CHAPTER FOURTEEN
━━━━ season one, episode fourteen

myTAB and my pet!
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

"Rise and shine, sleepy heads!" Ally looked down at her friends in their sleeping bags, and Dez was the first to jolt awake, obviously startled by being woken up this early, when he found Ally stood by, holding a frying pan in her hand. "We have a big day ahead. The myTab 6 goes on sale in only 13 hours." Austin yawned, slowly propping up onto his hands. "How do you like your eggs?"

"Four hours from now." Austin grumbled tiredly before adding: "And scrambled." Ally nodded at him and stepped back over to the tables, leaving him and Dez to fully wake up. The blond turned his head and rubbed his eyes before pulling his hands away when he noticed Adelaide was still sleeping soundly. "Addy!" He groaned, reaching over to try and shake her awake.

Adelaide mumbled incoherent sounds and threw her arm out to the side. "Five more minutes." She murmured softly.

Austin shook his head, letting a sigh leave his lips before feigning a loud gasp. "Those strawberries look amazing."

Adelaide squealed. "I'm up! I'm up!" She shot up at his words, sitting up in her sleeping bag. "I'm awake." She muttered, trying to look for the very thing that Austin pointed out. When she couldn't seem to find what she was looking for, she turned her head and narrowed her eyes at the boy.

"If we have to be awake, then so do you." Austin simply explained.

The girl scowled. "You monster."

"Why did you have to wake us up at..." The Wade boy peered down to his wrist to check the time on his watch, when his eyes almost popped out of their sockets. "6am?! Everybody else is still sleeping— even the mall statue guy."

Ally began handing out warm beverages. "I woke you up so we can enjoy this together. We're doing this as a team. Right, Trish?" She didn't receive a response from her friend, making her furrow her eyebrows. "Trish?" She called out to her again as the boys were getting up. Adelaide hung her head back and groaned before reluctantly grabbing the hand that Austin held out to her and helped her up. Ally crouched down and tried to shake Trish awake — who still hadn't moved at all or uttered a single word. She pulled back the sleeping bag, and sighed heavily when she found the top half of a mannequin wearing a black curly-haired wig in her place, before she pulled it out.

As Ally turned to her sister and the boys, the real Trish De La Rosa used this as her opportunity to try and sneak back in and pretend like she'd been with them all night. Just as Trish made it back to her sleeping bag, Ally cleared her throat, causing Trish to lift her head up before a nervous chuckle slipped out. "Oh, hey guys. I totally slept here. In fact, I'm sleeping now. I'm sleepwalking."

"You're also sleep lying." Austin stated.

"Fine." Trish sighed. "I didn't sleep here. Why do we have to wait in this ridiculous line if we're only getting one myTab anyway?"

"First of all, because it's fun. Whoo!" Ally flipped a pancake in the air and failed miserably at trying to catch it on the plate.

Austin raised his brows. "Skip to 'second of all'."

"Second of all," She began to say after putting the plate and spatula down on the table, and then she held up a poster of the myTab 6 being advertised, to them. "myTabs are the hottest thing out there. If we don't get it today, it'll be several months before TechTown gets another shipment in."

"I can't wait months." Dez pointed out. "I really need the new video editing app."

"I really need the new music recording app."

"And I really need to re-sell our myTab for five times what we pay for it."

"We're not re-selling it." Ally declined. "I hear there's an awesome cloud identifying app. I'm gonna be the coolest girl in my cloud watching club."

Austin smiled awkwardly. "If you really wanna be cool, never mention cloud watching club again."

Trish looked around at everyone in the mall who were still sleeping. "If all we're gonna do is wait in this line, can't we go back to sleep?" She asked, which sounded more like begging.

"No," Ally quickly answered, earning a frown off Adelaide. "because in exactly five seconds," Ally turned around with her back facing her friends as Austin and Dez returned to their sleeping bags to lay down. Ally picked the crate off the floor that was covered with a blanket and turned back to the girls with a bright smile. "it's officially Owen's birthday!" She pulled back the blanket to reveal her pet bird. "Happy birthday Owen. Or should I say bird-thday?"

