Certificates, by Thewriterknowsbest.

Enjoy! :P

Certificates.

Ally Dawson had many of them. She was, what some people might call, an overacheiver. She'd been that way ever since elementary school, when she recieved her first certificate.

She was six at the time, near the end of kindergarden, when she'd recieved a certificate for not missing a single day of school the entire year. She paraded around with it, showing to anyone and everyone who would look, saying, "Look! I got a certificate! Isn't that so cool?"

But one day, when she was boasting to other kids about her certificate, a young boy angrily took it, and crumpled it up into a ball. She stared at him, open-mouthed.

"Why'd you rip my certificate?" She whined, her eyes filling with tears.

The boy threw the paper ball into a trash can. "Cause! You keep on talking about that stupid thing! You won't shut up. It's annoying. Besides, I almost won that, 'till I had to go to a docter's appointment last week." He crossed his arms in a huff.

The girl softened, wiping away her tears. "I'm sorry." She said, sending him a sincere smile. "I didn't mean it. I was just so happy."

The boy with messy blonde hair continued to frown. He held up his pinky. "Pinky swear you're sorry."

The girl nodded sincerely, linking her pinky with his. "Pinky swear."

The boy grinned then. "I'm Austin."

"Ally Dawson." She stuck out her hand to shake. He wrinkled his nose.

"Who shakes hands? We're six, not sixty!"

And thus, Austin Moon and Ally Dawson became friends.

The next year, when they were seven, Ally got another certificate. This one was given to her by her piano teacher, after Ally played a recital. Austin had told her beforehand, "Remember; you're supposed to pretend everyone's in their underware, if you're scared."

She'd scoffed. "I'm not scared." Then they'd both laughed, because, well, Austin had said the word underware.

And afterwards, as the curtains fell, Austin leapt up and down, clapping wildly, shouting to everyone who cared to hear, "That's my best friend! Isn't she awesome?"

That night, they went out for ice cream. Ally had her favorite type; Fruity Mint Swirl, while Austin had chocolate, and promptly got it all over his face. But he didn't care, for it was just another thing to laugh about with his best friend.

As they were getting ready to leave the ice cream parlor, Ally showed Austin the certificate. "Isn't it pretty?"

Austin nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! It makes me think of that certificate that got us to be friends! Remember?"

Ally giggled. "I know! That's why I showed it to you! I'm going to put it up on my bullatin board in my bedroom, and every time I look it, I'll think about you!"

Austin grinned. "That's awesome! Thanks Ally, you're the greatest best friend ever."

When they were eight, Ally saw Austin's birth certificate.

She was hanging out at his house, and he'd left to go to the bathroom. Ally wasn't normally a snoopy person, but she was trying to find a pen of hers she was convinced he'd stolen. As she sifted through his drawers, a slip of paper fell out, and, curious, she picked it up from the floor.

"Austin Monica Moon?" Her jaw fell open, and she began to laugh hysterically.

When Austin came back to find his best friend literally 'rolling on the floor laughing', he was more than a little confused.

"Ally, what's so funny?"

Giggling, she pointed to the sheet. "You're-you're name's Monica?"

Austin felt himself blush. "Oh, yeah, um, that... that's my middle name." He glared. "You can't tell anyone, OK? It's embarrassing."

Smirking, she let out that last of her laugh attack, before handing him the piece of paper and saying, "Sure thing, Monica."

He groaned. "Ally..."

She giggled again. "Ok, ok. But come on. You know I still like you anyways."

He shrugged. "Yeah, yeah, whatever."

Over the years, Ally received more and more certificates. She was talented at everything she tried, and she was a good student, so naturally she received a ton. Austin got some certificates, but nowhere near as many as Ally had. She could tell that this fact bothered her best friend, so she set out to help him.

They were eleven at this point, and in fifth grade. Graduation from elementary school was coming up soon, and Ally had an idea. She asked the teacher if she could have a blank certificate sheet, and the teacher, with a shrug, gave her one.

The next day was a special day for Austin and Ally; it was their five year anniversary as being best friend. It'd been five years since Austin had ripped Ally's certificate, and this was part of Ally's plan.

"Happy friend-a-versary!" Austin gave Ally the biggest hug he could. Sometimes he felt weird, having a girl best friend and all, but he had other guy friends too, so it didn't really bother him. "Look what I got you!" He handed her a colorfully-wrapped package. She giggled happily, and opened it. Her gasp made Austin grin widely.

"Do you like it?"

"I love it!" Her voice was filled with awe. It was a little charm bracelet, with music note charms and a little charm that looked like a piece of paper. A certificate. She gave him another hug. "Thank you, thank you!"

"You're welcome." Austin bounced up and down. "So, what did you get me?"

Ally grinned, and handed him and envelope. Confused, Austin opened it up, and out slid a piece of paper. He read it, surprised.

