Okay so a few things before you read this.

One is this is a story based on my life and two of my friends' lives in the foster care system. I wrote this a while ago so, yeah. Ally's life is a lot like my really good friend, Chelsea's which is why she has a friend named Chelsea in this story. Also, her last name is Marano, for a reason. Lester is also her teacher for a reason. You'll find out why (unless you can figure it out, in which case you win like everything). I also said something about her birthday because my friend, Chelsea didn't know her birthday in grade three and made one up. She'll get corrected on that later, just like my friend did. She never celebrated it so that's why.

Rydel is in this because I love her relationship with Ross and they're twins because I realized I made them seniors, but I did that for a reason. Their birthday is also in December like Ross' but earlier. And obviously, Ellington's in it as well. I'll maybe put Rocky and Riker in it, I'm not sure yet. Depends if you guys want that or not, to be honest.

So yeah, it'll be an adventurous story and awesome and I hope you like it. I can't think of anything else I wanna say so, yeah.

Enjoy. I don't own anything.

Okay. She could do this.

She knew she could.

She could hear the sound of her foster mother and her friends, laughing and drinking and having a good time.

She held onto her backpack, the only item she owned with very little items, and put it on her shoulder. Closing her eyes one last time, she softly closed the door and then turned around. She saw the window on the other side of the room and opened it. It made a loud creaking sound and made her heart stop for just a moment. She waited until she was sure no one heard anything, and with that, opened it all the way, jumping out of it soon afterwards.

After her feet had touched the ground, she turned around, only to see she was outside by herself.

Or, so she thought.

"Hey, you, kid!" She heard and it scared her. She ran as fast as she could down the street until she was able to hide somewhere she knew was okay for at least a few minutes. She leaned against the fence and closed her eyes, breathing out a sigh of relief she tried to catch her breath.

She heard footsteps run passed her and knew she was safe.

She moved her sleeve up and gently touched the scar that was there. Then she leaned against the fence once more and focused on catching her breath.

He opened the door to his huge house, softly closing it behind him as he walked up the steps to get to his bedroom. He walked passed his parent's room, about to be in the clear, when the hallway light turned on. He closed his eyes, pausing his movements and letting out a quiet, "damn!"

"What do you think you're doing?" He slowly turned around, only to see his stepmother, Cheryl was standing at the top of the landing for the stairs.

"I was uh, going to bed," He answered back. "You know, since I start school tomorrow and everything…" He trailed off.

"Do you think I'm an idiot?" Cheryl asked him, "I know you just got home from one of your parties." She quoted the world parties and he tried not to roll his eyes. "You're lucky your father is away on business or you'd probably have a huge problem."

He looked down, shaking his head, he looked back up at her, "you know he doesn't give a shit about me. He would probably just say how disappointed he is in me and then walk off without another word, it's what he always does."

He knew she understood and he also knew that she was the one person in the world (other than his nanny and sister) who truly cared about him. He often wondered when he was younger why she hadn't just left his father and taken him with her.

"I know it's hard," Cheryl began, "I get that, but you can't act out like this, it isn't helping you. Think of your sister, she's not acting out this way."

"She's different, but I know. You're right." He looked down at his feet. Cheryl gave him a sad smile and walked over to him. She put her hand on his cheek, "go get some sleep, you have to be awake in a few hours."

He nodded, "thanks, Cheryl." He said quietly. She smiled and with that, turned to walk into her room, but not without turning the hallway light off and wishing him a good night.

Sighing, he turned and walked into his bedroom, turning on the light, he threw his keys onto his desk and then sat down, with his feet up as he thought about how he was going to start his senior year of high school the next day. The last year of being stuck at home. He, actually, couldn't wait until he went to university. The farther away he was from his father, the better.

He turned on his computer, going to his playlist, he pressed shuffle and an old classic rock song began to play softly in the background as he just lay down on his bed and stared up at the ceiling.

He realized he should probably get some sleep, but he was too restless for the next day to.

He heard his phone go off with a text and he turned over on his side to read the message that was probably from the girl he was kind of, but not really officially seeing. Sighing, he just shook his head again and shut his phone off.

It was bright and early the next day as she walked down the street, her hand banging against fences as she listened to the music that was playing from her iPod. She watched as children hugged and kissed their parents goodbye as they ran off into carpools or onto school buses, ready for a fun and exciting day at school.

