Title: Factory Girl

Author: Serial Apocalypse

Summary: After a death in her family, singer-slash-actress Sam McAlister takes a break from the music business so she can grieve. Her record company gave her six months off, but now her time is up, and she's not ready to go back to work. With help from her roommate, Ally, Sam will try to return back into the limelight. But with the new rising pop star, Austin Moon, threatening to take Samantha's place in Hollywood, will she be able to successfully pull off her return? Or will she lose her place in Hollywood forever?

Fandom: Austin & Ally

Rating & Genre: T; General

Chapter 1: Back to Work

Some people say, life is like a lie.

Take it day by day, never knowing why.

My head is like a prison cell, I'm all by myself.

I'm waiting for my friend, to come and break me out.

Still waiting for my friend, to come and break me out.

After writing the final line of her lyrics on the page, Samantha McAlister sets the pen in her notebook and shuts it. She takes the notebook and places it in its usual hiding place, the crevice behind her bed. As she sits back up, she notices the time on the clock placed on her desk. 3:55, is what it reads. She lets out a small groan, knowing that she would have to be up in fifteen minutes for her first day back in the studio. Sam buries her face in her pillow, hoping that she can suffocate herself so she won't have to face the day. She really didn't want to go in today. Or tomorrow. Or ever.

Just as Sam was running short of breath, she heard a small knock. She sat up to see her roommate, Ally Dawson, at her door. She was smiling. Sam envied that smile. It was a happy smile; a shape that Sam's mouth had forgotten how to form. Ally spoke words that Sam's mind ignored. Instead, she focused on her moving lips. She tried to figure how Ally's smile worked. Sam couldn't figure how she did it, so she stopped thinking. She'd been doing that a lot lately; not thinking. It helped for a small amount of time, but it was never permanent. Thinking was a part of life. But she wished it wasn't though.

It took Sam a few minutes to realize that Ally had left her doorway. She had been so focused on ignoring her thoughts; the girl had slipped away without her knowing. This happened a lot, so it didn't bother her one bit. She slid her legs out from under her comforter, taking as much time as she can to get out of bed. As Sam's toes touched the cold hardwood floor, she remembered when Jude would sleep over in her room, because of his nightmares. They always slept on the floor, curled up next to each other as they told each other stories. It was one of the few times Jude ever spoke. Sam remembered all the times Jude told her stories. She remembered the way Jude's voice sounded when he spoke. Slow, but hopeful. She remembered the smile on her little brother's face as he told her stories about the ways he wanted things to be.

The memories played inside her head for so long, Sam had managed to absentmindedly make her bed, take a shower, and put her robe on. Her sense of reality returned as she gripped onto her bottle of black nail polish. She unscrewed the bottle and pulled the brush up out of the bottle. She let the excess paint drip down back into the bottle. It looked like black blood to her. After watching the paint drip for a few, Sam touched up her nails, and the painted 'x" on her left middle nail. The design didn't need it, but she still liked how the wet paint felt on her nails.

When the paint had dried enough, Sam headed back into her room to get dressed. She saw that Ally had left a few things out on her bed. There was a Mickey Mouse tee shirt, a pair of light washed jeans, white socks, and a ship pendant that was laced on a silver chain. Sam disliked these picks. She tossed them to the side, then padding over to her closet and pulled out two pieces of clothing. A long sleeved black top, that had been worn so many times that it had little holes in it, a pair of ripped up black skinny jeans, with her favorite pair of Converse, the worn and fading black high tops that she'd laced with skull patterned laces. She pulled it on quickly, getting accustomed to the feeling of the fabrics on her skin. It didn't take long, but she couldn't help but to stay still. She stood that way until she heard Ally's call for her to come down to the car with her. Huffing in frustration over the fact this was a reality she couldn't escape; Sam grabbed her bag and made her way down the stairs slowly.

Standing at the door was Ally and her boyfriend, Dallas. They seemed to be taking, and Dallas looked a bit on edge, as Sam noticed. With this, she decided to speed herself up a bit. She'd heard Dallas get mad, and it was not a lovely thing to hear. Loads of swears, a lot of banging and crashing, and a few slurs about said person being a 'bitch/bastard.' Though he'd never gotten mad at her or Ally, Sam decided she didn't really want to be on the receiving end of his anger. So, she figured she best off by staying on his good side. Dallas and Ally had apparently stopped talking, because Ally had headed outside to the car, and Dallas was currently shaking his keys in front of Sam's face. "Hello? Can you hear me? We're going to be late! Now, come on!" he said, gently pulling Sam forwards to door. Sam huffed, glaring at him as she jerked out of his grip. She trudged out to the car, which Ally had gotten into, and opened the right rear door.

She slid in, and tossed her bag to the side. She didn't realize there was a third person in the car, until the person let out a pained groan. "You didn't have to throw your bag at me.. I would have moved." Sam turned to see a girl with shiny dark brown eyes and curly black hair. Sam thought she looked like an Hispanic princess. The girl smiled at her. Sam tried to smile back. The girl said her name was Trish. Sam muttered hers in response. The girl named Trish nodded, then turned to talk to Ally. Dallas soon got in the car, and started it up. He put it in drive, and drove way too fast for Sam's liking. Along the ride, Sam caught bits and pieces of Trish and Ally's conversations.

The only bit that stuck to Sam was, "Well, the gang's gonna love her!"

All Sam could think, was that if there really was a gang at the studio, she'd be sure to thank her manager for a lovely new workplace.

This is my first story on FF, so I hope this is adequate. This story will be AU, but not extremely so. Reviews would be lovely, but you don't have to. As long as you've enjoyed reading this, that's fine by me!

~ Serial Apocalypse