Here it is folks, our first non-Ally chapter. Let me know how you like seeing things from Austin's perspective!

Austin: "Where it All Went Wrong"

Everything just felt right with Ally, until everything felt wrong.

We fit together so well, our passion for music and our bluntness and our fears. It all made so much sense to me and I still couldn't believe I had never seen her as more than that girl who writes good songs for our music class. I wanted to make her laugh and I wanted to kiss her and I wanted to make her forget every insecurity she had about herself.

My reputation with girls was nothing to be proud of, I had made out with many a girl and gone farther with a couple, but this was different. I genuinely was falling for Ally in a way I had never felt before. I was a little concerned that it was just the magic and romance of summer that was turning my head, but then I'd remember our conversations and that worry disappeared.

And yes, we had not made anything official. We hadn't put anything into words or made it formal, but I knew Ally wasn't the kind of girl for a no-strings-attached relationship, so if I was being honest, I knew what I was getting myself in for and I didn't mind.

It had been a wild month of us growing closer day after day and hanging out all the time, and mostly it had just been the two of us alone. But at the beginning of July, I got a text from Trish in a group chat, asking if everyone in our friend group was going to the Summer Fling.

The Summer Fling is one of those stupid things that schools put on to try and make sure all the teens aren't out drinking and having sex. It's supposed to be the "safe" activity for parents to send their kids to, but everyone knows that if you want to drink you can pregame it, and plenty of people wind up hooking up after. Dances like that aren't really my scene, with chaperones hovering waiting to pull you and a girl apart, plus they tend to get crowded because we're all bored by July and have nothing else to do.

But Ally was the first one to respond in the group chat and she sounded so excited about it that I figured I could deal and go along with it. After a couple other friends said they were going, too, I sent a similar text. In the end, it wound up being about six of our friends so we decided to drive together.

In retrospect I should have just asked Ally to go as my date, instead of letting this group thing happen and not making it clear that I wanted to go with her. I guess it was kind of unclear about what was going on between us, and this would have been my chance to clear it up for everyone. But hindsight is 20/20 and all that.

So, we all crowded into Trish's minivan and showed up to the local gymnasium half an hour after the dance started. The place was already packed, and I could feel myself break into a sweat at the sight of the dance floor. Ally must have seen my face because, when everyone else made a beeline for the DJ, she grabbed my hand and said, "Let's get some punch and sit and watch."

I was grateful to her, but also felt bad for holding her back from something she obviously wanted to do. So, we sat for a while and commented on people's outfits and the song choices, before she asked, "So why did you want to come to this thing when it was going to be so crowded?"

I didn't want to make her feel bad, or think that she had dragged me along to somewhere I didn't want to be, so I just said, "I guess I didn't think it through."

She didn't seem thrilled with that answer but she let it go. After a couple more numbers, which we mostly sat through in silence, a song started playing and she got so excited. "Austin, it's my favorite song. Seriously. Are you sure you don't want to dance?" She had this pleading look in her eye, so I just said, "No, but you should go dance! Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. I see some guys I know who are hanging out against that wall anyway." I waved generally in a direction off to our right, where I did not in fact know anybody.

She hesitated for a moment then nodded and said, "I'll be back!" before bounding off to find Trish.

I'm fine at killing time by myself and I could have found somebody to talk to if I'd wanted, but instead I just gazed at Ally having fun. And she clearly was having fun, especially because she stayed on the dance floor after the song ended. And the next, and the next. Another guy I know, Dallas, started dancing with her. He hadn't come with us and I could tell from where I was sitting that he'd had something to drink, but Ally didn't seem to mind. At first I thought she was caught up in the music, but then he put his hands on her waist and she didn't push him away. In fact, she wrapped her arms around his neck. It was the first time she had ever managed to make me feel invisible and forgotten, and I didn't like the feeling.

In fact, I hated the feeling so much I just got up and left. I didn't bother saying goodbye, it would have meant getting close to her and Dallas and I had no interest in giving her a close-up look at the jealousy that was washing through me with incredible force.

