Ally's POV

Today is the day. The day when I tell Austin who I really am. I wanted to tell him before we ever had our first kiss but today is just gonna have to do. Am I nervous? Of course. Am I prepared? Not at all. Am I absolutely terrified? More than anything. Yet, this is what has to happen if I want to have an open and honest relationship with him. I just hope that when he does find out and get upset or pissed that he comes around eventually and understand why I did what I did.

After the amazing date we had, it gave me a tiny bit, not a lot at all but a tiny bit of confidence enough to confess the truth so please wish me luck. Cassidy is still getting ready in the bathroom.

Anyway, I walk onto the balcony and over the bridge and knock on Austin's sliding door. He moves the drapes over the sliding door and smiles instantly when he sees me. He opens the door for me as I walk in. "Hey you." He says as I smile leaning in and placing a gentle kiss on his lips as he chuckles a bit.

"I haven't brushed my teeth yet." He admits to me which makes me wrap my arms around his neck and lean in closer to his face. "I don't care." I whisper before kissing him again when he smiles into it making it deeper while pulling me closer.

Austin slightly moans into the kiss before pulling away. "I don't want to stop, but we should really get to school. I got to keep my grades up if I want to stay on the team for the remaining months." He told me as I nodded understanding. "I get it. Go brush your teeth and I'll wait for you outside." I tell him as he nods heading to his bathroom as I go back out his balcony door and back in me and Cassidy's room.

I head downstairs taking a muffin Mrs. Jones left on the table for us and go outside where I see Dallas in his car obviously waiting on Cassidy. "Hey Blondie." He said making me giggle because I'm really not a blonde so it's weird being called that. "Hello giant." I reply back as he scoffs dramatically. "Don't hurt my ego now." He said as I shake my head when Cassidy walks past me heading to the passenger side of Dallas's car.

"I know you have a car but do you want a ride, Amy?" Dallas asked nicely.

"No, she'd rather go with her boo thang. God knows she got dressed and left me before saying goodbye." Cassidy says jokingly offended as they both laughed making me blush.

"Okay, I'm sorry." I say meaning it.

"It's okay, sweetie." She said with a shrug.

"Ah...young kids in love." Dallas says before pulling off.

Austin then comes out his house and over to me. "Ready beautiful?" He asked unlocking his car. "Yes, I am." I say getting in the passenger side while he takes off.

We sit in silence as I enjoy my very delicious muffin. "Want a bite?" I offer nicely. "Are we on sharing foods level already?" He said making me giggle. "I think we can make an exception." I say putting the muffin in front of his face as he makes a huge bite.

"Oh, well goodbye muffin!" I say because it was basically gone now and he laughs.

"Warned ya." He said as I shake my head and he parks in the parking lot.

We both get out and he holds my hand as we walk into school together. It surprises people because we did the same thing a week ago but then it just stop, so they are probably confused. They can just stay confused because it's none of their business.

"I'm gonna head to class. See you later?" I ask with a smile as he nods with one as big as mine. He leans down and plants a soft one on me before going out separate ways.

Austin's POV

I walk down the hallway when I'm stopped by Coach Davis. "Coach? Hey." I say as he motions for me to come to a corner. "I saw you and that girl together." He said as I fury my eyebrows amused. "Amy? Yeah, she's my girlfriend. What about her?" I asked not understanding where he was going with this.

"I want to make it clear that you don't get distracted because I need my star player focused. Especially with college recruiters coming at your last game." He reminded me as I nodded listening. "It's a big deal for your future." He told me seriously.

"I know that Coach. I'm not gonna get distracted, I promise. Football is the most important thing to me right now, but that's two months away. I'm gonna be fine." I reassured him as he sighed before believing me.

"Alright, then. Don't let me down, Moon." He said patting my arm before walking away as I head to art class.

When I get in there, I realize that I'm late so there is only one seat for me to sit in which is next to Chris. Also known as the guy Amy use to date. Well, went on one date with. It's been easy to avoid him because I've always got a seat far away purposely.

I awkwardly sit next to him just putting all my focus on the teacher. "Today, you will be making an art project dedicated to someone you care about. You have 45 minutes, so get to it. I will come to your tables individually later to grade you." She instructed us as we started.

Time went by as I made my assignment for the new woman in my life. I put her name on the top of it. "That's for Amy isn't it?" Chris asked making me uncomfortable. He notices and laughs a bit.

