When I wake up the next morning I can't help but feel a little bit more calm than I did yesterday. Having that talk with Austin made me a lot more comfortable and it felt nice to know that if all else failed there was someone at the school that didn't think I was a total loser and would talk to me.
I did my normal boring morning routine. Shower, makeup, hair, blah blah blah. As I stood in front of my floor length mirror adjusting my skinny jeans and t-shirt the smell of food filled my nose. And it didn't smell burnt… That's odd.
I make my way downstairs and find my mom standing in the kitchen cooking yet again.
"Hey mom." I greet while trying to get a look at what she was making.
"Good morning, Ally. I hope you're hungry!" I smile and nod at her.
"I'm starving. What are you making?"
"Pancakes! Turns out pancakes are a lot easier to make than eggs. And I also made some oatmeal. I'm not confident enough to make meats yet so for now stuff like this will have to do."
"I'm proud mom. Besides, pancakes and oatmeal sound way more appetizing than eggs and sausage." I grab a plate and put a couple pancakes on it. Surprisingly they weren't burnt. I also put a small amount of oatmeal in a bowl and pour some coffee in a mug. It tasted really good and it was nice to eat a meal at home for once. My mom tried making some kind of pasta last night but ended up screwing it up somehow so we just ordered some pizza.
When I finish my breakfast I go back upstairs to brush my teeth and then I grab my backpack, keys, and phone. I head out to my car and drive to school. When I arrive I'm about 15 minutes early so I decide to try to find my locker to get my stuff in it since I didn't get to my first day. I eventually find it after a couple minutes of searching and enter in my combo. It opens and I start laying my things in there neatly. Now I get to carry even less stuff between classes.
After I have everything organized the way I want it I close my locker door and start to walk down the hallway. I notice a bulletin board that has some papers on it. Since I have some free time before I have to head to class I start to look at the options. They have things like lists to sign up for football, the reading club, gay straight alliance club, glee club, and tons of other clubs every school has.
The one that catches my eye is the sign up list for cheerleading tryouts on Friday. I did cheerleading at my old school and loved it. I work well with others, I'm flexible, comfortable enough to be a flyer, and it'd be a great way to make some friends. I sign my name along with a long list of other girls.
I consider signing up for glee club as well but I have a problem with singing in front of large crowds. It freaks me out. I'd much rather be in choir where you sing with a group of people and don't have to stick out individually. However, I didn't sign up for choir because a lot of the music they pick to perform is lame. I like singing music that helps you express yourself and singing catchy music that I actually like. I drop the pen that is tied to the board with yard and then step back, proud of myself for making an effort to get out there more.
Just then I'm dragged out of my thoughts by a voice speaking to me.
"So, you're signing up for cheer, huh?" I turn behind me to find a latina girl much shorter than me, and that's saying something. I smile and tuck a strand of hair behind my ear.
"Yeah, I did cheer at my last school. I'm new here so I thought it'd give me something to do and it'd help me make friends."
"Cool. I'm Trish. I've been on the cheerleading squad since Freshman year. Are you any good?"
"I'd say so. I was the flyer at my old school and I took gymnastics for 6 years. Are the girls on the team nice?"
"Great. You'll probably make it. Most are. There are a few that can get annoying and get caught up in the drama but as long as you're careful you won't have any issues. Most of them are cool."
"That's a relief. I mean, it's only my second day but I was starting to worry I wouldn't make any friends." I laugh. She smiles before standing next to me as we walk down the hallway.
"Aw bullshit! We can be friends. I'll introduce you to some of my friends too. After you get settled in your classes and we start getting projects people will become more social. High school is pretty cliquey in general but kids at Marino are a lot nicer than kids can be at other schools. You'll fit in fine, don't worry."
"Thanks. You have no idea how much better that just made me feel." She smiles.
"I know what it's like to not be accepted by people all the time. Kids can be mean. Don't worry, chica. I got your back." She pulls her phone out of her back pocket. "Here, why don't you give me your number. Maybe sometime this week we can get together to help you practice for cheer tryouts?"
"Yeah, I'd love that! Thanks, Trish." I smile warmly at her as I type in my name and number in her contacts list. I hand her phone back to her and she promises she will text me later so I'll have her number.
The bell then rings and we separate to go to classes. During my second hour she finally texts me just to inform me it's her and I save her number. School gets out a couple hours later and so I drive home. I had homework today. In a couple different classes, we had to do projects about helping the teachers get to know us.
It didn't take more than a couple hours to finish all of them. I am bored out of my mind and don't know what to do. I figured Trish probably already had plans today since school had been out for a couple of hours. I decide I'm going to make the most of living on the beach and take a walk. I change into some cotton shorts and flip flops then head out to the beach from the backyard gate.
There is a group of extremely attractive shirtless boys playing volleyball and as I walk along the beach I do not pass up the opportunity to stare. I loved having a boyfriend. I'm not boy crazy or anything, I just genuinely enjoy having the company of a boyfriend. I enjoy the fun adventures you can go on with them, the dates, the late night phone calls that make you smile for hours, the cuddling, everything.
