"My fellow Americans," Madam President announced to the crowd gathered in front of the White House, "today is a great day for the history of both the United States of America, and mankind itself. Thanks to the efforts of three unlikely heroes, we have proven, once and for all, that man was on the moon back in '69, and in doing so, we have stopped corruption from ruining this country." It had been just the day before that two kids, Mike Goldwing and Amy Gonzalez, and Mike's grandfather, successfully returned from their mission to the moon, protecting the remnants of the original moon landing and, thanks to the help of their friend Marty Farr, thwarted Richard Carson's attempts to harvest Helium-3 from the moon and sell it to the world for his own gain. "Richard Carson was an evil man, who used the good faith of the people to trick us into thinking he was honouring his father's wish, but all he wanted was to use us to make money. But thanks to these brilliant kids and grandfather, he was thwarted and he will never trick our great nation ever again!"
The crowd applauded as Mike, Amy, Marty and Mike's grandad, Frank Goldwing, walked up the stage. Mike was wearing a light grey button down shirt with blue jeans and red canvas shoes. Amy was wearing a white tee and grey knee-high skirt with her usual pink hoodie and canvas shoes. Marty was wearing a Hawaiian shirt on top of a grey t-shirt, denim shorts and sandals, and was carrying his pet lizard Igor, who had been up on the moon with the others. Frank was wearing his NASA uniform.
"It is my honour to award these four heroes with medals of honour and bravery- for their services to their country and mankind, we are forever indebted to them."
One by one, she would place a medal on each of them, before shaking their hand out of respect. She smiled warmly at each of them as she did this, which they would also do in turn. When she was done, she gestured for Frank to step up to the podium and give a speech.
"Ladies and gentlemen," he started, keeping a serious face, "as much I would love to talk about what happened up there, I can't." The crowd murmured in confusion. "The simple fact is, it's not my place to do so." He looked over at Mike, smiling. "None of this would have been possible, if it wasn't for my grandson. What he did was reckless, stubborn and stupid. But at the same time, it was brave and noble, and I could not be more proud of him. If anyone is going to speak up here, it should be him."
Mike was surprised at this as his grandfather stepped down. Looking at Amy for advice, she smiled, as if to say 'go for it.' He smiled back, comforted by this, before stepping up to the podium
"Um, hi," he started nervously. "I'm not so good at, um, giving speeches, so if any of you have questions you'd like to ask, I'll do my best to answer them."
"Mike!" A reporter at the front of the crowd shouted. "What made you, a twelve-year-old boy, want to something that eleven men in history have done, and a number of others have died trying to do?"
"I know it sounds crazy when you put it like that, but I felt like this was the only way to reunite my family. You see, my grandfather was supposed to be part of the original moon landing, but was dropped at the last minute because he became sick, and after that he shut himself away. My dad never saw him properly for over forty years because of it, so when I heard NASA was sending people to the moon again, I managed to convince him to help out, hoping they'd reunite. But dad got injured, so he couldn't go to the moon either, and it just forced them further apart." The crowd was moved by this, particularly one guy who went 'so unfair'. "I figured that, if I could break the curse our family seemed to have, they would finally settle their differences and we could be a family again. And I think that I have achieved that."
The crowd applauded, before another reporter stood up. "Young man, every astronaut that has ever been chosen to go to space has been trained rigorously. How were you able to cope with the conditions of the atmosphere and the journey between th?"
"I had a little training. I looked at some footage from training by the guys who were meant to be going up and improvised."
"Also, I heard a rumour that the young girl who went up with you, Amy, is your girlfriend, correct?"
"No comment," he replied quickly, blushing. This caused mass laughter from the crowd, while Amy blushed as well, trying to hide her face. "I think I'll answer one more question."
He pointed at a female reporter, who stood up straight away. "Mike, how does it feel to be not only one of the few people to be on the moon, but also the first minor to do so, and your friend the first woman?"
"Besides amazing? It feels an honour and an unbeatable achievement, but I couldn't have done it without my friends or grandpa. Marty was able to keep us in communication with Earth, and no one would have known about Carson's true reasons without him, and without Amy, I'd never have even made it onto the base without being caught or eaten by alligators. But grandpa was the whole reason I did this, and it was an honour to serve under him. Thank you."
