AN: I've decided to let you guys in on my little announcement! For the final portion of my story, I will finally be posting bi-weekly(twice weekly)! I'm sticking with Saturday, but also adding Wednesday into the mix. This means that everything will be all wrapped up by August 30th. But don't worry, that won't be the last you hear from me:)

Now, actually about this chapter and the last! Again, thanks for the love! I love the reviews so keep 'em coming:) Read, Review, and Enjoy!

Bonus points if you get the Frozen and Friends references!

Parties & Mistakes

Chapter 24: Ally's POV

There comes a time when sitting at home really just gets boring. Sitting in the white washed walls of the hospital had become boring even after a day. Not just boring, infuriating. I'd been left alone with my thoughts at a time when I'd really rather be thinking about anything else.

Coming home was no picnic either. I retreated to my bedroom Friday afternoon, my mom peaking in on me every so often. I neglected to look at my phone, or answer anything of the sort. I didn't want to see more people with more looks of pity on their face. The only place that I was safe, was at home. With my dad thinking I'd only had appendicitis, he just cared about my well-being. He didn't have any of the emotions that came along with someone losing a child. A part of me loved that he was oblivious. That he came in, asked me questions, made sure I was okay, and still smiled like I was his little girl. I hadn't broken our relationship by what had happened and I was perfectly fine with that. I loved having this time where I could pretend that I was just sick, instead of broken.

But sometimes, even the best of moments have to stop.

He was the only person I could do this with, everyone else knew my truth. Everyone else knew how incredibly guilty I felt. Everyone else could probably guess I was crying myself to sleep. That I desperately wished I wasn't such a failure. Everyone else could probably tell that whenever I went into the washroom and saw that scar, I was instantly reminded of my misdoings.

My life had turned to shambles and I needed some form of normalcy. This was in part, a huge contributor in my decision to go back to school. Throwing myself back into normal life seemed like the thing to do. My mom protested, trying to convince me that it was the last week before Christmas, that I wouldn't be missing anything. But, that wasn't why I wanted to go back. I just needed something.

The doctors had informed us that I could go back to my normal life whenever I felt I was ready. That was my argument. Because of course I wouldn't be doing anything extreme. It's not like I was running a marathon or I was about to go have sex again. All I wanted was to go to school. All I wanted was a situation that someone who is seventeen should actually be dealing with. Going back to school seemed like a good first step.

After considerable discussions with the doctors, my mom finally agreed to let me go at least for a half day. They assured her that if I felt up to it, then it was probably time. I knew she had only let up when she realized it was one of those things I had to do. A coping mechanism, maybe. But I really did need to go back.

This led me to waking up bright and early on Monday morning, only to be reminded of my current situation. The doctors had informed us that it would take a while for my body to regulate itself - hormonally, emotionally, chemically, and physically. Meaning, at least for a little while, I would be confronted with some nausea in the mornings. While I didn't feel like I could throw up, I still felt my stomach churning and unsteadiness on my feet.

I powered through, heading into the washroom and turning on my phone for the first time since Wednesday. Going off the grid so that I could mourn felt good, seeing how many people texted and cared about me felt even better. DiDi, Trish, Dez, Genevieve - a girl I had been partners with in History once, my cousin Simon, my Aunt Kristin, and Austin had all texted me. They all had varying degrees of knowledge on what had happened, but they were all equally concerned.

'Hey, Dez told me something was up with you... Are you alright?' came a text from Didi.

'Yay, you're back home!', 'When can I come visit you?', 'Your mom told me you're playing solo for now, don't do it for long!', 'I miss you..', 'Please don't shut me out again! Please don't slam the door! You don't have to keep your distance anymore!', 'Whenever you want to talk, I'm here!' all came from Trish. They made me smile both with how much she cared, and the zaniness of my best friend.

'Is something wrong? Something's wrong with Austin.', and 'Austin told me you were in the hospital. WHAT'S HAPPENING?' were obviously Dez. I had a feeling that he thought the Zalien's had been up to something.

'Hey Ally! You've been gone the past couple of days, are you okay?' Genevieve's text was simple but friendly. It filled me with an odd sense of pride that someone cared that much to notice I was gone.

'You alright? I overheard my mom talking to yours on the phone, sounded like an accident? You're okay though, right?' Simon's text was also sweet. It made me curious as to what my mom had told Aunt Kristin though.

