Hey! Well, it's Thursday and I said I would update, so here is Chapter 4! I don't want to hold y'all from reading this chapter so please make sure you read the AN after the chapter because that's where I will make some announcements!

Disclaimer: I don't own Austin & Ally!

Aubryn's POV

Beep. Beep. Beep. Be-.

My alarm clock starts beeping and I lazily roll over to slam it off before snuggling back under my snow-white comforter. In less than five seconds, my eyes are closed and I'm back off in dreamland. In today's dream, Aubryn has a dad! Of course, this is a dream and those rarely come true.

Right about the time my dream finally reaches the good part, I hear my mother yell up at me, "Aubryn Harmony! I let you sleep in a little because it's Monday, but if you don't come down soon, there won't be any pancakes left."

This of course got me out of bed. Apparently, my father LOVED pancakes. I didn't think that type of thing was hereditary but I guess it is since I REALLY like pancakes. Every Monday, my Mom will make me pancakes because... well, it's Monday.

"I'm coming down as soon as I get changed! Please don't do anything to the pancakes!" I rush around grabbing clothes and accessories. I quickly put on some dark rinse skinny jeans, a black shirt and a black cardigan and add an infinity scarf that looks like a world map. I put in some pearl earrings and put my hair up into a ponytail. No time for fancy hairstyles, I have a stack of pancakes that are threatened to be removed waiting on me downstairs. Hastily I put my comforter and sheets back on top of the bed semi-decent. I throw my pillows on top. A white one that matches my comforter, a grey one that matches my sheets underneath the comforter, and a white fuzzy throw pillow. I grab my pajamas and throw them down the laundry shoot before heading down the stairs. I don't need to have Mom mad at me for skipping stairs. The fate of my breakfast is up to her. Thankfully, there are pancakes at my place at the bar. The syrup and butter are already on them, just the way I like it. I bow my head for grace before digging in.

"Bryn! Hey Bryn! Did you see that text I sent you last night?" My friend Rylie Cate calls out and then walks carefully over to me.

"Yes Ry, I did. I asked my mom and she said I could go, just to be back by curfew," I respond.

"Hey girls. How were your weekends?" Another one of my best friends, Hunter catches up to us and asks Rylie and me his question as we head into the school building.

"Fine," we say in unison. He nods, scanning the crowded hallway. I see his eyes light up which means he must've spotted our other best friend, Penton.

It originally started out as Rylie and Hunter. They'd been inseparable since birth and act like brother and sister. Then, in kindergarten, I met them and we hit right off. Mom likes them because their families don't have anything against us for being a family without a male figure. In third grade, Penton transferred from Atlanta, Georgia and we added him into the group. Hunter was probably the happiest to finally have another guy to talk to when we're together.

"Hey guys! Are we still on for tonight? We've got to get that stupid science project over with," starts Penton walking up to us.

"Yup"

"You know it"

"Yeah"

"Great! I'll meet you guys at our usual spot at 3:50," he finishes. The warning bell rings signaling we only have five minutes to go to our lockers and be seated in homeroom. We all dash off in different directions, leaving shouts of "see you soon" in our wake. Thankfully, my locker is right by where we just were. I spin my combination, 17-35-07, and jiggle the lock. The door pops open and I deposit some belongings and withdraw the materials I need for my first two classes. Slamming my locker shut, I hurriedly grab my stuff and walk at an extremely brisk pace to my homeroom class.

I walk in and I'm seated at my assigned seat smiling and nodding to some of my other friends with seconds to spare.

Ding. Ding. Ding.

And another day starts. We go through the morning announcements, say the pledge, and have a moment of silence AKA catch up time with friends through facial expressions. Finally, the principal tells us to have a good day and signs off the PA system. Pretty soon, the bell goes off again and I get up to move to my assigned seat for first period. My first period and homeroom classes are in the same room.

Mrs. Flowers starts droaning on about scatter plots. I'm a straight A student and I currently have an 100 in this class. Math is just SOO boring. 55 minutes later, the bell rings and I go to my 2nd period and first class that has my friends in it. My English teacher is a lot more lenient and when she gave us our seats, she put Penton, Rylie, and me together with another guy who's on the soccer team with Pen. We goof off until Mrs. Jacobs walks into the room and tells the class to settle down. Currently in English, we're reading Gone With The Wind (don't own but I LOVE it). Yeah. We're reading it "in partnership" with Georgia History since we're studying the Civil War in that class. Gone With The Wind is the longest book, but it's really good. We're going to watch the movie when we're done. Surprisingly, everyone's being very mature about the book and some things that are mentioned.

