“Yesss?”
“Yes!” Andi smiled. “We can figure out a time to meet up and get it back from you—maybe on our way down the mountain tomorrow, if you’ll be at the diner?”
“Oh, yesss! I will, I will! Thank you, thank you!” Tara said, handing Andi’s money back to her. “No charge for the tattoosss.”
“Seriously?” Andi asked.
“Ssseriously!” Tara smiled.
After they emerged from the tent, Buffy immediately turned to Andi and said, “Okay, that woman was crazy!”
Andi smiled and looked down at her hand. “You mean crazy talented, right?”
“How did you know I was gonna say that?” Buffy asked, striking an indignant hand-on-hip pose.
“Because you’re my best friend, and because we’ve been best friends forever—hence the leaves and vines!”
“Oh, right. Thanks.” Buffy half smiled.
In spite of what Andi had thought was a pretty significant bonding experience over the henna tattoos, she got the feeling that something was still bothering Buffy. Andi had to find a way to make her friend feel better! But how?
“So where to next?” Buffy asked.
Andi knew just the place.
En route to the Skyscraper Slide, Andi went on and on about how Buffy was going to have the most fun she’d ever had in her entire life. But when they arrived at the line of people waiting to go on the slide, Buffy dropped her head back, her eyes traveling up, up, up to the top, and literally snorted. “No way you went on that!”
“I did! I promise! And you’re going on it, too,” Andi countered.
“You know I’ll never turn down a challenge, but that? I dunno….” Buffy shook her head, a hesitant look on her face.
But Andi wouldn’t take no for an answer. She grabbed Buffy by the hand and pulled her over to join the line, just as she noticed Bex, Ham, and CeCe approaching.
“Hey, kids!” Ham swiveled his hips and moved his fists in a circular motion as he dad-style boogied over to where Andi and Buffy were standing. “What’s happening?”
Most kids—and grandkids—probably would have been embarrassed by Ham’s moves, but Andi couldn’t possibly feel anything but giddy that Ham was there with CeCe, getting an opportunity to re-create some of those unforgettable memories from their youth.
“I’m trying to convince Buffy to go on the Skyscraper Slide with me,” Andi replied, giving Ham a quick hug.
Ham turned around and looked up. “Awesome!” he gasped, then extended his arm toward CeCe and Bex. “Come on, girls…. We’re going up!”
“Oh, no you’re not.” CeCe shook her head and glanced sideways at Andi. “And neither are you!”
Andi smiled and hugged CeCe hello, then said, “Oh, yes I am—I already went on it like ten times yesterday.”
“What?” CeCe spun around and glared at Bex. “This is precisely the sort of thing I was hoping you would be responsible enough to stop her from doing.”
Bex shrugged. “Well, Mom, I decided it might be better to give her a bit of independence and let her be responsible for her own decisions, and guess what? Ten slides later, it appears that she not only survived—she thrived. Have you ever seen this girl looking more confident, self-reliant, self-assured?”
CeCe scowled and turned back to Andi, who did feel like she was glowing with a new sort of confidence when she thought about conquering the slide again. CeCe’s face softened. “Hmmm. She does seem okay.”
“So! Let’s do it!” Ham interjected, grabbing CeCe’s hand. “You game?”
“No, I am not—and neither are you,” she snapped. “It’s one thing for a thirteen-year-old girl to go on a ride like that, but quite another for someone your age.”
“You mean our age?” Ham chuckled.
CeCe tightened her lips and crossed her arms.
“Well, you can stay here, but I’m going,” Ham said with a shrug.
Andi grinned, spinning around to look at Buffy. “If Pops can do it, you have to do it.”
Buffy still seemed unsure—but before she could make up her mind one way or another, Cyrus and Jonah walked up.
“Hey, hey, hey!” Cyrus grinned and put an arm around Buffy. “Whasssuuup? You guys missed a killer show—kind of literally. I mean, nobody died, but Tombstone Playground definitely killed it. Knowwhutahmsayin’?”
Buffy smirked. “Um, yeah. I think we do.”
“Are you going up?” Jonah asked Buffy and Andi, his eyes sparkling as he looked at the slide.