The crowd cheered as he stood down, returning to his friends, and the president returned to the podium.
"To honour their service, let this day, August 23rd, be forever known as Goldwing Day, and we will be hosting a celebration right here in their honour!"
Throughout the day, everyone who was involved in the previous day's mission, as well as the families of Mike, Amy and Marty, celebrated with a barbeque, live music and dancing. Mike mainly positioned himself at the edge of the celebrations, mainly speaking to the NASA employees and reporters who walked up to him and offered their congratulations for his mission.
"Big party, huh?" he heard Marty say as the redhead and Igor approached him from behind. "What are you doing all the way out here? You're a hero, you should be in there, basking in the glory of it all."
"Eh, I'm cool," was all Mike said as he looked at the mass of people. "I can't believe we did it. I was on the moon, we stopped a crazy billionaire from claiming the moon for its energy, and yet we're twelve."
"So? Besides, without us, that guy'd be running the world. Whatever happened to him?"
"No one knows. I think he died in the explosion, but I didn't exactly have time to check." Looking across the crowd, he saw a familiar head of blonde hair. "Hey, is that Blondie? And Jose and Ray? How'd they get in here?"
"Oh, yeah, they got caught by security trying to get in on their own, but they saw me and I told them to let those guys in. They told me they couldn't believe what had happened and wanted us to have another match with them this Saturday. Bet Blondie's finally noticed you, huh?"
"I guess." He looked at Marty and saw that he was laughing. "What?"
"Are you sure Amy's not your girlfriend, dude?"
"What!?" he pushed his friend out of embarrassment. "Dude, that's not- I mean-"
"Mike, chill out. I know what happened up there, and from the sounds of it, I'd say you like her. And more importantly, I think she likes you too."
"Maybe," he rubbed his arms nervously, "but how would I go about, well, talking to her about that?"
"Well, how would you talk to her about anything else? She's your friend, Mike, it's not that hard. Just go for it." He looked over towards his dad, who was beckoning to him. "Oh, great. I gotta go, my dad wants me. Look, just find her and talk to her. She'll listen, dude."
"Okay. Thanks, Marty." Once Marty had gone, Mike took a deep breath and made his way through the crowd of people, looking for his friend. When he saw her in an opening by a drinks tent, he smiled and made his way over to her. She smiled as she saw him approach her. "Hey, Amy!"
"Hey, Mike!" she replied. "This has been a crazy week, huh?"
"I know! Less than a month ago, we were just some kids who liked to surf, and now we're technically astronauts who are heroes! I bet this is a good story for you on the blog, huh?"
"Not just the blog. I'm being asked by big newspaper companies, online news sites, all sorts of media companies to write an article about what happened. Not to mention, we've got a spot on the next episode of the Jay Lemmon Show."
"No way! That's awesome!" He found himself captivated by her. "Wow."
"What?" She looked around in confusion. "What is it?"
"Nothing, it's just… Wow, you look- you look amazing."
"Thank you," her cheeks turned pink, "you look pretty handsome too."
"Look, this may be a bit of a big question, but I was wondering-"
"Amy!" they heard a group of kids shout, and when they turned around, Mike was knocked away by a number of Amy's brothers, sisters, cousins and other family members, who pretty much carried her away. She shrugged at Mike, shouting "I'll talk to you later."
Mike sighed, walking away from the tent for a bit. He looked up and saw his grandfather, stood with both Mike's father, Scott, and mother, Sam, and his little sister Tess. Frank saw him and beckoned him over.
"Michael," he spoke in his gruff tone, "I want to thank you. You saved my life up there, and you seem to have saved this family as well."
"Grandpa, I finally managed to get you to come out of that retirement home for once. I wasn't going to leave you up there."
"Mike," his father cut in, "when I heard you were in that rocket, I was more scared than I had ever been in my entire life. But knowing that you were able to do the one thing that I was unable to do, and that you were able to do it on your own. I may be jealous of you for doing that, but I couldn't care less, because I am so proud of you."
"I could not be more proud of you, Mike," his mother added, bending down to hug her son, "but please don't ever scare me like that again."