"You guys are dating now. I get it. It was one date one month ago. I'm over it and moved on. I'm happy she's happy." He admitted to me as I looked at him actually seeing sincerity in his eyes.

"I'm happy that you're happy for her but it's still going to take some time for me, man." I said to him honestly as he nods understanding. "No problem." He just said with a smile when the teacher came over to us.

"Chris, this is very unique. I never seen anything quite like it. Obviously the person who inspired it has different layers in your life. Who is it for?" She asked him. "My mother. She's everything I need her to be exactly when I need her to be. She's not just my mom. She's superhuman." He explained as I thought was pretty cool because I'm a momma's boy myself. "Amazing. You showed that very well in this piece. 86." She said before coming over to me.

"Gosh, this is just beautiful Austin. Who is this for?" She asked me intrigued. "Amy. My girlfriend." I told her. I know we only went on one date but we already act like boyfriend and girlfriend so why not make it official?

"Alright. So tell me how Amy inspired you to make this project about her?" She asked as I took some time to think about it.

"If I'm being honest, I think I was inspired since the first time I saw her. She was different than anyone I've seen in my whole life. She's confident, but shy. Cool, but goofy and breathtakingly beautiful. She knows and understands her flaws but she works everyday on making them better. She is art to me." I tell her truthfully as she looks at me pretty amazed. "That explanation was inspiring to me, Mr. Moon. Great job. 98." She says as I smile proud of the grade.

I'm not usually good at school. I'm just okay enough to get the grades I need to stay on the football team. I know that it's stupid and trust me, I know I'm gonna need way more than a brown ball to get ahead in life but I'm just not what they call book smart. Except for in math but I told you that before.

Ally's POV

"Okay, everything now." Trish said as we sat in the back of class.

"Yeah, we want to know everything. Start to finish." Cassidy added as I laughed getting ready to tell them.

"Okay, first we went to In and Out burger."

"Very casual. Nice." Trish interrupted.

"Yeah. We were talking like old friends catching up on what we missed out in each others lives. We got to know each others childhood a bit more and how we both seem to like music class a lot."

"Boring! What next?" Cassidy says making me laugh.

"Okay, and then we went to my favorite yogurt place which Austin remembers me telling him from one of the first times I've met him by the way." I said still amazed.

"Aww." They both say simultaneously.

"There we laughed and laughed about things I don't even remember now. I just know we had a great time. My favorite is the beach."

"You guys went to the beach?" Trish asked.

"Yup. It was no one there but us. It was beyond romantic. He laid out a blanket and some snacks."

"Just for you." Cassidy said leaning in fascinated with the story like I was a movie. "Yup. All for me."

"God, he really likes you, Ams." Trish said which just made me smile.

"So, yeah. While we ate our snacks, we just talked and talked for who knows how long in deep conversation about things I never thought I'd share with anyone. Then he opened up to me and it all felt so natural. It just felt...-"

"Right?" Cassidy cut me off.

"Yeah. How did you know?"

"Because that's how it feels with Dallas." She replied making me smile.

"So, we drove back home and he walked me to the door which I found funny because he lives next door." I say as they laughed.

"We were saying goodnight and I could tell he wanted to kiss me but he kept hesitating."

"Hesitating? Why?" Trish asked curious. "I don't know. Nervous maybe? Anyway, I waited too long for us to finally make it work and I wasn't letting him walk away that easy. So, I marched up to Austin and I planted one on him." I finish as they look at me with wide eyes and huge smiles.

"Oh my gosh, you guys finally kissed?!" Cassidy screamed as I shhed her because we were still in class.

"Yup. Well, more than once now." I smirk looking down.

"Oh, wow. Amy's got it going on!" Trish stated surprisingly.

"So, you took the high road and my advice. Sometimes girls have to take control of the situation." Cassidy told me as I nodded agreeing. "You're damn right." I say with a smile thinking about me and Austin finally being together.

*Time Skip*

The whole cheer team watches Carrie do her try out and we are all amazed. Yeah, Carrie decided to try out for the team recently. Technically she wasn't suppose to be able to because it's late notice but Cassidy had bend the rules a bit for a friend. But she still has to try out and right now she is killing it. She finishes and we all clap really impressed with her skills.