This award is given to:

Austin Monica Moon,

For being an amazing best friend for over 5 years

Ally Dawson, your best friend.

Austin grinned so wide his face almost cracked. "This is so cool! Where'd you get the paper?"

Ally shrugged. "I have my ways."

Austin went home that night, and the first thing he did was have the certificate framed and put on his nightstand. In his opinion, it was the most important certificate he'd ever gotten.

They went through middle school, and it seemed like Ally would get four certificates every month. But Austin didn't mind. He was happy for his best friend (Although he never really said that to her, because his friends were starting to tease him, saying that he like-liked her, and he swore he didn't.)

But eighth grade graduation was coming up.

And on one of their last few days of middle school, they recieved another certificate. But this one was very special to both of them.

It was a certificate for both of them. Because they had won the spot of, "Best Best Friends," in the yearbook, and they both received identical copies of the certificate. When their names were announced at their graduation ceremony, they stood next to each other and held up the matching certificates, proud smiles on both of their faces. This, was by far, their favorite.

Before they knew it, they were juniors in high school.

And yes, Austin did sort of have a crush on her (But he would dive into a tank of hungry sharks before he would admit it to anyone.) No, that was a lie. He was falling in love with her.

She was still earning those slips of paper right and left, and every time she showed Austin a new certificate, he was pretty sure he fell for her just a little bit more. She was incredible, and he was beginning to wonder if there was some way he could tell her.

But he was a chicken, so he probably wouldn't.

And finally, one day, he did. Well, sort of.

She was working in Sonic Boom, her family's music store, and he'd came in, all excited, to show her that he'd gotten a certificate of participation, for being on the basketball team. It was really just an excuse to see her, if he was being completely honest. She'd smiled at his childishness, and pointed upstairs.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Put it on the wall!"

Austin and Ally, ever since they were about thirteen, had taken to pinning their certificates on the wall of the little room at the top of Sonic Boom. The wall was covered in papers by this point, and Austin was trying to find a spot to put his when Ally came up.

"Here," She said. "I'll put it up high." She'd brought a ladder up the stairs with him, as she'd figured he'd need to get up high. She took the piece of paper and began to climb the ladder. "Hey Austin, can you hand me that pin?" She asked, pointing to it. Austin picked it up and handed it to her. But as she grabbed it, she lost her balance, and fell onto the floor, her head hitting the ground first and making an eerie thud.

Austin couldn't really remember what exactly had happened in those next few moments, but before you could say his name they were at the hospital, and she was getting stiches in her head. Austin felt terrible, like it was all his fault.

When he was finally allowed to see her, and watched her sleep, he felt a few tears slip down his cheeks. He knew she'd be fine, but he still felt horrible.

"I'm sorry." He whispered. He leaned forward and pressed a feather-light kiss to her temple. "I love you."

And exactly two months later, Austin couldn't take it anymore. He kissed her, asked her out on a date, and she'd accepted.

Now it was senior year.

Ally was getting so many that it made Austin dizzy. But these particular ones weren't just regular old certificates.

These were collage acceptance letters.

And with every one she recieved, his fear would increase. That she'd go off to some amazing school in Boston or New York, and he'd be stuck in Miami, thousands of miles away from her. Without her.

He couldn't live without her.

And Ally was starting to notice. When she received an acceptance letter, he would barely smile; just nod and say, in a hollow voice, "That's awesome Alls."

And it hurt her to see him so sad.

So one day, she asked him about it.

"What's wrong, Austin?"

Brown eyes met brown, and he sighed heavily. "You're going to leave me."

She scoffed. "That's insane. I would never do that."

He shook his head, almost frantically. "No, you will. You'll go off to some fancy collage far away, and be all excited, and I'll let you go there, because who am I to hold you back? Besides, I love you, and if you're not happy here-"

Ally sighed, leaning forward and kissing him to shut him up. A few seconds later she pulled back and stared into his eyes. "I won't go to a collage where you're not there. I couldn't do that."

He stared back unblinkingly. "Really?"

She nodded in confirmation. "Really."

He frowned. "Pinky swear?" He held up his pinky.

Ally grinned. "Pinky swear." She linked their pinkies, and leaned forward to kiss him again.

Sure, certificates were just pieces of paper representing something you did to most people. But to Austin and Ally, they always would mean so much more. And on their wedding day, the aisle was lined with the ones they'd kept in Sonic Boom all those years.

When people asked them how they'd met, Ally would usually say, "Oh, we were best friends our whole lives."

But Austin, being the sweet guy he was, would put an arm around Ally, and say with a smile. "She just wanted me to see her certificate, and I just wanted to be her best friend forever."

She was.

That ending was really bad. Just sayin'.

What do you guys think? I thought it was pretty cute, if I do say so myself :D Review! Favorite! Please? For me? And for cutesy little Austin and Ally? :)

Peace!