hiya guys!

so surprise! first multichap ever!

i'm so scared, yet really excited cuz I've never done a multichap and I'm scared I'm gonna lose inspiration for this because of all the research n stuff, but do not worry - I will finish this fic. I promise.

yeah, so I hope ya like it! ahhh! =D

Ally Dawson wakes up from the sound of her balcony doors opening. Knowing there's only one person who it could be, she chucks a pillow at her childhood best friend, none other than Austin Moon, before burying her face in the other.

"Go away," she says, her voice muffled by the pillow.

"Good morning to you too," Austin replies sarcastically.

"It's like 8 a.m. It's too early for you to start annoying me."

"Actually it's 9:27," he says, matter-of-factly.

"Still too early," she mumbles.

"Well, early or not, you have to get up. We have less than 24 hours to prepare for the 'Bestest Adventure Ever.'"

"It can wait another hour."

"No it can't." Austin climbs onto Ally's bed, pushing her aside to make room for himself. "Now scooch. You're taking up all the space."

Ally raises her head slightly from the pillow to glare at the blonde boy next to her. "It's my bed. I'm allowed to take up as much space as I want."

Austin ignores her. "So I brought the List, the rules, the packing list, and brochures and maps. I went to the travel agency place yesterday and stocked up on maps and travel guides for every place," he says, spreading out the books and papers on her bed.

The brunette turns around so she lays on her back and looks up at Austin. "You're not gonna let me sleep are you?"

He smirks and boops her nose. "Nope. Now get up. The Bestest Adventure Ever isn't gonna plan itself."

Ally groans and gets up, heading to the bathroom.

The Bestest Adventure Ever was a cross country road trip Austin and Ally had planned when they were nine. They had decided that the summer before they went to college, they would have a summer just for them and the road. Their parents found their dream adorable, but Austin and Ally were dead serious about it. They had made a list - the List- of all the things they wanted to see and do and all the places they wanted to visit, adding to it as the years went by. In addition to the list, they had a sheet of important 'Absolutely-Cannot-Be-Broken-in-Any-Circumstances Road Trip Rules and Regulations'. And to really prove that they were serious about this trip, they had saved up all of their allowances, pay checks from summer and part time jobs, and birthday money from the last seven years to pay for all the expenses. They also had bake sales and lemonade stands whose proceeds, they insisted, would go to a great cause helping needy children (they never specified who the needy children were).

Now, their dream was finally coming true.

Austin had been counting down the days since senior year had started and now that summer was finally here, he was ecstatic to explore the world and even better, he'd have his best friend to himself the whole time.

Ally, on the other hand, was a little hesitant. Ever since her parents split when she was six and her mom had gone to Africa to study gorillas, her dad and her stuck together through everything. She had never left him alone before and now she was going to leave him for three whole months. At first she had decided not to go, but knowing how much Austin and Ally had looked forward to this as kids, Lester encouraged her to go, claiming that he was a big boy and could handle himself and he would be at conventions half the time anyway. Ally was reluctant, but finally agreed when the Moons had promised to keep Lester company.

Austin and Ally had offered their two other best friends, Trish and Dez, to join them on their Bestest Adventure Ever, but Trish was spending the summer in Spain with her family and Dez was attending film camp in LA. Austin and Ally had pretended to be disappointed, but inside they were glad their offer had been rejected. It was their trip, after all.

"So are you done packing yet?" Austin asks, flipping through one of the travel guides.

Ally looks at him through the mirror, brushing her teeth. "Nope."

The boy looks up, his eyes wide. "We're leaving tomorrow Als. You have to finish packing."

Ally rinses her mouth and turns around. "And I will. Like you said, we're leaving tomorrow," she says, walking over to her bed.

"Yeah. In the morning. As in you have less than - "

"24 hours," she finishes with a roll of her eyes. "Yes, I know. Stop freaking out. I only have a little bit left. I would've finished yesterday, but I was training Carrie again, and you know how that goes."

Carrie was Dez's girlfriend. She was practically a child - innocent, sweet, adorable, her curly blonde hair always in bouncy pigtails. She was also a little dimwitted. But her lack of smarts didn't bother Dez. They were the perfect couple and were more than happy with each other.

Since Ally wouldn't be here for three months, Carrie was taking over her shift at her dads music store, Sonic Boom. For the past week Ally had been training her everyday for countless hours, but Carrie still got confused on how to work the cash register. Ally hoped on her lucky stars that the store would be okay.

Austin nods in understanding. "Okay. But just make sure you'll all ready by tonight. So anyways, I was thinking we should do a final check of everything and see if there's anything else we want to add to our list."