I had dated Gavin for 2 years. Our relationship probably wasn't the best example to use for this. He had his good days where we would be able to do all of those things. He'd be affectionate and want to kiss me and cuddle me every chance he got. But he had more bad days than good. Gavin suffered from really bad depression for years. He was this really broken boy and he would do anything to just not feel anything. He did a lot of drugs when we were together, he always was trying to convince me to go to parties so he could share off of other people's drugs and have free alcohol and just let loose. But it just wasn't me.
But I was in love with him. I literally lived for that boy. So if he went to a party, so did I. It didn't necessarily mean I'd do drugs or drink the alcohol. Drugs weren't my thing. I tried them a couple times (really just weed) and it made me feel all weird and tired and lazy and it just wasn't for me. Sometimes I'd have a drink or two but never enough to get drunk. I was the one who'd have to drive both of us home from those parties. I only went to be with him. If going to the party was the only way I could hang out with him for a night then I'd go.
He had a shitty life growing up. His dad was an alcoholic and used to beat his mom up. One day he just didn't come home. Then that day turned into a few days. They thought that he just walked out and left them. But after about a week some police officers showed up at his house and informed his mom that his dad had died of a drug overdose and they found his body hidden behind a dumpster in an alley.
He was never close with his dad, he actually hated him so the death wasn't really hard on him. It was just the fact that his dad was such a loser and he really had this strong belief that he was going to get his act together and be better for them. Start to take care of them. I think when his dad died that child in him kind of did too.
His mom had to work two jobs in order to be able to support them. They lived in a tiny one-bedroom apartment in a crappy complex. The day he turned fifteen he got a job at a grocery store as a bagger because that was the only place that would hire him at his age. His mom started seeing guys that would stay at the house and treat her and Gavin like crap. Some of them were real assholes and they'd beat him if they got drunk enough. Gavin's life just sucked in general.
I had known Gavin since eighth grade. We knew each other for about half of the year but never really talked. My friends were the girly girls that wanted to go to movies and concerts and hang out at the mall and him and his friends were all the "bad boys." They were the kids that would punch the boys that started fights with them. They were the kids that would sneak onto the school campus at night and graffiti the wall with spray paint. And that terrified me. But also kind of excited me.
One day my friends informed me that our group was going to hang out at one of the boys' houses with his friend group. I wasn't allowed to hang out with boys, especially not at their houses. Which meant I would be breaking so many rules. I was not a rule breaker back then. However, Kimmy had the biggest crush on Logan, one of Gavin's friends and was too scared to hang out with him unless we were all there with her. So in spirit of being a good friend, I went.
They were actually all really nice and pretty cool. They hadn't pressured us into doing anything we didn't want to do. Things got kind of awkward pretty fast though and we couldn't think of anything fun or cool enough to do. So, one of the guys suggested we play spin the bottle. Sure, I had kissed a couple guys before and it wasn't new territory. That didn't mean I was all for it. They had been guys I'd dated or had a crush on. I'd never kissed a boy just to kiss him before so I was nervous as hell. But Kimmy thought it was a great idea and all of the other girls followed her lead so I did too.
When we first started playing it was just a peck when it would land on one of us. I'd gotten lucky and the bottle hadn't landed on me yet. Then, after about 10 minutes of playing Kimmy decided to try to show off and suggested that we should turn it into 7 minutes in heaven. So of course it was the universe playing against me when Gavin spun the bottle and it landed on me. I think he could tell that I was nervous and freaking out. When we went to go in the closet to make out he leaned against the door and I just kind of stood there watching him nervously.
We heard Cassidy call out they were starting the timer which signaled that we were gonna have to kiss.
"You've never done this before, have you?" He had asked me. A playful smirk rested on his lips and he watched me trying to study my reaction.
"If you're asking if I've ever played 7 minutes in heaven, then no. I haven't. I'm not even supposed to be here, I lied to my parents and said that me and Cassidy were going to the mall." I began to ramble. His smirk turned into a smile and he raised his eyebrow at me.
"Then why are you here?"
"Because I-" I paused. I couldn't tell him that Kimmy liked Logan. He was friends with Logan and surely he'd tell him and then Kimmy would hate me.
"You… What?"
"I can't tell you." I said dumbly. He chuckled before answering.
"Don't worry, Dawson. I won't tell anybody. I'm not an asshole." I let out a sigh before giving up.
"You can't tell anyone! Seriously my friends would kill me and the last thing I need is drama. But… Kimmy really likes Logan and wants to impress him but she was too scared to be alone with him so she made me come with the girls."
"Tell you what, Dawson. I'm not going to make you make out with me in here because I can tell you're a good girl and I'm not going to try to change that. It's cute. We'll just tell everyone that we did. When this is over, how about I walk you home? Maybe we can stop by the ice-cream place and I'll buy you some if you want?"
I was shocked to say the least. Here I was, in a closet at a boy's house, supposed to be macking it up with a bad boy. But yet here he was, feeling sympathetic for me and offering to buy me ice-cream and walk me home.
"I'd like that." I said softly. I don't know if I was feeling confident or if I felt close to him or what. But I'd walked up to him and wrapped my arms securely around his neck and gave him a soft, gentle kiss. He returned it, not trying to deepen it, not trying to rush it. After a few seconds I pulled back and noticed he'd rested his hands on my hips.