After reading about 10 pages and stopping and discussing every five seconds, we're given our homework (finish the chapter we're on) and permission to pack up. Pen, Ry and I split up and head to our lockers. I put away my math binder and English binder and grab out my gym clothes and chorus music. Someone taps my shoulder and I turn around to find Rylie standing next to me waiting semi-patiently for me so we can go to chorus together.

Mrs. Nelson welcomes us and we start with some vocal warm ups before delving into the music we're working on for our Spring Concert. I love singing from the bottom of my heart. Mom and Dad do too. Mom told me that my father is a very famous man and she made the decision to leave him and his career unharmed. That means I have a celebrity for a parent. But which one? I've gone through long lists of men that are about my moms age but I don't know who he could be. Mom says that if I ever were to meet him, he would love me just as much as she does. There's a little tattoo on her left ring finger that she got to represent my father. However, it's a little crescent moon and unless he's an astronaut or something like that, I've got no idea what it means. Aunt Lizzy knows who my father is. Why can't I? I feel Rylie glancing at me and I know I need to focus. This is my favorite class of the day. Music allows me to forget about all the bad things in my life and it helps me feel like I have a father who's at work and will be home for supper. But that's not true. As soon as the bell rings, I'll be brought back into reality. Sure enough, here I am. Now, I'm heading to PE where I'll see Penton and Hunter.

I head into the girls locker room and twist in my lock combination. I change and then head out to my spot on the gym floor. Since our last names are so close together alphabetically, I sit behind Hunter Carson who sits behind Penton Butler. Role is called and then we warmup. After jogging around the gym 3 times, everyone disperses to places around the gym where different things are set up. I head over to play volleyball with a couple of other girls. In no time at all, the students go back to the locker rooms and change and get ready for fifth period. The usual routine happens once again: the bell rings, I go to my locker, I drop off my choral music and gather my Spanish binder and textbook and my Georgia History binder and my lunch, Hunter comes to my locker, together we go to Rylie Cate's locker and then the three of us head to "la clase de espanol".

Señora Lester welcomes us and we get into a line to go to the lunchroom. Hunter gets into the lunch line by Penton and Rylie and I sit down at our usual table. I open up my lunchbox and start eating. About halfway through my sandwich, I see two people plunk their lunches down across the table from Ry and me. I look up to find Penton staring at the brownie I have saved for dessert.

"No."

"Just a little bit? Half of the little bit? A quarter of the little bit? A crumb?"

"If your lucky".

"Please, please, please?"

"Penton! I'll bring you a whole brownie tomorrow. Okay? Just stop begging."

The rest of lunch passes by quickly and as we get up to throw away our trash, Penton reminds me about the brownie.

We arrive back at spanish class and start our warm up before learning about conjugating irregular verbs. Oh joy! Hunter and Rylie are fighting in less than a minute over the conjugation of the verb "oir". Thankfully, our good friend Google (don't own) comes in to save the day. As it turns out, neither of them were right. What else is new? Both of them are so smart until they start bickering with each other.

Ding. Ding. Ding.

Time for Georgia History. Penton and I have this class together. Today, we have a substitute. I've always hated substitutes. I really like routine and that goes out the window when the teacher is out. Plus, I really like Mr. Harbin. He's probably my favorite teacher because he's incredibly laid back and he makes the most boring class of the day as interesting as he can. The sub is ancient and has no idea what's supposed to be happening. Sixth period drags on and I'm pretty sure we'll graduate before we get out of this class. However, that is thankfully not the case and soon thereafter I'm at my locker putting books and binders into my backpack. I walk into science and sit down with Pen, Ry, and Hunter at our group table. As I rifle through my backpack, looking for my science binder, Ms. Sumners gives us a couple of reminders and then we get started on our science project. Us four are working together on a project about sound waves. We're heading to Penton's house after school's over to finish it since it's due on Friday and today is the only day we can all get together.

