The door slammed shut as Ally ran into her house, and flung her bag on the ground. Penny Dawson looked over at her daughter and noticed her face. It was swollen and red with tears, and Penny watched Ally run up the stairs, bawling her eyes out.
"Honey! What's wrong!" Penny asked, jumping up and following Ally up the stairs.
Ally ignored her mother and ran into her bedroom, flopping down on her bed.
"Ally? Honey, what happened? Anything bad at school today?" Penny asked, patting her daughter who was lying face down on her bed, pillow over her head.
"Nothing," Ally's voice cracked, muffled by the pillow.
"It's obviously not nothing," Penny said, concerned for her daughter.
"Just go away," Ally said loudly, not looking up from under her pillow.
Penny sighed, then slowly stood up. "I'm here if you need me," she said, then left Ally alone.
When Ally was sure that her mother was gone, she stood up and wiped her face, clearing all the tears away. God, she felt to stupid. It was all Dez's fault, as usual. But it was her fault as well. If she could of hid her feelings better, then Dez would of never found out and spill everything to...him.
Ally stood up and started walking around her room. Why did she have feelings for him in the first place? It was Austin, for crying out loud. They played in sandboxes together in preschool, had cooties in elementary school, grew through adolescence together, and now, were in high school, along with their other friends. She knew him forever, but had never felt this way with him before. She didn't even know when her feelings started, but she did know one thing. Austin didn't feel the same way towards her. She found that out today, the hard way.
Ally bit her lip, eyes filling with tears again. She remembered his face when Dez blurted out the truth, it was enough to make Ally never want to see daylight again. She wished she could just live in her room for the rest of her life. She could survive. She'd make Dez bring her her meals, he was the one that started this mess in the first place. If it weren't for him, Austin would have never found out, and she and the gang would be watching a movie at the Cinema, or at the Arcade, goofing around.
The worst part of it all was that the whole mall witnessed every bit of it. Ally was arguing with Dez, Trish was reading a magazine and Austin was just being Austin. When Dez yelled it out, of course by 'accident,' Ally quickly denied it. But that obviously wasn't too convincing, because Austin quickly formed a look that was between shock and horror. Trish were just looking between Austin and Ally in shock. Then to top it all off, Austin had ran away. Literally. That was the part that hurt Ally the most. He just ran away. He probably never wanted to see her again.
Ally layed down on her bed again, looking at the ceiling, and squeezing a favorite stuffed animal in her arms. Not friends with Austin? Ally wouldn't be able to stand losing any of her friends, even, dare she say it, Dez.
All of a sudden, there was a knock on Ally's door.
"Go away," Ally groaned. She didn't need to talk to her mom right now.
"Ally?" A male's voice said.
"Don't even try to apologize, Dez," Ally sniffed angrily. "This is all your fault."
The door creaked open a bit, and a blonde head poked in. Ally sat up on her bed, shocked at who was standing in her doorway; it was Austin. She quickly wiped away the tears on her face, and looked away, hoping her face didn't look too bad. What was he doing here?
"Uh...hi," Austin said, he looked a little uncomfortable. "I'm sorry."
"For what?" Ally looked at him. "It wasn't your fault. It's mine. I shouldn't have these..." She stopped, in case the mentioning of the word 'feelings' would scare him off again. "What I mean is, I want us to be friends, Austin."
"Oh..." Austin looked at her confused. He came in the room a bit, then went and sat on the bed, trying to be comforting.
"So, can we be friends again?" Ally asked, hopeful.
Austin cocked his eyebrow up in confusion. "Yeah. We'll always be friends, right?"
Ally smiled at him, then wiped her eyes again, drying her face from any excess wetness.
"Anyways, I just wanted to check up on you to see what was wrong," Austin said.
Ally gave him an odd look. "I thought...we just cleared that up."
"Uh..." Austin paused. "Well, I still don't know why you're upset. I drank Trish's smoothie she made at her new job, and had to go puke it up in the closest garbage can. When I came back, Dez and Trish were talking about how upset you were."
Ally's heart stopped. "So you... you didn't hear what Dez said? About...well, about my feelings for a certain boy?" She chose her words carefully.
"No," Austin said. "Is that what happened? Did some guy break up with you?"
"No," Ally smiled in relief. Then she thought for a second. Austin doesn't know a thing, and he wasn't horrified at the truth. He was running because he was sick, not because of her! But her feelings for him were still there. Should she tell him? What would he really do if he knew the truth?
"Austin, I have to tell you something," Ally took a deep breathe, steadying herself.
"What is it?" Austin asked.
All of a sudden, Dez popped into Ally's bedroom. "It's not true!" he shouted. "Dude, I was totally lying. Ally isn't in love with you!" He walked over to them, and went on his knees in a begging position. "Believe me dude, she doesn't have any feelings what so ever for you. If she were to like anyone at all, it'd be me! She doesn't love you, I swear! Don't break up your friendship because I lied."
"Dez, you idiot!" Ally shouted, infusing with anger.
Austin sat on the bed, eyes showing deep confusion. "But...what? I don't get it..."
"There's nothing to get, Dez's just being an idiot," Ally said. She pulled his ear and led him out of the bedroom.
"Owowowowow" He yelled, then shouted "I was trying to help you out!" before she shut the door in his face. Then she turned to Austin, who was still sitting confused on her bed. She twitched her fingers, nervously.
"I wanted to tell you myself, and I completely understand if you don't want to hang out anymore," she babbled, "but Dez always appears at the worst of times. And it's not that I love you or anything, because I don't...well, I don't not or anything. It's just really hard to explain."
Austin pondered for a moment. He looked at Ally long and hard, his brown eyes looked like ice. Ally shivered. She was all of a sudden frozen to the spot she was standing in, beside her door.
"You're crazy," Austin said, as he stood up.
"I know I'm crazy," Ally said, quietly.
"Lucky for you, I'm crazy too" Austin said, while taking in the confused expression Ally gave him. Then Austin did something she wasn't expecting, and pulled her into a deep passionate kiss. They kissed long and hard, feeling each other for the first time in that way.
Then Dez said from the other side of the doorway "Hey, is that kissing I'm hearing?"
"Go away Dez," Ally said, in between breaths from kissing Austin.
"You owe me, Ally" Dez said. "If it weren't for me, this wouldn't have happened."
Ally sighed and hugged Austin. How ironic was it that Dez's blundering up caused everything to end so perfectly?
