Page 20 of Our Moon (JACT #1)

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 will be 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.

Trevor stomps over to Ally. “What the hell are you wearing?” he asks her in a hushed, angry tone.

“You don’t like it?”

“You need to put more clothes on!” Trevor insists.

Ally rolls her eyes, “I’m not putting more clothes on. I think I look nice.”

“I think you look nice, too!” one of the guys from the other band calls out from across the room.

Ally blushes, but still thanks him because that’s just how she is.

Trevor shoots the guy a death glare. Joey and Alex are sitting on the sofa, watching the whole interaction with amusement.

I don’t think I’ve moved from my spot since she walked in the room.

I did make sure my mouth was closed, though, and there was no drool .

“I just wanted to come back here and wish you all ‘good luck.’ You’re doing awesome tonight, and I’m so proud of you.”

Trevor visibly softens. “Thanks, sis.”

Ally grins at him, assuming she’s won this round. But I know Trevor, and he hasn’t forgotten the sinful outfit his sister is wearing.

“But you’re still not going back out there in that,” he scolds.

“Trevor! I’ve been out there for the last few bands,” Ally argues. She arrived late to the show because she had a swim meet she couldn’t miss.

“And you’re lucky I didn’t see you then,” he returns.

“But I don’t have anything else to wear.”

“Then I guess you’ll have to stay back here.”

Ally’s mouth drops open and sadness fills her face.

Oh, man. Why does she have to look so sad?

I’m completely on board with Trevor here, I don’t want her out there dressed like that for guys to drool over--I don’t count--or even worse, to grope, but I don’t want her to leave or have to hide out in the back either. Then I get an idea.

“Hold on,” I tell them both and run to the corner of the room where there are boxes of Battle of the Bands t-shirts. I find a size small and bring it back over to her. “Here, put this on.”

Ally takes the shirt, still looking disappointed, but looks up at me and gives a small smile. “Thanks, Chase.”

My heart thumps in my chest. I love being the reason this girl smiles.

Ally pulls the shirt over her undergarments--because let’s face it, that’s what they are–and she seems to brighten up as she hangs out and talks with us.

She talks about our competition and tells us why she thinks we’re better than them, what we have that they don’t, etc.

She easily accomplishes what we were trying to do before she walked in, and now we’re definitely psyched up and ready to get back on the stage.

***

We lose in our semi-final round, but getting to be on stage and seeing Ally right up front cheering us on was worth the whole experience. We play better in our final set than we did any of the others, and I know it was because we have our biggest cheerleader there with us.

I text her later that night.

Me: thx 4 coming 2nite .

Ally: Nowhere else I would have rather been. I’m just sorry I couldn’t have been there earlier.

Me: dont b sry, its not like u ditched us, u had something important

Ally: I know, but I can’t help but think I let you all down.

She thinks she let us down? Oh, hell no.

Me: stop it. u didnt let us down. we r all so proud of u 4 what you do in the pool. we wouldnt want u 2 miss that. U DID NOT LET US DOWN. got that?

Ally: Yeah, I got that. Thanks, Chase.

Me: ur welcome

Ally: I’m sorry you guys didn’t win.

Me: its ok, we were a mess.

Ally: Did you have fun, though?

I think about it. Did I have fun? Heck yeah, I did. Playing music with my best friends, people cheering us on, making new fans…it was a blast .

Me: yeah, i had a lot of fun.

Ally: Then that’s all that matters. I’ve lost my share of swim meets, but I still enjoyed being in the pool, doing my thing.

Ha. She’s only lost a handful of times in the five years she’s been swimming competitively. I know this because Mrs. Monroe was bragging about it at one of her meets this past summer.

Me: liar

Ally: What do you mean?

Me: u never lose

Ally: I do, too!

Me: how many?

Ally: It doesn’t matter.

Me: how many?

Ally: Sigh. Four.

Me: and how many have u won?

Ally: Like 20 or something.

Me: …

Ally: 2 7

That is something else I already know, thanks to Ally’s mom. Seventeen years old and she’s won twenty-seven competitions. That’s pretty significant considering she only competes once or twice every couple of months. She should be proud of that, not shy about it.

Me: thats pretty cool Al

Ally: Thanks. What you and the band does… that’s pretty cool, too, Chase.

Me: thx. nite Al

Ally: Good night, Chase.