Author's note: here is the next chapter! It's less about Gavin this time, more about Auslly :) I hope you like it!
Austin's POV
"And then I was about to leave and go back home, when he walked out to his front yard with the swords!" Ally tells us.
We decided to meet in Sonic Boom so that she could tell us everything, and now she's explaining what she saw last night while spying on Gavin at his house.
"So I couldn't leave, or else he would see me! And who knows what he would do to me? He had the swords!" she continues. "I had no choice but to stay in the bush that I was hiding in, and that was when I noticed that there was a strange bamboo plant right in the middle of his yard. Who has bamboo in Miami, anyways? Before I could think about it, he walked up to the bamboo plant and slashed at it twice, once with each sword, and chopped it clean down!"
"What did you do then?" I ask.
"Well, he walked back into his house, so I left and went home." she replies. "That was it."
"I saw everything," Dez adds, "it was pretty suspicious. I say we should fire him immediately."
"But don't we want to find out the truth about him?" Trish counters. "Let's not fire him yet, we'll wait until we can find enough evidence to arrest him!"
"Arrest him for what? Chopping down a bamboo plant in his front yard?" Dez exclaims.
"No!" Trish exclaims. "For purposely sending an Austin Moon fan to the hospital!"
"Guys, stop arguing!" I interrupt. "You know what, let's do a vote. Who wants to fire him?"
Only Dez raises his hand.
"Alright, so everyone else wants to keep him to investigate?" I ask.
Trish and Ally nod.
"Fine, we don't have to fire him." Dez says. "But we should be very careful. We already know that he knows pretty much every martial art out there and he owns swords and can use them pretty well."
I look over at Ally, and she's on her phone.
"What are you doing?" I ask, leaning over to see what she's doing.
"I'm looking up Gavin online to see if I can find anything about him," she explains, "but it's only the stuff that we've already found. Kind of weird, considering he's already proven to have such a famous past in martial arts."
"Guys, don't you think we've been spending way too much time investigating Gavin these days?" Dez interrupts. "I mean, he's practically taking over our lives!"
"Yeah," Trish continues, "and Austin needs new songs! You guys have to write new songs, or else Jimmy's going to get kind of annoyed! He already said yesterday that he expects three new songs in the next couple of weeks!"
"Okay, I guess we can go work on new songs." Ally says. "Is that okay, Austin?"
"That would be great!"
Ten minutes later, we're in the practice room trying to come up with new ideas for a song. Ally's the songwriter, but I help her with ideas, too. We haven't written any new songs in a while, so this is fun! Plus, I get to spend time with Ally!
"So, do you have any ideas for a new song?" she asks.
"Maybe we could try a love song," I suggest, "we haven't really done any of those before. But not too sentimental and mushy. I still want it to be upbeat and happy!"
Okay, maybe not so subtle with the love song thing. Whatever. I look over at Ally.
"So, what do you think?"
"O-okay," she stutters, and turns to the piano. "Uh...what do you want it to be about?"
"Well," I reply, "if I'm going to sing it, it should probably be about a girl."
She giggles. "Okay, that makes sense. What kind of girl?"
"Maybe a girl I like?" I suggest.
"What girls do you like?" she asks.
"Well...I really only have one in mind." I reply.
"Okay...and who would that be? Cassidy? Kira? Piper?" she asks, naming my ex-girlfriends.
"Not exactly..." I say.
I can't exactly tell her the girl I like...I mean, it's her, so I guess I'm just going to have to be vague. We can still come up with a vague song.
"So who is it?"
"Well...she's sweet, she's kind, she's my favorite person in the whole wide world!" I explain.
"Okay...do you have any ideas for lyrics?"
Twenty minutes later, we have a new song! It was pretty awkward trying to write a song about the person you're writing it with, but hey, it was fun!
"Here, take your guitar!" Ally says, handing it to me. "Let's try this song out!"
I stand up and start strumming the opening chords.
"You're a good girl, the perfect picture of an angel's smile from a magazine." I sing. "But it's a new world, and I know something, the side of you no one's ever seen! Hey now baby, no doubt about it, girl you drive me crazy. I'm pleading guilty to the way you make me wanna steal your heart, steal your heart! Call me criminal, I won't deny you make me want it all, everything you are. So lock it up, go on and try it. No matter what you do I'm gonna steal your heart!"
"That was great!" Ally exclaims.
"I couldn't have done it without you!" I reply, giving her a hug.
"I'm sure your girl will love it!" she says.
"Well, do you like it?" I ask.
"Of course! I love it!" she replies.
"Then my girl will love it too." I smile.
"Oh! Is she a lot like me?" she asks.
I nod. "You're practically the same person."
"Do I know her?" she asks, looking more confused now.
"Yep, I'm pretty sure you do!" I resist the urge to laugh.
She looks even more confused now. I can tell she's deep in thought, but she has no idea that the song's about her!
"I don't know, Austin! Can you tell me who it's about?" she finally says.
I shake my head. "I want you to figure it out! You're smart, you'll figure it out soon enough."
Well, this is kind of a gamble. If she actually figures it out, but she doesn't like me back, then I'm in a bit of trouble. This could make our partnership, and friendship, really awkward. But if she does like me, then this will be awesome!
"Austin!" she whines. "Why won't you tell me?"
"Trust me, Ally, you'll figure it out." I reply.
She huffs and goes back to thinking. I can tell when she's thinking, she's has this look on her face that I can't really describe, but it's really cute!
"She's a lot like me, I know her..." she mutters.
"You don't have to think very hard to figure this out, Ally!" I say. "Remember, you know her very well. Maybe better than you know anyone else on the planet."
"I'm not a lot like Trish!" she exclaims. "You like Trish?"
