Austin ran into Sonic Boom, gasping for breath.

"Made it!" he crowed, holding up his arms in triumph. Trish was at the counter, lazily leafing through a magazine. She glanced at him, boredom evident in her eyes.

"Ally's upstairs. You should hurry if you want to get that song done before tomorrow," she said.

"Aren't you supposed to be at your job at the fire station?" Austin asked, skirting around the counter and walking up the stairs.

"Don't really care. I'll probably be fired anyway," Trish replied, then grinned. "Ha, get it? Fired? Oh, Trish, you rock." She chuckled.

Austin rolled his eyes and dashed up the stairs. He arrived to find Ally already sitting in front of the piano. He couldn't help notice how pretty she looked today; rather than a dress, she was wearing a shirt and shorts that hugged her figure.

Get a grip, he chided himself, and then entered the room with his usual, winning smile and confidence.

"Hey, Als! What's up?" She turned, jerking.

"Oh! Austin! Hi." Ally looked startled to see him and stood up hastily. "What…what are you doing here?"

The blond looked at his partner confusedly. "We have to finish the song, remember? For the broadcast tomorrow?"

"Right! Um…" The girl was holding her hands behind her back, furtively looking around. Austin frowned, spying this.

"What do you have behind your back?" he asked, smirking slightly.

"Whaaaat? Me? Pffft, I don't have anything behind my back. 'Cause why would I have anything to hide from…" Ally trailed off, as she realized that she'd been waving a hand to emphasize her words; the same hand that held the piece of paper she was trying to conceal. "Oh, poo."

"Ally. What is that?"

"Nothing! It's just a homework assignment. For English."

"Then why are you trying to hide it from me?"

"Because…" The brunette faltered. "Because…you don't like English?" The excuse was incredibly pathetic, even for her, and she felt ashamed.

"Give it to me." Before Ally could register it, Austin had lunged forward and grabbed it from her. But in desperation, she found an incredible strength in herself, enough to tackle Austin to the ground and get it back.

For one minute, they were pressed up close against each other, hearts pounding, faces flushed, hands intertwined…

Hands intertwined?

At the same time, Austin and Ally looked down to see their hands were joined…right over the piece of paper. Austin, using his free hand, plucked it from their grasp.

"Let's see what we have here." There was anticipation in his voice. He flipped it open, gently extricating his hands from hers, and started to read.

"'There has been much talk in our class about what one would do if they could go back and change their lives. Some people say that they would be better students in school, or do something nice for the people with nothing, or regain lost relatives. Some people have lives so tragic that their choice would be to go back in time to when they were born, and erase the negatives of their lives. I have had my fair share of those experiences, like when my mother died from cancer, and my father was torn for weeks, or when we had a financial crisis right after we opened our store, Sonic Boom. But though these were options I considered, I decided that I would not change anything, since my experiences made me a stronger person, but I would add something to my life.

"'You see, one of the best days of my life, though I didn't recognize it at that time, was the day I caught a blond boy play drums in my store with corndogs…'" Austin trailed off, realizing that the topic of this piece had now turned to him. He continued. "'That blond boy, Austin Moon, became one of my best friends. He is the most amazing person you could hope to meet. He's kind, funny, outspoken, loyal, basically has all the characteristics of a true friend, which I haven't seen in anybody, specifically a guy, in a long time. He cheers me up when I'm sad, tries to break me out of my shell, and is essentially awesome.

"'I bet you're wondering what this has to do with what I would change—or rather, add—if I could go back in time. Well, after a lot of thought, here's my answer: I would choose to meet Austin Moon earlier. But why, you might ask? Isn't it great to have him now? What would be the purpose of having him as a friend earlier? I would do this in the hopes that if we'd met earlier, we could have a closer, more intimate relationship now, rather than just best friends…'" Austin dropped the paper, shocked. He looked at Ally, who had a terrified look on her face, crimson with embarrassment.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I ruined everything." And then, without another word, she walked to the door and made to open it, intending to leave, but was stopped by a hand grabbing hers.

"You…you like me." There was no disgust in his voice, or discomfort, as she'd expected, only a degree of awe. "You like me!"

Austin's words became a shout and he danced around the room, pulling her along, holding the paper up. "Yes! She likes me! She likes me!"

"What? I don't…" Ally was cut off by a bone-crushing hug.

"I like you, too, silly!" Austin cried, ruffling her hair affectionately. "I always have."

Aw. Fluff. First A&A fic ever, so please tell me how I did. Review, please!

PalindromePen, out.