She let out a sigh and kept walking, until she stopped in front of a home that was a home she visited quite often. Ever since she was put into the foster system and was old enough to really understand it. She raised her hand and knocked on the door repeatedly until it finally opened to reveal her social worker, Fern on the other side. As soon as she saw her she let out a sigh and motioned for her to come inside.

"So, what happened?" Fern asked her, putting a plate of eggs in front of her. She quickly started to eat it, looking up at her.

"I hated it there," She told her, "the foster mother was abusive and locked me in the room."

"So, instead of telling me this when I came by this afternoon to check up on you, you decided to run away? Again?" Fern asked, a disapproving look on her face as she sat down across from her. She didn't answer her, instead choosing to just keep eating her breakfast. "Ally?"

She slammed her hands down on the table, "what do you want me to say? I didn't like it there, okay? I couldn't wait until this afternoon for you to come and see for yourself what a shitty place it was. I needed to leave or I swear, I was going to lose my mind."

Fern sighed, shaking her head, "are you sure it was that bad?"

Ally nodded, "she was getting drunk with her friends last night and before they came over, she told me I had to stay in my room or else, then she locked the door and said she wouldn't let me out until the morning." She looked down at her food, "so I had to run away."

Fern nodded, "okay, fair."

Fair? That was all she had to say?

"So, what.. you're not going to send me back there are you?"

Fern shook her head, "of course not. I would never do that."

"Yet you guys give certification to the most fucked up people in the world," Ally reminded her, something she did every time she ran away from an abusive home. "I don't understand that."

Fern ignored her, as always, "come on, let's get you showered and ready."

"Ready?" Fern asked her.

Ally gave her a confused look. "Ready for what?"

"School," Fern told her, "did you forget you started today?"

Ally blinked at her, "I thought it started next week."

Fern shook her head, "no, but you do know that if you don't go to school, the county can put you in a group home, right? Where you'll be homeschooled-"

"I know, I remember." Ally cut her off. She stared at her food again and she heard Fern sigh.

"I will have a new home for you by the time you're out of school, okay? I promise. I'll pick you up myself and take you there."

Ally looked at her, "why can't I just live here?" She asked her quietly, as they had built a close relationship over the last few years. Fern even told her she was the only case she allowed to have her home address and phone number. That made her feel pretty special.

"You know why," Fern quietly told her and Ally nodded. "Come on, let's get you showered and into some new clothes, okay?"

Ally silently nodded again and with that, backed her chair away from the table, allowing Fern to lead the way to the upstairs bathroom.

"Yo, Austin!" He heard and looked up to see his friends from the football team, motion him towards them. He sighed and walked over to them, high fiving them as soon as he had reached them.

"Dude, sick party last night, right?" Elliot asked and Austin rolled his eyes.

"You would say that, it was held at your house," Trent smacked the back of Elliot's head.

"Did you see the cheerleader who puked all over the front lawn?" Gavin asked, "it was the funniest thing ever."

"Yeah, good thing the sprinklers turned on cleaned that shit right up," Elliot added as Austin just shook his head. He turned around and began to twirl the combination to his locker, thankful that they had chosen to hang out there that morning.

"So, what happened when you got home, did you get a whole bunch of shit?" Trent asked him. He shook his head.

"Nah, my stepmom was there, she let it go." Austin responded. He shrugged, "my dad was on business," None of his friends new about his home life. The only one that did, he was no longer friends with anymore. Not because he had told the whole school his secret but because they just ended up growing apart. It sucked and Austin missed the hell out of him, but it was life and he was used to it.

"Hey check it out, there's a new girl," Elliot smacked his shoulder and he looked up to see a girl around their age, her hair curled, she was wearing ripped blacked skinny jeans, dirty ratty black high tops and a black knit sweater. She also had on a fuzzy beanie and was looking around, confused, a piece of paper in her hands. "Think she's easy?" He asked Austin who just shook his head and ignored his question.

"She looks so lost," He said.

"No shit, she's the new girl," Trent said and then laughed. "She's probably going to get shit from the cheerleaders, I bet you guys."

"Dude, don't be such an ass," Austin snapped at him.

"Dude." Trent began to defend himself, but Austin just slammed his locker shut as the bell rang.

"I'm going to class," He said and before his friends could answer back, stormed off down the hallway towards his first class.

He was lucky that it was his favourite class too, Geometry. He loved math (not really, he actually sucked at it).

As he sat down, he saw the new girl, walk in and then take the seat right beside him. She put her backpack down and then stared straight ahead, tapping her fingers against the table as she waited for the class to start. She looked to her left and seemed to catch him staring at her so he quickly looked away.

