An AU where TBC doesn't meet on that fateful Saturday. I hate having to reiterate a scene that happened in the movie, but I felt like it was pivotal moment between them.

Updated 12/31/2017 & 1/1/2018. This fic has been re-edited. I'll also be uploading an epilogue. Ya know. Soon. Some day. Permission to shoot me has been granted.

The bus forgot her. Again.

Allison wasn't sad. Maybe she should've been, but it was so typical—just another normal day, with nobody to talk to but the blank canvas on her lap.

She guessed that it was sometime past four thirty. School let out at two thirty and after that was a blur. Every time she looked up from the pad there were less and less kids around. Now the faculty and student parking lot was deserted, save for three cars. One of them she recognized. She saw enough of the Ford sedan to know that it belonged to Vernon. He prided in his car being the cleanest.

The eskimo jacket Allison borrowed from her dad's closet wasn't doing its job anymore. This morning had been so nice; the kind of cold that didn't chill her bones but enough that she could see the exhales of her breath, like a personal fog. But it was slowly getting worse. She wished she had taken that plastic watch on the display in the kid's section of the thrift shop she went to last weekend. The wind was starting to pick up making her shiver.

Allison knew she should start walking home. Not that her parents would care, but it would be unbearable once it was night. But, despite the frigid wind, it was beautiful. The sun was beginning to slowly set, turning the blue sky into pinks and oranges and the pearly white clouds were smeared like water colors.

All that was missing was snow. It was late March and Allison wished it was winter already.

Her hands were starting to feel prickly. She switched her bag from the side and placed it on top of her sketchbook before shoving her hands in her pockets. She looked at the school's empty drive way again, debating. If she left now, she could probably make it home before the worst of it. Or, she could try knocking and calling her parents. There was a slim chance they would answer the phone but she could still try. Vernon was still here, he might answer the door.

As she was about to get up from her place on the concrete step, the door opened and shut. She could feel the person's eyes digging holes into her back.

"Hey, I know you," He said. "We have Economics together, right?"

She inclined her head, seeing Nikes on the floor to her side. She knew that voice, it was like warm honey—sweet and too good to be true.

"Oh-kay." He replied, strained from the lack of a response. "Forget I asked."

He started his trip down the steps, and that's when Allison looked up. His varsity jacket nearly engulfed him from how low he kept his head. But she knew that hair, too.

He was Andrew Clarke—the star wrestler who was a few games away from winning the school's first championship. He was popular with the guys and handsome with the girls. Every guy wanted to be him. Every girl wanted to be with him. And when he pulled that prank on Larry Lester, he was practically hailed as the king of the school. He may smile and laugh, but ever since that day he was different.

She watched him the same way she watched everyone from the cloak of invisibility.

Those pretty blue eyes of his changed, hardening into crystals whenever his friends mentioned it. And his fist would crumble the notes people passed him, knuckles turning white. His jaw would tighten as he slammed the door of his dad's Bronco in the morning's.

After a few days, she came to a realization. There was something different about Andrew Clark. He wasn't like the other mindless people in this school.

"Yeah." She said loudly, hoping that it would get his attention.

And it did. Andrew stopped walking, turning around and flashing her a small smile of relief against his tired eyes. Her stomach did a flop. She blamed it on hunger.

"Oh, okay, cool. I thought I mistook you for someone else... You sit all the way in the back, yeah? Sucks that some teachers are starting this seating in alphabetical order crap."

Allison didn't respond. She didn't like small talk.

"So, uh," Andrew shuffled his feet, leaning on one side. "What're you still doing here? Everyone's gone."

"What about you?" She fired back.

Andrew blinked like she should've already known. "Coach called for a last minute meet. Wasn't practice or anything—more like a lecture about how we could do better and some other stuff."

Allison pursed her lips, wondering if she should lie. Lying was easier than telling the truth. It's not like anyone would believe her if she told the truth. But maybe... Maybe he would—weird as it was.

"I got distracted."

Andrew looked interested. "By what?"

"The sky," She jerked her chin in the direction of the football field, though she couldn't see it from the concrete blocking her view. She'd been around enough to know the silver bleachers were bathing in the warm hues. "It's pretty at this time."

