lot of sponsor offerings on a daily basis, but she was at a point now where she could afford to be choosy. And Audrey had informed me only to select sponsorships that I thought would resonate most with her viewers, so I went through and marked the ones that looked interesting, then deleted the rest. By the time I'd done the bulk of my morning workload, it was close to 11AM, and I was about to head to lunch when my phone rang.

Surprise, surprise— I didn't recognise the caller ID. Story of my life.

"Hello?"

"Hey— Wren?" Asher's voice echoed through, and I frowned.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing— I just need you to give me your boss's number. My agent's trying to work out a kink, seeing as you're not a YouTuber, and she just needs a few details from your boss to get it approved."

"What kind of details?" I frowned.

"She needs a reference to confirm that you're who you say you are— it's a security thing. You don't have anyone else to refer to, and you don't have a social media presence. So your boss is the only one who can finalise this detail."

"Oh, I see. Okay, let me pass along her number," I said, and did just that. He thanked me and hung up, and I went to lunch without a second thought.

Later that day, I was finishing up everything when Audrey breezed in, and I knew immediately that something was wrong. She never just breezed in— if she needed to see us, she always called us up to the office.

My heart sank, and an icy chill settled over me.

"Hi Audrey," I greeted. "Is everything okay?"

Her cold stare settled on me, and every nerve in my body tightened.

"I'm glad to hear you're out networking, and observing the YouTube scene," she said, her voice eerily steady and quiet, her arms folded over her chest. "But if I ever get a phone call from that woman again... you will not like the repercussions."

"W-why?" I stammered, wondering what had happened. "Was she hard to deal with or something? I swear, I had no idea— I haven't even met her—"

Audrey cut me off.

"It's in the past now," she said, snipping my protest with a single, cutting statement. "Just go to the party tonight with your... date... do your job, and then never mention it again. Everything will be fine if you just do that."

Utterly confused, I nodded, and watched as Audrey marched back out of the studio. I had jitters— the woman was so freaking terrifying when she wasn't oozing with her usual, schmooze-enhanced happiness. As soon as she had left, I sprung to the computer and did a search, knowing Asher would have contact info on his YouTube page, and surely enquiries would go through to this agent of his, and not Asher himself. So I bought up the page, and checked until I found an email address; btanner@talentunite.com Then I pasted the email address into the search bar and waited to see what results came up.

An agency popped up in the first line, with a list of agents on their second page. I clicked that and scrolled down until I found an email match.

All the blood drained from my face, as a familiar name popped up.

Brielle Tanner.

I had to take a second to let my brain catch up with my thudding heart, because holy smokeballs what the hell have I done?

Audrey had received an out of the blue phone call from freaking Brielle— the girl whose name was as forbidden as the name Voldermort.