“All I remember are the good times we had, especially at the very first music festival we went to together. It was incredible!” Ham shook his head and smiled, closing his eyes as his mind traveled back in time. “CeCe looked breathtaking! The bands we saw, the people we met…it was wild. I tell you, we made a ton of memories on that trip that I’ll cherish forever.”
Andi got goose bumps, picturing a young Ham and CeCe at some giant outdoor venue.
“You know what else?” Ham whispered, leaning in close. “I even asked Bowie if he might be able to get us a couple of tickets to Mountain Jam. But don’t tell anyone—especially CeCe! I want it to be a surprise.”
“Oh.” Andi frowned. “That’s so great, but I don’t think Bowie can get more passes. I already asked him if he might be able to get tickets for Buffy and Cyrus, and he said vendors don’t get that many. I guess if he were still in the Renaissance Boys or something, it would be different.”
“Ah, well,” Ham replied. “I figured it was a long shot.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be! All the more reason for you to seize this moment and make the most of it. It’s clearly the opportunity of a lifetime!”
Andi smiled. Ham was right. She was lucky to be going on this trip with Bex—and getting VIP passes! Like Ham, she needed to focus on everything that could go right and on making memories she would cherish forever, just like Ham and CeCe had at their first festival.
She could hardly wait.
Bright and early on Saturday morning, Bex and Andi rushed through a quick breakfast, eager to get their bags onto the back of the bike and hit the road. Bex had explained to Andi that if they left any later than eight o’clock, they might not have time to get settled in their tent—and even though they were most looking forward to seeing the Renaissance Boys close out the festival on Sunday, they would not want to miss the first day’s performances. “Especially since I will be going the speed limit—and not a single digit over—the entire ride, we need to give ourselves plenty of time to get there,” Bex added, mimicking CeCe’s clipped words as she quoted her mother’s warning.
From the moment she strapped on her helmet and hopped onto the back of the bike, Andi could feel adrenaline kicking in—but only the good kind, not the nervous kind. She had taken Ham’s words from the previous night to heart, and now, cruising out of Shadyside and beginning the climb up the mountain, she couldn’t remember a time when she’d felt so free—so alive.
But then, as the roads got steeper and Bex slowly wound around the first switchback, and then another, and then another, Andi began to feel something else: queasy. She thought back to what CeCe had said about “those roads” and tightened her arms around Bex, who immediately sensed that something was wrong. As soon as they got to the next turnout, Bex guided the bike to a patchy grass area and turned off the engine.
“What’s up?” Bex asked, pulling off her black helmet. “Are you feeling okay?”
Andi took off her own helmet, and a look of panic flashed across Bex’s face. “Oh my gosh, Andi! You’re so pale! Do you need some water?”
“I-I think I might be getting carsick…or, you know, bike-sick?” Andi clutched her stomach and glanced at the road, which seemed to be contorting into waves.
Bex went straight for her bag, pulling out the safety-first kit. After fishing around for a moment, she produced a bag of ginger candies and gave one to Andi. “Here, take this,” Bex said, then added, “Good thing you mentioned the pizza-eating contest the other day, or I might not have packed this.”
Andi cringed, her stomach lurching at the thought of eating the candy. But she knew that without it, her stomach would be churning even more—and there was no way she was going to let anything ruin their trip.
“These roads can be pretty tough on the stomach,” Bex noted sympathetically, “but we’re through the worst of it. Don’t worry—you’ll be feeling better in no time.”
“Thanks.” Andi smiled weakly, taking deep breaths while Bex rubbed her back.
After about ten minutes, the queasiness began to subside, and Andi told Bex she was ready to get back on the road.
“You sure?” Bex ran a hand over Andi’s cheek. “You are getting some color back.”
“Then let’s do this,” Andi insisted.
Luckily, Bex had been right. There weren’t nearly as many twists and turns as they continued their drive up the mountain, and the ginger candy had definitely helped soothe Andi’s stomach. At last, she felt like she could relax and enjoy the ride again.