"I guess," He replied nonchalantly. "Well, you need a ride? My old man left me his Bronco for the week."

A huge part of her wanted to say no. Guys like him never spoke to girls like her. She could walk home just fine. She didn't need him.

But another part of her—the smallest part buried deep within her heart like her body underneath all this clothing—wondered what it would be like to have a friend. Well, Andrew wasn't a friend yet. She was willing to settle for an acquaintance, one that wouldn't ignore her in the halls. One that might even care enough to ask her how her day went.

Her thoughts were spinning out of control. Allison needed to make them stop. She wished she knew how to make them stop. Andrew wouldn't look at her twice tomorrow morning. But the seed of hope was planted, and it never hurt to try.

She didn't realize how long he had been staring, waiting for a reply. Allison nodded and got up, not trusting her voice. She caught her sketchbook before it could fall to the floor and shoved it inside her bag.

Andrew waited until she was near him to walk, staying by her side.

"Nice buttons." He complimented earnestly. They were buttons she stole from different stores and saying thank you felt weird.

Andrew unlocked the passenger door and held it open for her. The interior was clean, save for the little bit of dust on the dashboard. Allison got in quickly, keeping her feet planted on the floor. She felt bad that her converse were so dirty.

Andrew hopped in the drivers seat, stripping himself of his varsity jacket and threw it somewhere in the backseat. "So, where do you live?"

She bit her lip, embarrassed. "A block away from Dream Cones."

"No way!" He turned on the ignition with a smile. "My mom owns that shop."

She knew, but she would never tell him she was a frequent visitor during summer vacations. His mom was nice.

The ride was silent aside from Andrew's constant need to flip through radio stations. Surprisingly, he loved most of the rock songs that kept playing. He also loved country. Really loved country. Allison caught the curl of his lip when Prince's I Would Die for U came on.

"So…" He said after a while. "You like to draw? How long have you been into it?"

"Years."

He scoffed. "Figured that. What do you draw?"

"Anything," She paused. "People. Animals. Landscapes."

"Nice. What made you get into it?"

"What made you get into wrestling?"

He shrugged, biceps flexing under his form fitting long sleeve shirt. "I've been playing sports since I was little."

Allison nodded. "Same here. I've been into art since I was little."

"Yeah? Did your parents think it was a good fit for you too?"

"My parents don't care."

"Oh," Andrew contemplated. "That's nice. Honestly, I wish my parents didn't care."

"No," She pursed her lips, hoping she could get the right words out. "My home life… is unsatisfying."

His brows furrowed but his eyes stayed on the road. "Well, isn't everyone's home life unsatisfying? If it wasn't, we'd stay with our parents forever."

Allison swallowed her initial anger. She wasn't sure at first why it struck her as much as it did. As more silence passed, the more the bubble of anger she was trying to keep down grew, spreading through her body and almost bringing her to tears. She knew exactly why it bothered her.

But that wasn't something that she was going to tell him.

"Hey, are you okay?" He asked warily. "You're quieter than usual..."

"Everything's cool." She said, prying the door open when they stopped at a red light. It wouldn't budge. It made Allison even more frustrated. She needed to get out. "You can leave me here. I'll walk."

"What? Are you kidding?" Andrew almost yelled. "No way! There's still a good five miles to go. I can't just leave you out there in the cold and angry. Just tell me what it is."

She leaned against the door, trying to push away from him though she had nowhere to go. "Just leave me alone."

"No," Andrew said defiantly. "You brought it up. Tell me what it is and I'll fix it."

"You can't 'fix it'," Allison hissed, glaring at him. "That's not how it works."

"You're right," He replied without missing a beat, pulling the car over. "I can't fix your problems, whatever they are. That's not how things work. Only you can do that. But I can amend what I said because it offended you—but you have to tell me what it is first."

Allison's heart hammered in her chest, threatening to explode. She ripped away from those blue eyes.

This wasn't how she wanted things to go. She just wanted someone she could talk to, but not about anything personal. Not yet. They were barely scraping the surface of things.