"What?" She asked him. "Do I have something in my teeth?"

"No," He responded, "sorry, I just-"

"Never saw me here before so you think I'm an alien or something?" She finished for him. He wasn't expecting that and actually smiled to himself. He liked her straightforwardness.

"Sorry, it's just this is a small town, not many new people come by often."

She shrugged, "I'm a special case." She told him and he raised an eyebrow. She stared straight ahead for a moment before turning back to him, she held her hand out, "I'm Ally."

"Austin." He told her, taking her hand in his, he suddenly pulled her closer and hugged her. She blinked and then quickly broke it off. He wondered if she had a closeness problem. "I don't do handshakes." He told her.

She slowly nodded. "I'm going to pretend that wasn't creepy."

He just smiled, "so, where are you from?"

She shrugged, "I actually don't know where I was born," She told him. "I've um, moved around… so many times. I.." She trailed off. "Where are you from?" She asked him.

"A small town in Colorado. I moved out here when I was five." He told her and she nodded as the final bell rang and the teacher called for the class to pay attention. As she sat back in her seat, she thought about Austin and wondered if it was wise to let him in when she knew she was just going to push him away anyways. She wasn't sure, but what she did know was that she sort of liked him already.

She walked into her last class before lunch, one that she knew was going to be her favourite, music.

Ever since she could remember, all she had was music. She never had a mother, a father, a sibling or a family. All she had was her music and it made her happy every time she wrote a new song or used her life experiences to help her come with a song. She had gotten a special song book as a gift from Fern one Christmas and always used it to write things down in. It was her most prized possession (other than her backpack) and if she lost it, she didn't know what she would do.

As she walked in, she saw Austin sitting in one of the seats in the front; a major difference from the seat he'd been sitting in in their Geometry class earlier that morning.

She sat down beside him, "hey," She said, letting her backpack fall down by their feet.

He smiled at her, "hey yourself."

"So you like music?" She asked him. His face lit up and he nodded his head excitedly.

"I love it. It's the one thing in this world that makes sense to me." She smiled at that.

"Yeah, me too." She told him.

"What instruments do you play?" He asked her.

"Keyboard, that's pretty much it. Though I want to learn how to play the drums, I love drummers."

He laughed, "you remind me of my sister." He paused for a moment, "she's the same way."

"Your sister has good taste in music then," She leaned in and whispered and he laughed.

"Aw, thanks baby bro!" She heard behind her and turned around to see a blonde girl who looked just like Austin walk up to them and take a seat beside Austin. "And you too, girl I've never met before." She grinned.

Ally couldn't help but smile back at her. "I'm Ally."

"Rydel," She introduced herself.

"Does she hug too?" Ally asked Austin and Austin nodded.

"Oh yeah, she's a big hugger." He told her, laughing at the look on her face, which was more of confusion. To prove his point, Rydel stood up and held her arms open, she motioned for Ally to come towards her and Ally did as she suggested, going to her, she gave her a hug. It felt comforting and not scary. That was something she really liked.

They broke apart and Austin smiled at her.

"What?"

"Not so bad is it?"

She shook her head, "we barely know each other."

"True," Austin agreed, "but that doesn't mean that hug totally sucked right?"

"Right," Ally agreed. Then she thought of something, "wait, if you're brother and sister and he's younger than you and this is grade twelve, why are you here?" She asked Rydel.

Rydel flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder and Ally took a moment to look at her clothes. She was fashionable, dressed in a skirt, bustier and leather jacket. She had on black combat boots that Ally envied almost immediately. She had an awesome style. In comparison, Ally knew she looked like crap.

"We're twins," Rydel told her. "I'm older."

"Yeah, by like two minutes," Austin scoffed.

Rydel laughed, "don't be so sour about it. It just means I get to turn a whole other year two minutes before you do."

Ally couldn't help but laugh when Rydel reached over and messed up his hair.

"So, Ally, are you coming to the game this weekend?" She asked her.

Ally blinked, "game?"

Rydel nodded, "I'll be cheering in it, Austin, however, will not be playing in it this time."

"Wait, what do you mean?" Ally asked her.

"I sort of hurt my knee over the summer attempting a skateboard trick. I'm pretty much out for the season." He explained.

"Wait, what sport?" Ally asked, still confused.

"Football," Rydel and Austin said at the same time. They laughed at their twin telepathy.

"Oh, cool," Ally gave them both a nod.

