Chapter 2 was originally published December 16th, 2013. Re-published August 5th, 2016.

Allyson POV

I stood at my locker, continuously resetting my lock just to redo my combination over and over again. I didn't need five more irritating minutes of just trying to unlock it, so I banged my forehead onto the locker in frustration. I kept banging my head on it repeatedly, the clank of the locker echoing through the hallway every two seconds.

I noticed some people looking at me funny, so I stopped and just rested my forehead on the cold, metal locker. I huffed out a breath, then started to redo it again, growling lowly in frustration as it still didn't open.

"Need help?" said a cheery voice from right behind me. I gasped and spun around, clinging to the locker with my hands flattened up against it. I looked at the person. I could tell she was latina by her mocha skin. She was shorter than I was… which was new. No one was usually shorter than me. Probably because of my heeled boots.

Her black, curly hair reached to the middle of her shoulders and draped the surface of them. I stood up, stepping away from the locker and trying to get my breathing under control. "Sorry..." she said sheepishly, but then erased the apologetic look from her features. "Welcome to Marino High, I'm Trish." I squinted... Her enthusiasm actually hurt, it was so bright, but I gave her a tiny smile anyway. "Allyson… call me Ally." She smiled and looked at my locker.

"Still need help?" I glared at the lock accusingly. "Yes." I deadpanned in response, still narrowing my eyes at it. "Don't go coo-coo on your first day." She looked at me pointedly and I straightened up. She looked at the paper that contained my combo, and opened my locker with three swift motions with her fingers. I gazed at it in disbelief.

She shook her head at me. "I'd practice this if I were you." I pressed my lips into a straight line. "Thanks, though." I muttered. She nodded at me. She eyed my schedule. "We have first, second, and fifth period together. And lunch. Sweet." I raised a corner of my mouth as my signature smile.

I was starting to like this girl. "Alright, let's go." I put my folder and locker combo in the locker, keeping my satchel with my songbook safely inside it. Folding the schedule and tucking it into my leather pocket, I slammed the locker door and put the devilish lock onto it, latching it. "Stupid thing..." I muttered. Trish chuckled. "Come on."

I readjusted my satchel on my shoulder and she grabbed my hand, practically dragging me down the hall. I dug my heels into the floor five or so feet away from the classroom door. "Damn, Trish, I can walk behind you, y'know that?" She scoffed. "My way is much quicker." She opened the door, walked in and I followed behind her, still hiding behind my curtain of hair. I looked up for a split second.

Even more stares, it felt like.

"Ah, Allyson Dawson?" The teacher stood up from his chair. I addressed him with the wave of my two fingers. "Call me Ally." I said, still tilting my mouth in a smile. I heard some whispers and saw some nods out of my peripheral vision. Welp, now I felt like a zoo animal. "Please, have a seat next to Dallas." I searched the room cluelessly to find a brown-haired boy in the back. He was waving to me. I wrinkled my nose and gave him a nod of my head as I made my way to sit down next to him.

He smiled at me with a set of sparkly white teeth. His skin was seriously tan, and he completed the 'cutie' look with wavy brown hair with a thick fringe. I never gave a person a full-toothed smile, but for Dallas, I did. I guessed it was just a way to get him off my case with the smiling. He looked at me for a second before facing forward again. Thank you… I thought.

I took out a sheet of paper and a mechanical pencil to concentrate on the lesson. I glanced over at the kid named Dallas, and noticed he was staring at me. I blinked at him and he looked forward again as if he wasn't just analyzing me. What is with people today and staring?

The staring only reminded me of—the blonde boy. I heard the classroom door creak open, and peeked up through my curtain of hair. As if on cue, he walked in. I immediately sat up straighter to see if I was correct. I was. He still looked the same as he did earlier, but now he had sunglasses covering his mysterious and lovely eyes.

I took him in intently, trying to see if he remembered me. It was hard to tell with those sunglasses. The teacher's voice made me jump in my seat. "Late again, Austin." The teacher scolded. Austin… the name replayed in my head. I liked the sound. Then, I heard his voice.

"I'm sorry, sir, I was distracted and didn't see the time." His voice was deep, smooth; it sounded like velvet running over my ears. I enjoyed the sound of his voice even more than I liked the sound of his name. I noticed other girls twirling their hair and giving him goofy grins.

I wouldn't have guessed that he was a popular boy… he seemed darker than that. I would've thought he was a social outcast. To my surprise, he nodded at them politely as he made his way to his seat. He was right across the aisle from me. I peeked at him with my hair covering one side of my face, my head down.

I had the slightest feeling that he was looking at me the same way through his sunglasses, or I had just wished. Head down, eyes up. I gulped at this feeling and I kept glancing over at him for the rest of the period. I saw that his foot was tapping on the ground, and he gripped his pencil.

His lips were in a straight line, and he kept his head down most of the time.

Strange. Though, I was doing practically the same thing.

The bell rung noisily.

I shoved the sloppily written on paper into my satchel, tucking my mechanical pencil into the side pocket.

I was the first one out of the room, and I had already made it to my locker within a minute. Don't know what the rush was… though I was pretty sure I couldn't handle staring at the Austin boy for another minute.

I attempted remembering my combo, and tried it out. Nope. I gritted my teeth in frustration, wishing Trish were there to help me. I fumbled with the lock for three more minutes, nothing. Everyone had already gotten to class. I looked down the hall to notice Austin around the office door.