"Let's do it on the floor. There's more space," Ally says, sitting down on the floor.

He shoves the books and maps and everything else off her bed, before joining her and the mess on the floor.

Ally grabs the List and reads through it to make sure everything's in order, even though she knows it is. She has it memorized so good, she can say it in her sleep.

1. Go to all 47 states

(Austin was incredibly disappointed when Ally had told him that they couldn't go to Hawaii or Alaska.)

2. Be in two places at once

3. Collect seashells and sand from a beach

4. Meet the president

(And ask him why they kept naming places the same name. Like why there were two Portlands and two Washingtons? Also, why aren't there any states named after other presidents? And if there was a West Virginia and a North and South Dakota, why wasn't there a East and North and South Virginia and a East and West Dakota? Why don't all the other states have different direction states? So many questions, but Austin was determined to get answers for all of them.)

5. Meet a famous celebrity

6. Be on TV

7. Go on a chairlift

8. Go horseback riding

9. Go canoeing

(Like Lewis and Clark. With the raccoon hats of course.)

10. Travel in a train

11. Go to a ghost town

12. Do archery

13. Ride every ride in Disneyland and take a picture with Mickey Mouse. And Pluto.

(Austin was determined to meet his favorite puppy.)

14. Spend a night in the car

(Ally didn't get what was so fun about this, but Austin was ecstatic about spending a night in the car.)

15. Stay in a cabin

(Austin insisted that staying in a cabin was the cheat way of camping, but Ally was in no way ever sleeping in a tent. On a grassy floor. With bugs. Nu-uh.)

16. Eat at a vintage-y diner

(Y'know the ones with the milkshakes and really good burgers and the old lady who's in charge and sometimes there's people on rollarskates? Yeah those.)

17. Sneak into somewhere, without getting caught

(Ally was so not on board with this, but Austin dragged her onto the train and strapped her tight, and now she was a first class passenger on the most dangerous train. Toot toot!)

18. Eat French fries in Idaho

(When Austin learned that Idaho was in charge - as he put it- of growing potatoes, he wanted to find out if their potatoes tasted better than the potatoes they had in Miami.)

19. Eat cheese in Wisconsin

(Same explanation as number 18.)

20. Eat a Philly cheesesteak in Philadelphia

(If a sandwich is named after a state, then it has to be good, right? Well, Austin thought so. It'd be ridiculous to name a sandwich after a state if it tasted disgusting.)

21. Eat New York Cheesecake in New York

(Again, same explanation as number 20.)

21. Eat KFC in Kentucky

(Okay, Austin really didn't understand why one state's fried chicken was better than all the other. Aren't they the same chickens fried in the same oil. Or maybe...they had special chickens! He was going to find out their secret.)

21. Go to the Grand Canyon

23. Visit the Statue of Liberty

24. Go to the Vegas strip

25. See Mt. Rushmore

(Austin wanted to know what he had to do in order to get his face carved next to all those boring non-relevant dudes. Ally told him they weren't 'boring, non-relevant dudes'; that they were the people that made America, but Austin claimed that he was much cooler, so his face should definitely be on it.)

26. Go to Yellowstone National Park

27. See the cracked bell in Pennsylvania

28. Go hot air ballooning in Albuquerque

29. See the Hollywood sign

30. Go to the Golden Gate Bridge

31. Go to Niagara Falls

32. See a Broadway show

33. Ride in a cable car in San Francisco

34. Go to the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, Georgia

Then there was the 'Absolutely-Cannot-Be-Broken-In-Any-Circumstances Roadtrip Rules' list.

1. No booking hotels or anything else beforehand (unless it's absolutely necessary. Like life or death kinda absolutely.)

2. Take pictures everywhere.

3. Leave a small mark in every place to show that you were there.

4. Go wherever the road takes you. Don't fight it.

5. Driver is in control of music.

6. Get a souvenir from each stop.

7. Be nice to everyone no matter how rude they are and respect everyone's culture and religion.

8. Spend money and time wisely.

9. No adultish things.

(Austin and Ally had decided that since this was their last summer before any adult stress was thrown on their shoulders, that they would act as complete children and not drink, get tattoos, hook up with random strangers, no college related talk whatsoever, or anything else adulty.)

10. Step out of your comfort zone and experience new things and have adventures.

'Don't do anything stupid' and 'Don't ask or argue with authorities about ridiculous thugs' were also supposed to be on the list, but Ally knew that Austin would break those within the first day.

As for the route, they had decided that since this trip was spontaneous, they weren't going to plan how they were going to cross the country and instead just wing it, going wherever the road would take them.

