“Ha!” Andi smiled. But the longer she examined Bowie’s expression, the more convinced she became that he wasn’t quite as content as he wanted her to believe. In fact, she sometimes noticed that his left eye twitched when he was trying to hide something from her, and it was kind of doing that right then.
Did he miss the life he’d left behind when he found out that he had a daughter? He couldn’t possibly think that hanging out with Andi and Bex in Shadyside or working at Judy’s Blooms was more exciting than playing guitar with the Renaissance Boys…could he? Nope. No matter how much he might claim otherwise, Andi couldn’t shake the feeling—once again—that she was responsible for a formerly free-spirited, totally adventurous person’s completely average and seriously snooze-worthy life.
But at least they had Mountain Jam the next weekend to look forward to. Yes! At least they had that.
After locking up her electric scooter at the school bike rack on Monday morning, Andi found Buffy and Cyrus sitting at one of the blue metal tables on the front quad.
“Hey, guys!” She slid her neon-green backpack off her shoulder and sat on the bench next to Buffy. “How was your weekend?”
Before either of them could respond, Jonah walked up. “Hey, guys!” He smiled at Cyrus and Buffy and then glanced tentatively at Andi. “How was your weekend?”
Cyrus and Buffy exchanged amused looks.
“What? What’d I say?” Jonah asked.
“The exact same thing Andi said precisely twelve point three seconds ago,” Cyrus noted, checking his watch and then going into hyper-analytical mode. “Apparently, you both possess a sincere interest in how Buffy and I spend our extracurricular time…or you both struggle with post-weekend academic reentry and the conversational abilities required thereof.”
“Huh?” Andi and Jonah said, crinkling their noses and tilting their heads at the same time.
“Fascinating!” Cyrus looked Andi up and down and then studied Jonah. “It’s like you’re one person inhabiting two bodies!”
Andi and Jonah laughed—again at the same time.
“See? You can’t stop!” Cyrus seemed genuinely impressed but then shrugged it off. “Nah. I guess we all struggle with such things.”
“What things?” Buffy widened her eyes at Cyrus.
“You know, going from all that downtime—chillaxing with the peeps,” Cyrus said, doing his best hip-hop-star impression, before continuing in a stuffy tone, “to the more structured habits and behaviors demanded of public learning facilities.”
“Uh-huh.” Buffy laughed, then turned to look at Andi. “Anyway, how was your weekend?”
“So great!” Andi flashed a huge self-satisfied smile at Jonah. This was her chance to show him how unpredictable she could be. “I found out that Bowie is getting VIP passes for Mountain Jam next weekend, so Bex and I are going to go!”
Jonah’s eyes practically doubled in size. “Whoa! That’s awesome! I’m going, too.”
“You are?” Andi asked, though she wasn’t entirely surprised. Jonah always seemed to be going to the coolest places, trying out the latest things—like that time he’d discovered the new virtual reality arcade in town before anyone else. Andi still felt kind of bad about laughing at him when he got too into one of the games and fell down, seriously injuring his chin. Thank goodness he’d forgiven her for that.
“Yeah!” Jonah said. “My cousin Mona spends an insane amount of time trying to win tickets on the radio, and it totally paid off again this year.”
“Jonah…and Mona?” Cyrus interjected. “That’s even crazier than Cyrus…and Iris.”
“Yeah, and we have an aunt Fiona.” Jonah shrugged. “Anyway, I’ll never forget how much fun Mona and I had at Mountain Jam last year, even though she’s older and into totally different things than I am. I can’t wait to go again!”
Andi couldn’t decide whether to be excited or irritated. She’d been wanting to impress her friends—especially Jonah—with the news that she was doing something none of them had ever done before. Something super unpredictable. But once again, Jonah had gotten there first.
“I’ve never been in the VIP area, though,” Jonah continued, making Andi feel slightly better. “That would be beyond fun. Do you think Bowie could get any extra passes for me and Mona?”
Andi shrugged. “I’m not sure. But I guess I could text him and find out.”
“That would be amazing. Thanks!” Jonah smiled so the dimples in his cheeks became more pronounced.