"So anyway, you should totally come and watch me cheer my ass off." She told her. Ally laughed. "You can sit with Austin, he has to come just because he's my brother and all."

"Oh is that that reason? I thought it was by force." Austin responded, but Rydel rolled her eyes.

Ally laughed again. She really liked them.

The bell rang then and the teacher walked in, he studied everyone for a few moments as they quieted down. Then he picked up his roll sheet, but then he put it down.

"Welcome to music class," He said, as a student walked in. He turned his attention to the student.

"I'm so sorry I'm late," He said, "I was talking with my guidance counselor." He explained and the teacher nodded.

"Don't be late again."

The boy nodded and then went to sit beside Rydel. Ally watched as they held hands and then put her attention back on their teacher.

"I'm Mr. Dawson, but if you wish to do so, you may call me Lester," He said, writing his name on the board. "I will be teaching you all music. But here's the thing with this class, you guys need to really apply yourselves, okay? No halfassed shit, I won't accept it." He paused, "for this class, you guys will be partnered up with someone for the entire year, yes, the entire year. You will work together to write two songs, one for the winter concert and then another for the summer concert. And you both will be playing an instrument of your choice. You may also team up with another group of partners if you want, but if you decide to do so, you must come to speak to me about it first. Understood?"

Everyone said yes.

Satisfied he picked up his roll sheet and called names.

"Allyson Marano?"

She raised her hand, he stared at her for a few seconds and then smiled, "welcome to my class, Allyson."

"It's just Ally." She responded back.

"Okay, Just Ally." He joked and everyone laughed while she just playfully rolled her eyes. "Ally it is." He looked at the roll sheet again, "Austin Moon?"

Austin raised his hand.

Lester looked in between Austin and Ally, "I think you two will be great partners, so I'm pairing the both of you up, okay?"

They looked at each other and nodded.

"Okay," Austin responded back.

"Okay." Ally also responded.

"Rydel Moon."

Rydel raised her hand.

Lester looked in between Austin and Rydel. "Are you two related or is this name just common in this school?"

Rydel giggled, "we're twins." She explained and Lester nodded.

"Okay, twins," He said. "I'll have to make a mental note of that. When is your birthday?"

"December 8th." Austin answered.

"That's on a Tuesday, looks like we're going to have the celebrate it when the time comes," Lester said and everyone laughed. "And your birthday Ally?"

Truthfully, she had no idea when it was. She had never celebrated it before.

So, she decided to just make one up.

"October 8th." She said, not realizing what she said until she did. She blinked her eyes.

"Whoa, that's a crazy coincidence" Austin commented.

Rydel agreed, "whoa."

"Okay well, we'll be sure to celebrate that one as well." Lester assured her. "And everybody else's." He called out a few more names, "Kira, Cassidy," She saw Austin roll his eyes at that one, and wondered why, "Brooke…" He kept going until, "Ellington Ratliff."

"That's me," Ellington raised his hand, "oh and don't worry Mr. Dawson, my birthday's in April, so we're good." Everyone laughed.

Lester smiled, "call me Lester, and you, mister Tardiness, will be paired with Rydel, sound good?"

"Sounds great." Ellington smiled. Rydel smiled as well.

"You two are cute," Ally told them.

Austin made a face, "you have no idea, they make me want to puke."

Ally laughed. "Come on, be happy for your sister."

"Oh I am." Austin responded back, "I'm happy she's dating him and not one of my jock friends, trust me." He assured her.

"Yet he's sort of, but maybe not, dating one of the girls on my squad." Rydel rolled her eyes.

"Makes sense, right?" Ellington asked Ally who just nodded.

"Totally." She responded and then laughed at the look on Austin's face.

"Alright, now that that's over and you all have your partners, let's talk-" The bell rang then and Lester sighed. "Okay, well it'll have to wait until next class, you may go to lunch."

Everyone got up and quickly left the room. Rydel tapped Ally's shoulder.

"Come sit with us," She said and Ally nodded.

"Okay." She gave her a small smile.

"So, where you from?" Rydel asked her.

"We went over this," Austin jumped in, "she has no idea."

"How do you not have any idea?" Ellington asked. "Don't you know where you came from?"

Ally shook her head, "no, I don't. Let's just say I've moved around so much, I have no memory of where I come from."

Ellington nodded, "alright, alright, cool. That's an acceptable answer."

"Do you play any instruments?" Rydel asked her.

"We also went over that," Austin jumped in again.

