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SDPD, San Diego, California
Wednesday, April 20, 9:15 a.m.
Connor’s ringing phone distracted Kit from the background checks she was running. So far, no one on Orion’s board of trustees seemed to have any skeletons in their closets.
Connor beckoned her to his desk. “It’s the call I was waiting for. Remember, Parker thinks I’m asking about scholarships for a friend. She doesn’t know you’re here.”
Kit mimed zipping her lips. He handed her the headphones he’d plugged into the receiver so that she could also listen, then set the recorder to run.
“Hey, Parker,” Connor answered warmly. “How are you?”
“Cold. You have sun in San Diego, but we had freezing rain last night.”
“In New York?” Connor asked, as if he had all the time in the world.
Kit wanted him to hurry along but contained herself. This was his call, and she’d let him play it the way he felt best.
“I’m doing a traveling show right now. We’re in Toronto. Look, I got in touch with the woman who was the scholarship student in my class at Orion. She enrolled in our sophomore year.”
Only one per year? Kit thought.
“They only gave out one scholarship a year?” Connor asked.
Good. They were on the same wavelength.
“That’s it. I texted her last night and she said we could call, so I’ll loop her in. Is it okay if I sit in? She doesn’t know you.”
“Of course,” Connor said smoothly, but he grimaced because that might limit what they could ask.
After thirty seconds, another voice spoke. “I’m here.” It was resonant and familiar somehow. Kit frowned, trying to place where she’d heard it.
“Okay,” Parker said. “Tanya, this is Connor Robinson. Connor, Tanya Westbrook. Connor has a friend whose kid wants to get into Orion on a scholarship.”
“Good luck to her. Or him?” Tanya asked.
“Her,” Connor said. “My girlfriend’s daughter. She’s just finishing her freshman year in high school, and all she can talk about is Orion School. What can you tell me?”
“Well, she has an uphill climb ahead of her,” Tanya said. “But it’s worth it if she’s persistent. Orion opens so many doors. It’s how I met my agent.”
“Tanya has three gold records,” Parker said proudly.
Kit and Connor shared a puzzled glance. “I’m sorry,” Connor said, apologetic. “But I haven’t heard anything you’ve recorded.”
Parker laughed. “That’s because Tanya is her real name. She records as Sybil Tucker.”
Kit’s mouth fell open. Sybil Tucker? Her songs were all over the radio. No wonder she sounded familiar.
Connor was having a similar reaction. “Wow. You’re really good. I have two of your albums downloaded.”
“Why, thank you! So. Orion. It’s hard to get into, but even harder to excel once you’re there. It’s kind of a viper’s nest. Present company excluded. Parker was the only one who sat with me at lunch on my first day of school.”
Connor’s smile was warm. “Doesn’t surprise me at all. So what was the application process?”
“Well, students can apply starting the summer before their freshman year of high school and if they don’t get in, they can keep applying until they graduate from their home district school. If they get in—and if they can pay the tuition—they start that fall. Applicants send an audition tape first. Orion gets hundreds during the summer. A team of incoming seniors review and submit the top hundred to the admissions director. He narrows it down to twenty-five. Those twenty-five come in and audition live for the committee. Gotta say, that was the most nervous I have ever been.”
“Sounds brutal,” Connor said. “How much is the scholarship worth?”
“Full year’s tuition,” Tanya replied. “A cool forty grand.”