I go down to where Carrie is along with Cassidy, Kira and Cheryl. "Congrats, Carrie. You are the newest member of Miami's greatest cheer team!" Cassidy told her as she cheered as everyone else did for her. Cassidy then went over to instruct some of the guys on their lifts.

"Okay, I'm gonna pretend like I'm not upset that you shared your date with everyone but me." Kira said folding her arms. "Um, you can add me in to that not knowing list." Carrie told her. "Me too." Cheryl said as I groaned.

"Okay, do you know how awkward that would be to describe to my boyfriends ex girlfriend?"

"True." She said making the other girls laugh.

"Anyway, I didn't tell you guys because it just happened last night and I haven't seen you till just now."

"You saw me in the hallway." Carrie mentioned.

"I would have been late to class."

"Who cares? Boys are so much more interesting!" Kira stated making me shake my head with a laugh.

I go on to tell them everything I told Cassidy and Trish about the date and I can not count how many aww's I've heard in the last 3 minutes. "That is so freaking romantic, Ams." Carrie said with a hand over her heart. "Yeah, it is. Lucky girl." Cheryl said as I looked down at her neck noticing a very shiny and beautiful necklace with initials.

"What's this?" I ask holding it.

"Oh, something Greyson gave me for our one month anniversary. The GS are his initials. He said it's so I know he's always with me." She explained with a smile.

"It seems I'm not the only lucky one." I said as she blushed holding on to it.

"I have to use the bathroom." She said heading inside as Austin made his way over.

"Austin, hey." I said with a smile as he came closer to me. "Hey yourself." He replied with an adorable smile before leaning down and kissing me causing the whole cheer squad to 'ooo' and whistle towards us.

I pull away with a deep blush as he just laughs at them. "Take a walk with me?" He asked as I nodded. He grabbed my hand as we walked away from the team and to a bench isolated though you could still see everyone from a distance.

"So, I heard Carrie made the team." He stated as we sat down next to each other. "Yeah, she did." I told him as we turn back to the group to see Dez picking her up in the distance. "She's really good." I added before facing him. "That can't be the only reason you wanted me." I told him as he smiles shaking his head.

"Of course not. It was so I could do this." He said leaning in and kissing me making me smile into it before we pull away. "And show you this..." He trailed off taking something out of his sports bag making me curious.
It looks to be a portrait and he hands it to me when my jaw drops and eyes widen when I see it's an huge canvas of me.

"Oh my god...did you make this?" I asked in awe still staring at it. He nodded a little nervously looking at it and me. "Yeah. Do you like it?" He asked as I looked up to him. "Austin, I love it. It's so beautiful." I told him truthfully as he smiled wildly proud as I stared back at it.

"When did you do this and why?" I asked baffled and curious.

"Teacher assigned our class an art project about someone we cared about."

"And you chose me?" I asked with an amazed smile on my face.

"Yeah...I did." He responded as he blushed for the first time since I've met him.

"Wow, it was an understatement when you told me you were pretty good."

"Yeah, I really enjoy it."

"Well, you're really talented. I mean really talented." I say still impressed.

"Thanks." He said looking in my eyes and I could tell that it meant a lot coming from me so I kissed him and this time didn't let go so quickly.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him in closer as he deepened it. It instantly turns into a make out session and begins to get heated when Austin slowly pulls away still close to my face.

"The coach is looking at us."

"What? Is he a pervert or something?"

"No." He says with a chuckle.

"He's just worried I'll get distracted having a girlfriend." He told me honestly.

"I can understand that. I definitely don't wanna be a problem in your football career."

"You're not. I promise." He said making me smile kissing me one last time before we stand up.

"The bell is gonna ring soon so I have to go get changed."

"Me too."

"Alright, then. See you later." I say before kissing his cheek and walking away as we go our separate ways.

I walk back into the building heading to the girls locker room when I see Chris. I tried to avoid him going the other way but he catches up to me.

"Jeez, not you too.." He says as I turn to him.

"Our date was a month ago and we have been talking normally ever since then. So please don't change that just because you're dating someone now."

"It's not just anyone. It's Austin. The guy you suspected I had feelings for when I was dating you."

"And for good reason obviously." He said laughing.

"I was right and I'm not mad at all. I meant it when I told you that the first time. I want us all to be friends if that's okay with you? I talked to Austin and though he's still a little uncomfortable, he's giving it a chance. He could tell I was genuine." He explained sincerely and I sighed upset with myself for trying to avoid him in the first place.

