I'm back with Chapter 1 a bit earlier than I said I would! Thanks to everyone's whose read the first chapter! And also to those who left a review, are following, and/or favorited this story! I really means a lot to me! I hope you guys like this story as much as Twenty Seconds of Courage!:)

Disclaimer: I do not own Austin & Ally, or anything you recognize.

Chapter 1

Austin's POV

"Sorry."

Frowning, Austin looked up to see who had just bumped into him. He found himself staring directly into the brown eyes of Ally Dawson. He studied her profile. She was wearing worn out jeans, boots, and an old oversized sweatshirt. Her curly brown hair was left down in her usual style, and her eyes were a bit red—Probably from lack of sleep, Austin thought. Briefly, he wondered why she was wearing a sweatshirt in the Miami heat, but he brushed it aside. Still, he thought that Ally was the prettiest girl he had ever met. But he didn't tell her that.

Instead, Austin let a frown replace the grin he knew was probably covering his face right now. "Watch where you're going, Sweater Weather." He gave her a wink. "You're never going to catch a guy's eye if you don't," He teased.

He watched as Ally grimaced and walked away. He then mentally kicked himself. That had been the perfect chance to tell her how he felt! But he just had to chicken out! He'd completely blew it. Ever since the sixth grade, Austin had developed a major crush on Allyson Dawson. But instead of telling her, he'd teased her, hoping to gain her attention. And it had worked, but she now hated him. Austin realized how stupid his twelve year old self had been. Seriously, what had he been thinking? All he'd done was successfully make Ally hate him.

So he'd promised himself during the summer that he would tell Ally how he really felt in junior year, on the very day he had realized that he liked her. And today was that day. And he had totally blew it. At lunch, he told himself. I'll tell her at lunch. He wouldn't goof up the second time. He couldn't. He wouldn't.

Austin slowly trudged home, disappointed. Ally hadn't shown up at lunch. So naturally, Austin tried to find her. He knew for a fact that Ally had the same free period as he did, which was right after lunch, and he had looked all over the school without any luck. When the bell rang, he'd lingered in the hallways to see if he could spot her, but had finally given up and gone to class when it was clear that she wasn't coming. Now Austin was worried. Ally never cut class unless something really bad happened. And he was determined to find out what it was.

He took out his phone and called her, but almost immediately, her voice mail picked up: "Hi, this is Ally. I can't answer your call right now, but leave me a message and I'll call you back."

Austin sighed and lowered his phone. Why wasn't Ally picking up? He texted her a short message telling her to reply and put his phone back into his pocket. He then picked up his backpack and headed towards the Sonic Boom, where he knew Ally worked. Maybe she was there.

When he got to the music store, it was empty. Thought it was open, there were no customer, not Ally behind the counter. Where was everyone? Noticing a door with the words "Employees Only" written on it, he went and knocked on the door. When no one answered, Austin opened the door and peeked in. "Hello?" he called out. "Ally?"

No one answered. Baffled, he closed the door and went to sit on one of the benched. He let his eyes travel around the store, and that's when he saw it—a door on the landing.

Cautiously, Austin climbed the stairs, and again, knocked on the door. Again, there was no answer, so he opened it, there was no one there. Frowning, he walked toward the piano and sat down on the bench, thinking. Something crinkled beneath him. Getting up, he saw a note with Ally's handwriting on it.

Dad,

Went home. Not feeling well.

~Ally

So she had been at the store! Now Austin knew where he needed to go. But before he could move, his phone vibrated in his pocket. Quickly, he took it out, hoping for a text from Ally. But it wasn't. It was the Facebook App letting him know that someone on his "close friends" list had posted something.

The next chapter might be up tomorrow, so check back here tomorrow. :) Liked it? Hate it? Let me know by leaving a review! :)

So until then, keep #dancingoutmypants! :)

~amillipede