Hey guys. Update! This chapter and a few other future chapters isn't told in a POV. A lot of stuff happens that would be better seen in third person. Oh, and no flashback in this one. I couldn't think of a flashback that would fit with the plot of this chapter. So...

*NOT EDITED (as always, but since I hate grammatical errors, you are less likely to see them, but BEWARE)

Austin looked outside of his window, thinking. What could he do to show Ally that he did care about her? What could he do that would even catch her attention? That is, if she ever speaks to him again. With it nearly seven in the morning and his parents gone, like they always were, he decided on what to get her. A necklace with her name on it. She would love it and he knew it.

At Sonic Boom, Ally was contemplating what to do, and there was a lot. Find Talia, get her songbook back, figure out why Talia took it, and figure things out with Elliot. For the first time in forever, she actually had something to do. More surprisingly, hanging out with Austin didn't fit on that schedule and she didn't want it on that schedule. Of course, part of her would miss his presence.

There was no way of finding out where Talia stayed, so she would just have to play it by ear. Walking through the city of Miami, at seven in the morning, wasn't what she intended to do, but it would have to happen. Before she knew it, she was in the dark-looking part of town. Part of her knew that Talia would be somewhere around there.

"Hey, little lady. Lost?" a man in a grungy jacket asks her.

Ally looks around and nods, willing to take her chances with the man. "Kind of. Does a Talia Rhodes live around here?"

He laughs. "Little Talia, huh? The one in that fire," Ally nods, not realizing it wasn't a question. "She hangs around here. Our best seller."

Ally cocks her head to the side. "She's... an author?"

The man laughs again. "You're cute. No, she sells drugs."

Ally thought about how that was relevant to Talia taking her songbook. Maybe she needed money to buy drugs and sold Ally's songbook? But no one would buy that book full of mediocre songs. Deep down, Ally felt like the songs in there weren't very good.

"Does she ever buy them?"

"Sometimes."

Ally sighs. "Where can I find her?"

"Around."

She sighed again. If Talia was just 'around', what was around and how could she find her?

"When did you last see her?"

"I see you have a lot of questions, kid. Give me some cash and I'll tell you everything about Talia. I'll even tell you about the fire."

"I don't have any money and Talia already told me about the fire."

The man laughs again. "Did she? Did she tell you she dropped a joint and her house burned down? Little Talia tells everyone her little brother was playing with matches. Did she tell you that story?"

"Uh, yeah."

He laughs again. "She doesn't have a little brother and she lived in a condo."

Ally rolls her eyes. "Look. I'm broke, but I'll give you something else if you tell me more about what Talia's been up to and where she's been."

"What is that 'something else'?"

Looking around, Ally bit her bottom lip. She wasn't going to have sex with him, which is what his hungry eyes had read to her. Then an idea, far from logical and ideal, came to her. "Do you like pills?"

"Poppin' 'em. Sure, why not? What kinds you have?"

Ally bit her bottom lip harder, trying to remember. "Well, you see, they're for depression and-"

"Sold!"

Sighing, she pulled out a bottle of pills from her pocket and poured some onto his dirty hand. He winced at the ivory-colored tablets in his hand. Ally raised an eyebrow. "Something wrong?"

The man shook his head-as if to say that something was wrong. "What's the name of these?"

"Zyprexa." Ally knew the second she read off the name that something was wrong. Examining the entire bottle, she realized they were prescribed to Austin Moon. Austin. Zyprexa. Whatever it is, something didn't sound right. Those pills, that guy. Her pills were normally a light blue. "What is Zyprexa for?"

"Schizos. Bipolars. Those freaks."

Her legs had begun to shake, her fingers started to twitch, and her heart had started to palpitate faster than she could keep up with. Austin... with 'problems'. Part of her brain couldn't help thinking, 'Who's the one with the disorder now? Uh, both of us!' The other part of her brain felt as if everything she knew about him was a lie. Everything they had been through could all have really been prevented. Maybe his 'disorder' got in the way and that's why he killed Kyle. Or was that classified as self-defense? Or manslaughter? Truthfully, Ally didn't know, and as much of her that didn't want to care, cared. In fact, she felt more bad for him than she could ever have for herself or even a baby with cancer. She felt things, things that she had never felt for a person before. She just hoped what she was feeling wasn't feelings. She had Elliot, whom she'd never felt bubbly around like she did Austin.

Trying to push the though away, she turned back to the man and who had nevertheless shoved the pills in his pocket. "Are you going to tell me now?"

He sighed. "Okay, kid. Talia sells drugs. She sells good stuff, though what you just gave me tops her shit any day. She usually stays on the second floor, but she's never home. Too busy being a lady of the night."

