Rocket To The Moon.

I woke up at around 10am on Saturday morning. As usual, Rocket was up before me. I found him in the living room, staring at the blank TV screen. He was still wearing his pajamas, which incidentally, didn’t include a shirt. I got that same wordless feeling that I had last time I had seen him without a shirt, when he was making his way back from the shower. He had an amazing body, despite the fact that he was extremely skinny…it looked good on him. It took me a few moments to compose myself and get over it, and I then sat down in a chair on the other side of the room. I established a long time ago that Rocket didn’t like people sitting near him, I learned this on the second day he was with us, when I took a seat next to him on the sofa and he had shoved me straight off. After a few minutes, I spoke.

“Good morning” I said, with a friendly yet cautious tone of voice.

He didn’t respond.

“Umm…Rocket?” I began.

“Hmm?” he continued to look intently at the blank screen, as if he were closely following the plot of a high tension mystery movie.

“Well, there’s a party at the beach tonight, and I was wondering if you wanted to…”

“I’m not going” he cut me off.

“Oh…okay…” If you haven’t already worked it out, my plan was to ask him if he wanted to go with me, just to get him out the house and doing something social, and maybe even get him to enjoy himself. But when I thought about it afterwards, that notion seemed ridiculous. If he’d have said yes, I would have been deeply concerned about his mental state. It’s just not something Rocket gets himself involved with.

“But, can I ask you something else?” I said, experiencing a sudden surge of courage.

He nodded slightly.

“You still never fully explained why you acted that way at the park. What made you just walk away? And why did you deny me when I called you a hero?” I asked. Actually, my tone wasn’t that questioning, it was more demanding.

“That was two questions” Rocket stated casually, still staring at the TV.

“Don’t play smart with me, you bastard. What are you trying to hide anyway?” by now, my tone was becoming gradually more pissed off. Rocket detected my anger.

“If I tell you, will you shut the hell up?” he asked.

“Sure” I replied, still angry.

“But it’s very important that you keep this to yourself”

“Alright”

“You can’t tell anyone. Not the parents. Not even that friend of yours…the blonde one…Grace? Is it?”

“Gracie” I corrected him.

“Whatever. Just keep your mouth shut”

“Okay! I promise I won’t tell anyone! Can we just get on with this?” I grilled impatiently.

“And listen” he brought his eyes away from the TV and made eye contact with me. His pale blue eyes seemed to pierce right through me. They were stunningly handsome, but equally as intimidating “The only reason I’ve agreed to tell you this, is because I kinda trust you” he shrugged.

“WHAT!?”I had no idea how to respond to that. Rocket, the boy who had been totally closed off, quiet, arrogant, and who had barely spoken to me for the last four years, just told me he trusted me. That was such an un-Rocket-like thing to say I at first doubted what I was hearing. But he confirmed it for me.

“You understand?” he said. I had no idea how he was managing to remain so casual about this.

“Yeah” I whispered breathlessly. I couldn’t quite believe what was going on. Rocket Leighton, adopted son of Trevor and Madison Leighton - the boy who’s real name I didn’t even know, was confiding in me; he was telling me something, because he trusted me. It all felt alien and wrong, and it was making my head hurt, but nevertheless, I was compelled by my curiosity to find out.
Rocket opened his mouth and drew in a breath, about to speak.

“GOOD MORNING!” Madison poked her head around the doorframe “What do you kids want for breakfast?”

Rocket immediately stood up and threw down the cushion he was holding.

“Tonight” he said to me, before storming off upstairs.

“Is he okay?” Madison asked, with a perplexed expression on her face.

“Probably” I shrugged.

“So…breakfast?” Madison asked weakly.

“Is there any pineapple left?” I asked.

“Think so” Madison replied.

“Okay. I’ll make myself a fruit salad in a minute” I said.

“Sure thing” Madison disappeared again. Of course someone had to ruin the moment! He was about to tell me, right on the verge of saying it, when she had totally destroyed the atmosphere. Of course, I’m not blaming her, because she didn’t know. And if she hadn’t done it - someone else would have. But now I had to wait until tonight to find out.

At 6pm, I left to go down to the beach. I could see from the balcony outside my bedroom that the party had already started, and it wasn’t even dark yet, so I put on my best bathing suit (white, with black flowers on it, and pink outlines), and threw on a light summery dress over the top. Despite the fact that they weren’t really beach appropriate, I put on my Converse. I always wear Converse. Even to the beach.I found Christa waiting for me where she said she would be, round the back of the live music stage.

“Hero!” she hugged me when I arrived.

“Hi!” I hugged her back.

“Adam’s surf contest starts in 15 minutes. The guys have gone down already to save us a good view. Let’s go find them” she said.I followed Christa down to the front of the beach where, sure enough, Sean, Hunter and Luke awaited us. Milliseconds after I had made my presence known I felt myself being swallowed up in a group hug.