"You should say birthday." Adelaide mentioned before moving over to stand by Austin's sleeping bag and gave the blond a gentle kick to keep him awake. "Hey," She shrugged when the boy made a mumbling noise and glared up at his friend for not letting him fall back to sleep. "if we have to be awake, then so do you." She mocked his previous words, smiling innocently at him.

"I can't believe you brought Owen to wait in line with us."

"He can keep us company," Ally told Trish. "and tell us stories."

"Ally, your bird doesn't talk." Austin pointed out, and Adelaide arched a brow at him. Surprisingly, he couldn't be further from the truth.

"He talks." Ally insisted before shifting her brown eyes down to the bird. "Don't you, Owen? Come on, like we practiced. 'Ally's cool. Ally's cool'."

"Maybe he can talk, but he just can't tell a lie." Dez laughed.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

Team Austin was still at the food court, in line for the new myTab. The area was cluttered with open presents and wrapping paper, after they had just finished opening Owen's gifts. "And that's your last birthday present, Owen. Sorry I didn't get you a lot this year." Ally said, looking down at her pet cockatiel who chirped.

"Didn't get him a lot?" Trish echoed in disbelief before reminding her best friend, "We've been watching you open bird presents for three hours."

As Owen continued to chirp in his cage, Austin spotted a familiar brunette heading their way and he instantly tensed up. "Uh oh, Dez, here comes Mindy." He quickly warned his best friend.

"Oh no. She has a crush on me." The Wade boy stressed, and turned to Trish, putting his hands on her shoulders when he panicked, "Hide me!"

"I'll hide you." Trish nodded through her lie, and the redhead yelped when he was suddenly shoved forward and stopped right behind the brunette, who slowly turned around to face him when she noticed his presence, and a bright smile curved her mouth. "Hey, Dezzy-cakes. Did you get my flowers?" Mindy asked him.

Dez furrowed his brows, gesturing to himself in confusion. "You sent me flowers?"

"No. Did you get me, my flowers?" She corrected him. Dez's eyes darted around in every direction, desperately trying to find any random flowers or at least an acceptable substitute. He ran over and ripped out some flowers from a plant close by before rushing back over to give them to Mindy, who blushed at the gesture. "Awww. Thank you."

Dez immediately returned to his friends as Mindy turned to her friend, resuming their conversation in line. "Wait, Al—" Adelaide cut herself off when she tried to stop her sister from going over to the brunette, knowing just what she was about to say to her, but Ally didn't hear her. "Uh, Mindy," Ally tapped the girl on the back, smiling awkwardly as she reminded her, "you can't cut in line. No cutsies."

"But she was just saving my space."

"Also, no savesies." Ally continued in an awkward manner. "Sorry. Back of the line."

"Okay," Mindy breathed out, "I don't know why you're so mean to me," She inched towards her, causing Ally to start backing away, "because I'm always so nice to you." Owen continued to chirp in his cage, making Mindy snap, "Will you shut your stupid bird up?!"

Adelaide cleared her throat, standing awkwardly behind her sister to pull her away, but Ally gaped at Mindy, offended by that insult towards her pet cockatiel. "I'll have you know, my bird is not stupid. He talks a lot."

"Well I wonder where he gets that from." Mindy replied sarcastically, before slamming her flowers to the ground and turned to leave, only to pause a few steps in to wave flirtatiously at the Wade boy who widened his eyes slightly in fear, mirroring her gesture. Mindy then blew him a kiss before continuing on her way.

"Arr, ye bird is so loud!" Pirate Frank said to Ally when Owen chirped once again. Gesturing to the fake parrot stationed on his shoulder, he pointed out, "Me bird's been here all night, she hasn't made a peep."

Adelaide furrowed her eyebrows. "Pirate Frank, your bird's not real." She reminded him, just as Ally's phone buzzed, making her pick it up from the table. As she read the message that popped up on the screen, a frown etched onto her face before she lifted her head up and looked towards her sister. "Aw, that was dad. He wants us to watch the store today."

Adelaide pouted. "Both of us?"

"I guess so." Ally shrugged. "Depends how busy it is when we get there."