"Uh, what's that?"

The man laughed at her, but this time as if she were retarded. "You don't get out much, do you?"

A question was on the tip of Ally's lips. A question she knew she shouldn't ask, but, "Do you know an Austin Moon? Does he sell or anything?"

The man smiles. "Austin, huh? Yeah, I know him. Doesn't sell nothing though... but he does-"

"Ally?" a familiar voice said. Ally turned to see the worn-out looking Talia. She looked nothing like she did yesterday. Her hair was tangled, her eyes were red from tiredness, her nose was red—Ally suspected from cocaine or something—, and her expression read 'Shoot me, now'.

"Hey, little Talia. What's up?"

Talia shot her head his way. "Stop callin' me that." To Ally, she asked, "How'd you find me?"

"Technically, you found me."

"No, I mean... how'd you get here?"

At a loss for words, Ally just said what she thought would make some sort of sense. "I... there was... a compass?"

Talia laughed. "Like always, you know just what not to say."

Wanting to laugh back, but wanting to kill Talia, Ally guided her down the block to talk away from the man and the others. "Did you take my songbook?"

Talia's eyes widened and she stared at Ally, prepared to lie, but one look in the hopeful seventeen year old's eyes, and she decided against it. "Yes."

"Why?"

Whatever her reason was, she couldn't say it. Ally wanted her to say it. She wanted to say it. She had to say it. She had to say something, something to give her hope. "I needed some money."

"What do you mean?"

Talia sighed. "I had to sell your songbook to get money... for drugs."

"You sold my songbook?" Ally's eyes filled with disdain and sadness and anger.

"Well, not yet. I just need to record all the songs, become a hit artist, get money, and use that money for drugs."

Ally shook her head. "Like always, you come up with a silly plan for whatever crazy reason."

"Well, what else am I supposed to do?"

"Not drugs! There are other options. Where is my songbook?"

"Ally, I-"

"Where is it?"

"I don't know! I had it and then I got a little high and then I lost it! Go through my car if you want."

"Don't you have a house?"

"No."

Empathy washed through Ally. She knew what it was like not to have a house. She didn't have a house. "That makes two of us." she murmured.

The two sat on the stairwell, silent for a while. It took the one with the most courage at that moment to speak up. "I'm sorry."

Talia turned to Ally. "For what?"

Ally shrugged. "I should have been more empathetic... but... where is my songbook? Really? Honestly?"

Talia nodded. "It's in my bag. And I wanted it because... you were healing. You were happy. You weren't that mental, sad, depressed girl I had always saw. It just made me... jealous or something. I hated that you were happy and I wasn't. I hated the fact that you were happy and I was miserable. I just figured if you were miserable, I'd be a little happy... you'd feel my pain."

Suddenly, Ally's words that she had said to Austin a couple days ago echoed in her head. "I'm happy?! You don't want me to be happy, do you?! Is it such a burden for you for me to be happy?!"

The thought, the comparison, made Ally nervous. If she couldn't trust Talia as much as she thought, what were the odds of her trusting Austin at all? And now, not just Austin, but "Austin with problems."

Talia reached into her bag that Ally didn't even notice was on her side. Her eyes widened at the songbook full of silly songs, emotional songs, romantic songs, but either way, to her, it wasn't just a songbook. Her mom had given it to her. It meant more to her than anything else she could imagine in existence. When it was finally back in her grasp, she sighed and gave Talia one more question. "Why me?"

"What do you mean?"

"You... jealous of... me. Why me? Why the girl who tried to kill herself? Who got bullied? Raped? You're jealous of the girl who was never good enough for anybody. Why?"

It was surprising to Ally. How was the girl who was always nothing become envied? Especially, someone as plain and boring as Ally.

"Ally. You may not see it, but I'm sure everyone does. Even if you or others don't think you're beautiful on the outside, you're beautiful on the inside. And that's something everyone envies."

"Thanks. I should go."

"So, I'll... see you later?"

Ally sighs, making a decision that was probably for the better. "Talia. I'm sorry. But no. I can't hang out with you."

"Is it because I stole your book? Drugs? I can-"

"No, Talia. It's just... I... I'm having trouble realizing who's on my side and who's not."

"Understandable... but don't think everyone's against you."

Ally knew what she meant. She pushed people away for that exact reason. She thought everyone was against her. In her eyes, when everyone is against her and people who you think are for you turn against you, it seems a lot like you're alone in the world. That was just her problem.

Ally nodded, before running off. Though it took an hour to get back to the store, she was fine. Well, as far as walking that far. Part of her couldn't stop thinking about Austin. There was no way the thing about him was possibly true. Even if it was true, it wasn't her business, and she shouldn't stick her head where it didn't belong, especially if she didn't want him in her business.