Andi turned to look at Buffy and Cyrus, who had been awfully quiet the whole time. “So what do you guys think? Can you believe I’m going on a road trip with Bex? On a motorcycle? To Mountain Jam?” Andi was determined to emphasize precisely how many unprecedented, adventurous, totally unpredictable things she would soon be doing.
“No, I really can’t.” Buffy did seem pretty shocked.
“I mean, obviously CeCe was completely against it,” Andi continued. “She was going on and on about how dangerous it would be, driving on those roads and hanging out at that place with those people. Even Bex seemed a little unsure, at least until CeCe told us she didn’t want us to go. Then it was like Bex and I were leading our own personal fight-the-power rebellion.”
“Cool,” Cyrus mumbled, apparently stunned into a rare moment of near silence.
“Totally cool,” Jonah agreed. “I can’t even imagine driving up there on a motorcycle. There are some gnarly switchbacks on the way up! And CeCe is kind of right about the place and the people, too. I mean, you should see how crowded the first aid tent gets. It’s like some people make really bad choices when they go to music festivals, you know?”
Now, instead of being happy about what a thrill-seeking, non-boring person she must finally seem to Jonah, Andi got that sinking feeling again and worried that maybe the road trip would be more of an adventure than she was ready for. Or was Jonah kidding? Were there really that many people in need of first aid—and if so, why? What sorts of brainless things did people do at music festivals?
Andi wanted to grill Jonah on the details, but before she could, the warning bell for first period rang. So she grabbed her backpack and waved goodbye to her friends.
Her questions would have to wait until later.
After her final class of the day, Andi headed for her locker to grab some books and then turned around to look for Buffy and Cyrus. But for some reason, they weren’t at their lockers like they usually were. Andi was beginning to wonder if something was wrong. She hadn’t seen them at their usual table for lunch, either, and they hadn’t replied to her text messages asking where they were. As she scanned the hallway, her eyes bouncing from one crowd of kids to another, she pulled out her phone. But before she had a chance to send them yet another text, she saw them making their way toward the glass doors at the front of the building.
“Buffy! Cyrus!” Andi called out, swinging her backpack onto her shoulder and jogging after them.
Apparently, Buffy didn’t hear her, because she kept walking—but Cyrus glanced back. Then, with a panicked look in his eyes, he grabbed Buffy and shuttled her outside. Now Andi was super confused. She picked up her pace and finally managed to catch up to her friends near the bike rack where her scooter was locked.
“What’s going on?” Andi asked when Buffy and Cyrus turned to face her. “Are you guys avoiding me or something?”
Cyrus was about to respond, but Buffy glared at him and shook her dark curls, warning him to stay silent.
“Buffy?” Andi searched her friend’s face for some sort of clue but then turned to lock eyes with Cyrus, who tended to be an easier target when it came to extracting information.
Sure enough, Cyrus couldn’t stay quiet, no matter how hard Buffy dug her nails into the material of his pale blue cardigan. “We’re very disappointed in you, Andi Mack,” Cyrus blurted out. “We always said we would all go to Mountain Jam together—you, me, and Buffy—after we all turned sixteen. But now you’ve decided to go with Bex instead…three f
ull years ahead of schedule!”
Andi squinted, the details of that conversation slowly coming back to her. She had gotten so caught up in the excitement of planning her adventure with Bex that the stuff she’d discussed with her friends had obviously slipped her mind.
“Don’t you remember?” Cyrus crossed his arms and raised a dark eyebrow, doing his best impression of a disappointed parent.
“Um…kind of?” Andi finally said. “But not really?”
“Seriously?” Buffy demanded, her eyes widening furiously. “How can you not remember? We talked about it for like a week straight! We said we would drive together in your future VW van and you and I were going to get matching henna tattoos!”
“We were?” Andi chewed on her lower lip. She did remember now that they reminded her, and she felt bad. But she decided it would be better to play dumb. “It’s not…really…ringing…a bell. Maybe you guys made those plans without me?”
Beyond annoyed, Buffy tossed up her hands. Meanwhile, Cyrus took a step closer to Andi and stared intently into her eyes. “You are lying, Andi Mack!” he declared.