"Don't worry." Austin chimed in, gesturing to his best friend beside him. "We can keep waiting in line and you can meet us later."

"I'm going with the twins." Trish then announced while making her way over to where the two girls were standing, before yawning. "I'm tired from hanging out here all night."

"You weren't here all night." Dez reminded.

"Okay, I'm just tired of hanging out with you."

Adelaide tilted her head slightly, expressing her uncertainty. "I don't know about leaving you two in line alone..." She pointed out, while Ally went over to pick up Owen's bird cage. Adelaide raised a brow and asked them, "Can we trust you both to hold our place?"

Dez snorted. "Can they trust us?" Sharing a look with the blond, they scoffed out a laugh, making Adelaide purse her lips at the pair.

"Girls, please. It's not that hard to stand in line."

"Yeah, the key is to stay focused." Dez explained, before of course, getting distracted. "Hey, is that a balloon?" He took a step out of the line to try and follow the balloon, but Austin grabbed him and pulled him back before he could. He looked over at the girls with an awkward smile. "You can trust us."

Adelaide hummed in disbelief. "Sure. I'll believe it when I see it." She said, making Austin pout at her like a five-year old child would.

Ally snickered and started to walk away with her sister and Trish behind her, only to briefly pause to announce to everyone: "Attention everyone! I am leaving the line, but my friends are holding my space. However, since we are only buying one myTab, this is not a violation of the no-savesies rule. In addition—"

"No one cares!" Mindy interrupted her. "Leave already!"

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

The Dawson twins were in Sonic Boom, working behind the counter while Trish stood by, leaning on the countertop with the magazine that she was reading, in her hands, when she noticed a couple workers stroll past, pushing a popcorn machine along with them. "What's with the popcorn machine?" Trish asked.

Ally looked up from the cash register and smiled through her response: "Our dad found it in the dumpster behind the movie theater. He's giving it to Owen for his birthday. Owen loves popcorn."

Adelaide leaned against the countertop, standing in between the girls now that Ally had walked out from behind the counter and stood in front of her friend. Trish smiled sarcastically. "Did Owen tell you that?"

Ally shot her friend a look, and Adelaide chuckled before going back to what she was doing. Ally had picked up a few magazines from the counter and headed toward the benches in the corner. "I wish we didn't have to work today. I need to be in that line."

"Relax." Trish followed her friend who placed the magazines on the table. "It's not like Dez is there by himself. Austin is with him, and Austin would never leave the line."

"Hey, guys." Austin walked in, waving his hand at the three of them. "I left the line."

"What great timing, blondie." Adelaide muttered sarcastically, and Austin looked back at her with a puzzled expression.

"Why?" Ally asked.

"I needed a break." Austin answered with a shrug of his shoulders before heading towards Adelaide and hopped onto the counter.

Ally and Trish followed him. "You left Dez there by himself?" The former asked incredulously.

"Ally," The Moon boy chuckled slightly, "it's only been five minutes. You think Dez is just gonna let people go in front of him?"

Adelaide whacked the blond on the arm from her spot behind the counter. "You do realise it's Dez we're talking about here, right?"

"Yeah..." Ally trailed off, sharing a look with Trish and Adelaide. "let's go. Austin, can you stay here and feed Owen, please?"

Adelaide sighed and stepped out from behind the counter before following Ally and Trish out of the door, while calling over her shoulder, "Yeah, and this time, don't leave!"

By the time the girls arrived back at the mall, they didn't happen to find Dez standing in the same spot where they were before. Counting down the line on how many spaces they've gone past, they finally found Dez who was now stood behind Billl. "Hey, twins."

"Dez, what happened? You're like twenty spaces behind where we were." Ally sighed, throwing her arms up in the air. "I knew we couldn't trust you."

Dez faced the girls as they joined him in the line, and tried to tell them, "I had to let those people cut in front of me. They all had such sad stories."

"Seriously?" Trish waved her arms around her in bewilderment when she noticed statue guy, who used to be behind them in the queue, but he was now in front. "You let statue guy cut in front of you? He doesn't even speak."

Dez frowned with his arms crossed over his chest at his response, "He gave me a really sad face."