“Yes! We are,” Andi said, her eyes challenging Buffy. “Right?”
Buffy shrugged. Why was she being so indifferent? Andi had been pinning her hopes on scary-slide bonding being the thing that finally got Buffy 100 percent over whatever it was that was bothering her, but Buffy seemed determined to punish Andi by not going.
Perhaps sensing Andi’s disappointment, Bex stepped up. “I’ll go up with you guys.”
“You will?” Andi’s face brightened. “That would be awesome!”
“Cool!” Cyrus grabbed Buffy by the arm, apparently relieved that nobody was going to try to talk him into going down the slide. “Buffy and I will handle the videography over…there.” Cyrus pointed to the waiting area.
“Really?” Buffy suddenly looked mortified.
“Well, somebody’s gotta wait at the bottom to catch them if they fall, right?” Cyrus replied.
CeCe smiled and shuttled Buffy and Cyrus over to the waiting area. “Right! Exactly right!”
After making the climb to the platform, Andi turned to Bex, Jonah, and Ham and asked if any of them wanted to go first.
“That’s okay—you’re the master of the slide now,” Jonah said with a smile that made Andi’s heart beat with pride.
“Yeah, you go ahead,” Ham quickly agreed.
“We’ll be right behind you,” Bex added.
So Andi hopped onto the slide and held her hands up in the air while screaming the whole way down.
“That was so awesome!” Andi squealed as Cyrus gave her a high five at the bottom.
Buffy kept her phone trained on the slide and barely acknowledged Andi, apparently taking her role as videographer quite seriously. CeCe’s attention was also focused on the slide, but she had a far more worried expression on her face. Jonah went next, giving Andi and Cyrus both fist bumps when he got to the waiting area. Then Bex made the drop.
“Oh my gosh, you were right!” Bex gushed, racing over to Andi. “That was incredible!”
“Right? I knew you’d love it!” Andi laughed, turning back to the slide and positioning her phone so she could get a video of Ham taking the plunge.
“Whoo! WAHOOOOO! YEEEEAAAAHHHH!” Ham was whooping and hollering so loudly as he made his descent, Andi was certain he could be heard all over the Mountain Jam festival grounds. But when he hit the bottom, he made an even louder and far less enthusiastic sound. “AAAAAHHHHHH! OOOOOOWWWWWWW!”
“Ham? Oh, Ham! What did you do?” CeCe screamed, running over to the base of the slide, where Ham was wincing in pain, clutching at his ankle.
“I’m sorry,” Ham gasped, staring up at CeCe. “I should have listened to you.”
CeCe frowned. “Is it broken?”
“I don’t know,” Ham groaned. “I don’t think so.”
Moments later, two big guys in yellow EVENT STAFF shirts ran up with a stretcher and rolled Ham onto it. “We’ve got you, sir,” one of the guys said. “We’ll have you to the first aid tent soon.”
“Thanks,” Ham replied.
As the guys carried Ham through the crowd on the stretcher, Andi and the rest of the group followed close behind.
“Here we are, sir,” one of the guys said as they lowered the stretcher down and carefully slid Ham off so he was lying on his back in the grass.
“But…” Andi’s eyes darted around, in search of the first aid tent. She didn’t see it anywhere. The guys had simply set Ham down at what appeared to be the end of an extremely long line of people. “Where’s
the first aid tent?”
One of the stretcher guys looked at her as though she were crazy. “It’s up there.” He pointed to the front of the line—a spot that must have been at least a quarter mile away.
“Are you kidding me?” Andi scowled.
“Nope.”
“You must be joking,” CeCe said, stepping in. “He’s hurt! He may have broken something! He needs to get in there right away!”
“Yeah, you don’t think these people all feel the same?” the guy replied, motioning to the line of people who were all obviously in various states of distress.
CeCe quickly realized that she wasn’t going to be able to argue her way into skipping ahead. “Fine,” she huffed, taking off her small leather backpack and reaching inside as the guys with the stretcher got another emergency alert and ran off. “At least I brought some first aid of my own!”
Ham tried to sit up on his elbows and smiled gratefully as CeCe set the backpack next to him and crouched on the grass to search through it.
