Week 1: Day 7


AUSTIN'S POV

"You have to be kidding me."

If Ross was to stare at me any harder, his eyes would bug out of their sockets. "What?" I demanded, poking at my pancakes. "Aren't you happy for me?"

"You and Ally," Ross said in disbelief, "are a…" if he thought that his wild hand gestures were going to explain his point, he was wrong. Seeing my blank expression, he obviously decided to end it with a snap, "You know what I mean."

Maybe it was wrong for me to smile at that time. But I couldn't help but allow the tips of my mouth to tilt upward as I looked down at my feet. "Yeah," I murmured under my breath.

It was amazing how one night could suddenly make me feel like the happiest guy alive. How one girl could make me feel like I owned the world. The best part? She was mine. My face broke out into a grin.

Ross didn't share my joy. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

A small shrug escaped out of my shoulders. I knew what he was indicating. But I didn't want to talk about it. I would give anything just to let that thought slip my mind. "What?" I shrugged, hoping that I didn't sound too desperate.

"Wow," Ross deadpanned.

Before I could reply, my head jerked back with a snap. "Ow!" I yelped, the temples of my head throbbing. I glared at my brother, who almost looked proud of himself. "What was that for?" My hand reached to tenderly touch the wound, only to have it snap right back. I glowered at him.

"What?" Ross mocked my previous response. "Maybe that was enough to finally snap some sense back into your brain-" what the h- "-and make you realize that avoiding the subject isn't going to help anything."

A growl crawled up my throat. He was starting to make me regret telling him in the first place. "Listen," I snapped. Ross was lucky that he was my brother or else I would show him how much sense I really had left in my brain.

"Listening ears are on," Ross said dryly, bringing back a childhood phrase that our mom had constantly pestered us to use. I snorted.

"Anyway," I emphasized. "I'm just going to talk to Dallas today at school. Ask him to call this all off. Because I'm done." I'm done. And I wasn't just talking about the bet. Ross visibly softened.

"You really like her, don't you?" he asked. Without waiting for an answer, he gave me a look that was almost pitiful. "I'm really sorry to burst your bubble, Austin, but I don't think Dallas is going to let it go that easily."

My body stiffened. Of course he wasn't. Knowing him, Dallas would probably laugh in my face and give me one of his stupid smirks right before sending me to my doom. "Right," I coughed out. "But…"

Ross waited, but I didn't have anything else to say.

It was time to face the facts.

Dallas wasn't going to make this easy.


"No way."

A thousand curses ran through my head as I gritted my teeth. "But-"

It was almost useless to try and argue. Dallas shook his fist at me as he slammed his locker shut. "I can't believe this," he deadpanned, looking me almost disapprovingly. "You really want to chicken out of this?"

"No," I scowled. "I want to drop this whole thing."

Dallas's expression was unreadable. For one second, it looked as if he wanted to slap me. Bracing myself, the last thing I expected was him to burst out laughing. The sound was almost poison to my ears. I cringed.

He shook his head, throwing it back like a wild man. "This is great," he burst out, throwing his arm over my shoulders in a way that made me wonder if he was somber. "Aw man Austin. Naïve little Austin Monica Moon."

Instinctively, I flinched at the mention of my middle name. "Your point is?" I snapped in annoyance as Dallas continued to half-laugh, half-ramble.

"Did you really believe that I was going to say yes?" he asked, more to himself. "I'm not a part of this because of the hope of creating some romance novel. If you haven't noticed, Austin, but it's the money. I'm not passing up the opportunity."

No, but it was worth a shot.

"Why the sudden change of heart?"

Dallas's words made my blood go cold and suddenly, it felt as if I was being choked by the devil. Pushing out of his man-hug, I started down the hallway without another glance. "None of your business," I snapped.

A part of me hoped that Dallas would have left it like that. That he would have allowed me to continue down the hallway like any ordinary day. Instead, he gave a short, cold laugh. "I must be dreaming," he said, his voice hardening. "Austin Moon has actually fallen for innocent Ally Dawson."

My fists clenched as I stopped in my tracks. "Shut it, Dallas," I snapped, but it was barely louder than a growl. I could literally feel his presence behind me.

