AN: I got a fair amount of reviews for that last chapter, fair amount of praise too. Thank you guys, again:) I had this dream that all my files for this story got deleted, thank God that didnt actually happen! Oh and Happy Easter! I've actually been really productive this week and finished 3 chapters! I guess that's what exam time does to a person haha. In any case, I'm pretty proud of them:) Anyway here's Chapter 10, I hope you enjoy it! Read, Review, and Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Nope. Don't own the show!

Parties & Mistakes

Chapter 10: Ally's POV

There's this giddy moment when you find out someone's in love with you. But there's also a horrible sinking moment when you realize you can't say it back. No matter how much, or how hopelessly in love with him you are. So I was equally over the moon and completely devastated.

Millions of thoughts flooded my mind when Austin left. Mostly revolving around his confession. He loved me. Which was crazy, and weird, and thrilling all at the same time. How did he love me? When did this start? Why was he dating Kira? Did he love me when he first started dating her? Where do we go from here? The only place I knew we couldn't go, was the place where I confessed how I felt. If I told him I loved him it would only dig us into a bigger hole. A slowly filling grave.

If I told him, Kira would know. I'd now realized more than anything, that I didn't want to be 'the mystery whore'. I didn't want anyone to find out, much less Kira herself. If I told Austin I loved him, and we started going out, everyone would know. I would inevitably become the next target.

So that left open the question: how do you go back to being just friends after you've had sex? You try, apparently. That's what we were doing. We weren't avoiding the fact of what we'd done, we were just brushing over it. Maybe it wasn't the best plan but it was the only thing that would work.

"Guess who just got a job at Boxes R' Us!" Trish said making her dramatic entrance into the Sonic Boom. It was a lazy Sunday afternoon, and business was slow to say the least. I was perched at the checkout counter, balancing my chin on my hand as I did stock.

"Was it you?" I asked almost routine now.

She laughed me off. "No! I can barely get a job now that I've been fired so many times! Would you believe that? You think they'd want someone with experience, and Lord knows I have that!"

I smirked, closing the store log and placing it underneath the counter. "It's their loss then," I said, being the supportive friend. This was bound to happen eventually. It was in her nature find the laziest way to do something, it couldn't be changed. She was a good manager to Austin but that was about it. As for everything else, her bad reputation in the job world had gotten around. Boy do rumours travel.

"Exactly!" she said throwing herself dramatically on a lounge chair in the front of the store. "You know, I don't get what they want."

I walked over to the opposite chair, and settled in. I ran my hands along the dark blue fabric of my jeans. "They're probably just looking for someone else right now. Plus you already have a job so I wouldn't be too worried about that."

"Do I have a job, Ally?" she asked raising her eyebrows. I could tell she was feeling particularly sassy today. "Last I checked Austin didn't have a career anymore."

I winced. "My bad."

Her features changed to a mask of shock and guilt. "Oh no, I didn't mean it like that. I just meant he lost the record deal, right? And I can't do much without him having that deal."

"You did a lot before," I mumbled.

"Yeah I know but now he has this reputation..." she trailed off sensing that this wasn't the best way to go. "Never mind."

"Never mind is good. I'm good with never mind," I said getting up from the lounger. Trish had tried to start this conversation many times since Thursday. She didn't understand the deal Austin and I had made, and kept trying to get me to talk about it. My response now, was to walk away from her whenever it came up.

I walked around the cash desk. Which was a futile attempt of mine to get away from her. Truthfully there was nowhere I could go to get away in here. If I went upstairs she'd follow, and I couldn't leave when I was the only one working. So I was stuck. Stuck explaining a deal that I only partly understood myself. I settled on the piano, sitting down on the plush stained black bench.

"Alright, I get that you don't want to talk. Again. And again," she rolled her eyes. "But I don't understand."

"What did you want us to just keep fighting?" I asked her.

