Leona''s Unlucky Mission Read Online Free Page B

could only imagine how disappointed Vivica had been.
She seems to be taking it pretty well now, though,
Leona thought, studying her.
    â€œSo, um, this practicing you’re doing…when will it be over?” Vivica asked. “I’m wondering because my band needs the practice room today, too.”
    â€œYour what?” Leona gasped.
    â€œMy band. What?” Vivica’s sky-blue lashes fluttered innocently. The ice-blue eyes behind them were less naive. “You think you’re the only Starling who can start one? I asked Professor Langtree if the Ranker could rank a second band from the auditions, and she said, ‘Sure, why not?’” Vivica’s thin blue-lipped smile spread like a stain across her face until it almost reached her ears. “I decided to call it Vivica and the Visionaries. I’m the lead singer, of course, so it makes sense.”
    Leona didn’t turn to see the rest of the band’s reaction to this. Her own shock and rage were too strong. “Vivica? And the Visionaries?”
    â€œIt’s a little more catchy than Star Darlings, don’t you think?”
    No.
What Leona thought was that it was startlingly similar to the name she’d planned to give her own band before the Ranker had named them: Leona and the Luminaries. She’d even started a fan page for them on StarBook before she knew it wouldn’t be used. She’d still had hope the band could change names at some point, but how could they now, when Vivica’s band’s name was almost the same?
    She probably saw the page!
Leona thought suddenly.
She probably picked that name out of blue-hearted spite!
    â€œAnyway,”
said Vivica, still smiling. “You know, right, that you can only have the rehearsal room for a starhour, max?”
    Leona didn’t.
    â€œI knew that,” Vega said.
    â€œAnd since it sounds like you can use all the practice time you can get, I guess we’ll just come back in a starhour, then.”
    And with that Vivica turned, her long pale blue hair swinging behind her back. Leona closed the door with a swipe of her arm, leaving sparks where her hand sliced the air.
    â€œStarf!”
said Vega. “Two bands. After all these years with none.”
    â€œ
Grrr!
Can we just play some music,” Leona roared, grabbing the mic, “and not talk about other bands!”
    Vega gave her bass a halfhearted twirl and started to pluck it, then looked around. “Who’s going to count us in?” she asked.
    â€œOh, for heaven’s sake,” Leona huffed, “I will. We’ll do ‘Heart of a Glion’—on three. A-one, a-two…” She clapped, once, then twice….
    On “three,” they began.
    â€œStop!” Leona yelled, half a verse in. “I can’t sing to this. You’re all over the place!”
    â€œWe need a backbeat,” Sage said, sighing.
    â€œMaybe we should call Clover,” Vega said.
    â€œWhy?” Leona snapped. “So she can write us a new song that doesn’t need a beat?”
    Clover had been writing songs for staryears and had immediately offered to share them with Leona’s brand-new band. She’d even volunteered to be their manager. Anything, really, she was happy to do, except join them on the stage. Even though she had grown up in a huge family of famous circus performers and was very comfortable onstage, she now wished to stay as far from the starlight as possible.
    â€œWe need a drummer! Now!” Leona roared. “Or wait…where’s my Star-Zap? Maybe it can play a beat for us? It doesn’t quite have the same ‘stage presence,’ but at least it won’t sit there sulking like Scarlet,” she muttered. “Or get all galactical at the littlest critique…”
    â€œClover plays the drums,” said Vega.
    Sage knit her lilac eyebrows, confused. “I thought she played the guitar.”
    â€œCorrect,”