I laugh. "No! I mean, I like her as a friend, she's one of my closest friends, but the song's definitely not about her!"
"I don't know any other girls very well, though!" she says. "You, Trish, and Dez are my closest friends! And you wouldn't write a song about yourself, and Dez isn't a girl!"
"Okay, it's not about Dez!" I laugh.
"And it's not about Cassidy, Kira, or Piper?" she asks, eyes narrowing.
"Nope! Trust me, Ally, you know her super well." I say with a smile.
"Can you give me a hint, at least? Please?"
"Okay," I reply, "she likes music. She's one of my best friends, and she's super smart."
"But that's impossible!" she exclaims. "Because that's me!- oh! Oh, Austin, it's me!"
Her confused expression quickly turns into that smile that I know and love.
"Wait..." she says softly. "You made me write that song...about myself? And I didn't even know it!"
"Yeah," I say. "So...um, just to make sure, is that okay? I mean..."
"Austin..." she whispers. "I had no idea that you still liked me..."
"I'm sorry, I-"
She cuts me off by flinging her arms around me in a hug. I'm surprised and relieved, because I take this to mean that she likes me back, and she's not mad at me or anything.
"Austin, I like you too, but how are we going to make this work out?" she says once she stops hugging me. "I mean, the last time we tried to be a couple, it was a disaster!"
"Well...maybe we don't have to try." I say. "We can just be ourselves, we know each other so well already! And whatever happens, you know we'll always be friends."
She nods. "Always."
Suddenly, the mood in the room shifts to something new. I can feel it, I think Ally can, too. I walk up closer to her, lean in, and...
"Guys, open up!" Trish yells, banging on the door.
I jump back, startled, and Ally blushes. I walk to the door and open it, and Trish and Dez are there.
"Hey guys, what are you doing?" I ask.
"We found some stuff about Gavin." Dez says.
I groan. "Not him again! I thought we were going to forget about him for a little while!"
"Well, like it or not, he's a part of your life, and a problematic one, too." Trish says.
"What is it?" Ally asks, walking up to me. She takes my hand in hers, and I smile.
"So you said that there was a Russian guy that was talking to Gavin." Dez says. "And then there was a Japanese guy that he was emailing. And Gavin and the Japanese guy were keeping a secret from the Russian guy."
Ally nods.
"Well, there's some news about a Japanese guy who ran off to Russia a couple of years ago." he continues. "A guy named Kenji, not Gavin, but his last name was Young. Not a super common Japanese last name or anything, but then again, Gavin doesn't look Japanese."
"Well, it could just be a coincidence." I say.
"Yeah, but a guy who left Japan for Russia? And his last name is Young. I don't think it's a coincidence." Trish objects.
"Well, why don't we look into this Kenji Young?" Ally suggests.
Dez shakes his head. "I couldn't find anything at all. It seems that Kenji Young doesn't exist online, except for that one article that I found."
"It could be fake," I say.
"It was one of the biggest newspapers of Japan. I don't think it was fake." Dez replies.
"Well, we'll just have to do some more investigation." Ally says. "Sergei doesn't seem to know much about what Gavin's up to, with the weird Japanese email and everything. Maybe we can figure out who he is, and then we can talk to him."
"Okay, I'll look him up online." Dez says, pulling out his computer.
He types in a few things, then shakes his head.
"There are tons of Russian Sergeis that have to do with martial arts. We're not going to find him."
"Try 'Sergei Russia martial arts Gavin Young'," Trish suggests.
Dez types that into his computer, and his face lights up.
"I found tons of stuff! Look! Sergei Nikolayevich Bolkonsky! Expert in Sambo and he works in the military! And he taught Gavin Young!" he exclaims.
Ally's face lights up. "Nikolayevich Bolkonsky! That's like Andrei in War and Peace! I love that book!"
"Sergei is named after a character in War and Peace?" Trish exclaims.
"Well, he does work in the military." I suggest. "And it's War and Peace, so maybe there's a connection?"
"Dez, can you find his phone number or email or anything?" Ally asks.
"Yeah," he replies, "his contact info is right here. Maybe we can email him!"
We all crowd around the computer as Ally types. She always writes important emails because she takes advanced English and composition classes at school, so she's the best at this stuff.
To: Sergei Nikolayevich Bolkonsky
From: Austin Moon
General Bolkonsky:
The team behind Austin Moon's career is contacting you to inquire about his new bodyguard, Gavin Young. We understand that he learned and trained with you in Russia, and you trained him to be quite competent at Sambo. He has recently demonstrated this skill on unsuspecting passerby. Could you possibly explain his motives? What was he like in the military? Any information is appreciated.
Sincerely,
Austin Moon
To my surprise, we get an almost-immediate reply.
To: Austin Moon
From: Sergei Nikolayevich Bolkonsky
Thank you for contacting me. I was about to do the same. Gavin Young was one of my best students, but he was unruly. Sambo is meant for defense purposes only, and I have told him this many times. He does not respect the art of martial arts. He is ruthless. Although he is successful in Russian martial arts, he has told me that his heart is in Japan. I suspect that there is much that he has not told me. Please take caution when you are around him. I worry for your safety.
Sincerely,
Sergei
"Sergei doesn't trust Gavin," Dez says, when we've all finished reading the email.
"I think he could be our ally." I finish his thought.
Author's note: dun dun dun! So that took another turn, I thought there should at least be something about Gavin instead of just Auslly the whole time. More of that is coming up. By the way, War and Peace is an awesome book.
I hope you liked this chapter! Sorry for the slow update, unfortunately I have two weeks of exams coming up so the next couple of updates are probably going to take a while:(
I have a new oneshot written, though, so that should probably be going up soon.