“Don’t worry, I’ll get you fixed up in no time,” CeCe promised, pushing back the dark blond hair matted to Ham’s forehead.
After a few minutes of riffling around in her bag, CeCe sat back in frustration. “I can’t believe it.”
“What’s wrong, Mom?” Bex asked, kneeling next to her.
“I had some ibuprofen in here—I was sure of it!” CeCe replied, turning back to the bag to search through it again.
“Oh—I can do better than that!” Bex said, taking off her own backpack and locating the safety-first kit. Moments later, she produced an instant cold pack, which she activated and placed in a thick ankle wrap. “Here, Dad, let me see your ankle.”
As CeCe, Andi, and Buffy looked on, Bex proceeded to expertly wrap Ham’s ankle. Then she got some ibuprofen from her safety-first kit and handed him a couple of those, along with a bottle of water.
“Thank you, Bex,” Ham sighed, already starting to look a bit better.
“Yes.” CeCe turned to give Bex a half smile. “Thank you.”
“No problem,” Bex replied. “I’ll just run up to the tent now and see if they can give us some crutches.”
CeCe’s face brightened and she shook her head. “You sure are full of surprises, Rebecca.”
“So I’ve been told!” Bex gave Andi a quick wink before disappearing into the crowd.
Back in the Orchid Arena a few hours later, CeCe and Ham were enjoying the opening band. She bobbed her head to the music and held his hand while he kept his foot elevated on one of the white leather massage chairs. It had taken a while to get to the first aid tent, but they eventually made it and were advised by one of the doctors that it was only a sprain; however, that still meant he would need to stay off his ankle and continue to apply ice.
Bex and Andi exchanged amused looks as they watched the older couple.
“CeCe seems like she’s actually having fun,” Bex observed.
“Apparently, she used to love a good festival,” Andi said, shaking her head in disbelief. “Who knew?”
“So how excited are you to see Bowie up on that stage?” Bex asked with a sly grin.
“So excited.” Andi couldn’t believe it was actually going to happen.
“Me too.” Bex smiled. “Should we go join the others?”
Andi nodded, quickly glancing back at CeCe and Ham—who were clearly off in their own giddy, romance-filled world—before she and Bex made their way toward the edge of the stage, where Buffy, Cyrus, Jonah, and Mona had staked out a perfect spot to watch the Renaissance Boys’ performance.
Andi smiled at Buffy and grabbed her hand. “Isn’t this amazing?” Andi asked.
Buffy nodded and forced a smile but then dropped Andi’s hand and turned to whisper something to Cyrus. Andi’s heart sank. Why was Buffy still so upset with her? Tears stung her eyes.
But as soon as the sound of the first guitar riff rang out and all the stage lights started to flicker, Andi felt as though she might cry tears of joy. As she watched Bowie strutting out onto the stage, clapping his hands and waving to the crowd, the goose bumps kicked in and her stomach dropped in the same way it had when she’d gone down the Skyscraper Slide. Her dad looked so energized, strutting around in his black leather pants and vest, grabbing the microphone and shouting “Whaaasuuuup, Mountain Jammers?” before launching into the first song of the set. It was one of the band’s hit rock anthems, and Bowie’s face broke into a smile as bright as the stage lights when he realized how many fans in the audience were singing the chorus along with him.
After he wrapped up the first song, Bowie paused to take a swig of water and then put his palms together, bowing to the crowd. “I know that a lot of you came to Mountain Jam expecting to see Rafe up here tonight, and I know a lot of you are worried about how he’s doing,” he said into the microphone. “The good news is that he’s gonna be fine—and in the meantime, I’ll do my best to do right by him. Thanks for letting me be a part of your festival experience!”
As the crowd whistled and cheered, the band went into the next song—a slower ballad that Andi felt certain was every bit as good as when Rafe sang it. And each time she thought Bowie’s performance couldn’t possibly get any better, he would glance down and lock eyes with her and a different kind of smile from the one he gave the rest of the crowd would brighten his face. Then, about a dozen songs later, before Andi realized what was happening, Bowie was thanking the crowd, waving goodbye, and walking offstage.
“What?” Andi’s face clouded over, and she looked at Bex. “How can they already be finished?”
