I know I have other stories I need to update, but I really like this idea... (as I've said billions of times before, I know) and I really want to try it out.
Since it's just an introduction chapter, it's not too exciting, but it will get exciting later on. I promise.
I hope you like it. I don't own anything.
"You're going to really like it here, at Marino Community School. Our academic decathalon team…"
Austin's eyes blinked as he fought his hardest to stay awake during the principal's lecture about his new high school. It was definitely a change from the private school he'd attended back home in Colorado. Though it was much colder there, he figured it was more worth it, with all his friends, classmates… even his not really a girlfriend, but still in between the friend and girlfriend/boyfriend stage. It didn't make much sense to him either, but since his parents had decided to move to Miami, his birthplace and where they had moved from when he was three years old, he had to say goodbye to everyone and hope for the best.
"Austin!" His mother whisper-yelled loud enough he could hear it. "Pay attention!"
He sat up straighter and just looked at her, his eyebrow raised. He was going to a public school. Why did it matter if he paid attention or not? Most likely the students here didn't give a shit.
"…and that concludes the instructional part of this… tour, if you will. If you follow me, we'll get the actual tour started."
Oh, yippee. He thought. Another damn hour of his life wasted because his parents wanted to ruin everything for him.
Well, he figured, maybe not everything.
About an hour and a half passed before the tour was over and he could go back to his new home to unpack. Another thing he loved: unpacking. It was his favorite thing really.
Sarcasm intended.
His mother was just saying goodbye to the principal when he decided to turn around to look out the window and just get an idea of what going to the school would be like. Just as he had spun around on his foot, he crashed into someone and all of said person's stuff flew around them to the ground and in the air.
"Oh my god…" He heard her say, "I am so sorry, I'm normally not this clutzy and…" He held his hand to stop her when she looked up at him, the glasses on her nose falling forward a bit.
"It's totally cool, I should uhm, watch where I'm going maybe." He suggested and she held her breath a moment, before finally nodding and pushing her glasses up her nose. He helped her gather her things and as he did, their eyes connected for a split second.
Why did this girl seem so familiar to him?
"A-are you uhm, new?" She asked him after all of her things were stuffed into her bag that was hanging on her shoulder.
He nodded. "Yeah, I start tomorrow."
"Oh well, that's nice. I uhm, I'm running a little late for class, which is why you probably ran into me, but uh…" She held her finger up in front of him and then pointed down the hall. "I should probably get going."
He nodded. "Yeah, wouldn't want to be any later, right?"
She nodded, "Right. So, see you around I guess." She slowly turned around on her foot and walked down the hall. He watched her leave and as his mother came over to him and told him they would be back early in the morning, he realized that he hadn't even gotten her name.
"The school's nice, I guess." Austin sighed, speaking into the phone as he sat on his bed, his hand went through his hair and then he fell back on the bed. "It's not as fancy as White Oak Academy, but it's pretty damn nice."
"I'm sorry you had to leave," The girl on the other end, Cassidy told him, her voice sounding sincere. It was silent for a few moments, "I miss you like crazy."
He nodded, "Yeah, I miss you too." He looked at his ceiling. "It sucks that I had to move halfway across the country, I don't understand why my parents just want to change my life again so suddenly."
"In their defense…" Cassidy was quiet, "Actually, I can't really defend them on this one." Austin laughed out loud as he pictured her blinking her eyes, trying to come up with an answer. "It's not funny!"
"Oh, but it is." He told her, just as he heard his mother call his name. "Hey, listen, I got to go, but text me or something."
"Sure thing, bye Austin."
"Bye, Cass." And with that, he hung up the phone. Going downstairs, he found his mother in the kitchen where she was sitting on the counter, sipping on some tea. "You called?" He asked, sitting across from her.
His mother looked up, "Yes, actually." She smiled at him and he gave her a weary look back. "Your father is coming home soon."
"Should I be happy about that?"
"Yes, and you should probably get dressed in your casual nice suit."
"What does that even mean?" He scrunched his face up in confusion.
"Just do it. He's bringing over a colleague of his and his daughter."
It was then he realized what was going on.
"You're trying to set me up with someone, aren't you? Mom, how many times do I have to tell you that—"
His mother waved him off. "Go get ready, they'll be here in thirty minutes."