To my surprise, he actually listened. But maybe it was worse that way. I tried not to run to my next class as I helplessly tried to shake the feeling of Dallas's stare off of my back. This isn't over, it said.

He was right. This wasn't over.

At the rate it was going right now, I was afraid it was never going to be.


ALLY'S POV

"Guess who?"

I bit my lip to keep myself from laughing as two hands covered both of my eyes. I felt the calluses (guitar being the guilty charge) of his fingers brush my cheeks gently. "Nice to see you too Austin," I smiled, pushing my way out of his hold.

Austin peered his head over my shoulder, pouting. "How'd you know?"

Shutting my locker door shut, I clutched my books to my chest. "I'm really good at this game," I told him slyly. If anything, that caused his grin to widen.

Without warning, Austin suddenly threw his arm over my shoulders, nearly causing me to topple over. Yelping, I gripped his shirt to keep my balance. To my displeasure, I felt myself start to blush as I felt hundreds of eyes on us.

The attention was still enough to make me uncomfortable. The jealous looks that almost every girl in the school sent me. The stares. The disbelief. As soon as Austin and I stepped into those doors together, that was all I got from anybody.

I couldn't blame them though. I knew what they were thinking. Shy, little wallflower Ally Dawson going out with THE Austin Moon? It was almost as if I wasn't worth enough. And maybe I wasn't.

The way Austin was looking at me, though, made any trace of doubt from my mind immediately disappear. I felt the same giddy sensation travel through every edge of my being hit me. Austin looked at me expectantly.

It took me long enough to realize that he was talking to me.

Blinking, I blurted out a, "What?" before realizing my poor choice of words.

Austin laughed, his arm still (might I add) firmly around my shoulders as we walked down the hallways. "Nice to know that you're listening," he teased. I shot him a glare to only get one of his signature smirks in reply.

"I was saying," he went on before I could say a word, "that Miss Hill pushed the deadline of our song from tomorrow to this Friday."

Relief washed over me because of a) we had nothing and b) there was still no possible way I was ready to sing in front of the whole class, which I guess led to c) Austin and I were 100%, completely unprepared.

"Good," I nodded my head, hoping that I didn't sound too relieved.

Thank God that Austin didn't bring up anything about our performance and/or my stage fright. That was something to be dealt with later, I decided. This day was too good to ruin with my petty fears.

I allowed myself to relax into Austin's arms as we continued to our next class. I could almost feel the surprised glance that he sent me. I pretended to ignore it. In his embrace, it was almost comforting, as if he was guarding me from any criticism that was being mentally sent my way.

Pushing the thought away, I forced myself to focus.

"My stops here," Austin said suddenly, veering himself into what I immediately recognized as the Science laboratory. "I'll see you later." He barely waited for a reply before flashing me one of his grins that made every girl within hearing distance melt.

Only then did I feel vulnerable again. Small. Insecure. "See you," I said, only to find myself talking to empty air. Sighing, I spun on my heel to continue to my own class only to find myself face-to-face with a familiar Latina.

Yelping, I jumped back in surprise. "Trish," I said, giving a small breath of relief. "You nearly scared the-" the way my friend was looking at me caused the words in my mouth to dry out like the desert. "What?"

Trish frowned. "Are you feeling okay, Ally?" she suddenly blurted out.

Giving a small laugh, I rolled my eyes. "No," I joked. "I'm literally dying right now, Trish. You have no idea how much pain I'm in right now-"

"I'm being serious, Ally-gator!" Trish interrupted me, a look of aggregation crawling up her face. "I come into school today to find the Number 1 It-Couple of the Year is Ally Dawson and Austin Moon."

The way she spit his name out made me flinch in spite of myself.

"Yeah," I said, struggling to keep my voice calm. "What's wrong with that?"

"What's wrong is that I warned you about him!" Trish nearly yelled. No one gave us any attention, passing by us as if it was none of their business. Suddenly, I couldn't have been any more thankful for Trish's naturally loud reputation.

