I don't own Austin and Ally.

Where we left off:

I run up the step and open up the door to see Ally, sitting there at the piano with tears welled up in her eyes…

Chapter 10, Austin's POV:

For a moment, I stand there in silence. Who/what got her crying? It wasn't me was it?

"A-ally…What happened?" I say.

"Dallas…he's going with someone else to the dance," she says.

"What?!"

"He told me this morning that Brooke had also asked him, and he chose her over me…" She explained, choking on tears.

Anger flows through me. I want to pound Dallas' face in! How could he do that to her?!

I swear I'll make him regret it.

I walk over to the piano bench, sit down next to Ally, and open up my arms for a hug.

She leans in and rests her head on chest as I wrap my arms around her.

"He's a jerk Ally. He doesn't deserve you," I say.

"Don't do anything to him," she says.

"What do you mean?"

"Don't go after Dallas. He was given a choice between two people, and he didn't choose me. He wasn't trying to hurt me."

"But you asked him first!"

"Jerk or not, revenge isn't the answer."

Ally is right. I'm still going to get him, though.

We just sit there a while longer, Ally letting out her last tears as I stroke her hair. She probably thinks it's weird that I'm stroking her hair, but I continue anyway. I'm enjoying this moment too much to stop.

Ally suddenly jerks upward,

"What am I doing? My dad probably needs my help!" She exclaims heads to the door.

"Thanks Austin…" She says as she gives me a smile and walks out the door.

Maybe what Dallas did was a good thing. Ally probably doesn't like him anymore, which gives me a better chance with her.

What am I thinking? Cassidy is going to be back in 1 week! I guess could just go on the date with her and then tell her that I like someone else now. Maybe I could even use her to make Ally jealous? No, that would be totally wrong. It probably wouldn't work anyway; Ally isn't the jealous type.

Suddenly, I notice that when Ally left the room, she forgot her songbook/diary. I know that Ally would be really angry if I even touched it, but still, I reach for it. I'll read just one passage. That's not so bad, right? I better just do it now before I change my mind.

I open up the most recent passage, which reads:

Dear Diary,

The weirdness continues. Austin has been hiding something from me for a while now. I thought he trusted me with even his deepest secrets…? I mean, he told me about his fear of umbrellas, and he didn't even share that with Dez! Whatever's going on with him, it must be something bad. He always looks nervous, he stutters when he speaks, and he randomly runs out the room with bizarre excuses. My dad told me yesterday that he thinks Austin has a crush on me. Ha! He was convinced until I told him the story of how Austin turned himself orange and sweaty when he thought I had a crush on him. Austin thinks of me as nothing more than his nerdy songwriter and friend.

I had tried to ask Austin what the problem was a while ago, but he insisted that nothing was wrong. I know that he was lying, and I WILL find out what's going on with him.

~Ally

Her dad thought I had a crush on her? Well, he was right, but it's Ally's reaction that hurts me. I can't believe she thinks that I think of her that way. She's much more to me than just some nerdy songwriter!

I close the book quickly and try to place it exactly as it was before. Hopefully she won't notice that I touched it. I wouldn't be surprised if she did, though. That girl is very protective of her book.

I head down the stairs and see Ally at the counter talking to Trish. Is Trish asking her about me? They haven't noticed me yet, so maybe I can eavesdrop…? I hide behind the piano, but I can't really pick up anything they're saying. Trish notices me and gives me a wink, I guess to confirm that she is talking about me. She finishes talking to Ally and walks over to me,

"I'll give you the details later," she whispers as she passes by.

I get up and go over to Ally,

"Hey,"

"Oh, hey Austin," she says.

"Do you still plan on going to the Sadie Hawkins' Dance?"

"No, I don't think I can handle seeing Dallas with Brooke. It'd be too awkward."

"What if you went with me? Maybe you could make him jealous."

What am I saying?

"I think I'm over him now. He obviously doesn't like me," she says.

"Oh…Well I still think you should go with me. I don't have a date, and I want you to be there when I perform," I say.

She thinks about it for a moment, then says simply, "Okay…"

"YES! I mean, that's great! I'll pick you up at 8:00," I say.

After Trish gets out of her work (whether she actually was working, I don't know), we meet at the food court.

"What did you say to her? What happened?" I exclaim.

"Calm down and let me speak, kid!" Trish yells.

"I'm no kid!"

"Whatever! Ok, so I said to Ally, 'So Austin's cool right?' and she-" I cut her off,

"You started with "So Austin's cool right?' Doesn't that make it obvious that I asked you to talk to her about me?"

"Whatever, we can't do anything about it now. Do you want the details or not?"

"Ok, go on."

"Ok, so she was like, 'Uh, yeah, why do you say?' and so I was like, 'I don't know, I was just wondering what your take on him was…What do you think of Austin?' and then she was like-"

"Can you stop saying 'like' so much?"

"Just let me finish the story!"

"Sorry."

"Ok, so Ally said 'Well, he's nice, and he's funny. He acts a little childish sometimes, which is kind of cute' then I cut her off and said, "Ohhh you just said he was cute!'

And she was like, 'What? Well, yeah, when he acts childish, so what?' and I was like, 'Do you like him at all?' and she was like, 'What do you mean? Like, like a brother, or like, like-like?' and so I was like, 'like-like duh!'"

"I'M SO CONFUZZLED RIGHT NOW!" I exclaim, "That's way too many 'likes!'"

"Confuzzled? Is that even a word?" [1]

"It is, because I said it," I say.

"Whatever, Ally said, 'Trish, we're just friends. Are you forgetting when he turned himself orange? He doesn't like me." Isn't that great?"

"How is that great? She said we were just friends," I say.

"Yeah, but she didn't say she didn't like you. She said that you didn't like her. She thinks that you think she's some awkward loser."

"Yeah, I kind of read that from her diary…"

"You read her diary? Oh, you're dead. She's going to notice."

"I'm not worried about it," I say as I get up from my seat. I turn around and see Ally standing right in front of me, and she doesn't look happy...

Oooohh Austin is in troubllleee! :) Plz review! Thanks.

[1] I got that word from my friend Riley. I loaf ya girl! ;)