He was speaking to the same old secretary from that morning. I could tell it was urgent by the way he seemed to be talking fast and the lady struggled to follow along with the rushed words, nodding her head dumbly.

I nonchalantly started to press myself against the wall of lockers, creeping silently, looking at him the whole time. I managed to get some bits of the conversation as their voices bounced off the emptiness of the halls.

"I can't do this anymore." He was saying. I bit my lip and stepped closer.

"It's absolute torture sitting in that classroom… with... her." His voice was hoarse. I could hear the venom in it though. Torture? Her? I leaned forward, almost in eagerness. Now the secretary was talking. "I'm sorry, Mister Moon. I'm afraid you'll have to stay in your English 11 class." She stated apologetically.

That's the class I shared with him. His face darkened, and his nostrils flared. I had the perfect side-view of the conversation… I felt a bit stalkerish but at the moment I didn't care.

"Thank you anyways, Darla." He gritted his teeth as he spoke, nodding his head in absent-minded politeness. His hostile glare at the floor gave me a sickness that only could be described as guilt as he walked in the other direction. To get away from me, it seemed.

The lady, otherwise known as Darla, looked up to see me standing there a couple dozen feet away, clutching my satchel with both of my hands until my knuckles turned white. I'm sure my face resembled the same pale color. She gave me a solemn look before going back into the office.

I narrowed my eyes, then spun back around, letting the random and unnecessary tears well up in my eyes. I processed what had just happened. I knew his last name was Moon. But I still couldn't get the pieces placed.

"It's torture sitting in that classroom… with… her."

"I can't do this anymore."

Why was this even affecting me? I didn't know him. Why would I give a damn?! If he didn't want me near him… I had to stay away. Still standing there, with white knuckles, tears in my eyes, looking like a lost child holding a teddy bear rather than a teenage girl holding her satchel in the middle of a school hallway. What a great first day.

"A-ally?" Trish said. I jumped and looked over to her. "Oh... sorry. I got distracted.." I muttered, as I went back down the hall to my locker. Trish already unlatched it for me before I could think to do so myself. Sighing, I put my combo and everything else inside of the locker besides my satchel.

I slammed the locker door and slid the lock on, not even bothering to re-lock it. Trish gave me a semi-worried/creeped out look. "Is this your craziness or did somebody die?" I had to chuckle at that. "No… not at all. Guess it's just first day jitters." I lied right through my teeth. Obviously I was nervous but those nerves just turned tenser and tenser until I wasn't nervous anymore. Just scared and a little hurt.

She nodded like she understood, and linked arms with mine as if we hadn't been questioning my insanity. "Second period, here we go!" She said, then proceeded to walk at a pace I could barely catch up with. "Can you please slow down, Trish?" I begged as I tried to re-adjust my satchel on my shoulder. "Nope. We're already a minute late 'cause you were standing like a dope in the middle of the hallway." I cringed and looked down, arm still linked with hers. "Sorry." She stated, and squeezed my hand. "I'm teasing ya."

So far, Trish was seriously nice to me. Instead of gawking at me like an alien, she actually spoke to me. No one ever did that. Not since I was little.

We eventually stopped at another classroom door.

"It's study hall. Great. I always have to hang out with this red-head idiot named Dez since he sits next to me. He's annoying as hell. Yet people think we're together." I rose my eyebrow and smirked. "Do you want to be with him?" I questioned rhetorically. "Wha—no!" She squealed, pretending to be offended. I laughed and followed her in.

It seemed pretty noisy in the room compared to the English class. I figured people in study hall just worked on late work or read a book, like at my old school.

Not in this case.

I could see lame paper airplanes being thrown between these two 'jock' boys, prissy girls in the corner whispering to one another, though I did see some people huddled in little homework groups. A quirky-looking ginger kid walked (more like skipped) up to me. "You're the new girl!" He stated cheerfully in my face.

Damn. I really didn't enjoy the company of super peppy people.

To my surprise he wrapped me in a welcoming hug. I kept my eyes widened, and my arms stayed at my sides. "He's touching me." I rasped to Trish, glancing over to her as if calling for help.

She rolled her eyes. "Let him be happy." She chided simply.

I winced. He was squeezing the crap out of me. "Can't… breathe..." I gasped as he let me go, a big smile on his face. I tried to take in lost air. "Nice to meet you... " My voice was somewhat hoarse. "Trish said your name was Dez." He bobbed his head and looked over to her.

"Awe, Trish, you told her my name!" He beamed and went in for a hug. "No!" She yelled, and ran away from him as he chased her. The supervisor didn't even notice.

I giggled and went to the last available corner of the room, nestling into the crook of the wall. I reached into my satchel, then grabbed my pen and songbook. My songbook was basically my bible, it was so important to me.

I opened up to a fresh page, then readied the pencil over the paper. I search deep into my mind for any lyrics inspiration. Austin could be one. I rapidly shook my head and mentally smacked myself. Don't think of Austin, you idiot. But… why exactly did he seem to dislike me so much? I decided to make a diary entry, before someone stepped up to my outstretched leg and kicked the base of my boot to get my attention. "You must be Ally."

Chapter 2: Complete! Ohmigosh, guys, who's the person? Austin? Dallas, even? Tune in to chapter 3 to find out!

Credits:

[1]: I DO NOT OWN AUSTIN AND ALLY!

Hugs and Auslly;

Valerie x