"Don't worry, mom," Mike replied, "I doubt I'll be going back up there anytime soon anyway."
"Also, Mike, we have a little surprise." Mike looked up, intrigued as Sam, Scott and Frank smiled at each other.
"As you know, I wasn't there for your father's birthday this year, or for a number of years now. But now, I have a late gift for him. We've talked it out, and I've decided that it's time I was with my family again, so I'm going to be moving in with you, because I've got about forty years worth of time to try and make up for."
"Are you serious! That's awesome!" He hugged his grandad eagerly, Frank chuckling as he hugged the twelve-year-old back. "I can't believe it."
"Don't worry, Mike. I'll need a couple of weeks to make everything concrete, but I'll be living with you guys soon enough." He knelt down to look him in the eye. "Now, go on. I'm sure you'll want to find your girlfriend."
Mike blushed, frowning. "She's not my girlfriend."
"Mike likes Amy! Mike likes Amy!" Tess chanted, causing Sam and Scott to chuckle.
"Shut up, twerp. I've gotta go, I'll catch up with you later." He walked away and saw Amy out in a clearing. As he got closer, however, he saw that Jose was talking to her, and she seemed to be smiling at him. When she saw Mike, however, she gasped. "Of course."
Amy ran towards him.
"There you are. Look, I was only talking to him, it's not what it looks like."
"No, really, it's fine," Mike said, downcast. "I don't mind. Really. Look, I need to go, Marty needs my help with something. I'll catch you later."
"Mike, wait!" He simply walked away, causing her to sigh sadly. Frank had seen this and frowned, walking away. As he did so, he bumped into the president.
"Ah, mister Goldwing," she greeted him, "I take it you are enjoying these celebrations?"
"Yes, thank you, Madam President," he saluted, "my family are very grateful for all of this."
"You don't need to be so formal with me today. You look as if something is on your mind."
"Actually, ma'am, if I may, I need your help with a small task. My son appears to be shy, and-"
"I know exactly what you are referring to." She smiled warmly. "I think I can help you."
As the day went on, people slowly grew tired, and once the sky was dark, it was time for the final song. Mike was sat with his family, waiting to hear the band perform. Before they appeared, however, the president approached him.
"Michael, Frank, would you come with me please?" she asked them. "We have a special seat arranged for you for this final number."
Frank stood up first, nodding, so Mike followed suit. They were led into the White House and up the stairs, out onto a balcony where Amy and Marty were already waiting.
"About time you got here!" Marty called out to them. "Come on, the band's about to start!"
As the president walked back to the stairs, Mike and Frank sat down, with Frank next to Marty and Mike next to Amy. She smiled at him as he sat down, and he returned the smile.
"Ladies and gentlemen," they heard a man say into a microphone, "for our final song, singing 'I'll Reach You', it's Auryn!"
The audience applauded as the band began, a light guitar riff filling the air with music. Looking up, Mike noticed the sky was full of stars, with a shooting star crossing the sky.
"A shooting star!" he said, pointing it out to the others. They all looked up in awe, with Mike turning to Marty. "What did you wish for?"
"To kiss a supermodel," the nerdy one of the group replied, causing Amy to laugh. "Hey, it could happen!"
"I don't bother with wishing," Frank told them, "I feel that if I wished for everything I wanted in life, I wouldn't be able to appreciate it. Besides, I have everything I could ever dream of already."
"What about you, Amy?" Mike asked. She turned and smiled at him.
"I already have what I wished for." As the beat dropped and slowly picked up, she grabbed his hand and looked him in the eyes, smiling. He smiled back, grabbing her other hand. Their heads slowly tilted towards each other's, before their lips finally met. And this time, they both wanted it. The beat picked up in an instant and fireworks filled the sky, flashes of blue, red and white. But all they could notice was the sensation that filled them as they kissed each other. When they broke it, they couldn't stop looking at each other. "Did you get your wish?"
"And so much more."
She got out her phone and turned on the camera, Mike putting his arm around her as they smiled. She took the photo, and they looked at it. The flash of fireworks in the background surrounded them, almost forming a heart.
"About time you went for it!" Marty burst out loud. They shook their heads at him, before facing the show again, hand in hand.
I'll reach you…