Penton and I withstand 55 minutes of arguing from Rylie and Hunter and brace ourselves for another two hours of it. We both breathe a sigh of relief when we're dismissed to go to our lockers if we haven't already. I trail after Rylie and as she pulls out her backpack we start discussing fashion. She of course looks stunning in her black shirt tucked into a bright Aztec tribal skirt. Rylie Cate is the fashionista. She rarely wears pants, only dresses and skirts. I, on the other hand, usually grab whatever looks appealing. However, whenever she has a chance, Rylie will make my "appealing outfit" look so much better. Hunter's the "preppy" guy and he always dresses nicely. Penton on the other hand, he is to Hunter as I am to Rylie, except worse. He plays a ton of sports and is constantly wearing athletic shorts and Nike (don't own) shirts. However, our styles all fit our personality and looks.

I'm 5' 5" with medium-length, thick, dark, dark, DARK brown hair and pale skin. I've got brown eyes like mom and apparently dad.

Rylie is 5' 4" and she loves to wear heels to make her look taller. She's got long, beach-blonde hair, piercing blue eyes, and her natural tan completes her "California Girl" look, even though we live in Nebraska. A great word for her would be "girly girl". She hates sports, unless she's watching them, and loves anything that has to do with clothing. Her role model is a fashion designer named Trish de la Rosa. What makes Trish even better? She's Austin Moon's manager. Austin Moon has been Ry's celebrity crush since before she was born. I like his music and acting and sure I guess he's a little cute, but I really don't like his fan base and how the poor guy's face is on anything and everything. Rylie tried to drag me to his concert he had here when we were eight but mom said no. She never said exactly why.

Next in the friend line up would be Hunter. Hunter is 5' 7" and like I said before, preppy. But it's a good preppy. He's more of a well dressed kind of preppy. He's on the football team but that's as far his range of playing sports goes. However he LOVES watching sports. Oh my gosh. It's impossible to get anything done involving Hunter if there's a game being played in front of him. He's got a brown buzz cut and green eyes with little brown specks in them.

Like Hunter, Penton is 5' 7" but that's really where the similarities end. Pen sleeps, breathes, and eats sports, but mainly soccer. Soccer is how he "expresses" himself. Yeah Aubryn, let's just go all therapeutic and use fancy, official-sounding words. Penton has shaggy, dirty blonde hair that he always is flipping out of his face. His eyes are a lighter brown than mine, more of a hazel. He's got a splatter of freckles that are constantly present on his cheeks and the bridge of his nose.

I love all my friends dearly and would do anything to keep them safe.

"Hey girls," Pen and Hunter walk over to where we're standing at Rylie's locker. Rylie turns around, shutting her locker as she does so. We shoulder out backpacks higher and head out to where Mrs. Butler, Penton's mom, is waiting on us. A chorus of "hellos" are thrown her way as we step into the mini van.

We toss our backpacks in the foyer and allow our noses to follow the delicious smell wafting into the kitchen. In the kitchen is a plate of chocolate chip cookies. We all grab a cookie before heading back for our backpacks and then downstairs to the basement. We goof off for a few minutes before settling down to do the task before us. Two hours, way too many cookies, and a lot of hard work later, Mrs. Butler comes down to tell us that she talked to our parents and we're invited to stay for dinner, which was ready. We all trek up the stairs and to our usual seats at the dining room table. Eating at the others' houses is extremely common so we all have our regular seats at each family's dining table. Mrs. Butler prepared a delicious, mouth-watering concoction of chicken fettuccine alfredo. I dig in excitedly. I love pasta nearly as much a pancakes.

An hour later, Rylie and I get up to help Mrs. Butler clean up while Penton, Hunter, and Mr. Butler discuss sports. What else would they talk about? At 7:30, the four of us go back down to the basement to clean up our mess and gather our belongings. We all pile back in the minivan and get dropped off one at a time. When it's my turn, I thank Mrs. Butler and say bye to Penton and Hunter as Rylie Cate had already been dropped off. I walk up the pathway to our house and open the door to find Aunt Lizzy sitting on the couch watching the news with a furrowed brow.

"Hey Aunt Lizzy, I'm home. What's wrong?" I ask her nodding towards the TV screen.

"Hey sweetie. I was just watching the news and you know how depressing that can be," she replies back keeping her eyes trained on the news reporter's.