I plowed through the school doors and out into the fresh air, wanting to walk off my frustration. I must have walked five blocks over the broken cobblestone sidewalk before I realized two things. One, my frustration and jealousy was going nowhere and two, my house was a good hour and a half walk away and I was in shoes that pinched my feet.

I was standing on the sidewalk, thinking about what I should do and trying to wipe the image of Dallas and Ally from my mind, when a car pulled up alongside the curb.

"Austin?" a vaguely familiar voice called from the car as the window rolled down. I looked and realized it was Kira, a girl I had met a couple of times at parties but didn't really know too well.

"Oh, uh, hey Kira," I said, flashing her a smile to cover the feelings rolling around in my head.

"You look like you could use a ride?"

I was flustered for a minute. I could use a ride but I didn't really know Kira. Plus it would be kind of hard to keep a mask over my emotions for the whole trip to my house. She must have been able to read the distress on my face somehow, though, because she said, "Austin, get in, let's drive." I decided that going for a drive might not be a bad way to calm myself down so I got in.

It was silent in the car for a minute as she started driving again. Finally, she broke the silence by saying, "So, you're dressed up but walking away from your school dance and you're alone… I'm guessing you've had a rough night."

I tried to shrug nonchalantly. "Not a big deal, just not a scene I wanted to stick around for."

"You want to talk about it?"

"Nah it's all good. What are you doing out?"

She shrugged and said, "I don't know, sometimes I just need to go for a drive and clear my head, you know? The roads around here at night are quiet and I can just listen to music and get rid of all the stupid thoughts in my head."

I could really understand that idea, and it made me more comfortable being in the car with her, so my tenseness eased up. Kira was clearly trying to make me feel better because she could see I had a crappy night, but she was also definitely being flirty, or at least testing the waters to see if I was interested. Word about me and Ally hadn't really gotten around because we'd just been hanging out together, so I figured she didn't know about that. But it felt nice, in that moment, to just have an easy flirty conversation with a cute girl and not worry about feelings and emotions, so I didn't exactly put the brakes on. And maybe I was mad at Ally and this felt like something to do with my hurt feelings.

All my worst intentions and bad habits kicked in. I knew how to make a girl like me and make her find me attractive. I knew how to pay attention to little things about her that she would think meant she was special to me. I didn't even have to think about it and all those old tricks were back out in full force. I had Kira blushing and giggling in no time.

What I didn't expect was that she was going to pull into the empty local park and stop the car.

"I just, uh, wanted to look at the moon," she said lamely, and I knew exactly what was coming. But I didn't jump out of the car and run. And I didn't stop her when she leaned over and pressed her lips against mine. A moment later I was kissing her, my tongue in her mouth and my hands in her hair. Soon my hands were roaming elsewhere, as were hers. It was a hot and heavy makeout session, just like I'd been used to any weekend night before Ally. But, while my body was enjoying it, my brain was screaming at me.

I don't know how much time passed, but we didn't get too far. She pulled back, breathless and looked at me for a minute before smiling sexily and starting the car up again. My brain was too in shock to think about it too much and I just gave her my home address robotically when she asked.

She dropped me off and waved as she pulled away, and I stood there totally freaking out. I hadn't meant for it to go like that, I hadn't meant to do anything that would hurt Ally. My brain instantly started trying to rationalize it and I found myself arguing that Ally and I had never agreed to be exclusive and I hadn't actually done anything wrong. But still, I had to make sure she and I were okay.

When I opened my phone to text her, I saw I already had a message from her. It read "Sorry I didn't come back, Dallas asked me to try and help him make another girl jealous so I had to dance with him. Would have preferred if it was you ;) Hope you didn't have a panic attack, let me know you're okay."

Of course. Of course she would never have done anything to actually hurt me. I swore over and over in my head and paced around my bedroom. I finally just texted her back, "No worries, just had to get out of there. I'm okay now! See you tomorrow?"

With that I turned off my phone and fell into bed, overwhelmed by feelings of guilt.