Hey my loves darlings and dearests! Woo! Forth chapter, oh yeah!

Ok, back to school! SO SORE! UGH! I'm happy to be back, but I'm exhausted . . . and it's only been two days! Gladly, it makes me super happy to write for you guys!

Obviously, I do not own Austin and Ally. Duh . . .

In this chapter, Austin deals with frustration with some kids at school. Ally and Austin continue to bond! YAY!

Enjoy! Share the love!

Chapter 4: Friends and Frustration

"Austin wake up, sweetie!" Mimi shouted from down the stairs. Austin opened his eyes slowly, rubbing his hands down his face. "You don't want to be late!" She called. Austin sat up in his bed and pushed a hand through his hair. "Austin Monica Moon!" His mom shouted when he didn't respond.

"I'm up mom!" Austin shouted. He pushed the covers off himself and went into his bathroom. He splashed his face with water, brushed his teeth and fixed his hair. He changed into his favorite red shirt, black jeans, and yellow skytops. Austin put his favorite chains over his neck, grabbed his backpack and went down the stairs. He popped into the kitchen grabbed a pancake off a plate and darted out the door. "Bye mom, see ya tonight." He yelled behind himself.

"Bye sweetie!" Mimi said, her same peppy happy grin. "Tell Ally I said hi!"

Austin rolled his eyes as he walked to his Dodge Ram. He was excited to see Ally today. He really liked talking to her and she was a pretty amazing person. Austin drove to school lost in thought over what Ally said about the paper. He was still lost about a topic, but he still had til Friday to figure it out. Austin pulled into the school parking lot and parked his car. He walked up into the school and to his locker. He hit it in the same pattern Dez had the other day. He opened it up and put his stuff inside. He stood there at his open locker for a minute, lost in thought.

"Hey, Austin." Austin looked to his side and saw Dez opening his locker two down from Austin. Dez was grinning from ear to ear, but it didn't feel fake, like everyone else.

"Hey, Dez," Austin said, smiling back. "What's up?"

"Oh you know, the opposite of down." He said like it was so obvious.

Austin shook his head a little. "Yeah, you're right." Austin said. He closed his locker and stepped closer to Dez.

"So, how was your first day?" Dez asked before pulling a jar of jam out of his locker.

"It was good." Austin said, staring at the jar of jam. What was he gonna do with that?

"That awesome, man." He held the jam and a math text book in his arms. "Well, I'm off to history." He said. He then turned around and walked away. Austin raised an eyebrow, but smiled anyway at his classic "Dezness". Austin sighed and started walking toward his first class.

. . .

Austin walked back toward his locker after his first two classes. He needed to swap textbooks. He saw Allyson standing at her own locker, looking angry as she threw a textbook into her locker. Austin walked up to her to see what was wrong.

"Hey," Austin said, smiling at her.

She turned and scowled, but then when she realized it was Austin her face softened. "Hey," She said, her tone less than excited. She turned back to her locker and moved around some of her things. Austin looked her over. She was wearing a black and white striped top and dark jeans. Her hair was a mess of waves. Austin thought she looked exhausted.

"You ok?" He asked.

She looked at him, like his words sent her spinning. She sighed, "Not really. I was almost late to school this morning, cause my dad was late to take over the store." She slammed her locker door shut. "Then I get yelled at by my teacher for arriving to class a second before the bell." She sighed again, looking off into the distance.

"Why would they do that?" Austin asked.

"They're always waiting for me to mess up." Ally said, looking at him with sad and hurt eyes.

Austin tried to decide quickly what to say, but he couldn't think of anything so he just wrapped his arms around her. Austin rested his chin on the top of her head as he hugged her. Ally wrapped her arms around his waist. She seemed to relax in his arms. Austin could tell she just needed someone to care. After a minute they broke apart. Austin was surprised when he saw her wiping a tear off her cheek.

"Thanks, I needed that." She said, smiling weakly at him.

"Anytime," Austin said, wishing he could do more. The minute warning bell echoed in the background, catching both Austin's and Ally's attention.

