Chapter Ten

Squeeze Into Your Jeans

After I'm done dancing with Ally, I go find Dallas. I'd like to give him a piece of my mind. And maybe a piece fist. Or all of my fist. In his face.

Ally stares at me as I cross the dance floor to Dallas and his friends. He has a blonde girl up under his arm and that really pisses me off more than anything. He was probably cheating on Ally too.

"Um, Dallas?" I say standing behind him, "Can we talk?" Dallas spins around and glares at me. "What do you want?" Dallas asks rudely. "To talk," I say. Dallas nods, "Go on." I frown. "OUTSIDE," I say angrily. Dallas shrugs and then follows me out of the building. Once we're outside, Dallas says "What do you want?" again.

"You're an idiot," I say angrily. Dallas frowns. "What's wrong with you, calling me an idiot?" Dallas yells. "You stood her up, you left her crushed and heartbroken. She adored you. She trusted you. And you let her down. I can't even look at you that's how much you disgust me," I say harshly. Dallas laughs. He thinks this is funny. "Oh this is about Ally. I guess this is a good as a time as ever to say that I never liked Ally. No. She just had such good grades and I'm failing math and in order to keep my spot on the football team, I had to improve my grades. My mom is too poor to get me a tutor though, and I knew Ally liked me, so I asked her out and she helped me with math. Now I have an A and I can go back to dating the hot girls and stop wasting my time with a nerd," he says, laughing. I knew it was about his grades!

I hear a gasp then from the entrance to the building and there is Ally, with the most hurt and shocked expression on her face. I can see tears starting to well up in her eyes. She don't deserve this at all. At all.

Dallas smirks. "Another thing I don't like about you: You're an emotional wreck. As soon as somebody says something to you, you're like totally offended by it," he says to Ally, "Stop crying." This only makes Ally more upset. "Leave her alone," I warn in a deep voice, "Or I swear, I'm not afraid to get violent." Dallas rolls his eyes.

I hate this guy. And I never hate anybody. But nobody can hurt my girl and get away with it. It just don't happen.

Ally bites her lip and then looks down. "I knew you didn't like me," she whispers. I can't stand to see her like this. I honestly can't. Dallas rolls his eyes and says, "Get over it." I shake my head and I'm about to throw a punch. "Stop!" Ally screams. I stop my hand in midair. "No violence," she says. I sigh and drop my hand.

"Don't listen to her," says Dallas, "Let's fight." I shake my head. "I'm doing what she tells me to do. She hates violence," I say and shrug. "Whatever, she's annoying. Goody goody, that's all she is. She's no fun. She never drinks or does anything like that, of course she doesn't like violence," Dallas says, rolling his eyes, "No math grade was worth spending time with someone so useless and boring." Ally is trying to hold back her tears, but she fails and they start spilling.

I walk over to her. I hate seeing her cry, it breaks my heart. "Hey, don't listen to him, alright? He's an idiot. You are amazing," I say and she tries to smile, but she can't because she's so torn apart right now. "It's true. I am worthless and boring. You out of all people know how uncool I am and how worthless my musical talent is if I can't perform on stage. Dallas says I'm not hot, which is true. I'm not even pretty. No guys ever just like me. I'm shy, I get upset about everything. I can't even believe Dallas ever liked me. I guess that makes me stupid, too," she says in a shaky voice before sobbing.

"You're a mess and everything you said is true so it's a good thing you know that stuff," Dallas says. Ally bites her lip. I think she's so beautiful and I can't stand to hear her bring herself down like that. "Listen to me," I say to Ally, ignoring Dallas. She looks at me with her tear-filled eyes.

