Chapter 2

Rehearsals and school continued over the next month. Ally loved the music and was at ease with her fellow band members. It was a great break three times a week from all the essays and readings and classes. She loved school and learning, but playing music was even more organic and natural for her, not to mention less stressful.

Since their meeting in the band room, Austin had taken to waving at her and saying hi any time he saw Ally on campus. She never stopped to talk to him.

One day, after her economics class, which was a requirement for all students at the college, she felt a tap on her shoulder and looked up at a big smile and mop of blonde hair.

"Hey Ally! Soooo… that big econ midterm is coming up…"

Ally was surprised. She had never noticed Austin in that class, but it was a very big class and she sat near the front every day.

"Ummmm… oh hey Austin, yeah, that's uh pretty soon.

"Yeah! So I was wondering if you wanted to study with me?"

Ally paused. Why was Austin asking her to study? Surely he had other friends in this class. Austin noticed her hesitation and sheepishly admitted, "I know you're really smart and I've missed a bunch of classes so I was hoping you could help me catch up!"

Before she could stop herself, Ally rolled her eyes and sighed. People had been asking her for help with schoolwork since the second grade. She had found teaching others really helped her teach herself the material. Also, she was a sucker for a plea for help. Particularly when it came from a cute boy who had piqued her curiosity.

"Sure, Austin. How about after rehearsal next Thursday? That gives us the whole weekend before the test."

"Oh! Great! Yes!" Austin nodded enthusiastically. To Ally's surprise he didn't just leave right away, but instead waited for her to finish packing her bag. As they walked out he started asking about some of the hard piano parts in the show and how the pit was doing. If anything could make Ally forget her shyness and social anxiety it was talking about music, so they were soon deep in conversation.

"Dining hall?" he asked as they approached the building. Ally had been planning to head to the library to get ahead on readings, but at the smells of mediocre dining hall food her stomach grumbled, so she shrugged and nodded.

After they got food and grabbed a table there was an awkward silence until Austin said, "So how long have you been playing?"

"Since I was two, she replied. "I picked up violin, clarinet, and French horn over time, but piano is my first love. How about you?"

"About the same. Parents got me piano lessons at age five but by ten I had found guitar, which is still my favorite."

She nodded and silence fell again. Once more Austin broke the silence by asking, "You're a music major, right? Have you written songs?"

Ally blushed profusely and refused to make eye contact. "Uh, yeah I'm a music major. And noooo… no I don't write songs really. At all. I mean not never but not for class. Nobody hears anything I write. Not that I write any."

Austin looked at her confused and amused. "So you have like three albums of songs written, don't you? That's cool, I wish I could write songs, but I'm just not good at it alone. Composition classes are the only music classes I've ever struggled with."

"Is this your way of asking me to help you write songs for class, too? Let's see how econ goes first," Ally joked in an attempt to change the topic. Before Austin could respond a tall red-head yelled "Austin! Isn't the pizza amazing today?"

Most people in the room looked up as the guy bounded over to Austin. Austin grinned and stood up so they could do a hand shake that ended with a high-pitched "what up?"

Austin then turned to Ally and said, "Hey Ally, this is my friend Dez. He's doing tech for the musical!"

Dez nodded at her but before Ally could introduce herself he said, "But Austin, the PIZZA."

Austin looked at Dez's plate and said, perplexed, "Dez you have chicken fingers."

Dez reached into his pocket and pulled out a slice of pizza with some lint and a thread from his pants on it. "This pizza!" he announced proudly. "That's yesterday's pizza Dez. You said it was the worst pizza you've ever had," Austin replied.

"Everyone knows pizza is the best when aged," Dez answered and then plopped down at their table and looked at Ally. "So you're in the musical?"

Ally didn't know what to make of Dez, but said "Oh no. I mean sort of. I'm in the pit band."

"Cool!" Dez said, then turned back to Austin and started a conversation about the relative merits of the spaceships in Star Wars and the Zalien movies. Ally listened, amused, as Austin and Dez got very excited about the topic. They looked and sounded like kids when they interacted and Ally was surprised that such a popular kid liked geeky topics and had a geeky best friend. After a few minutes, though, she realized she had nothing to add to the conversation and she had studying to do.

She got up and said she was heading out, and both Dez and Austin smiled broadly and exclaimed "Bye Ally!" while waving, further cementing their child-like friendship. Ally decided at that moment that she liked what Dez brought out in Austin.