“What?” Andi took a step backward. “N-no I’m not!”
“Yes, you are.” Cyrus said. “Each of my parents has that special therapist-style way of knowing when someone isn’t being truthful, and—call it nature or nurture—I realized early on that I, too, have the gift.”
Andi thought fast. “Well, I can do the same thing with Bowie. His eye gets all twitchy when he’s trying to hide something. So, well, I can’t possibly be lying, because my eye isn’t twitching, and, you know, it’s got to be a genetic thing. Right?”
As Andi wove her way through the argument, her voice started to tremble.
“Aha!” Cyrus pointed directly into Andi’s face. “The shaky voice never lies…or, well, the shaky voice does lie.”
“You can’t be serious!” Andi tried to laugh, but now she felt like she was on trial.
“Look, there are several key signs that someone is lying, and I happen to know all of them,” Cyrus said, pulling a pen from his pocket and waving it around as he launched into a point-by-point explanation while pacing in front of the bike rack. “The evidence may include, but is not limited to, chewing on the lower lip, a shaky voice, a twitchy eye—I’m impressed by you for observing that one with Bowie!—as well as tugging on the hair, sweaty palms…Those are the top five, but the list goes on from there.”
“That’s crazy.” Andi shoved her hands into the pockets of her pants but then instantly removed them in case shoving hands into pockets was yet another sign of lying.
“No, it’s quite common, actually,” Cyrus retorted. “Sweat of the palm is the most difficult one to detect, unless you’re as blessed with the gift as I am. But bottom line? You. Are. Lying!”
Andi looked from Cyrus to Buffy, whose face was getting flushed. “I can’t believe this!” Buffy snapped. “First you forget our plans, and then you lie about the fact that you forgot them?”
“Not cool!” Cyrus added, trying to match Buffy’s tone as she dragged him away, leaving Andi all alone.
Andi felt tears stinging her eyes. She couldn’t remember a time when her friends had been that upset with her—and she couldn’t entirely blame them.
“Hey, Andiman!”
Before Andi could process the situation any further, she turned to see Jonah approaching in his purple tie-dyed Space Otters T-shirt. “Oh…hey, Jonah,” she said softly, blinking back her tears.
Seeing Jonah standing there, Andi remembered their conversation about Mountain Jam earlier—specifically, that she had agreed to ask Bowie about VIP passes for Jonah and his cousin. That was when inspiration hit: What if she asked Bowie to get tickets for Buffy and Cyrus so they could all go to Mountain Jam together after all? It wasn’t the exact plan they had made, but maybe presenting them with tickets would be enough to make them decide to forgive her.
It was worth a shot!
“So, I still can’t get over the fact that you’re going to Mountain Jam!” Jonah said as Andi pulled out her phone and sent a quick text to Bowie, asking if there was any way he could get a couple of extra tickets or even VIP passes for the festival.
“Oh?” Andi frowned, partly because she was still reeling from what had just happened with Buffy and Cyrus, but also because Jonah seemed to be implying—once again—that Andi was a certain kind of person who only belonged in a certain kind of place at certain times of the day or night. “Because I’m usually so predictable or reliable or whatever?”
“Andi…” Jonah sighed. “I told you I didn’t mean it the way you took it. Honestly, I can’t stand unreliable people.”
Andi shrugged and stared down at her phone just as Bowie’s reply popped up on the screen: HEY KIDDO. NO CAN DO. PERKS FOR VENDORS ARE KIND OF LIMITED. Andi’s heart sank.
“Well, then I guess you can’t stand me!” she said.
“What do you mean?” Jonah asked.
“Bowie can’t get any extra VIP passes for you…and he can’t get tickets for Buffy and Cyrus, either. So I’m basically becoming less and less reliable by the minute.”
“Oh,” Jonah said. “I didn’t know you were trying to get tickets for them.”
“Yeah. I sort of forgot that we’d made plans to go to Mountain Jam together a while back, so now they’re pretty mad at me for going with Bex. I thought maybe if Bowie could get them tickets, they wouldn’t be so angry. But like I said…I’m totally and completely unreliable.”