"I think that you are absolutely amazing, you are not boring at all. You are not even close to being worthless. Look how far you have come being a songwriter. And I wouldn't even be close to being famous if it wasn't for you. If you want to conquer your stage fright, you can do it. I'll help you. We'll make it happen. You are insanely gorgeous too, just so you know. You're absolutely beautiful inside and out, and I'm not just saying that because you are my friend and my partner, I'm saying that because it's true. I thought you were beautiful from the second I met you. And if you get upset about everything, I'll do everything in my power to make you happy again because I love it when you're happy and I love your smile. You don't have to change anything. Not the way you look, not your personality, because like I said many times before, you're perfect." Her face slowly lights up and she smiles and starts to wipe her tears away. "Really?" she asks. "Absolutely," I say.

Dallas stands there, shocked. He shakes his head. "Whatever," Dallas says and walks back inside Winter Formal. Ally stares up at me and now has to be the time I tell her I love her. Of course, though, it starts to rain, and we run back inside to the dance where Ashley is ready to give me an earful.

"You spent all night with her!" she screams. "Ashley, I'm sorry. I didn't want to ignore you, but I had something to take care of and it was extremely important," I say. She shakes her head. "You're like...the worst date ever," she says and walks away. I can honestly care less. As long as my girl gets happy again, that's all that matters to me. Whenever she needs me, I'm there and nobody can stand in my way.

The night is over and Trish, Dez, Ally and I all head over to Ally's house. I collapse on her basement couch as soon as I'm changed, exhausted. None of us are into after-parties and stuff so we all go over to Ally's to crash.

I think of Ally as I lay there. She's upstairs with Trish. She's still really upset. I know it is going to take her a while to get over this, especially since she's so sensitive and takes everything to heart. I wonder how I can tell her I love her. I'm really nervous too, actually.

I need something that speaks to her. The answer is obvious. Music. Music. The way to win her heart is music. I need to write her a song. Ugh. Who am I kidding? I can't write a song. But I can do anything for her. And I will. I will write a song for her.

Dez snaps me out of my reverie. "Man, tonight was a bust," Dez says. "Yeah, winter formal wasn't all what it was cracked up to be," I say. "Yeah, I had an awful time. I ate way too many snacks. I didn't even have a date, and I ended up stuck dancing with Mindy all night," he says sadly. "Ally wasn't happy, I wasn't happy with Dallas, you weren't happy. The only one who came out a winner was Trish," I say. Dez sighs. "Lucky her," he mumbles.

The girls come walking down the stairs, no longer wearing dresses, but wearing sweats and t-shirts. Ally's eyes are bloodshot, and obvious sign she was crying more upstairs. She sits beside me on the couch and puts her head on my shoulder. "My life is a mess," she says and sniffles. "I don't think so. You have a lot going for you," I say. She smiles. "Yeah right," she says lightly.

Trish sighs. "Yes you do, Ally," she says and Dez agrees. Ally sighs. We all sit in silent. We haven't been really crazy lately. But we know when to be serious. And when one of us is feeling down, we all have to be serious and sweet to cheer them up.

Trish's phone ringing breaks the silence. She checks her text. "Ally, my sister has some jeans that don't fit her anymore. She gained weight and they are too small on her, so she wants to know if you want them," Trish says. Ally sighs. "What size are they?" she asks drearily. "Small," Trish responds. Ally shakes her head. "I have to squeeze into my smalls," she says, "I'm getting fatter everyday. It'll only make me uglier than I already am," she says and I can hear the shakiness in her voice. "You are not ugly," I whisper, "And don't worry about your weight. I don't care how much you weigh." She looks up at me and smiles. "You are too nice to me," she says. I shrug. "I'm just stating the facts. Trish and Dez smirk. "Sure Austin," Trish says and raises her eyebrows. I frown at her.

After we sit and talk for awhile, and take turns making Ally smile, we all settle down into our sleeping bags. I lie there thinking of song lyrics. I'm starting to think of ideas.

I know she doesn't believe me when I tell her I don't mind all her flaws. Maybe I can tell her in a song how beautiful I really think she is. I need to tell her how much I love all of her little things, and how much I love her.