A/N: Here you go, my lovelies! Another chapter! :)

Disclaimer: don't own A&A

Ally POV

"Claudia, put your damn shoes away so people don't trip on them!" I yelled into the house as I walked in the door after school on Friday.

She walked into the hallway from the living room. "Bite me."

I picked them up and threw them into the closet. "Hey!" she protested. "Those are Gucci!"

"Bite me," I retorted, walking past her and into the kitchen. I went to the fridge and pulled out the orange juice.

She followed behind me. "What's up your ass? I mean, I know you're always retched and harsh, but you're being unusually retched and harsh."

"You're one to talk," I said.

She glared and slid onto a stool at the island. "I'm not leaving here until you tell me why you're so pissy."

"Why do you even want to know? You don't give two craps about me."

"That's not true."

"Oh, it isn't?" I put my glass of orange juice down and counted on my fingers. "You put itching powder in all of my underwear last month. You embarrassed me in front of a huge group of people two weeks ago. You ignore me at school. You constantly harass me whenever you can-"

"Alright, alright, I get it!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands up. "Look, you've been here, what? Over two months now? I've been living here my whole life and you already get more attention than I do."

"What?" I scoffed. "That's bullshit."

"No, it's not bullshit. It's the truth. Lots of my friends think you dress so cool and that your independence is awesome. You know how bad that makes me wanna punch them in the face? My dad bought you a damn car!"

"I didn't ask him to."

"You didn't have to!" she exclaimed, getting visibly upset. "It took my dad forever to buy me my own car."

"That's not my problem, Claudia!" I replied. "You had no right to be rude to me when I first got here."

"You were rude right back at me!"

"Because I don't respect people who don't respect me," I glared.

"I was rude to you because I hated the idea of another girl, one that was my age, coming to live with us."

I looked right at her. "Believe me, if I had a choice in the matter, I would still be in Miami with my dad."

"Well, you don't, so it looks like you're stuck here until graduation," Claudia said. "Now if you don't tell me what's wrong with you in three seconds, I'm going to go throw all of your clothes in the pool."

"You wanna know what's wrong? Fine! I just found out I have to perform a solo at the Christmas concert for my music class and I have the worst kind of stage fright you can imagine. There. You happy?"

She snorted. "Seriously?"

"It's not funny! I can't go up there in front of everybody."

"But I hear you playing your guitar all the time in your room."

"Yeah, in my room; where no one is around to see me."

"Why don't you just tell your teacher you don't want to do it? Like I do with all of my homework."

"Mrs. Hastings is counting on me. Besides, I haven't done anything in class since I've been here except write down lyrics."

"These lyrics?" Claudia said, reaching her hand across the island to where my bag was sitting. Some of the papers had apparently slid out enough for her to snag them. I tried to stop her, but she was too quick, and she snatched them up.

"Stop screwing around, Claudia, give those back," I exclaimed, trying to wrestle her for them.

"I've got my mind made up, man, I can't let go…" Claudia trailed off as she continued to read in her head, and I just quit trying to grab them back from her because she was already started. What was the point? She finished and said, "Huh." She looked at me. "These are good."

"Yeah, whatever, I don't need your sarcasm."

"No, seriously, Ally, they're good. Like really good. I didn't know you had this kind of talent. And no, I'm not screwing with you."

I narrowed my eyes at her.

She handed the paper back to me. "You should get rid of your stage fright and perform this song."

"It doesn't just go away like that."

"Well, you better work on it. Why do you even have stage fright?"

"An incident happened when I was younger," I said quietly. "That I don't care to recall."

"Suit yourself." She went to walk out of the room, but paused and turned around again. "I heard you were a little rude to Austin today."

"I was in a bad mood, alright? I thought you'd be happy about it anyway, considering you want him so bad and can't stand me talking to him."

She shrugged. "I'm over it. Besides, I've got my sights on a new guy. If I were you, I'd apologize before things get ugly."

She called over her shoulder as she walked out of the room. "Think about this solo thing hard, Ally. If you need help, you know where to find me."

When she was gone, I looked at the paper in my hands and then back at the doorway where she disappeared. What just happened?

Later that evening, I was sitting in my room doing homework when my mom came in.

I groaned. "sta battendo contro la vostra religione?" (Is knocking against your religion?)

She raised an eyebrow at me. "Claudia dice il vostro arrabbiato per dover eseguire un assolo al concerto di Natale." (Claudia says your upset about having to perform a solo at the Christmas concert)

I threw my hands up. "Lei ti ha detto? Questo è il motivo per cui non ho mai dire le sue cose! Ma sì, io sono. Sai che ho paura del palcoscenico, mamma; non posso farlo." (She told you? This is why I never tell her things! But yes, I am. You know I have stage fright, Mom; I can't do it.)

She sighed and came to sit on my bed with me, running a hand over my hair. "Miele, you love music too much to throw it away over something that happened a long time ago."

I picked at my nails. "It's too soon. The concert is next month."

"Why don't you just tell your teacher?"

"She's counting on me."

"Oh, miele," she sighed. "Tell you what. Go spend time with Austin tomorrow; I'm sure he'll get your mind off of things."

"Was that a sexual innuendo?" I asked. "I feel scandalous."

She rolled her eyes at me. "You know what I mean. He seems like a nice kid."

"Yeah, and dogs look like butterflies." I bit my tongue before adding, "But I guess he's not as bad as I thought he was originally."

My mom smiled. "See? There's more to people than meets the eye."

"Okay, you're going all philisophical on me, time to go!" I said, shooing her out.

She laughed. "Alright, alright, I'm going. Don't let this concert thing worry you, miele, there's plenty of time to figure something out. In the meantime, have a good rest."

"Grazie, mamma. Ti amo," I said. (Thanks, Mom. Love you.)

"Ti amo," she replied before closing the door behind her.

Ugh, parents.

A/N: I used Google Translate for the Italian, so I'm sure it's not exactly how you would say those things, but for the sake of the story, just bare with me haha :) Love you guys!

Joelle xx

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