'I was going to call, though I figured you might not want to talk just yet.' the text began. 'Your mother called me and told me what had happened on Wednesday. It's a horrible thing, darling, trust me I know. I've been through this myself. That's the only reason your mom told me what was up. She wanted to give you a leg to stand on if you needed it. Call me anytime.' I was touched. I couldn't believe what she was offering me, it was amazingly generous. This little bit of support made me feel like I could do this, like I didn't have to be so afraid. Like I didn't have to cry myself to sleep anymore.

And then came Austin's.

I was so scared to open them. I didn't want to go into that folder and see something bad. I was still so convinced that he hated me. What else could he say?

'Al, I love you', 'Can I come over sometime? We need to talk.', 'I hope you're okay. I'm okay.', 'I still love you.', 'I really think we should talk.', 'Are you ignoring me?', 'Called your house, your mom says you want to be alone. Do you want to be alone with me?', 'When you see all of this, just remember I'm not crazy, I'm just in love.'

I laughed. He was cute. Unimaginably cute. There was no part of me that could understand why he still loved me. It baffled me that he wasn't just walking away.

I quickly typed in 'thanks' and 'fines' to different people. I was fine, wasn't I? I hesitated at Austin's menagerie of texts. Eventually, I settled on a simple: 'I'm coming to school today. I'll see you then:)'

Smiley faces make everything.

A&A

"Are you sure you want to go?" my mom asked, having just parked in front of the school.

I watched the throng of people flooding in and felt oddly self conscious. I smoothed my hands against the navy blue fabric of my simple flowy dress. I could just see the tips of my knees as I sat in the passenger seat. There were raised bumps on my legs. I was cold and scared. As much as I wanted to face school and regain that normalcy, a sneaking fear in the back of my mind wondered if anyone knew. I was coming back a changed woman, what if they could see that?

I chewed on my hair and adjusted my glasses, attempting to seem put together in spite of everything. Nervous and slightly nauseas, is not a good mix.

"Yeah," I said, shrugging into a black hoodie. "I'll be fine, I promise."

"Okay, but call me if you need anything at all!"

I shifted out of the car and winced. My mom raised her eyebrows. "I'm fine. I won't need anything!"

I slammed the door shut and waved, making sure she drove away. I sighed and slung my messenger bag over my shoulder. There seemed to be an odd sort of hush over the school. No one really seemed to be talking, or even hanging around outside. Everyone was just quickly filing inside.

It struck me as odd, but maybe I was later than I had first thought. I glanced down at my phone. It was barely 8 o'clock, people still had about fifteen minutes to get here. Why was everyone in such a rush?

"Ally!" Trish said, suddenly appearing before me. "I didn't think you were going to come in today."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Is that a bad thing?"

"Uhhh," she hesitated. "No. I just didn't know if you were skipping again."

"Medical leave isn't exactly skipping."

"Yeah, but like isn't this cutting it pretty close to when you were in the hospital?" she hissed.

"I need something normal and they said I could go back when I felt up to it. I feel up to it." I said with a narrow of my eyes.

I began walking towards the school, still seeing a flurry of people flooding inside. They still were just glancing at each other, shaking their heads imperceptibly. It wasn't until I got a bit closer that I realized they were whispering.

Shit. It's gossip.

"Ally, wait!" Trish said, stepping in front of me once more. "Theres something that you shouldn't see in there."

"What?" I asked, titling my head slightly.

She scuffed her foot on the ground. "I got your text and I came out to greet you. I hoped that you wouldn't actually show up..."

I blinked profusely for a few beats of a minute, trying to understand what she meant. "Why not?"

"There's more messages on the bulletin board. It just doesn't end which Kira."

"What?" I managed. I was losing my grip. This was apparently my little shade of normalcy.

I started up the stairs, noticing that people were stopping their hushed conversations to gape at me. What had I done to Kira this time? I walked in through the doors to more faces of shock. They turned to stare at me and I had flashbacks to the first time this had happened. I almost stopped dead, stage fright getting the better of me. There were too many eyes on me. Too many curious and furious stares.

Finally, I found my way to the bulletin board. There were pictures and notes scattered across it, all flourished in red cursive writing.