“Hmmm. Well, I think it was really cool of you to even try to hook up those passes—and maybe we can still hang at the festival. If, that is, you’d be willing to spend some time with a non-VIP.”
Andi had to laugh. “Sure, that sounds good. Although I am still wondering about some of that stuff you said earlier.”
“How many times are you going to make me apologize?” Jonah asked. “I don’t think being reliable is boring! I never said you were boring! I think you’re the coolest, most spontaneous, most unreliable person I’ve ever met in my life!”
“Okay, okay, you might be taking that a little too far in the other direction now.” Andi smiled. “Besides, I wasn’t even talking about that stuff you said. I meant the stuff you were saying about Mountain Jam. Like were you serious about the first aid tent getting super crowded and all that?”
“Oh, totally,” Jonah said. “It’s crazy how many people forget to wear hats and sunscreen when it’s as hot as it is up there, and the sun is beating down on you all day long. If you’ve never seen heatstroke, trust me: it gets pretty gnarly. Plus, people forget to drink enough water, so they get dehydrated and literally collapse. Also? There’s this pizza-eating contest that gets super out of control, and some people wind up…well…”
“Seriously?” Andi said. “How out of control could a pizza-eating contest be?”
“So out of control!” Jonah insisted. “But honestly? I kind of have this dream about entering the contest myself.”
“You do?”
“Yeah.” Jonah leaned in close, like he was about to reveal one of his deepest, darkest secrets. “Ever since I started reading Guinness World Records when I was five, I always thought it would be the coolest thing ever to get in there for winning an eating contest—maybe pies, although there’s one with hot dogs that’s like the Super Bowl of food-eating contests. Only problem is that it’s on Coney Island.”
“That’s kinda far.”
“Yeah. I was going to enter the pizza-eating contest at Mountain Jam last year, but Mona wouldn’t let me.”
“What? Why?”
“She said she didn’t want me to get sick, since my parents were trusting her to keep me safe.”
“Well, Bex would never stop me from entering—so maybe I’ll have to try it myself,” Andi said. “After all, it’s not like Bex and I haven’t already had our fair share of pizza-eating contests!”
“Andi, that contest is way too intense. There’s no way you’re going to enter. I mean, next t
hing you’re going to tell me is that you’re going to try skydiving!”
As Jonah laughed at his own joke, Andi felt her mood turn dark again—and this time it had nothing to do with Cyrus and Buffy. This time it was 100 percent because Jonah obviously thought that she was the most boring person he’d ever met. The question was, how was she once and for all going to prove to him that he was wrong?
By the time Andi got home from school, she had decided to stop worrying about what Jonah thought of her—at least for the moment. But now she was back to thinking about Buffy and Cyrus and how she could make things right with them.
“Hey!” Bex greeted Andi as she walked into the living room and dropped her backpack on the floor. “How was school?”
“Don’t ask.” Andi frowned and slumped into a green chair.
“Too late…I already did!” Bex quipped, but she quickly became serious when she realized that Andi was genuinely distressed.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Bex asked.
Andi shook her head and tugged at the frayed ends of her pink-and-gray friendship bracelet, which she had made with Buffy when they’d had a sleepover a few weeks earlier. As she pulled on the embroidery thread, the knot came loose and sent the little wooden bead at the end flying to the floor. “Nooo!”
Bex ran over to pick up the bead and handed it back to Andi.
Andi sighed. “My friendship bracelet broke—which I guess is pretty fitting, considering that the friendship itself is also broken!”
“Uh-oh.” Bex stood behind Andi’s chair and ran her fingers through Andi’s short black hair, being careful to avoid the two white barrettes that pinned back her bangs. “Would a scalp massage help?”
Andi closed her eyes and tried to relax, but it was no use. “I’m not sure that anything is going to help,” she said, opening her eyes and hanging her head back to look up at Bex. “Buffy is really mad at me—Cyrus, too.”
“How come?” Bex headed to the velvet sleeper sofa, which folded out into her bed at night. She grabbed a round purple throw pillow and hugged it to her chest as she sat down.
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