Austin picks up a travel guide and map and hands them to Ally. "See what attractions and such we need to go to and mark them on the map," he instructs, giving her a pen, before doing the same.

The two spend their morning and afternoon, circling and marking as they skim through the books to see what adventures awaited them.

Austin had spent the entire day Ally's house, helping her pack and forcing her to read through all the travel guides to make sure they didn't miss anything important. Finally at six, Ally had gotten enough of Austin's roadtrip-itis and kicked him out of her house.

Now, she was sitting at the dining table, peacefully eating dinner with her dad.

They were talking about Lester's new hobby of painting giraffes doing people stuff when suddenly he stops eating and stares at his daughter, teary-eyed, a smile on his face.

"Are you okay, Dad?"

"Oh, sweetie. I'm fine. It's just that you're going out into the world for two months all alone and then you'll be heading off to college and oh my, you're just - you're growing up. My little girl is all grown up," he says, placing a fist on his mouth. "You're all grown up."

Ally puts down her fork and looks at her dad with sympathetic eyes. "Dad, I'll only be gone for three months. We'll still have two weeks to spend together before I leave for college," she reassures. She bites her lip as a thought comes in mind. "But if you want, I can stay. I don't have to go on the trip. Austin'll be fine with it."

No, no he wouldn't.

"Oh, sweetheart, no," Lester says quickly. "You're going on the trip. You two have been looking forward to this for such a long time and I know how excited you both are. I want you to go on this trip Ally. I want you to go and have a fun summer with Austin and forget about everything else. This is your last summer as a kid. Next year you'll be a college kid, and your whole life will be consumed with stress. Especially since you're going to Harvard. I want you to go and treat yourself to a summer of new experiences and carefreeness after all the hard work you've put into school for the last 13 years. You deserve it. You are going on this trip."

Ally bites her lip. "Are you sure? Because if you want, I can stay. Seriously Dad. This is - "

"Ally. I'll be fine. We've talked about this. You are going tomorrow and you are not going to worry about me, okay?"

"Okay," Ally says with a sigh.

Lester pats her shoulder. "You worry too much, sweetheart. Don't. If you really want to make sure I'm okay, then just promise me that you'll forget about reality and have fun."

Ally smiles. "I will, Dad."

Lester returns her smile with one of his own. "Good. What we're talking about before?"

"Giraffes doing people stuff."

"Ah, yes. I was thinking about painting giraffes racing cars. What do you think?"

Austin rang the doorbell and swayed on his feet as he waited (im)patiently for Ally or Lester to open the door.

Ally opens the door, greeted by the overly cheerful Austin.

"Good morning, bestie! Are you ready to venture out into the open world and take part in the 'Bestest-Adventure-Ever' with the bestest best friend ever?" He asks, grinning widely, as he sways on feet faster.

Unfazed by his uncontainable excitement (he got excited about everything), Ally nods. "Yeah. I just needa get my bags from upstairs."

"I'll help."

The two walk up to her room, Austin bouncing and squealing.

He picks up her suitcase and duffel, as she grabs her purse and looks around the room to make sure she's not leaving anything.

"Got everything?"

"Yeah."

"Kay. Let's go!"

Austin runs down the stairs (how he manages to do that with two heavy bags, Ally has no idea), her sauntering behind.

They walk outside and see their parents standing next to Austin's car. He places the bags in the trunk, then closes it before joining Ally and their parents to say goodbye.

Ally hugs Mike and Mimi as Austin hugs Lester.

"Have fun and keep an eye on Austin," Mimi says, hugging Ally.

"Make sure he doesn't do anything stupid," Mike adds.

"I can try, but we all know he's known for doing stupid things," Ally says with a slight laugh as she hugs Mike.

Mimi smiles. "That he is. We love you, sweetheart. Be safe, okay?"

Ally nods. "We will."

"Take care of Ally, okay? Make sure she's safe and has fun," Lester instructs Austin.

Austin swings an arm over Ally's shoulder and smiles at her adoringly. "Don't worry. She's like my little sister. I'll be hovering over her like a hawk."

Ally snorts. "First of all, I'm older than you-"

"Only by a month!"

"And secondly, if anyone's gonna be hovering over anyone, it's gonna be me. You're the one who gets distracted easily and leads us ridiculous situations. Remember how we almost ended up dead cuz you saw a duck?" Ally gives him a pointed look.

"It was a flying duck! A duck! Flying! You don't see those everyday! And I didn't drive over the edge of the cliff and we're not dead, so there." Austin sticks out his tongue in a childish manner.