"Of course you're genuine. You're an amazing guy." I told him as he smiled appreciative.

"I'm sorry for ever thinking you wouldn't be happy for me." I add before hugging him which he returns by hugging me back.

"Hey, my friends and I are going to the carnival this weekend. Would you like to join us?" I asked sweetly.

"Yeah, I would." He replied as I smiled with a nod.

"Great. I have to go get changed and head to last period but I'll see you around." I say as he nods while I pat his shoulder and leave. That went so much better than I thought it would.

After changing into my regular clothes, I go into history class who I have with Austin, Trish, Cassidy, Cheryl and Chris. "We are having a new assignment class that I think you all will find a little interesting." Miss Monroe said with a small smile. "I doubt it." Trish said making us all laugh lowly.

"I want you all to do research on missing pop star Ally Dawson." She announced as my eyes widen in surprise. "This is an individual project so no partners. I want nothing but personal thoughts. It's due in 2 weeks." She told us as everyone went back to what they were doing.

"Well, my opinion on her isn't going to change." Trish stated surely.

"You have to give her a chance. I think she's so amazing." Cassidy defended obviously because she's my biggest fan.

"I think she's-"

"No discussion!" The teacher cuts off Cheryl scaring all of us because we did not hear her come up to our table. "That's the whole point of the assignment. You go home and gain information on her life. I don't want anyone having any influence from someone else's opinion. Past, present or what you think she is now. You learn things about her that you didn't know before like small facts or interesting ones. She is your biggest and most important interest for the next two weeks." She tells us which starts to make me sweat in nervousness.

I don't need them knowing more things about my real self. "The way you feel about her now, whether it's good or bad may change when you do research on her. That's why you have to go into this open minded. Otherwise you won't have a liable and good project. That's all the advice I give to you." She ends before leaving as we all take it in. "I guess I have to give the diva a chance now." Trish says as I sigh because she thinks of me that way.

The bell rings and I walk out with Austin hand in hand. I can tell that he notices something is bothering me. "You okay?" He asked concerned which made me smile a little as I nod. "Just a little headache." I use as an excuse because I'm still stressed over the assignment.

"Oh. Well, I had a picnic planned for us but it can wait for another time." He tells me which makes me feel bad.

"I'm so sorry." I tell him seriously as he shakes his head.

"It's no problem. I'm gonna take you home." He said softly kissing my forehead before opening the door for me. We get into his car and he begins to drive us home as I start to think about what I'm gonna say to tell him my secret.

How do I start? Do I start by telling him who I really am? No, he'll laugh and won't believe me. Should I start by taking off the wig and contacts? No, he might pass out. Gosh, I don't know how to do this but I have too.

We pull up to our houses and he walks me to my door which I still find quite adorable. I feel my nerves come full force when I'm about to turn around to face him. I breath hard looking at the door and decide to make a decision.

I turn around finally deciding to just rip the bandage off. "Austin, there's something I have to tell you. I'm not who you think I am. But before I do, I want you to know how sorry I am for lying this whole time because I really care about you. I really care about you..." I said emotional and he gets worried holding one of my hands.

"What is it?" He asked concerned.

"I've been pretending to be someone else...I...really am-"

"Not a slob, I know Amy." He says cutting me off.

"We went over this before. You don't have to stay guilty over this. I made a mistake too remember? We both weren't being ourselves but we are now and I'm happy. I hope you are too." He said with a smile as I did too but with tears forming in my eyes because I was happy but confused at what just happened.

"I am." I assure him.

"Good, because I like you the way you are and wouldn't want you any other way." He said giving me confirmation that I couldn't tell him because he wouldn't accept me. And as selfish as it was, I couldn't let him go just yet. Not when it took us so long to get together. I want to live in the sun a little bit longer before our relationship turns to dust.

I just smiled and kissed him even though there was nothing but guilt in the back of my mind. But I decided to ignore it and live my life. I wanted Austin and he wanted me so I was gonna have him.

END OF CHAPTER REVIEW QUESTIONS
1.) Are you enjoying Austin & Amy's relationship?
2.) Thoughts on the meaning behind the art project Austin made Amy?
3.) Do you think Chris can become a nice addition to the group?
4.) What do you think of the Ally Dawson project assigned to them?