But that was when things took a different kind of turn. Even though the road was completely straight, the bike suddenly skidded, and once again, Andi’s thoughts flashed back to CeCe talking about “those roads.” Then Bex lost control of the bike and Andi heard her scream. Andi screamed, too, and her life started to flash before her eyes as the bike continued to skid toward the side of the road.
As Bex struggled to recover, the bike finally slid to a stop mere inches from the edge of the mountain.
“You okay? You okay?” Bex asked once they both had their boots safe on solid ground. She grabbed Andi’s shoulders and stared into her eyes.
“Uh-huh,” Andi said, still shaking. “Are you?”
“Yeah.” Bex pulled off her helmet and crouched down to inspect the motorcycle. “But unfortunately, this tire is not.”
“What?” Andi gasped, squatting down to get a better look. “Oh, no! Is it flat?”
“It sure is.”
Andi glanced at the side of the mountain, and her heart began to race when she realized how long the drop was.
“Bex, that was crazy! I seriously thought we were going to die. What if the bike had gone over that edge?”
Bex pulled Andi into a tight hug. “I don’t even want to imagine that. I promised I would make sure you’re safe and protected. I will always make sure of that.”
“I know,” Andi whispered, tears stinging her eyes. “I’ve just never been so terrified in my whole life.”
“Me neither,” Bex admitted. Then, smiling through her own tears, she added, “But, hey, you said you wanted an adventure, right? I think this pretty much tops the list for me! Who’s bored now?”
“Not me!” Andi replied. “Definitely not me. But how are we going to get to the festival with a flat tire?”
Bex tilted her head and thought for a moment. Then her eyes lit up. “Manny!”
“Manny?”
“Yeah! He’s an old biker friend of mine—and he has an auto shop just up the road. Or at least he used to.”
“How are we going to get there, though?” Andi asked.
“We’ll walk!”
“Seriously?” Andi groaned.
“Come on, kid—it’s not that far,” Bex insisted, steering the motorcycle onto the road. “Help me push this thing! Embrace the adventure!”
“Okay, okay.” Andi grimaced as the words “be careful what you wish for” echoed in her head.
After about ten minutes of helping Bex push the motorcycle uphill, with the sun beating down on them, Andi stopped.
“Are we there yet?” she whined.
Bex laughed and rolled her eyes. “It’s just another mile or so.”
“A mile? Ugh!”
Andi was seriously wondering if they were going to make it to the repair shop. She was trying to channel Ham’s positive outlook, but walking on a steep incline in heavy motorcycle boots wasn’t helping matters. Plus cars kept speeding by, and every so often someone would whoop or holler out the window at Bex and Andi. Maybe that was what CeCe had meant when she had worried about “those people” and “those roads.”
“Yo!”
Great. Yet another person shouting at them from a window. Only this time, the person didn’t just shout; he pulled over. Then three guys who looked about Bex’s age got out of their silver four-door pickup truck and headed straight for Bex and Andi.
“Bex,” Andi whispered. “What’s going on? Should we ditch the motorcyc
le and run?”
“Stay here with the bike,” Bex whispered back, and then she did run—not away from the guys, but directly toward them.
“Bex? Is it really you?” yelled the guy who had been driving, as Bex jumped into his arms and gave him a huge hug. He wore a white T-shirt with jeans and a black leather jacket and had chiseled features, along with dark slicked-back hair and sideburns. He kind of looked like one of those classic movie stars from the ’50s—a lot like James Dean, actually.
Rebel Without a Cause! Andi suddenly thought.
But who was he really, and how did Bex know him?
“Andi, this is Jagger Simon.” Bex grabbed the guy by his arm and led him to where Andi was standing with the bike while his friends hung back and leaned against the side of the truck. “We went to high school together, but I haven’t seen him in years!”
“Hey.” Jagger nodded coolly in Andi’s direction.
“Hey.” Andi swallowed hard. It was crazy how much he looked like James Dean.
“Andi’s my…daughter,” Bex added.
“What? No way!” Now Jagger lunged for Andi and swept her up into a hug. “It’s so cool to meet you.”
“You too.” Andi grinned.