She knew their social standings. Regardless if she liked him, and she might've been deluding herself into thinking he had a mild interest in her, Andrew was someone way out of league. She was an outcast and always would be. Every day sitting alone in the bathroom stall eating quietly was a reminder.

She didn't need another friendly reminder by telling a boy she barely knew her secrets.

"Is it… bad? Parents?" Andrew asked softly. Through the silence, she nodded. "What did they do to you?"

Screw it. She fought back tears, replying under her breath. "They ignore me."

He didn't say anything. Allison didn't think he knew what or how to say it. It's not like he believed her anyways. She was sure of that. Eventually, Andrew took the car out of park, easily navigating back onto the road.

"I'm sorry," She was shocked at his sincerity that she nearly jumped in her seat. "I didn't mean to offend you."

"You didn't know."

"It's not that I don't want my parents to care about me." Andrew sighed, frustrated. "It's just—"

"Did your parents think wrestling was a good fit for you?" Allison cut in.

Andrew was taken aback by the question. "My old man wants me to wrestle 'cause it's what he did when he was my age."

"Do you like it?"

"Yes."

Allison almost rolled her eyes. "Liar."

He grimaced. "Forget it. You wouldn't understand."

"Try me."

He ran a hand through his sandy hair that glowed white under the dark night. Almost like a bed of snow. "I'll tell you, but you have to promise not to run off and tell your friends."

"I don't have any friends." She murmured, turning away.

"Nobody?"

Allison shook her head. She picked up a string from her wool skirt, ripping it off. It was too tangled in other strings from washing to wrap around her finger. She liked watching the way her fingers turned purple then became numb. She didn't notice that the car stopped at another red light.

"I never asked," Andrew said suddenly. "But what's your name?"

She turned back to him. "Allison."

"I'm Andrew," He said gently. "And I'll be your friend… If… If that's okay with you."

She looked at him, into those innocent blue eyes that held a promise of hope that she didn't have to be lonely any more.

"Okay."

Andrew's voice quivered as he recalled the events of that day, and it was evident by the shimmer in his eyes that he hadn't shared his the feelings this with anyone. Who could he tell? His father finally had a son he could be proud of. His friends all thought he was even more of a hot shit.

It was Larry Andrew felt the most sorry for. It wasn't about himself. He hated what his father had turned him into. And if he ever told any of them this? They'd think of him as a weak puppy.

Andrew's fingers gripped the steering wheel so tightly that Allison was afraid it would snap like a twig.

Andrew wasn't who he wanted to be, just like her. He wanted more the same way she did. He was hiding behind a façade that forced by his father and enforced by the crowd he associated with.

And just like her, Andrew longed to break free.

He parked the truck by the curb of her dimly lit house. His story finished a long time ago but they finally sat in comfortable silence. Allison didn't want to leave.

"You should apologize to him."

Andrew inhaled shakily, avoiding her eyes. He wiped his face with his arm. "But I… How do I apologize for something like that?"

"You just do. You have to. It'll eat away at your heart." She paused, wondering if she should keep going. "Larry doesn't have to accept it. He doesn't even have to forgive you. But... At least you tried. It's a step in the right direction—for both of you."

"Yeah." He nodded, ingesting her words. "Yeah, you're right. I have to."

"I'm... not sure what you should do about your friends. Or your dad."

Andrew smiled sadly, unlocking the doors. "Don't worry about that. I'll deal with them."

Allison gave a curt nod, stepping out into the frigid night.

"Hey, uh, Allison?" She stopped before closing the door. "Thanks for this. I'm really sorry I had to dump that all on you."

"It's fine. We all need someone to talk to."

"You must think I'm pretty bizarre." Andrew muttered.

"I don't."

Andrew snorted. "Yeah. Right."

"I don't." She repeated with more force. "It was… nice."

Allison shut the door, walking on the path to her front door without so much of a goodbye. If she said goodbye, it would all be over like waking up from a dream.

"Hey!" She turned around, surprised Andrew hadn't driven off right away. He was leaning over the passenger seat, having rolled down the window all the way to get her attention. "You need a ride to school in the morning?"

She smiled for the first time in a long time. "Yeah."