"Shh! I'm listening to Ally!" Rydel waved her hand in his face, he licked it and she made a face, "ew! Austin!" She equaled, wiping her hand on her skirt.

Ally laughed, "wow you two are entertaining."

"Tell me about it," Ellington leaned in close to talk to her, "I deal with this everyday. It's normal behaviour for them."

Ally giggled.

"So, instruments? You were going to tell me before Austin rudely interrupted me," Rydel stuck her tongue out at her brother and he did the same back.

"Right, just the keyboard." Ally shrugged, "I don't know how to play anything else."

Rydel's eyes lit up, "I know the keyboard too! Twinsies!" She gave her a high five.

"I know how to play the keyboard too, trip…lies?" Austin tried but Rydel shook her head.

"You failed."

"Epically." Ellington added.

Ally laughed, "do you play an instrument?" She asked Ellington.

"I'm all about the drums, yo." He responded back. "It's kinda my thing."

"And mine," Austin added, his finger up, "And I know guitar, a little bit of base, the harmonica, I can play the ukelele and a trumpet through another trumpet."

"Okay, now he's just bragging," Ellington joked.

Ally laughed, then her eyes caught onto somebody who was waving her over on the other side of the fence. She looked closer, only to see it was her friend, Chelsea. Confused, she turned to her new friends. "Um, will you guys excuse me, for just one second? I have to go… I'll be right back." She said and Rydel nodded.

"No worries," She said and with that, Ally nodded again and got up to go see what Chelsea wanted.

"What are you doing here?" Ally asked, as soon as she had reached her. "Are you even allowed here?"

Chelsea shook her head, "I came to see you, I haven't heard from you in two days! What happened to that last home you were in?"

"Okay, first of all, shh!" She said, "nobody knows I'm in foster care here, and second, how did you even know where to find me?"

Chelsea shrugged, "it wasn't hard, I got put into a new home today and while Fern was looking away, I read your file. Says you're getting put into a new home as well."

Ally nodded, "yeah, after school."

"So are you going to explain to me what happened at your last home?"

"I ran away because it was shitty." She told her, "the foster mother locked me in a room and basically got drunk with her friends. I don't even think she knows I left yet."

"You know what happens once they do, remember? You get put back in." Chelsea reminded her.

"Fern promised me that wouldn't happen," Ally told her. She saw a security walk towards them. "Oh shit, we're about to get busted, uh, go! I'll find you later and we'll talk, okay?"

Chelsea nodded and with that ran off before the security guy saw her.

"Everything okay?" He asked Ally.

Ally nodded. "Everything's great."

"So how was your first day?" Fern asked Ally as soon as she had closed the door to her car.

"Good, I made new friends, one of which is my partner in music class," Ally responded as she buckled her seatbelt.

"Sounds like a fun day."

Ally nodded, "I don't want to leave this school," She told her, "I really like it here."

Fern smiled, "I was hoping you would say that, because I think I found the perfect place for you stay in. These people are even looking to adopt."

"Wait, wouldn't they want somebody younger? I mean I'm sixteen, in another two years, I'm going to age out."

Fern nodded, "yes, but they believe in giving anybody a home, no matter how old they may be."

"Okay," Ally sighed as she looked out of the car window.

Fern's car pulled up to the side of the road, in front of a beautiful home.

Ally grabbed her backpack and they walked up the steps. Fern knocked on the door and it soon opened to reveal a blonde woman. She was smiling.

"Hello, I'm Fern, Ally Marano's social worker," She introduced herself, "we spoke earlier on the phone."

"Yes, yes," The woman nodded, "welcome, I'm Leslie." She introduced herself to Fern, then held her hand out to Ally. "And you must be Ally."

Ally nodded and then shook her hand, surprised she didn't just hug her.

"We're happy to have you here," She told her, "my son can't wait to meet you."

"You have a son?" She asked and Leslie nodded.

"Yes. In fact, he goes to your school."

"Really?"

Leslie nodded, just as a boy came down the stairs and joined them. He had a huge smile on his face and Ally recognized him from her history class.

"Hey, you must be my new foster sister," He smiled at her, then he immediately hugged her. She was wondering what all the hugging was about, since she wasn't much of a hugger herself. "It's really nice to meet you, I'm Dez."

I have no idea why I decided to end it there, haha. There will be more of Dez in the next chapter.

So yeah, I hope you like this story :) Let me know if you think I should continue it or not.

Thanks! You guys rock! Seriously though.

Much love xx