Well, that was a huge fuck you, he thought. He didn't say anything more and just got off the chair, storming up the stairs, he fought the urge to slam the door and just did what his mother asked. It was one thing to piss off his mother, but piss off his father and basically the world ended. Not that he'd tell anyone that, but it was the truth.
Sighing, he looked at himself in the mirror his mother had thought to put up in his room.
It had only been less than forty-eight hours, but he already didn't like Miami.
The doorbell rang downstairs and he heard his mother shout to him to get downstairs immediately.
Running his fingers through his hair one last time and letting out a sigh, he walked downstairs, to the foyer where he was greeted by his father, a man he didn't recognize and the girl he'd bumped into at school.
Okay, he was officially very confused.
"Uh, hi." He said. She just stared at him for a few moments, before something like recognition flashed across her face. He awkwardly held out his hand, but thought better of it and put it down. "I'm Austin."
"I'm Ally." She told him, and then he surprised her by hugging her. She did seem in shock for a few moments, before she relaxed and hugged him back. Once they broke it, he stepped away. "You don't believe in handshakes?"
He shook his head. "I don't do handshakes. I only do hugs… when I meet people my age I mean. Because if it was someone older that'd be kinda awkward." He looked away. Kinda like this moment is, he thought to himself.
"Austin?" His mother broke him away from his thoughts and he looked at her. "This is Lester. He's Ally's father." He noticed Ally had stiffened at that title, and immediately became a bit curious. "And her mother, Penny, who's here for the weekend before she goes off to Africa to explore and study the wildlife." Ally stiffened again and he blinked at his mother wonder if what she'd said was supposed to impress him or something.
"Nice to meet you." He politely shook both their hands and then got to his father who didn't bother to acknowledge him. His eyes went to Ally who seemed curious but he brushed it off. They didn't know each other and therefore he didn't need an explanation.
"So, I hear you're going to be attending Marino Community School tomorrow," Lester told him and he nodded as they walked into the dining room. He faintly heard his mother mention to ignore the boxes as they had just moved in only a day before.
"Yeah, uh, super excited I guess." He shrugged, feeling truly indifferent about the whole situation.
"Well, maybe Ally could show you around." Lester suggested and Austin looked at Ally who didn't really make any eye contact with him.
"Right." Austin nodded and then they got to the dining room, so that conversation was cut short.
After making some seating arrangements—Austin and Ally sat together—the food was brought out by Austin's nanny for many years, Sasha. And after they began to eat, Austin felt something bump into his hand. He looked to his right and saw Ally was the one who did it.
He raised his eyebrow in question.
"Do we have to listen to them?" She whispered, gesturing to their parents. "It's so boring."
He smiled at her. "You mean about their business and how we," He gestured in between himself and Ally, "don't really give two shits about it?"
Her eyes widened a bit at his cursing, but she just narrowed them a few moments later, "Exactly."
He looked at them. "I don't think they'll notice if we leave."
Ally shrugged, "I don't either."
It was silent for about a second, before Austin stood up, "Cool, then let's eat somewhere else."
Ally's eyes widened as she looked up at him. "We can't just leave!"
"You agreed, they wont notice if we leave, so we can. Come on, I've got a pretty cool place to go to."
Ally looked like she was thinking about it for a moment, before she shook her head. "Leave the food here, I've got someplace even better we can go to."
He'd only been in Miami for less than forty-eight hours and already it was starting to look a little better.
Or so he thought.
He and Ally had snuck out and went into town where they went to a local McDonald's—something he hadn't eaten in years—and then went to go get ice cream at a local parlor.
They were walking through the streets, the twinkling starry sky and Christmas lights hung above them, when Austin turned to her and asked her something that was on his mind.
"Tell me about yourself," He said, taking a bite of the ice cream.
She shrugged, "What do you want to know?"
"Where are you from?" He decided to go with.
"I…" She trailed off, as if remembering those memories. "I was born in Toronto, but moved here when I was about a year old, so I grew up here."
He nodded. "Ah, so you're Canadian. I have a friend who's from Canada as well. He's pretty cool."
"Yeah, technically, I guess." She paused a moment, before asking her question. "What about you?"