Jagger turned and motioned at the guys leaning against the truck. “Those are my buddies Zane and Luke. We’re on our way to Mountain Jam.”
“So are we!” Bex said. “At least, we will be if we can get this flat tire fixed.”
Jagger bent down to examine it. “Yikes, that looks bad. Why don’t we give you a lift?”
“Yes!” Andi squealed before Bex could reply.
“I guess that’s a yes.” Bex laughed. “But you don’t have to take us all the way up to the festival. I want to get this tire fixed, so we just need to get as far as the repair shop. It’s only about another mile.”
“You sure?” Jagger furrowed his brow.
“Absolutely!” Bex grabbed the bags off the back of the bike and let Jagger steer it to the truck, where his friends helped him lift it onto the bed before turning to be introduced to Bex and Andi.
Once they’d all met, Luke offered the front passenger seat to Bex and climbed into the back with Zane. Andi had to sit somewhat awkwardly between Luke and Zane, but it sure beat walking the rest of the way to the repair shop.
“Cozy!” Luke said, smiling at Andi and checking to make sure her seat belt was fastened. “You good?”
“Uh-huh, thanks.” Andi smiled back. Luke sort of reminded her of Ham, with his sandy blond hair and blue eyes—although he had a much lankier frame. Zane looked like he could be part of the Mack family, too—except he had more Bex and Andi’s coloring, with his black hair and dark eyes. Both of them wore the same sort of comfy clothes Bex usually favored—classic-rock band shirts beneath plaid flannel button-downs, along with distressed jeans.
“Mountain Jam! Whoo!” Zane shouted, pumping a fist out the back window. “Are you guys stoked or what?”
“Totally,” Andi said. “It’s my first time ever going to a music festival.”
“That. Is. Awesome,” Luke replied.
“Yeah, can you believe it’s her first music festival ever and she’s getting VIP passes?” Bex added, glancing back.
“Seriously? So awesome.” Luke grinned at Andi and chewed on his lower lip, then whispered, “We have VIP passes, too.”
Wait a minute…Andi’s mind flashed back to that conversation she’d had with Cyrus, when he’d listed the top five signs that someone was lying. Hadn’t he said one of the signs was chewing on the lower lip? Was Luke lying about having VIP passes? Why would he lie about something like that—and why wouldn’t Jagger and Zane call him on it? Had they not heard him, since he’d said it so softly? Should Andi repeat what he’d said, louder, so they could confirm whether he was lying about it?
Stop worrying! Focus on all the good things that could happen! Andi told herself, trying to channel Ham’s outlook again. Who cares if he’s lying about having passes? Maybe he just wishes they had VIP passes or he’s trying to impress us or something. It’s not a big deal.
What was becoming a big deal, though, was how loudly Andi’s stomach was growling.
“Whoa—was that your stomach, or are you smuggling a wolf under that jacket?” Luke asked, chuckling.
“Um.” Andi was mortified. She tapped Bex’s shoulder and leaned forward to whisper, “Do you have any food in your purse?”
Bex rifled around in her bag for a minute and then whispered back, “I don’t. I’m sorry. I should have packed something, like a responsible mom! Why didn’t I put food on my safety-first list?”
Andi’s stomach growled even louder, and Luke not only laughed this time but growled back. It was so awkward!
“You don’t even have some gum?” Andi whispered more urgently to Bex.
“Let me see.”
Jagger was already pulling up to the repair shop by the time Bex located some breath mints stuck to the bottom of her wallet. She handed them to Andi. “Here—at least it’s something.”
Andi cringed at the lint-covered candies, but she was desperate, so she took them.
“I promise we’ll stop and get some food as soon as we get the tire fixed, okay?” Bex added.
“Okay,” Andi agreed, trying to come up with a positive spin on the situation—like, hey, she might starve to death, but she would have fresh breath.
It wasn’t much…but as Bex had said, at least it was something.
As soon as Jagger pulled up to the repair shop, a weathered-looking man with a gray beard and a red bandanna in his long silvery hair walked out of the garage. He wore navy-blue coveralls, and sure enough, the name “Manny” was embroidered in red thread on his upper left pocket.