"I better get to class before I get snapped at again." She said, walking past him.

"See you later," Austin called after her. Ally looked over her shoulder and waved at him, still smiling. He was really glad he cheered her up. Austin knew he didn't have time to stop by his locker, so he just turned on his heel and started toward his next class.

. . .

At lunch, Austin picked up his lunch tray and looked around for somewhere to sit. He looked around for Ally, but didn't see her. He wondered where she was.

"Hey Austin," Austin looked to his side and saw Kira standing there, peppy as ever.

"Hey Kira," Austin said, trying to continue looking for Ally.

"Looking for someone?" Kira asked looping her arm with Austin's. "Austin let's walk and talk." Austin shrugged, but walked with her. "Austin, look around you." Kira said, gesturing with her other hand to all the students in the lunch area. "This school is divided into cool people," Kira gestured to her group of friends, the jocks and cheerleaders and all their friends. "And the losers," She gestured to the nerds, geeks, weird kids, and everyone who seemed different from the cool kids. "In life you have to hang out with the right people or you mark yourself for life." Austin was about to say something, but Kira interrupted him. "Someone told me they saw you talking to Allyson Dawson." Kira crossed her arms across her torso. "I know Cassidy told you about her." Again, Austin was about to say something when Kira interrupted him. "I know she's so sad to look at Austin and I know you feel sorry for her. But, she is a freak and a loser, Austin. If you get caught talking to her again, then you are gonna be considered a loser too." Kira tilted her head and smiled at Austin. "I don't want that to happen to you Austin, so do yourself a favor, hang out with cool people not losers."

Austin didn't know what to say. What could he say?

. . .

Ally shook her head as Austin retold what happened to him at lunch. "I can't believe it." Ally said as she scowled at her desk.

"That she said that?" Austin asked.

Ally looked up at Austin, still scowling a bit. "No, I'm not surprised Kira Starr called me a loser and a freak. I'm not even surprised she basically threatened you." Ally shook her head again looking back down at her desk. "I guess I just wanted to believe I could have a friend without any complications."

Austin put his hand on Ally's shoulder. "Hey, you still have a friend." Austin said, making her smile a bit. "So there are some complications, I don't care about any threats Kira or anyone else makes." Austin smiled as Ally smiled back at him.

"You still shouldn't have to deal with it." Ally said, scowling again at her desk.

"Hey guys," Mr. Bronte said as he walked past the pair. "Are you working on the assignment?" He asked crossing his arms, already knowing the answer.

"We'll get back to it." Ally grumbled, picking her pencil back up.

Mr. Bronte smiled and walked to another group. Austin looked back at the blank piece of paper in front of himself. Mr. Bronte told the class they could work on the paper due Friday or read the chapters. Since Ally had already finished the paper, she just wrote in her journal. Austin decided to try working on his paper, but he still felt lost about a topic. What could he describe?

He looked back at Ally who was already scribbling madly in her journal. "What are you writing?" Austin asked her.

Ally bit her lip as she looked up at him. "It's nothing." She said.

"Oh, come on." Austin said, scooting his chair a little closer. "You can tell me." He said.

Ally looked at him for a while; it was like she was mulling the thought over. Ally finally sighed and looked back at her journal. "It's a poem." She said.

"You write poetry?" Austin asked, not exactly surprised. Ally wrote so deeply and beautifully, it made sense that she would write poems.

Ally shrugged. "It's for Spoken Word." Austin looked up at the white board and saw: Spoken Word Club still written in green marker. Following his gaze, Ally smiled weakly. "It's really interesting." She said.

"What have you got?" Austin asked leaning toward her journal, but she quickly pulled it away.

"It's not finished." She said, getting defensive.

"Can I at least see what you got?" Austin asked.

Ally thought for a moment. Again, taking a minute to mull over the thought. "Ok," but she put her journal in her backpack. "But not here." She crossed her arms and set them on the desk. "If you come by Sonic Boom later, I'll show it to you there."

Austin smiled. "Sure, I'll come after work." He liked spending time with Ally.