"I was born in Miami, but when I was three moved to Colorado, lived there up until we moved back out here."
"Why did you move back?"
He shrugged, "my parents are jerks."
A slow smile spread across her face, "All parents are jerks Austin, just in different ways."
"Not like my parents," He scoffed, taking another bite of his ice cream. "They don't ever think about me when they make decisions, they just… do what's best for themselves."
They got to a bench then and Ally looked off into the distance as Austin sat down. She blinked out of her thoughts and she sat down beside him.
"Trust me, no parent will ever be worse than what mine did to me." She vaguely told him, but before he could ask what she meant, his phone started to ring in his pocket.
He looked at it and sighed, "it's my mom, hold on." She nodded and he answered it. "Hello?"
"Where have you and Ally gone to?" His mother demanded, "Lester and Penny are getting ready to leave and they can't without her."
"Oh, we went to the town, we'll be back… soon." He answered, "Uh, just give us maybe twenty minutes? That's how long it took us to walk here."
"Fine," His mother's voice was stern. "Twenty minutes, no later."
"Right." He said and hung up. He turned to Ally, "We should go back to my place." She nodded and then stood up with him. They walked together in silence, before Ally bumped into him.
"Wouldn't notice we were gone right?" She had a bit of a teasing tone to her voice and Austin couldn't help but smile.
"Right." He answered and then she giggled. He didn't think there was a sound better to hear than that and smiled again.
Ally was definitely something else and all he wanted to do was get to know her better.
"Oh good, you're here, finally." Mimi smoothed at her hair as Austin walked in through the front door, Ally behind him.
"Took you two long enough." His father gruffly stated and Austin just looked at his father like he couldn't believe he said it.
Ally was curious herself.
"Well, we should get going, it was nice to meet you." Penny took Mimi's hand in hers. "Maybe when I get back, we should get together again."
"Oh definitely." Mimi agreed and they air kissed each other's cheeks before saying goodbye to each other's families.
"Bye Austin," Ally whispered as she walked out the door with her parents.
He smiled and put his hand up, "Bye Ally." He whispered back and then the door closed. Without saying a word to his parents, he went upstairs to get ready for bed. He did, after all, have school in the morning and he didn't want to be late for his first day.
He arrived at school a bit earlier than he wanted to, but figured it was fine. He did need to get his schedule and locker assignment first, so it actually worked out to his advantage. As he walked towards his locker, after getting what he needed, he wondered where Ally was that morning but figured he'd see her if they shared a class together or something.
He eventually found his locker and was twisting the combination to open it when a presence beside him scared the crap out of him.
"Hi!" The person said brightly as he stumbled backwards and put his hand against his heart in shock.
He then recovered and looked at her strangely, "Uh, hi?"
She held out her hand. He stared at it a moment, before shaking it. "I'm Kira and you are?"
"Austin." He answered turning back to his locker.
"You're new," She stated obviously and then leaned against the locker, batting her eyes in what she hoped was cute and inviting, but he just found irritating.
"Yes, I am. Today's actually my first day."
"Oh, cool!" She clapped her hands, "Then you need someone to show you around!"
"Actually, I already have—"
"Great," The smile seemed permanently glued to her face, "give me you're schedule, I'll show you where your classes are."
"That's really okay, I—"
She glared at him and he just handed it over, not really wanting to deal with a PMSing girl this early in the morning. "Oh perfect! Your first class is with me, so I'll take you there now, the bell's going to ring soon anyway so…"
"Right," He nodded, "Let's go there then." She gave him his schedule back and he looked at her. "Think I can open my locker first?"
Her cheeks turned red, "Right, sure." She waited for a few moments for him to do what he needed to do and then he shut it, turning towards her a few moments later.
"Let's go to class." He said and she nodded, that damn smile reappearing, she dragged him to his first class, and he wondered the entire time, why Ally hadn't shown up so he didn't have to deal with the peppiest girl in the entire world.
So, I know Ally's from Miami, but I made her from Toronto, because fun fact. I'm from Toronto and I thought it would be interesting to make her from there as well. But uh, yeah. She won't be the only one from there and this character will be introduced probably in a few chapters. I'm sure you can all guess who it is though.