“Bex?” Manny wiped his greasy palms on his coveralls and squinted in the sunlight. “That you?”
“Hey, Manny! It’s so great to see you!” Bex went to him and draped an arm around his shoulders, then introduced him to Andi, along with Jagger, Luke, and Zane.
As the guys lifted the motorcycle out of the back of the truck, Bex explained the situation to Manny.
“Let’s take a look,” Manny said, checking out the tire. He reached down, ran his fingers over the rubber tread, stopped for a minute, and promptly produced a sharp, rusty nail. “And there it is!”
“Oh my gosh, I didn’t even see that!” Bex examined the nail. “How could I have let this happen?”
“It’s not something you let happen. It’s simply something that does happen—a lot,” Manny pointed out, stroking his beard. “And by the looks of it, this one happened a few weeks ago.”
“Are you serious?” Bex sighed. “I should have had the tires checked before we even left.”
“Now that may be true, but you’re not the first person or the last to make a mistake like that,” Manny insisted with a wink.
Andi agreed. “CeCe has gotten at least three flat tires from driving over nails in the past couple of years.”
“Really?” Bex’s mouth fell open. “I can’t believe it! I was already anticipating all the awful things she was going to say to me about being irresponsible and endangering your life if she ever found out about this—but maybe I’m not such a bad mom after all.”
“You’re not a bad mom,” Andi said just as her stomach growled again. “Except…well, I am still kind of starving here.”
“Oh! You’ve gotta try the Second Breakfast Diner. It’s just around the corner from here,” Manny told them. “Best burgers and onion rings on the mountain!”
“Perfect!” Bex replied. “Can you patch the tire while we go get something to eat?”
“You betcha.”
“Thank you so much, Manny.” Bex smiled. “We’ll be back soon.”
“Take yer time.”
Bex turned to Jagger and thanked him for the ride, and they agreed to meet up again at Mountain Jam. Jagger entered his contact info into Bex’s phone, and then, finally, Bex and Andi were on their way to the diner.
“I hope this won’t make us super late to the festival,” Andi said when they arrived at the Second Breakfast Diner. It didn’t look like much: a small rustic wood cabin built into the side of the mountain, with a creaky arched door. But once they got inside, Andi could tell from all the delicious smells that they were definitely in for a good meal.
“Don’t worry about it,” Bex said with a sly smile. “I actually planned for possible delays, which is why we left at eight instead of ten.”
“Seriously?” Andi shook her head and laughed as they sat down in a dark wood booth with a checkered red-and-white tablecloth. “Once again, full of surprises—and yet oh so responsible, too.”
“You know it.” Bex winked.
The moment they sat down, a woman slithered up beside them—almost like she had appeared from beneath the peanut-shell-covered floorboards—and set a couple of menus on the table.
“Welcome to the Sssecond Breakfassst,” the woman said in a low, raspy voice. Her big watery blue eyes were sunken into her face, and she had wispy brown hair pulled back into a bun beneath her white waitress cap. She wore a light pink button-down dress with a frilly white collar and matching apron, and the name “Tara” was handwritten on a white name tag on her pocket. “You mussst try the ringsss!”
Bex stifled a laugh as she looked across the table at Andi. “The onion rings?” Bex smiled up at the waitress. “Yeah, we hear they’re great.”
“Oh, yesss, they are, my preciousss!” Tara said, like she was doing an impression of Gollum from The Lord of the Rings. Then, making the similarity even more pronounced, she looked at Bex’s hand and declared, “Ohhh! That ring! You mussst tell me where you got that ring!”
Bex couldn’t hold back any longer—she burst out laughing but then pretended it was because she thought the waitress was just joking about her turquoise ring. “Aw, this old thing? I’ve had it for years. I got it at a little roadside stand in Taos when I was passing through New Mexico.”
“Ssso preciousss!” Tara seized Bex’s hand and took a good long look at the ring before turning her attention back to Bex and Andi. “I’ll be back to take your order in a moment!”
Rockin' Road Trip Page 5