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

"Austin?" Ally furrowed her brows in confusion when she spotted the blond attempting to sneak down the line. The girl stepped out of the queue to see where he was, just as Austin approached them from behind and took Ally's spot in the line.

Adelaide spun around on her heel. "You left Dez alone again?" She sighed dramatically, throwing her arms up in the air. "Do you ever listen to a thing we tell you?"

"Yes... of course I do." Austin chuckled nervously, noticing the exasperation painted across the girl's features. "And no, he's not alone. Because Owen's there! In his closed cage where he belongs."

Hmm, suspicious.

Trish shifted her eyes behind the twins, widening them in shock. "Oh, is that Ally's—"

Austin panicked. "Nose?" He quickly interrupted the girl, gesturing to Ally. "Yep, that's Ally's nose. Boop!" He quickly booped her nose, making the twins pull a face at him.

"Don't boop my nose." Ally deadpanned.

"Well, I'm gonna run off that way..." Austin said all of a sudden, arousing more suspicion. "Addy, follow me!" The blond didn't give her a chance to respond before he grabbed her wrist and ran off, dragging her away.

Ally turned to Trish. "He was acting weird."

"Yeah!" Trish responded awkwardly. "The way he just grabbed Addy and ran off that way? That was weird." Ally chuckled, oblivious to her friend's worries. "Well, I'm gonna run off that way." And then she ran off in the same direction as Austin and Adelaide.

"Why are we running?" Adelaide breathed out, hoping Austin would slow down even a little to answer her question, but he continued his speed and frantically called over his shoulder: "We lost Owen and need your help finding him!"

"What?!"

By the time they returned to Sonic Boom, Trish had caught up with Austin and Adelaide, and the three of them ran up to the practice room where they heard Dez say from outside the door: "Pretty bird. Owen's a pretty bird."

Austin was first to step into the room with a gasp, hoping that by what he just heard, that the Wade boy had found the cockatiel. "You found Owen?"

"Nope." Dez answered, before turning around to look at them whilst holding a fake cockatiel that he had tried to make himself. "But I built a new Owen. Ally will never know the difference." He beamed, looking rather proud of himself.

Austin stared at the fake bird that he had grabbed from his friend's hands. "Yeah, this looks exactly like him." He said sarcastically. "Except for the candy corn beak."

Trish plastered on a smile before taking the fake Owen out of the blond's hand. "Let's see how he flies." Her eyes narrowed on Dez as she angrily threw the pretend bird to the side, causing it to crash into a few cymbals.

"He can't fly— he's fake." Dez stated the obvious, pulling a duh face.

"Seriously?" Adelaide scoffed, shaking her head as she stepped away from the boys. "How could you guys let Owen get away? If Ally finds out, it'll destroy her. We have to get her bird back. Let's all think." She breathed out, looking between her friends.

Trish's eyes lit up when she noticed the massive popcorn machine in the room, and directed her gaze over to the Dawson girl. "Okay. Ally said Owen loves popcorn, right?" She recalled what Ally mentioned earlier, and Adelaide confirmed with a nod. "Let's set up a trail of popcorn to lure Owen back to his cage."

"Yes!"

"Yeah that could work."

"There you go. Yeah, let's do it."

The boys rushed forward and grabbed a hold of the popcorn machine before starting to move it over to the centre of the room. Once they were finished, Trish began to tip the bag of popcorn kernels into the bowl.

Adelaide stood there with her arms crossed over her chest and furrowed her brows while her and the boys watched Trish who was still pouring in the popcorn kernels. "Aren't you putting in a little too much?" Austin asked.

Trish paused for a second and lifted her head up to look at the three to answer Austin, "I'm sorry, who here was fired from a popcorn store?" She raised her own hand in the air and gave them a tight-lipped smile. "That's what I thought."

"Okay, fine." Adelaide sighed dramatically. "But if you make a mess, I'm not cleaning it up."