“Hero, you look HOT today” Hunter said once the group hug had broken apart, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively, but in a jokey way.

I laughed “Thanks”

“Back off. She’s mine!” Luke grinned and slipped his arm around my waist “You look gorgeous” he whispered softly into my ear. The feeling of his soft lips brushing against my skin made me feel all tingly.

Suddenly, the screech of a microphone brought the chatter amongst the audience to silence.

“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!” the announcer, a blonde boy standing on top of a lifeguard tower, bellowed eagerly down a microphone “WELCOME TO THE 2010, ANNUAL SOLEIL BEACH SURF CONTEST!”

The crowd erupted with cheers as the blonde announcer threw his arms into the air, prompting them.

“MY NAME IS BRAD AND I’M GONNA BE YOUR HOST FOR TONIGHT. ARE WE HAVING A GOOD TIME DOWN HERE ON THE COAST TONIGHT, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!?”

More cheers.

“OUR FIRST CONTESTANT GOES BY THE NAME OF TONY ELLERBY! IF YOU HAVEN’T HEARD OF THIS GUY, YOU NEED TO GET DOWN HERE MORE OFTEN, DUDE!”

“I haven’t heard of him” I whispered to Luke.

“He’s won this competition like five years in a row, not to mention all these other contests and shit. He’s like, state champion” Luke replied.

“Oh…” I gave an understanding nod “So, I take it Adam has some tough competition, right?”

“Does he ever” Luke agreed.

“SO HERE HE IS, THE LEGEND OF THE WAVES THAT IS, TONY ELLERBY!”More loud cheers from the crowd as “The Legend Of The Waves” mounted his board. I have to admit, he was pretty good.

Adam was the last to go, as he had entered pretty late. So we had to wait over an hour for his turn.

“AND LAST UP, LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, WE HAVE A NEW KID. THIS IS HIS FIRST TIME COMPETING, SO LET’S ALL GIVE A BIG HAND TO ADAM YARREL!”

The cheers from out small group of people were the louder than the rest of the beach.

“COME ON, ADAM! YOU CAN DO THIS, BUDDY!” Hunter practically screamed. I watched in amazement as Adam smoothly glided over the waves as if it were as easy as walking. His balance was more than perfect, and every trick he did was made to look so easy. Once he had finished, the crowd reaction was totally outstanding. He was getting more screams than that Tony Ellerby guy.

“WOW. THAT WAS ADAM YARREL, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. HE IS JUST SIXTEEN YEARS OLD! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?” Brad hollered down his microphone.

To be honest, I was getting kinda sick of him calling us “Ladies and Gentlemen“.

“THE WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED IN 30 MINUTES, SO STICK AROUND, GUYS!”

We ran to the competitors area where we greeted Adam with hugs and congratulations.

“You were awesome out there!” I said, giving him a huge pat on the back.

“Thanks, Hero” he said, a little breathlessly.

“You must be so psyched right now” Sean said.

“Actually, I’m pretty fucking nervous” Adam replied.

“But you owned out there, dude!” Luke said.

“No way” Adam disagreed.“Yes way!” Christa argued. This went on for a while, and I watched the five of them with a content smile on my face. These were my new friends, and it made me happy to think that. I would have to introduce them to Gracie at some point…she’d absolutely love them.

“Help us out here, Hero! Convince Adam that he’s good!” Hunter demanded.

“He’s more than good” I said casually. And the argument continued, until it was interrupted by none other than Tony Ellerby.

“*Dramatic music…Dun…DUN…DUUUUUN!*”

“Hey, Yarrel! You fucking sucked! Get a haircut!” he said, before sniggering like a small child and swaggering away to torment some other contestants.

“Was that supposed to be an insult?” Christa asked after he had gone. We all shrugged.The rest of the night was pretty much the definition of awesome. Adam won the surf contest, much to Ellerby’s dismay, and had received a $300 cash prize and a trophy. We had spent the following hour or two chilling out at the bar drinking virgin cocktails until it was time for their band to go and set up. I sat on the side of the stage watching them as they did this, feeling useless. I wanted to help out, but I wouldn’t know how to. There was so many fucking wires…After sound-checking, Adam counted the band in, and Hunter brought in the first few chords on his guitar. I’d never heard the band play before, and it was a very exciting experience. I hopped down off the stage and made my way into the audience so I could get a better look at them all playing, and maybe get some picture too. I smiled widely without even realising it. Their music was melodic, catchy, and in-time…everything I look for in a band. From what I could hear already, everyone played their instruments extremely well. When the vocals came in, I smiled wider. Sean had a great voice, and it finished off the awesomeness of the song perfectly. I cheered them on and danced in time with the music, losing myself in the moment and not caring about how much of an idiot I looked. They finished off the first song and received a sufficient amount of cheering from the crowd.