"No," she shot up from the chair, hurriedly walking over to my spot. "No, obviously not. I just, you guys didn't really sort things out. If anything you just made it weird and one sided. He said he loved you and you-"

"Trish," I interrupted. I stared at her willing her to just shut up. "I know what happened."

"I know you do. It's just you don't know what's going to happen next."

I scoffed. "No one does!"

She shook her head and sat down on the other side of the bench. "Not that kind of unknown. I mean like, this is a half baked plan."

"It's not half baked," I affirmed, walking away from her once more. I settled on the cash desk again, creating a slight barrier in between us. "It's the wait and see approach! It's a medical thing, happens all the time."

Trish laughed. She shook her head and just snickered. "Seriously?" There was a look of disbelief on her face. "We're going the medical route? There's nothing medical about this!"

"I believe the medical term for this is fornication," I stated, rolling my eyes. That was my vain attempt at humour. The attempt to change the conversation around.

Trish shook her head, unphased by my terminology. She pushed herself off the piano bench and stormed over to the cash. She leaned heavily on the wooden ledge, looking at me incredulously. "Do you really think this is some solution? Wait and see how things go? Ally, that's the lazy mans way of doing things!"

"Well I can't exactly tell him I love him!" I huffed, throwing my arms into the air.

"And why not?"

"Because I can't lose him and I'm not about to come out and tell everyone that I'm the 'mystery whore'"

She glanced down at the counter, tracing circles in the wood with her fingertips. "It doesn't have to mean that." she mumbled.

"What else could it mean?"

"Coincidence?" she looked at me hopefully.

I shook my head and pulled out the stock book again. "Teenage minds don't work that way, my dear."

Trish groaned loudly coming over to the other side of the desk. "Stop turning away! You need to face that this isn't a good idea!" she slammed her fists on the desk. I closed my eyes, it was always so dramatic. Did I need to deal with this right now? "You need to tell him you love him back! Please Ally, I'm sure that would make things better."

She grinned at me and I shook my head again. I sighed looking down at the numbers. I wasn't going to dignify that with a response. If she wanted to talk about something else, she could. But I didn't want to hear of yet another flaw in my logic. Flaws that I was already well aware of, yet had no other choice but to accept.

Trish meandered back to the lounger, laying down and amusing herself with her phone. I'd talk to her later. After I'd calmed down, and she'd calmed down. The only thing Trish needed to realize was that not everything works out so cleanly. This was obviously one of those occasions.

I started to settle back into doing 'work duties'. But only for a moment. My gaze was drawn upward when I heard a scuffle at the door. Confusion crossed my mind as no one was actually there. That's odd... I glanced back down at the book.

"Hi Ally!" Nelson said excitedly.

I jumped as the little nerdy boy entered The Sonic Boom. Did he have a lesson today?

"I'm here for my piano lesson!"

Ah, apparently he did. He was on to piano now?

"Hey Nelson!" I smiled down at him, coming out from behind my shelter. "Ready to get to work?" I loved the idea of normalcy and Nelson - although a bit of an odd duck - reminded me of what everything had been like before this whole ordeal.

"Yup!" he chided. "Definitely ready! But one quick question. Who was that girl who just ran away from the store? She looked so... victorious. Did you guys get robbed?"

I blinked at him. Confusion rang through me again. I cocked my head to the side, no one had been in here except Trish. One quick glance over at the lounger told me that Trish was still there. I swiftly shook my head and laughed. "Nope, nothing of that sort. Now let's get down to business!"

A&A

"Ally, Trish is here." Mom whispered, poking her head into my room.

It was early Monday morning and Trish was here for our usual walk to school. I was running a little behind. Half of my clothes were in the wash, and the other half didn't match. It made for a difficult situation when having to get dressed. Eventually I'd decided to make it easy on myself and wear a simple fuchsia dress. It was cap sleeved, lace covered and had a lovely little cut out on the back. Dress to make yourself feel better? I think so.

