Arrows & Anchors (SAMPLE)

Chapter 1: Rush

In a way, it was kind of mind-boggling: the chance to earn a piece of time and attention from them was real. For the briefest moment, I allowed myself to imagine the possibility of Laina's musical heroes giving her a smile—a grin meant just for her—and...

"Watch out!" Laina cried, effectively breaking through my slipping thoughts.

Gaining entry onto the highway beside me was another car—the driver of which was about to cut me off. In fluid motions, I switched lanes and adjusted my mirror before accelerating again. Being able to do so told me just one thing: rush hour traffic had, ever so thankfully, died down earlier than usual that night.

The roads—that were usually a sardine-packed mess—were merely loosely scattered with vehicles. For seven o'clock on a Friday, I could not have asked for better driving conditions.

Perhaps, I thought, a divine entity had aided us somehow, as we breezed past three more exits in record time. It was difficult to comprehend we were only ten minutes away from the arena at that point. Should I have been fortunate enough to find decent parking there, this could have turned out to be a piece of cake.

Almost too easy, it seemed... all things considered.

This thought had me settling a little further into my car seat—covered in black fabric—and Laina did the same. That was, until her index finger reached for a particular button on my previously muted radio panel.

Abruptly, the CD changer switched discs and the treble began to surround us. Toward a grinning Laina I glanced, and began to feel the stress in my body oozing out. Replacing it, instead, was rising excitement.

We were going to hear this. Live. Tonight. It was actually happening. Nearly a half-year of waiting was over, and we were just minutes away from having the time of our lives.

Ascend the Stars was here, in our city, and our seats were close enough to later witness the beads of sweat drip from their foreheads.

Upon my balm-soaked lips, a smirk kept growing—involuntarily widening—and Laina noticed. In reaction to my own perceivable joy, Laina began scream-singing at the top of her lungs. If the gig in retail did not work out for her, I imagined my best friend to have a plausible career in karaoke performance... if such a thing even existed.

Even her halfhearted attempts at the sparely-sprinkled vocal growls were entirely amusing. All I could do was laugh—softly at first, then uncontrollably as her avidity grew with each line. It was an impulsive action to roll the windows down. Into Tucson's nighttime atmosphere, I let all of the cool air out of my small car.

With my fingers on the radio's volume dial—turning it up even further—I could feel the enveloping warmth of the June wind. It whipped against our skin, and through each strand of hair atop both of our heads. The vision of this must have caught the attention of the driver beside us—a young guy, who was splitting his focus between driving and watching our enthusiastic performance.

Even his smile was contagious—and he did flash us a flirtatious one, with his thumb in the air—as I moved one lane to the right, and took our exit toward the venue with ease. Eight blocks and seemingly only seconds later, we were pulling into the crammed parking lot. Out the car window, I held a twenty dollar bill, trading it for a parking sticker from the older, bored-looking attendant.

Alternative rock bands were clearly not his cup of tea.

As I wove through and around the gravel—searching for just one vacant spot—I could hear music vibrating from the buzzing arena. The song being performed was definitely not one belonging to Ascend the Stars, nor the headlining artist. At this discovery, dots connected in my discomposed head: we were going to catch their whole set.