'Ally,

I know your secret. I know what you've been trying to hide these past few weeks and what you finally got rid of. I thought, maybe, everyone else should know too.

An abortion, honey? Really? If I were you I would have kept Austin Moon's child. It could have made you a ton of money.

But no, you chose to end a life instead.

Shame.'

I stared down at the piece of paper. What the fuck? I looked up and saw pictures of Trish and I at the hospital from last Wednesday. You could clearly see we were on the maternity floor. You could also see that I was visibly upset. All of it fit. The story that Kira had fabricated for my demise made sense when you looked at all the evidence.

Why would I be on the maternity floor otherwise? Why would I look so upset? Why would I have been away from school? Why would I be staring at this, looking so hurt otherwise?

I closed my eyes and felt the paper slip from my hands. A tentative touch came to my upper arm, it pulled me away from the judgmental stares and scathing note. I walked with my eyes closed, being guided by who I was sure was Trish. I heard the squeak of the heavy bathroom door.

I opened my eyes to see Trish checking the stalls. No one was in here. She hurried back to the general door and locked it so that - for the time being - people stayed out.

"What the hell was that?" I hissed.

"You're asking me to understand Kira Starr's mind? I can't do that, she's fucking crazy!" Trish replied. She shrugged, trying to calm me down. I picked the wrong day to come back.

I sighed and bit my lip. "I'm trying so hard not to just break already, Trish. This doesn't help. This is insane. Does she know that what she does has an effect on people? Does she know she can't just make shit up to hurt people? Who the hell does this?"

"She's doing it for attention," Trish supplied, rollin her eyes. "She's pissed that you actually have Austin and she doesn't. She just wants people to feel bad for her, because if she didn't make this huge stink no one would give a shit!"

"She's such a sadist," I mumbled, feeling the tears brimming in my eyes. "She's actually taking pleasure in bringing me pain."

Trish twisted a curl around one of her fingers and took a tentative step towards me. "How are you doing, by the way?"

I shook my head and laughed. "Oh perfect," I angrily wiped at my eyes and let out another mirthful snicker. "I'm just fucking perfect. I'm absolutely awesome. I mean, not only am I a total failure at keeping a child in my body - the most basic thing I should be able to do - I also have a whole school thinking that I aborted it. Which is perfect. It's just so perfect."

She looked at me puzzled, as though she didn't know how to respond next. "I'm sorry," she finally settled on.

I could tell she genuinely meant it. It was quite a change. For the past few days I had been the one apologizing. I wasn't entirely sure what I was apologizing for, but I was. Profusely.

"Why?" I asked. "What do you have to be sorry for?"

"I'm sorry you have to go through this. I'm sorry Kira's such a bitch. I'm sorry I can't be of more help."

I shook my head. "You're plenty of help. I'm sorry I got you involved in any of this."

"Don't be, that's what friends are for, right? There for you when the rain starts to pour?" she smiled.

I laughed. "Thank you," I said and wrapped my arms around her. She hugged me back, squeezing tightly for a moment before letting go. When we broke apart reality came crashing back. "When did my life decide to turn out this way?"

"I guess that night you decided to sleep with someone who was in a relationship."

I sighed as she smirked. "I'm pretty sure Austin hates me now."

"You're kidding me, right? He's so obsessed with you. He tried to go to your house five times this weekend but each time your mom said you just wanted to be alone. If anything, he probably thinks you hate him."

I didn't. Far from that, actually. I just couldn't face seeing him looking as broken as I did. I wouldn't be able to face seeing hatred in his eyes. That was my biggest fear. That was part of my seclusion.

I nodded, processing everything. A part of me wanted to go home, go against everything I had said and just leave. But I knew that wouldn't solve anything. It was exactly like the first time Kira had attacked me, going home solved nothing. It only made it harder for me to come back.

Maybe if I posted my story to the bulletin board...

The bell rang, the announcements passed, and I still stayed lost in thought. It wasn't until a loud beep came over the intercom that my head snapped towards the bathroom speaker.

"Sorry for the interruption," Mrs. Vanderhouse, the school's principal spoke. "But, could Kira Starr, Austin Moon, and Ally Dawson please come down to the office."

Well shit.

AN: Getting back to the underlying plot! Kira's causing shit again, oh my! See you on Wednesday! Drop me a review:)