Fame & Rhythm (Off Your Rocker: The New Era #1)

Preface

The Beginning of Us

Annie

It’s a hot summer day, the kind where the sun sticks to your skin and the grass prickles under your bare feet as you run. I race toward the willow tree, laughing, my curls bouncing around my face.

I turned five today. Everyone is in my backyard for my party—balloons, cake, music—but I don’t care about any of that.

I just want Aston.

“Aston, c’mon!” I yell over my shoulder as he struggles to keep up.

“I’m coming, Annie!” he calls back.

I slow when I reach the willow tree, ducking beneath the long, swaying branches. It’s our spot. Our favorite place in the whole wide world. The leaves hang low like a curtain, hiding us from everything else.

From everyone else.

Aston barrels into me a second later, tackling me to the ground. I squeal as we tumble onto the soft grass, laughing so hard my tummy hurts.

“You run too fast for a girl,” he says, pushing himself up on his elbows.

I shake my head, giggling. “No, Ast. You run too slow for a boy.”

He flops onto his back beside me, then tilts his head toward the house, where the faint sound of music drifts across the yard.

“Do you think they know we’re here?” he asks.

I shake my head quickly. “Nuh-uh… this is our special place. No one can see us here.”

“Not even that spider?” he says.

I gasp, scrambling up. “What? Where?”

He points to the tree trunk where a tiny spider crawls slowly over the bark.

“Ew, Ast! Make it go away.”

He laughs, getting to his feet, then wraps his arms around me for a second. “It won’t hurt you, Annie. It’s just a little guy.”

Tears sting my eyes anyway. “I don’t like him. Please take him away.”

“Okay, okay,” he says gently.

He grabs a leaf from the ground and carefully nudges the spider onto it, like it might break if he’s too rough.

“Don’t let it bite you,” I call, hovering behind him.

“I won’t,” he says.

He walks all the way to the edge of the lake and tosses the leaf onto the water, where it floats, drifting away.

“See? Spiders can’t swim. He’s stuck out there now. He can’t hurt you.”

Relief rushes through me. I run to him, wrapping my arms around his middle and pressing a kiss to his cheek. “You’re my hero, Aston.”

He turns in my arms before I can move away and presses a quick kiss to my lips.

I freeze, then shove him back, wiping my mouth furiously. “Gross, Ast! Now I have boy germs.”

He laughs, dropping back onto the grass beneath the willow tree as if nothing had happened.

“We’re best friends, Annie. We can’t catch germs from each other.”

I hesitate for a second, then walk back over and hold out my hand, and he takes it without even thinking.

“Best friends forever?” I ask.

He smiles, big and certain, and squeezes my fingers.

“Best friends forever.”