I felt my frown deepen. "I remember," I reassured her. "And at first I believed you, but Austin… he changed or something." Or something. I wanted to whack myself over the head. Trish, due to my clever wording, was obvious unconvinced.

She shook her head slightly, as if silently asking herself, What am I going to do with her? "Ally," Trish said, as if getting prepared for a long lecture.

"Shouldn't you be happy for me? A best friend is supposed to be supportive," I blurted out, not wanting to hear anything that was going to return the recently dealt-with doubt. "I never believed I would say this, but I'm happy with Austin."

Trish's expression was a mix between anger and pity. "I get that," she said slowly, as if choosing her words carefully. "But I want to make sure you're happy with the right guy. Ally, I know how hard it might be for you to hear this, but Austin's playing you like you're his new toy. He-"

"He really cares," I choked out, finding my voice squeak unintentionally. "You can't just come to me and tell me that he doesn't. How dare you do that?" My mouth started to spit out my own words right at her face. Trish, however, didn't even flinch. "You don't know anything. You don't know what happened or what-"

I cut myself off, realizing that I was starting to develop an audience with my rant. With a small yell, I spun on my heel, storming down the hallway. Anger grew in my stomach. The problem? I didn't know who it was directed to.

And I didn't dare to look back. Not at Trish. Not at the hallway full of people who were staring at me like I grew a second head. Closing myself in, it took every part of my body to keep myself from running.

Of course, I didn't get far when another voice called out towards me. "Ally!"

I stopped in my tracks to see Elliot running towards me. He almost looked shocked, for a moment, as I waited for him to catch up. "Hi Elliot," I smiled, hoping that it didn't look too forced.

There was only one person I wanted to see at the moment.

And he wasn't here.

Elliot didn't seem to notice as he raised a brow at me. "What happened back there?" he asked, his question making me flinch instinctively.

I struggled to keep a nonchalant face. "Nothing," I assured him, the lie squirming itself into my stomach. "Trish and I…" No other words came out of my mouth. Swallowing hard, I gave another, "Nothing."

Elliot looked almost amused. "Whatever you say," he said, thankfully not pressing the subject. We walked together in silence. It wasn't awkward or comfortable. It was just…there.

"Thanks," I finally managed to find my voice.

Without warning, Elliot wrapped a casual arm around my shoulder in response, just like Austin had done a few moments ago. My body immediately stiffened.

"You know I have a boyfriend," I blurted out, stepping out of his grasp.

Elliot looked surprised, but not because of my words. "I'm sorry," he apologized, though his eyes said differently. "Congrats to both of you, by the way. I could tell that you guys are going to be very happy together."

I gave a smile, but it immediately evaporated as soon as Elliot seemed to be buying it. The tone of his voice disturbed me. It sounded like Trish's. Like my dad's. Like every single person in this grade's. Doubtful.

A knot grew in my stomach. I was going to prove them all wrong.

That Austin and I were right for each other.

That I wasn't just a pawn of his to be played.

And I wasn't.


The next period was study hall. Grabbing my songbook, I quickly scribbled out the thoughts that have been crowded in my mind. I'll Never Give Up, it said on the top of the clean page. Below: by Ally Dawson and Austin Moon.

But I'll tear walls

And burn the hate

I'll catch your falls

And take your pain

If that means you will know

I'll never give up on you (1)


(1) ALL CREDITS TO THIS SONG DO NOT BELONG TO ME. An AMAZING songwriter named AirFireWaterEarth wrote this and it is honestly INCREDIBLE. The rest of the song will be revealed in the future chapters because this is (as many of you already probably guessed) the song that Austin and Ally are going to be singing :D So I would just like to send out a special thanks to her for writing and taking time to write this song :D I really appreciate it :D

And I'm really sorry about the late update. I still have two other stories that I haven't posted new chapters in close to a month, but I do know that a few of you were anxious to get the next chapter so here it is :D

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! The second part of day 7 is coming soon! The next few chapters (warning) are going to hold LOTS of drama, but it comes with LOTS of Auslly feels so get ready :D

Thank you so much for everything! Your support and EVERYTHING is just INCREDIBLE! I love you all so much and there is NO way I could make it without you :D