“Hi” Sean spoke nervously into the microphone “We’re The Movie”

Christa had told me that they got their band name from the Motion City Soundtrack album “I Am The Movie”.

“We’re a local band. And…umm…we’ve never played in front of an audience this big before, so bear with us” Sean said “Oh yeah, and if you could just give a hand to our drummer, Adam, who as you probably know, just won the surf contest”

Cheers rose up from the crowd and Adam grinned, but buried his face in his arms.

“He’s kinda shy” Christa laughed into her microphone “But don’t worry, we’re gonna make him dance later”

Adam’s head shot up, and he shook his head vigorously. Christa laughed again. Someone from the audience shouted “Strip tease!”.

“What’s that?” Sean grinned “Strip tease? Adam will do one for you later” he winked. The entirety of the female audience screamed. Adam shook his head again, but was laughing.

“Okay, this next song is a cover” Sean announced, with much more confidence now “It’s by a band called Motion City Soundtrack, and it’s called ‘This Is For Real’”

I screamed.

Loud.

That was one of my favourite songs. I guess Luke must have told them or something. But when he announced that they were going to play that, I freaked out completely. Sean brought the song in with vocals, and his voice was perfectly fitting for Justin Pierre’s.

“I’ve got emotion dripping out my pores, and I thought I would let you know:

You are the night-light ripping through my wicked world,How you make it sparkle and glow.

Before I lose control; there’s just one thing you should know.

This is for real,

This time I mean it,

I’m coming clean, please don’t let go.

I said from the start that you could take it or leave it,

I’d prefer that you keep it.

Don’t let go.

This is the best thing that I’ve ever had for real”

I was loudly singing along to the song, blatantly unaware that I am actually an awful singer, and jumping up and down on the spot. Luke and Christa started laughing at me and I blushed. But that slight bit of embarrassment didn’t stop me. I was having the time of my life. California had proved to be totally amazing and I had been having so much more fun than when I was back at home. I really preferred it there, and I was having the most fun I’d had in a very long time. Little did I know, that my night was about to change drastically.

“This Is For Real” finished, and the band started to play a more downbeat song of their’s. I was quite thankful, as it gave me a chance to relax and stop jumping around so much.Someone tapped me on the shoulder, and I turned round to see none other than Tony Ellerby!

“Dun…DUN…DUUUUUUN! (Yeah, he has his own theme tune now)”

“Can I get you a drink?” he asked.

“No thanks” I declined his offer.

“I saw you with Yarrel earlier…does that mean you’re with the band?” he asked.

“What’s it to you?”

“Just wondering. Are you sure you’re not up for that drink?” he seemed persistent.

“I’m fine. Really”

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous. I’ll go get you one now” he disappeared into the crowd and headed towards the bar. I sighed in frustration. What part of “No” didn’t he understand?

He returned a few minutes later and handed me a Coke.

“Here”

“Thanks? I guess…” I took it from him and sipped it cautiously. It had a weird kind of taste to it, different from normal Cola that was subtle, but still noticeable. I stopped drinking immediately.

“What have you put in this?” I asked.

“Nothing!”

“What the fuck have you put in this?”

He looked down with a guilty expression on his face.

“Are you trying to fucking drug me?” I threw the drink on the ground and stomped on it.

“Just, come with me” he took my arm and tried to lead me away.

“I’m not going anywhere with you, asshole!” I tried to pull my arm away but he tightened his grip.

“I said, come with me” he was now using force. Using both of his muscular, athletic arms he started pulling me away. I was too weak to free myself from him or use force against him. I tried calling, screaming for help, but my voice over the sound of the music and the crowd was nothing more than a puny squeak. I tried to grab the attention of the band. Luke and Christa were both looking down at their instruments, their hair hanging over their eyes and blocking their view of me. Hunter was running around too much and not being still enough to notice or be able to see me. Adam was concentrating too hard on his drumming and Sean was singing with his eyes closed.

“Fuck. I hate it when people sing with their eyes closed!”

Before I knew it, the party was becoming a faded blur on the other end of the beach. The music gradually decreasing in volume as we got further and further away.

“Let me go! Where are you taking me!?” I shrieked, kicking and trying so hard to wrestle myself out of his strong grasp.

“Stop struggling” he said “That won’t get you anywhere”

I didn’t stop struggling. A few minutes later I couldn’t hear or see the party anymore. We were alone in one of many caves in the rock face. Finally, we stopped moving, and I seized the opportunity to free myself from him and start to run. I couldn’t have gone further than three metres when I felt the dull pain in the back of my head. The hollow thump that sounded like a fist hitting wood.

My vision became blurry.

I started to lose consciousness.