Ally smiled back at Austin and looked over at the blank paper on his desk. "Have you started your paper?" Ally asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"I told you, I'm a last minute kind of person." He said, putting his arms behind his head as if he was 100 percent relaxed.

Ally laughed a little at his action. "You've got nothing."

Austin rolled his eyes, and leaned forward, putting his hands back on his desk. "I don't know what to write about." Austin said, shrugging his shoulders.

Ally giggled softly, "You just have to describe something you see." Austin could tell Ally didn't have difficultly doing school work.

"It's not so easy for me." Austin said leaning forward on his desk.

Ally giggled and turned her vision to her book. "You'll figure it out." She said, seeming to mean her words.

Austin was happy Ally had her own way of encouraging him. "Thanks," was his response. Austin sat back up and stared at the paper. He felt blank as he searched his mind for an idea. He looked back at Ally who studied her book with a great deal of focus. "Are you enjoying the chapter?" Austin asked her.

Ally looked back at him and smiled. "I already finished the book." Ally said, laughing a little. "I'm re-reading it."

"Why?" Austin asked, confused.

"I like reading." Ally said, shrugging. "I re-read stories to grasp what I might've missed the first time." She said, reopening the book and looking back at the pages.

"Cool," Austin said. He thought that was an interesting thought. "So you like reading?"

"Yeah, a lot." She said, looking back at Austin with a simple smile on her face. "When I read it's like I leave the real world and enter the world the book creates." She looked back at the book and continued to smile. Austin understood that Ally was very smart and it made sense to him that Ally liked to read and write, since she wrote so beautifully.

Austin looked back at his blank paper, still lost for ideas. The bell's sudden noise broke Austin of his thoughts. He sighed, happy to leave this school since it frustrated him so much. He watched as the other students ran out of the room. He stood up, throwing his backpack over his shoulder, waiting this time for Ally. Ally packed her bag and stood up, simply smiling at him. Austin started toward the door; Ally followed but then paused in her paced. Her smile seemed to fade as she looked ahead of her. Austin looked back and stopped when he saw Ally had stopped. "What's wrong?" Austin asked.

Ally sighed. "I know what it's like to be the school reject." Ally said, sadly. "I don't want to put you through that." Ally seemed very sad as she spoke.

Austin felt worried and confused as he heard her. "What are you talking about Ally?" Austin asked.

"I don't think we should be seen together in front of them." She said, speaking about Kira and her friends.

Austin pushed a hand through his hair. "Ally, I told you it doesn't matter to me." Austin felt frustrated overall. "You're my friend, Ally." It made him happy to say that.

Ally smiled weakly. "I know, Austin." Ally said. "But, if you're seen with me," Ally paused, biting her lip. "They won't be forgiving, and I won't ever be able to forgive myself." Ally moved forward and past Austin, but paused again. "I'll see you later at Sonic Boom." Ally smiled before turning and walking down the hall alone.

Austin stood there looking after her, frustration and sadness consumed him.

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT! What do you think will happen next?!

Very special thanks to:

SkinnyJeansNLattes – Eek! I always love your reviews! Thank you!

Ross's Juliet – I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Austin isn't getting an easy time, but Ally is sweet! Thanks for your review!

Wallsaremyhaven – Thanks for your review! I know Ally seems like she opening up too quickly, but there's a lot of layers to Ally, so Austin is gonna have to keep working to find out more! I'm glad you love the story! THANKS!

LoveShipper – YAY! I always love your reviews! Thanks for being a continued reviewer! Makes me so happy!

Rachel711 - Thanks! I do love cuteness (: I hope you enjoyed this chapter, too!

Also thanks to everyone who favorited and followed! Thank you guys soooo much, I love you!

For updates on this and other stories check my profile page, where I will be posting weekly updates! AND also monthly news as well, just so you guys know what's going on and know about my ideas and works (:

Also, check out my other Austin and Ally story: Be My Escape!

Please review, favorite, follow, send me a message, or re-read your favorite book! (: Or all of the above!

~Spencer