As Trish resumed to what she was doing, Austin turned to Dez and Adelaide and suggested: "In the meantime, let's keep looking." They walked out the door, leaving Trish to finish off what she was doing.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

"Owen! Owen!" Trish was stood by the entrance doors with Adelaide and Austin, calling out for the cockatiel, when they spotted Ally making her way towards them, causing them to panic. Trish snatched the bag of popcorn from Austin's hands and feigned a scowl. "Get your owen popcorn, Austin. This popcorn's my-en."

Adelaide scoffed. "Yeah, blondie. Stop stealing other people's food." She played along, stifling a laugh as she followed her sister. "Anyway... Ally, what are you doing here?"

Ally turned to them with a frown. "I got booted to the back of the line." She explained. "Now there's too many people. We'll never get a myTab. I really messed up."

"People mess up. That's okay." Austin managed to say, waving her off like it wasn't a big deal.

"It's— It's not." Ally persisted as she turned away from them. "Addy and I gave you guys a hard time about being irresponsible, and now we're not getting a myTab because of me." Her brows pinched together when she noticed that Adelaide, Trish and Austin weren't standing by the counter anymore.

"Ally," Trish breathed out, catching her attention when the Dawson girl turned around, "you made a mistake." She stepped away from the stairs and approached her. "What are friends for, if not for understanding each other's mistakes? And immediately forgiving them?" She chuckled nervously.

"We know you'd do the same if we ever made a mistake," Austin interjected, "and you'd be just as understanding, if not... more."

Adelaide pulled a face at her not-so subtle friends, and was definitely not surprised when Ally seemed to have noticed them acting rather suspicious as well. "Okay, what's going on?"

The trio made the mistake of looking up towards the practice room. "Nothing."

Ally looked between the three of them, her brows furrowed in confusion as a small chuckle slipped from her lips. "Why are you three talking at the same time?"

Three pairs of eyes glanced upstairs before they landed back on Ally, chuckling nervously. "We're not." The trio responded at the same time.

"Why'd you both look upstairs?"

They did it again. "We didn't!" Austin and Trish laughed it off in a nervous manner, at the same time, Adelaide let out a puff of air once she knew they were about to be busted. Again, they weren't being very subtle.

She was proven right when Ally rushed ahead to get upstairs and see what the three of them were trying to hide from her. "Ally, wait—" Adelaide called out as her, Austin and Trish followed after her.

As Ally opened the door to the practice room, she wasn't the only one gaping in shock when they all stepped foot inside. The machine was still going, spraying out more popcorn to join the pool of them that had filled up the room. Dez popped his head out from underneath the mountain of popcorn with a beaming smile on his face, only for it to fade as he stood up straight and finally noticed the three of them at the door. "Hey, Ally." The Wade boy spoke nervously.

"What happened in here?" Ally questioned.

Adelaide shifted her eyes around the room. "I'm definitely not cleaning this up." She murmured, just wanting to point that out.

Dez gestured toward the machine and he quickly tried to explain, "That popcorn machine your dad found in the dumpster is broken. It won't turn off. I've tried everything." Ally bent down slightly and pulled the extension cord out from the wall, immediately putting a stop to it. "Okay, maybe not everything."

"So this is what you guys were trying to hide from me—?" Ally frowned, sinking down in the pool of popcorn after she failed to step through it.

"Actually, no." Austin admitted, making Ally turn her head back. "There's something way worse we need to talk to you about."

Just in time, Owen had flew in from the window and returned to his bird cage, making Dez close the gate, locking the cockatiel inside. Owen was back home now and considering Ally had missed what just happened, they felt no need to confess to her. "Uh, nothing." Austin changed his mind, trying to hide his smile of relief. "It could've been worse. Birds could've flown away—!" He laughed it off, looking away from Ally when Adelaide had whacked him softly in his side. She pulled a face at him, reminding the blond of his mistake. "Why would I say that?"

"You know what?" Trish piped up. "We're gonna get our myTab. I didn't sleep on the mall floor all night just to give up this easy."

Adelaide tilted her head. "You didn't sleep on the mall floor all night, remember?" She reminded her friend, though Trish just pulled a face with the shrug of her shoulders.

"How are we gonna get our myTab if we have to start at the back of the line?" Austin wondered.