"Yeah, cuz I was the one who stopped the car. Anyways," Ally turns to her dad and hugs him. "I'm gonna miss you," she whispers. "And if anything happens, call me and go directly to the Moons, okay?"

Lester chuckles. "I'm supposed to be the parent, not you. Quit your worrying."

Ally pulls away. "I know, but this is the first time I'm leaving you on your own and you have to run the store by yourself, cuz let's face it, we both know Carrie won't be able to operate the cash register and will end up giving away things for free, and I'm just worried."

"I know, sweetie. But you have to remember that I can handle myself and I've left you alone many times and you've done fine, right? I will, too."

"Yeah, you're right. Have a fun summer, Dad."

"I will. And you do too, okay?"

Ally nods and hugs him again. "I love you."

"I love you too, sweetie. See you later, Ally-gator," Lester adds, referring to his childhood nickname for her.

Ally returns her dad's smile. "See you later, Daddy-gator."

"Bye, Mom. Bye, Dad. I'll miss you." Austin says quickly, giving his parents quick hugs.

"What? No sentimental speech, no long hug? I'm disappointed," Mike says. Mimi nods, a disapproving expression on her own face.

Austin laughs and pulls them both into a tight hug. "I'm gonna miss you guys."

"We're gonna miss you too, sweetheart," Mimi says, brushing the bangs out of his eyes, looking fondly at him. "My baby's all grown up. Going out into the world all by himself."

"Mom. Please don't cry."

"All parents are the same. Just go with it." He hears Ally say in a quiet voice beside him.

"I'm not crying. I'm just so proud of you. You actually graduated and you're actually going to college. I still can't believe it."

"Wow thanks, Mom. Nice to know you had so much faith in me," Austin says dryly.

Mimi smiles and pats his cheek. "I'm just teasing, honey."

"She's not," Ally pipes up. "We all know the only way you graduated is cuz I spent countless hours helping you study, so your welcome for not letting your child become a failure," she says to Austin's parents.

Austin gives her a dry look. "Shut up."

She simply shrugs before heading to the car.

"Aw, you two are so cute," Mimi gushes. "I still don't understand why you're not together anymore."

"Mom!" Austin exclaims in a frantic whisper. "We talked about this! She's my best friend. It's like, illegal to be in a relationship with your best friend. It never works. Trust me."

"Mhm okay. Tell me that when you two stop being so delusional."

"Mom!"

Mike changes the topic. "You have the thing right?"

"Yeah it's in the secret pocket of my suitcase. She won't find it."

"You better not lose it. It cost a lot of money."

"I know, I know. I won't lose it or let anything happen to it. Promise. And thanks again. Really. It means a lot."

Ally honks the horn, causing the Moons to turn their attention to the car. Ally waves from the passenger seat, gesturing Austin to hurry up.

He turns back to his parents. "She's right. We better get going." He gives his parents one last hug, then jogs over to the car and gets in the driver's seat.

"You got everything right?" Mimi asks through the window. "Austin, you didn't forget Dougie, did you? You can't sleep without him."

"He's right here," Austin assures, holding up the stuffed dolphin.

"Drive safely. If you crash the car, it's coming out of your money," Mike warns.

"Also, I don't want a dead daughter," Lester adds.

"Yeah, Austin. My dad actually cares about my life, unlike you."

Austin rolls his eyes, starting the car. "I won't crash the car and nobody's dying."

"And make good choices. We're trusting you two," Mimi reminds them, the fathers nodding in agreement, their faces stern.

"Don't worry, we will," the teenagers promise.

"We love you!"

"We love you, too. See you in three months!"

The parents wave and Ally waves back, as Austin pulls out of the driveway. He waves one last time and looks at Ally.

"Ready for the best summer ever?"

"Oh, I was born ready," Ally says, putting on her sunglasses.

Austin grins and pulls his own sunglasses down from his head, driving farther away from their childhood and closer to adventure.

"Bestest Adventure Ever, here we come!"

first chapter is done! yay!

so before anything, I wanna say that the List isn't complete. I'm gonna add stuff to it as this story goes on and might even change up the numbers, so don't be alarmed if you see anything different in future chapters.

and it would help me out immensely if you guys told me what state you're from and what kinda stuff there is to do there. so if you want, you can leave all that stuff in the review on PM me. it would seriously help a lot.

also, updates won't be frequent (cuz of the research n stuff), so I'm sorry. but i'll try to update within reasonable amounts of time.

and thank you to my lovely bestie lauren for making the amazing cover!

okay, so i think that's it. thank you so much for reading and I love y'all so so so much! =D