I was just finishing up my makeup when mom informed me of Trish's arrival. I sighed. I still had one eye to go. But I could be quick. I literally had no choice but to be quick.

"Okay. Let her know I'll be down in a sec." I told mom, meeting her eyes in my bedroom mirror.

She smiled. "You look very lovely today."

My reflection grinned back at her. "Thank you."

She closed the door silently and I went back to my left eye. I lined my upper lid, leaving my mouth slightly ajar. Swiftly I drew the line then continued on with the mascara. It wasn't the greatest, but it didn't look too sloppy. I sighed. On with the day then.

I gathered my books that were laying on my bed and placed them into my messenger bag. I closed my eyes. My body was beyond tired and I'd just got up. God Monday's suck.

The place where my books had been scattered, now crinkled the bed sheet. It set my teeth on edge. I quickly straightened my comforter before leaving my room.

"Hey!" Trish beamed at me from the bottom of the stairs.

"Someone's bright and chipper today!" I chimed.

She shrugged then looked back down at her phone. Her fingers moved fast along the keys as I put on a cute pair of low heeled boots.

"Ally?" Mom spoke from the kitchen. "Come get something to eat please."

I trudged to the kitchen looking for something easy to grab. I settled on the red Macintosh apple in the fruit bowl. I wiped it slightly on the fabric of my dress before taking a large bite out of it.

"You sure that's enough?" Mom asked.

"It'll hold me till lunch," I shrugged.

Trish beckoned for me to come. I grabbed an ivory cardigan off the front desk and shoved it on before joining her. We both yelled a quick goodbye while bolting out the front door. Trish was positively bouncing. Something was going on.

"Okay," she finally spoke. "So I'm not entirely sure what's going on, but Dez texted me that the school is buzzing."

"Again?" I asked taking another bite of the apple.

"Yeah apparently. I guess it's just gossip month!"

I rolled my eyes as Trish speculated what this new revelation might be. Was it part of the Austin saga? Did someone get pregnant? Did that girl from English class get suspended again? Was Miss. Catalani going to have another nervous breakdown? She spewed theories like it was no big deal. Thinking of everyone that went to Marino High and what their baggage might be.

When we finally arrived at the front steps of our high school, it was like the last time. Groups of people were huddled everywhere talking in hushed tones. It was only 8am, how did news travel so quickly around here? Dez was right, everyone was buzzing. There was the sound of voices everywhere, and not the usual morning banter. Everyone was glaring at each other... Wait.

As Trish and I made our way up the stairs, all conversations stopped. Everyone stared at us. Everyone glared at me.

"Oh shit," I mumbled dropping the apple core on the ground.

Trish glanced over at me, eyes wide. She shook her head. "We're not there yet. You don't even know what this is about."

I huffed and stared at her incredulously. We opened the doors to a swarm of students. They were all huddled in the main foyer once again. And like it had outside, all conversations stopped. Thousands of faces turned to us. Eyes trained, scanning. I blinked. There had never been this many people staring at me in my whole life. If this didn't cause stage fright, I don't know what else would.

I felt dizzy. I felt like a mess. I felt like I was about to break and I didn't even know what they knew. Trish pulled at my arm, breaking through the crowd. She made a beeline for the bulletin board and my death sentence. Kira's weapon of choice was another note.

"Thank you Austin Moon for clearing things up," Trish read. "It's really satisfying to know that the mystery whore is in fact Ally Dawson. I loved your bra sweetheart... So much for innocent. Love Kira."

I felt my heart sink. My eyes prickled with tears. Why would he do this? I stared down at the note. The perfectly typed black words stared back at me. Mocking me. I took a shuddering breath. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't think. I'm going to be sick.

"Ally?" Trish whispered.

And that's when I ran.

AN: Yeah, I'm a little twisty and I only kind of appologize for that. Like I said, bumpy road. Need to keep things interesting, and come one, you knew Kira wasn't done just yet:P Haha drop me a review!