"What was that for?" He'd asked.
"I didn't want to make you a complete liar. We may not have made out for the full seven minutes but we did kiss." I shrugged and stepped back away from him. He licked his lips and stared at me thoughtfully before Cassidy called out that the seven minutes were over and that we could come out. He kept his promise and we went to the ice-cream shop and talked for a while before he took me home.
After that we started talking every day and became best friends. We'd started dating each other Sophomore year. That was just the beginning though. This was all I could think about at the moment. Every time I thought of him I'd feel that familiar ache and sting in my chest so I only allow myself to think of him a little bit at a time.
By now I was walking in the water along the shore. My flip flops were in my hand and the wind was blowing my hair around gently. It was beautiful out today. The sun was beginning to set which meant that I'd been walking for a while. I always find myself getting lost in my thoughts lately. I have a lot to think about.
As I continue walking I notice that a volleyball lands a few feet away from me. I look over to the boys playing volleyball. They are all looking at me.
"Hey! Mind throwing that over?" A tan, well-built brunette shouts to me.
"Sure!" I call out and jog over to the ball. I hit the ball over to them and the boy catches it perfectly. He hits it over to one of his friends and just as I'm about to turn and continue walking, he begins jogging towards me. He slows his jog when he's a few feet away from me. I smile at him.
"Hey, you're a pretty good hitter. You play?" He asks. He's cute, really cute.
"I played a lot in gym class. But thanks." I laugh. He smiles at me.
"Do you wanna come join our game, maybe?" He asks nervously, scratching the back of his neck. I raise my eyebrows in surprise.
"Oh, that's really sweet of you but I'm just walking today. Thanks for the offer, though. Maybe another time?" I offer. He smiles and nods.
"I'd like that, a lot. I'm gonna hold you to that offer though so you have to tell me your name." He says in a teasing tone. I laugh and tuck my hair behind my ear.
"I'm Ally. What's yours?"
"Ethan. I better get back to the game. I'll be looking around for you from now on, Ally."
"I'll be around." I smile. He looks me up and down casually and winks before walking away smiling. I feel myself blush and decide to head back home.
When I get home Mike and a blonde headed woman are in the kitchen. Mike is sitting at the table with Tom discussing something about business and Mimi stands in the kitchen with my mother, helping her cook something. It smells great but I can tell they are just getting started. I look around and wonder if Austin is here.
"Hey, honey. Where were you? I tried calling your name a few times when Mimi and Mike first got here and when you didn't come down I realized you were probably out." My mom asks. She seems a little worried.
"Oh, sorry about that. I decided to take a walk on the beach. I didn't tell you cause I didn't think I'd be out for so long but I kind of lost track of time I guess." She studies my face for a moment.
"Okay, but you really should have told me. I thought we came to an agreement about this. I don't like when you leave the house without telling me. You'd do that all the time in LA and look at all the trouble you got into. Especially with Gavin and –"
"Mom!" I shout. I lower my voice a bit as Tom and Mike turn to look at me. "Don't talk about him. And I already apologized. It won't happen again, I promise. We aren't in LA anymore." I snap. I'm beyond angry at her for bringing that up, and it's doubled now that we have company over. I turn on my heel and quickly walk out of the room and storm up the stairs. I didn't miss Austin leaning against the hallway wall watching me as I did so.
When I get upstairs I slam the door. I begin pacing the room. I'm so angry at her I could just scream. I tie my long hair into a pony-tail and walk over to the corner of the room and begin my process of folding the clothes. A quiet knock sounds at the door. I figure it's my mom coming in to scold me for speaking to her like that in front of the guests.
"Come in." I mumble, so not in the mood for getting in trouble right now. I hear the door open and then close behind me. "I know what you're going to say. I shouldn't have spoken to you like that and –"
"I'm not your mom, Ally." I turn around to find Austin standing behind me with a concerned look on his face.
"Oh." I flush. "I'm sorry I was expecting her."
"Don't apologize. She wanted to come talk to you but I know how parents are so I offered to talk to you instead. I told her you probably had a bad day so she said we can eat dinner up here."
"Thank you. You're literally my hero." I sigh and continue to fold the clothes. The concerned look remains on his face.
"Are you okay?" He asks.
"Do you want the truth or the easy answer?"
"The truth."
"No, I'm not."
"Do you want to talk about it?" He looks sincere.
"Not really." I mumble while folding a pair of jeans.
"Then we won't." He replies as he sits down next to me and grabs a pair of leggings.
"What are you doing?" I question him while watching him fold the pair.
"I'm helping you. You don't have to talk but I'm still going to be here for you." He replies while looking me in the eyes. I just swallow and give him a small smile. I continue to fold the clothes again and he does the same.
"Thank you." I say quietly. I almost think he didn't hear me but he just nods and lightly says,
"Mmhm."
So what'd you guys think? You learned a lot about Gavin this chapter. There was some foreshadowing about some trouble Ally got into back in LA. Plus there was a cute little moment between Austin and Ally.