"Oh gosh Ally," she mumbles and then "Where's my phone?" a bit louder. She finds it and triumphantly holds it up before her fingers start flying across the keyboard. While she texts, I watch the news report. What's so bad about Austin Moon?

"... And will be in Omaha, Nebraska on a vacation for the next 2 weeks. Sources say he left Miami, Sunday night and will be leaving Nebraska in two Saturdays," the woman continued. Just then my phone chimes and I pull it out, revealing a text from Rylie Cate with the following message:

"OMG! AUSTIN MOON IS GOING 2 B 22 MINS AWAY FROM US 4 2 WKS!"

I respond: "calm down Ry! No one likes a crazy fan girl." I smile and replace my phone in my back pocket. Aunt Lizzy has her eyes back on the screen, which reminds me: What does Mom have to do with Austin Moon? I shrug and head upstairs. I already finished my homework at Penton's so I get on my tablet and start to get sucked into my book. Before I know it, it's time for me to get ready for bed. I grab a towel and head into the light yellow bathroom adjoining my room. After starting some music on my phone and turn on the water, I step out of my clothes and jump into the shower. I wet my hair and add some shampoo. It takes a lot of shampoo and conditioner to keep my hair even looking semi presentable. It's just so thick! While I'm rinsing the conditioner out of my hair, I sing the last few notes of the song I was listening to. The next song that comes on is an Austin Moon song. Which reminds me... Mom. What does she have to do with a billionaire, actor, and singer? And why was Aunt Lizzy so worried? There will be an interrogation tomorrow morning. I sigh and cut off the water before stepping into the cold air, my feet landing on the plush, yellow carpet that matches the walls and yellow/white polka-dotted shower curtain. Wrapping the towel around me, I head back into my room and grab some pajamas. 10 minutes later, I go downstairs with my hair in a towel turban to grab some ice cream. Aunt Liz is seated on the couch watching a movie looking a lot more relaxed than she was a few hours ago. I scoop out the moose tracks into two bowls and add a spoon to each. I carry the bowls over to the living room and sit down on the couch next to Aunt Liz, handing her a bowl as I do so. We watch the movie and eat in silence until I get up and grab both bowls off the coffee table and wish Aunt Lizzy a good night. I rinse the bowls and place them in the dishwasher and go back upstairs to brush my teeth and hair. Soon, my teeth are clean, my hair is in two braids, and I'm snuggled under my covers reading my book again. At about 11:15, I hear mom walk in the door and greet Aunt Liz. I strain my ears to listen to their conversation; maybe they'll talk about this Austin Moon situation.

"Ally I was - oh my gosh you're crying! What's wrong?"

"We need to talk. Someone came to the restaurant tonight and I don't know what to do Liz!" Mom sobs. Aunt Liz must have understood who this "someone" was and starts to comfort mom.

"Shh... Ally... It'll be okay. It's only for two weeks. Just stay home and call in sick. I'll stay here. We'll get through this."

WHAT? I tiptoe out of bed and get closer to the stairs and listen hard.

"What are we going to do?" asks mom weakly.

"Start at the beginning and tell me what happened tonight. Then we'll figure out what to do".

YES! Finally. Case closed. I'm about to hear what this whole thing is about.

Or maybe not. They go into the guest room and close the door, leaving me confused. I head back to bed knowing eavesdropping would be futile; I can't hear anything from here. I turn over in my bed and try to get some sleep, but I stay up late into the night trying to put 2 and 2 together but not getting 4.

So, longest chapter but still shorter than most people's chapters...

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

1. I have decided that starting in the next week or two, I will have a constant update scheduele of Monday and Friday.

2. Next Tuesday, my band class is going to Disney and will be back Friday morning. I might have time to write out the next chapter on the bus but I get motion sick easily so I'm not sure. I say all that to say: I don't know when my next update will be.

3. I have started a Pinterest page for the outfits for the characters. I'll "like" each outfit I use per chapter until the next chapter comes out, when the pins will be switched. Currently, I just have outfits for the girls. Rylie's outfit and Aubryn's scarf are there now... the web address is the standard pinterest thing with the . com and then /reaganmaree

That should be it! Thank you so much for reading, and don't forget to review!

~RM