JUST BE HAPPY I UPDATED IN THIS YEAR.

"Archery."

"Yep."

"You're taking me out to learn the art of propelling an arrow with the aid of a bow," said Ally.

"You betcha," said Austin.

"How do you even know how to do it?"

"Ah, we're here!" Austin exclaimed, leading her to the middle of an open field where a few targets were set up. He set down the equipment — two bows and a dozen arrows.

"You haven't answered my question."

"Yeah, well, I taught myself, so I guess that means I can't really say I shoot professionally." He shrugged and looked across the field, surveying the area before finally grinning at Ally. "And now I'm gonna teach you how to do it!"

"You're gonna teach me?"

He nodded enthusiastically and tossed her a bow. She caught it with both hands and looked it over absentmindedly. "Alright, but if one of us gets stuck with an arrow, just know that it is more likely to be you."

Austin laughed and took his bow and an arrow. "Well, that would be an interesting first date, then."

Ally tilted her head and smiled curiously. "Date?"

Austin's face paled and he dropped the bow on his foot.

"Ow!"

He yelped and discarded the arrow to clutch at his foot and jump around on the other. "Yow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow!"

Ally cringed and put a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to calm him down. "Austin! Are you okay?"

Taking deep breaths, he sighed and relaxed a little. "I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"Ohmygoshthatwassofunny!" breathed Ally as she held her sides, laughing.

"Hey!" he pouted. "Not funny!" But even Austin was started to chuckle. Soon, they were pretty much laughing their heads off.

(As you can see, Ally was making significant progress in learning how to archery.)

Finally, the laughter died down and was consumed by a comfortable silence as they lay there on the grass, watching the sky.

Austin cleared his throat nervously. "Look, about that date thing . . ."

Ally glanced at him inquiringly.

". . . I didn't mean to say 'date', but now that I think about it, it wouldn't be such a bad idea. So . . . what do you think?"

Ally bit her lip and blushed. "I don't think it's a bad idea either."

"So, this is a date then."

"Yes."

"Good."

"Good."

They both developed rather bashful smiles and continued sky watching.

(You know, because it's not like they came for here an archery lesson, or anything.

But you have to admit, Ally learned how to shoot some Cupid arrows pretty well.)

[INSERT EXCUSE FOR FAILURE TO UPDATE HERE]

I don't know how it's gonna look but it looks pretty short in Microsoft Word. But here's the entire reason I updated today:

You guys here on FanFiction are pretty nice. My story Austin & Ally: Young Edition got some cool reviews. But here's the thing: I've written a lot of stuff for practice, shown my work to peers and teachers to be criticized and even managed to pull a 2nd position in English for writing, but I look back and wonder what you guys were thinking when you wrote those nice reviews.

Because that. Story. Sucked.

Seriously. What plot? Did I even use Microsoft Word to write it? Because I can't even comprehend how I would get some of the grammar mistakes. And how about each chapter being so short it could be used as a bedtime story for a four-year-old?

For shame, Emmyreds. For shame.

I couldn't bear to live with the shame of being the author of the worst fan fic in history . . .

I DECIDED TO MAKE A REWRITE!

I know what you're thinking. "There can only be one copy of any unique story on the entire site. No exceptions" yeah yeah. It's called a rewrite because I'm changing stuff. Even part of the plot. But I'll put their ages at thirteen or fourteen, methinks.

Since it's summer and I'm still bummed about not going to Disneyland and recovering from my Frozen obsession (she said, cradling her Frozen pencil case) expect an update AND the new story on Tuesday.

(Is the author's note longer than the actual story . . . ?)