Trish smiled, pointing out, "Since we can't move up in the line, we're gonna have to figure out ways to get people to move out of line."

Ally scoffed, her hands waving around, gesturing toward the pool of popcorn. "We're also gonna have to figure out ways to get rid of all this popcorn."

Dez raised a finger in the air and said, "There's only one way to get rid of all this popcorn." He bent down, demonstrating his suggestion when he started shoving handfuls of popcorn into his mouth.

"Dez, that's gonna take way too long." Austin had told him, while the girls simply shook this heads at the idea. "Let me help you." He threw himself down onto the popcorn, making Adelaide yelp when she was forced to step aside.

"Whoa. This is the best day ever!" Dez's voice was muffled due to the amount of popcorn that was stuffed in his mouth.

"I know!"

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

"I hope this works." Ally mentioned as Dez finally returned, dressed in a TechTown uniform. Team Austin were back at the mall with a plan in their minds, hoping it would succeed and give them a chance at getting a new myTab.

Dez waved his hand around in front of her. "If there's one thing people like more than a myTab, it's a free myTab." He reminded Ally, and with a grin, he stepped away and turned to the people in line, putting the megaphone to his lips. "Hey, everybody, I just got a job at TechTown and— good news— we're giving away a free myTab! All you gotta do is find a golden horseshoe hidden somewhere in this mall. Oh, you heard me. A free myTab." People had already started stepping out of the queue to hunt for the golden horseshoe Dez mentioned. When the Wade boy turned back to his friends, he seemed to have forgotten to pull the megaphone away from his mouth when he shared with his friends how proud he was that the plan was working: "They're totally gonna fall for it. Then we'll steal their spots in line. Suckers." Everyone managed to hear his mocking voice through the megaphone and quickly rushed back to their places in the queue. Dez faced his best friend and with a wince, he spoke into the megaphone once again. "Oops."

Adelaide let out a puff of air. "Note to self: always have a back-up plan."

—

Austin rushed in for their next plan, announcing to everyone with his voice loud on purpose. "Did you guys hear about that weather report? A freak storm is about to hit Miami."

"Everyone should evacuate." Trish played along, hoping their false report would work out in their favour if it got their attention. "They say there's going to be golf-ball size hail."

"Evacuate!" Ally began chanting before the others joined in. "Evacuate! Evacuate! Evacuate—!"

That's when Dez came rushing back to the team and admitted, "I couldn't find hail the size of golf balls, so I just got cheese balls." He held his arms out to the sides with a beaming smile on his face on cue as cheese balls started raining down on everyone.

"Dez!"

"We were so starving, we were about to give up our spaces to get some food." Pirate Frank said, holding a few cheese balls he managed to catch with his hand. Looks like everybody was trying to do the same.

"Now we don't have to, because it's raining sky cheese!" Billl exclaimed happily as he shoved a cheese ball in his mouth that he caught.

—

"The myTabs are going on sale in 5 minutes." The De La Rosa girl reminded Ally, worried that they might end up failing to get a myTab of their own before they run out of stock. "What are we gonna do?"

Adelaide glanced over to her sister, just in time to see the wheels turning in her head, indicating she had just gotten an idea when her eyes lit up and shifted toward the blond to address him, "Austin, grab your guitar." He smiled instantly and turned around to fetch his instrument. "I know one thing people want even more than a myTab."

Dez pointed at her with a grin on his face. "Bacon ice cream."

"Absolutely not." Adelaide deadpanned, shaking her head. "What she means is, people want to see Austin in concert."

Trish gasped. "Oh, that's a great idea, Ally."

"Yeah." Austin agreed, with his guitar wrapped around him, before he stepped out of the queue and looked at everyone. "Hey, everybody! I'm playing my first ever acoustic show, and it's free! Follow me." He beckoned them over and started strumming his acoustic guitar as he made his way out of the mall with many others behind him, wanting to hear him sing, including Mindy who was shoving people aside, yelling: "Out of the way! Move! Move!"

"It worked!" Ally smiled in relief, looking at Dez and Adelaide. It seemed as though Trish joined the crowd of people who wanted to see Austin in concert. "Let's go get that myTab."