Sitting at her piano, she fiddled with her thumbs. Before even getting to think about it and what it meant, Elliot walked in.

Trying to make herself thrilled to see him, Ally walked towards him with a wide smile. "Uh, hi."

"Can we talk?" Elliot asks, guiding her outside. They walked for a little, silently, until they both sat down on a bench.

'This is where Pickles was,' she thought of the goose whom she hadn't seen in two years.

As she sat on the bench, Elliot watched, growing impatient. A question was on the tip of his tongue. To ask Ally to be his girlfriend.

"Look, we've been through a lot..." he began.

'A lot is in, knowing each other for a while? That's different than actually going through stuff. By the way, I am NOT into you.' Ally wanted to say, but didn't. She kept it all in until Elliot got to the point.

"Anyways, I'm asking you to be my girlfriend."

In shock, Ally gaped out him. First, Talia envies her, and now, someone is asking her out? Not as a trick this time? Someone genuinely cared about her. Someone thought she was smart and beautiful and amazing and girlfriend-worthy. Having this never happen to her, Ally knew she had to say yes. In order to keep the people who actually cared about her around and stop pushing them away, this was the only way to keep him. The only way to keep somebody who actually cared about her around was to date them. She knew if she declined the offer, they would probably never speak to each other again. Then who does she have? Though before she accepted, she argued about it, to the courtesy of her special talent of pushing people away, of course.

"Elliot. I can't be your girlfriend. What about..." She began, hoping the name didn't slip out of her mouth.

"Who? Who's standing in our way?"

"Our way? Elliot, we have no way at all. We have camp. We'll always only have camp."

Elliot scooted an inch or two away from her after those words were said. He wanted more time with her. In about a week or so, he was planning to dump her. He was going back to Jacksonville. He figured the only way to rekindle his relationship with her was to date her. He just wanted to know her better. Know why she did the stuff that she did. Know what was wrong with her. Know her.

"Ally. Is there something in the way? If there is, we can always move past it. We can-"

"We? We, we, we, we, we, we, we. That's all you're saying. There is no we. Camp."

Elliot sighs. "Ally, I feel like there is no we with us because there's a we with you and someone else," Ally didn't answer or retort, no matter how weird that sentence sounded. Elliot went on. "Is it Austin?" When he didn't get an answer, he tried harder to get it out of her. "Ally. If it is, I'll back off."

In Ally's heart, it was. She knew it was. She knew that she preferred Austin around her more than she did Elliot. She knew what she wanted. She also knew what she needed. She needed someone to be there for her, and that was more prone to happen with Elliot than it would ever be with Austin.

Just when his name was mentioned, Austin sought out the girl he needed to fix things with. But seeing her with Elliot and hearing his name, he stayed behind the bushes, the necklaces tightly grasped in his hands. Doing what one would call eavesdropping.

"I like Austin, Elliot. I do, but... he doesn't like me. It wouldn't work out even if he did. There's a lot going on in both of our lives. It wouldn't work out."

"How do you know?"

"Put it this way. If you had a person who didn't care about you and a person who did, which one would you choose?" Without waiting for him to answer, she continued. "I just... it's not him, okay? It's nothing."

"Good. So... will you... date me?"

"That depends. Will you date me?"

"Definitely."

"Totally."

They both smiled at each other. Austin dragged his thumb across the necklace with 'Ally' written across it in shiny letters. Clutching it, he threw it in the bushes and walked off. Just as Ally leaned in for a kiss with Elliot, she pulled away in surprise. "Did you hear that?"

Elliot looked around. "Sounded like footsteps."

Something in Ally's heart told her Austin had been there. Austin walked away, feeling no emotion at all. Ally did say he didn't care about her, but that wasn't the truth. If anything, he cared more than anybody had ever cared about her. Of course, feeling bad about her mental state that was caused by him. He wasn't emotionless. Although now, he was feeling all kinds of emotions. He needed his pills or he would go crazy. Whatever happened to them, he had to retrieve them or go to the pharmacy and get some more.

With the thought of pills, Ally did still wonder if those pills were his. They had his name on it. Of course they belonged to him. Didn't they? Even walking back to Trish's, prepared to tell her everything that happened, she couldn't. In her hopes, she would forget about Austin. It was something she wanted to do, but couldn't bring herself to do it. What ever it was that was stopping her from moving on, wouldn't let her go that easily.

So... what do you think? I feel like I ask that after every chapter. Sorry it's late. Well, on the same day, but timewise. It's almost 11 pm where I am. Anyways, review and tell me what you think. : D