Bex put her fingers in her mouth and whistled a few times, then turned to Andi and yelled, “Don’t worry—they’ll be back!”
“They will?” Andi shouted. “How do you know?”
“I just know.” Bex smiled and threw her arms in the air. “More! More!”
“Oh!” Andi followed suit, chanting along with the rest of the crowd. “More! More!”
Sure enough, a few minutes later, Bowie was running back onto the stage and the rest of the guys were picking up their instruments as they waved to the crowd.
“Thank you so much!” Bowie yelled into the mic. “You really know how to make a guy feel good up here, so we’re gonna do one more for you.”
As everyone in the crowd jumped up and down, dancing and singing along, Andi gazed up at Bowie. He was singing his heart out, living his dream—and then, as the instrumental part of the song hit, Bowie walked over to the edge of the stage, squatted down, and reached out. Andi’s eyes grew wide. Did Bowie want her to get up onstage with him? At first she shook her head…but Bowie nodded emphatically and motioned for her to hurry.
“Go on, Andi! Get up there!” Bex said, squeezing her arm.
“Dooo eeet!” Cyrus agreed, giving her shoulder a little push.
She spun around to look at Bex and her friends, all waiting to see what she would do. Andi squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head again but then grabbed hold of Bowie’s hand and let him pull her up. Sure, she’d danced in front of people before, but this was different—and kind of terrifying. There were thousands of people out there! She glanced over at Bowie, slapped a hand over her eyes, and then finally went for it. Following along with Bowie’s moves and throwing down some of her own personal favorites, she danced harder than she’d ever danced before.
“Whoo!” Bex squealed. “Go, Andi!”
As she continued to dance, Andi looked down at her friends again and noticed that Jonah was staring up at her in complete awe. Andi smiled so hard her cheeks hurt. At last, she had proven to him that she was anything but boring. She was the kind of girl who went on crazy road trips on the back of Bex’s motorcycle, who went down giant slides, who got up and danced onstage with the Renaissance Boys…and she even would have entered the pizza-eating contest if Jonah hadn’t started to feel sick! But as cool as it was to know that Jonah was finally seeing her in a new light, the best feeling of all was that Andi saw herself differently. More
than that, she felt different—a bit stronger, a bit wilder, and a lot bolder.
In fact, she wasn’t just the kind of girl who would dance onstage with the band, Andi decided; she was the kind of girl who would pull other people up onstage to dance with her! But as she looked from Jonah to Cyrus, Bex to Buffy, she was torn over whom to grab. She knew Cyrus would be a hilarious dance partner, and Jonah would be beyond stoked to be up onstage with the band. Of course, Bex seemed like the natural choice to get up there with her and Bowie—a mini family affair. But that’s when Andi caught a glimpse of her henna tattoo, illuminated beneath the stage lights, and then looked down at Buffy as a spotlight also shined directly on Buffy’s tattoo.
Andi glanced at Bex one last time. She looked so happy! Then she glanced back at Buffy, who still seemed so bummed out. But as soon as Andi reached out and grabbed Buffy’s hand, it was as if she had sprinkled magic fairy dust on her, finally turning her back into the best friend Andi knew and loved. Together onstage, they threw down all the crazy moves they’d come up with during all the sleepovers they’d had throughout all the years of their lives. And even after everything they’d been through as friends, being up on that stage together was by far the absolute most fun Andi and Buffy had ever had.
As soon as the set wrapped up, Andi and Buffy and the rest of their group were immediately shuttled over to the side by a huge guy in a black T-shirt with CREW in white letters on the back, who told them to follow the band. Ultimately, after winding past all sorts of equipment and gear and down several dark corridors, they came to a huge tent with a sign that read BAND ACCESS ONLY.
“This is insane,” Buffy gasped, grabbing Andi’s hand as they followed the band.
“Right?” Andi shivered and glanced over at Buffy. “Can you believe we just danced onstage with the Renaissance Boys in front of, like, a million people?”
“I really can’t.” Buffy pulled Andi aside while the others followed the band into their private backstage tent. Then Buffy puffed out her lower lip and blinked back a tear as her eyes locked with Andi’s. “I’m sorry I’ve been so upset with you.”
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