"Okay, you go get that myTab, I'm gonna go see Austin Moon's first ever acoustic concert." Dez explained before he started to run off, cheering in excitement: "Woo!"

"Well, it looks like it's just you and me getting the myTab, Addy." Ally smiled softly toward her twin sister, before arching a brow as a thought came to mind. "Unless if you're planning on following the rest of them?"

"Nah, I'm good." Adelaide stated, the corners of her lips tugging up before she wrapped her arm around Ally's shoulders. "I'm gonna stay with you instead."

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

"Did you get it?" Austin asked once he, Trish and Dez had finally returned to the mall after rushing back from Sonic Boom as soon as his first private acoustic concert had ended.

Adelaide and Ally were currently packing up their things, when they both looked up at their friends and the latter feigned a frown. "No, they were all sold out."

"No way!"

"Oh man!"

"Oh seriously?"

"Kidding!" Ally beamed at them, holding up the new myTab that they managed to get. Adelaide laughed as Austin snatched the object out of Ally's hands to take a closer look at it. "Awesome! Whoa. It's even cooler than I thought."

"Oh," Trish grabbed the myTab from Austin and stared at it in awe, "it was so worth waiting all night."

"Again, I say, you didn't wait all night." Adelaide reminded her once again. Trish just looked back at her before the myTab was snatched out of her hands by Dez, who hugged it to his chest. "And the best part is, it's ours forever."

"It's mine now." Mindy approached the redhead, taking the myTab from his hands, and in return, handed him a golden horseshoe. "I found the golden horseshoe."

As Mindy walked away, Trish turned to the boy beside her with an incredulous expression. "Dez, you actually hid a golden horseshoe?"

"Well, yeah-huh." Dez pulled a duh face. "A TechTown employee never lies."

"You don't really work at TechTown." Ally reminded him.

"Dez, do something."

"Okay, okay. Uh..." Dez took a second to try and think of something to say to Mindy to hopefully succeed in retrieving the myTab. He walked over to the brunette and proposed, "Hey, Mindy, how about I take you on a date and you give us back the myTab?"

"How about you take me on a date and I keep the myTab?" Mindy suggested instead.

Dez bestowed another smile. "Awesome." Though it quickly fell from his face once he realised what Mindy said. "Wait. Oh, man." He groaned at the mistake he just made.

Smiling flirtatiously, Mindy brushed a finger on his arm. "See you Friday night, Dezzy-cakes." As she turned around to leave, Dez let out an "Ooh," and tried to cancel, "I actually have plans—"

She spun back to face him and with a glare, she snapped at him, "I said Friday night!"

This made Dez visibly flinch before letting out a nervous chuckle. "Pick you up at 8:00." Mindy joined in with his laughter before finally walking away, leaving Dez alone as he turned around to his friends and started sobbing.

Adelaide pursed her lips and began walking over to him with her arm held out in front. "Oh, come here, buddy." As she approached him, she placed a hand on his back and started to guide him back to where the others were standing. She glanced at the team with a grimace before they all started to make their way back to Sonic Boom.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

"So, Owen, did you have a nice birthday?" Ally was sat on the counter, currently talking to her pet cockatiel.

Austin shook his head. "Give it up, Ally." He told her. "The bird's never gonna talk."

However, the singer was quickly proven wrong when Owen chirped. "Austin let me out of the cage. Addy, Trish and Dez knew about it." They all widened their eyes, apart from Adelaide, shocked to find out that Ally was telling the truth all along. "Wait, there's more. Dez touched your song book."

Adelaide arched a brow and placed a hand on her hip as she looked down at the bird. "What a little tattle-tale." She murmured.

"Don't listen to Owen." Dez slipped his hands in his pockets, trying not to panic as he lowered his voice through his next words: "He doesn't know what he's talking about."

Owen chirped again. "I tried to find you earlier, but I got lost in the food court. Then I pooped on a statue. It turned out to be a real guy." Adelaide panicked, along with the rest of them, and started to push Austin forward, the two of them sprinting upstairs while Dez ran out of Sonic Boom and Trish went another way. "Wait, there's more."