Page 33 of Our Moon
Her next event is much of the same. Ally annihilates the competition. It amazes me that she doesn’t want to go pro with this, but she says she loves it too much to do it for a living. She doesn’t want to lose the passion and says that training at the professional level is far too intense. I can sort of relate in my own way with the band. I love being a musician, but I wonder if my feelings would change if we did our thing professionally. I’ll probably never get to find out, and that’s fine because I love what we’re doing now.
Once all the competitions are complete, we’re finally able to meet Ally on the pool deck. She has changed into her team’s track suit, and her long hair is hanging down her back, dry since she was wearing a swimming cap. I miss the bathing suit, but Ally is still beautiful. No, not beautiful. I donotthink my best friend’s little sister is beautiful. I don’t think about her like that at all.Right.
She hugs her parents, then her brothers, then Joey, and then me.
“You were amazing,” I say with a smile, squeezing her tight.
“Thank you,” she blushes.
“Seriously, you kicked their as-butts,” I quickly correct, chancing a glance at Mr. and Mrs. Monroe. Fortunately they’re both talking to Ally’s coach.
Ally laughs, it’s a musical sound.Musical? Where’s my man card?
“Thanks, I’m glad you came.”
“I’m just sorry I missed the others. That was really entertaining.”
She looks down and her blush deepens. That color looks good on her.
“You were awesome, as always,” Alex says, suddenly appearing beside me.
“Thanks, guys.”
“Hey, Al! Come on,” one of her teammates calls out.
Ally looks over her shoulder and nods. “Just a minute.” Turning back to us, she says “I’m going out with the team for dinner. I’ll see you guys later?”
I can’t say I’m not disappointed I won’t get to spend more time with her this evening.
“Yeah,” Alex answers. “We’ll probably be in the garage.”
“Okay,” she smiles sweetly. She hugs everyone goodbye, saving me for last. “Bye, Chase,” she whispers. When her soft breath feathers over my ear, goosebumps prickleacross my skin. Yes, goosebumps. Don’t judge.
“Bye, Al.”
I watch as she walks away, and it’s crazy, but I kind of feel like I miss her. I want to follow her. I want to go everywhere with that girl.
What is going on?
Chapter Sixteen
Ally and Alex’s senior year has finally begun. The twins are ecstatic that their high school years are finally coming to a close. Ally is her usual self, studying away and planning her future as a chef. She hopes to open her own sweet shop one day, and I can attest to the fact that she will succeed. The desserts she makes are delicious. Alex is his usual self, fooling around and getting by just enough for his parents to not give him grief about being in the band.
JACT was asked to join a local Battle of the Bands competition at the end of September. There’s a big rock festival coming up in October, and the winner of the battle will get to open. Some bands we really like willbe at the festival, so it would be a great experience for us, but we’re all pretty nervous about the possibility of performing in front of such a large crowd. We’re nervous about the competition, too. We’ve never done anything like it before, but apparently one of the radio station’s DJs saw us play at the restaurant and liked what he heard. It gives us a little confidence, but not a lot.
The night of the battle, we are all nerves. We made it through to the semi-finals, but none of us know how. We were all off on our instruments at some point, and Alex even missed a lyric during our cover of a very popular song. Like I said, all nerves.
There are four bands in the semi-finals, us and three others. It’s set up like a bracket, bands are pitted against each other until the very end, when there are two bands left and only one band can win. The other bands left are really good, and they haven’t screwed up.
We’re sitting in one of the back stage rooms of the club the competition is being held at, trying to psych ourselves up. There is another band back here with us, but not the one we’ll be directly up against this round. They’re staying to their side of the room and look completely chill. They probably do shit like this all the time.
The door to the room slowly opens and Ally’s head appears in the gap. She sees us and her eyes brighten. “Hey!” She pushes the rest of the way into the room and I think I stop breathing.
Ally.
Sweet, innocent, Ally.
She’s standing in front of us wearing a leather and lace corset-style top and black skinny jeans. She looks like a walking wet dream. Her friend Lucy is standing behind her, more conservatively dressed in jeans and a long-sleeve shirt. Lucy tends to focus on school more than anything else, so I’m sure she is feeling completely out of her element.
