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Chapter 8

Dad wasn't home when I got there, but I crept around anyway just in case. I got clothes enough for the next four days, because I wasn't sure how long I would be there. Austin waited in the car, but when I got out of the house he wasn't there anymore. He was on the end of the driveway. Talking to Dallas.

Well, they weren't exactly talking. More like Austin was yelling at Dallas, while Dallas was fidgeting and looking around like he would rather be anywhere else.

"After what you did to her, you actually have the fucking nerve to turn up at her house and try to fucking apologise?" he was yelling, taking a step forward. Dallas took an automatic step backwards, away from him, but he didn't look very scared.

"Why do you care? You her boyfriend now or something?" Dallas asked snottily. Austin scowled.

"Nah, I'm her friend. But this isn't about that; this is about you being a dick and breaking her heart." He hissed.

"Austin, leave it." I called warningly. They both looked at me, Dallas smirking, Austin's expression unreadable.

"Hey Ally. Looking hot; as usual." He said, licking his lips suggestively. Austin whirled around and went to punch him.

"Don't, Austin!" I shouted. I hated Dallas with every bone in my body, but I didn't want Austin to get into trouble. Plus, I'm not a helpless little girl. I can fight my own battles.

"Why not? I thought you hated him?" Austin said. I shrugged.

"I do hate him. But I'm better than that." I told him.

"Oh, okay. But I'm not." He said, then turned around and punched Dallas, right on the nose. I heard a crunch and then there was blood all down Dallas's face and Austin was shaking his fist angrily. I ran over there, shocked.

"Please tell me that was his nose that crunched." I gasped, hoping to God that Austin hadn't broken his hand. He nodded, a satisfied grin on his face.

"I don't think I broke it, but he's gonna be in pain for quite a while." He said, shrugging as if it was no big deal.

"You fucking bastard! You broke my fucking nose!" Dallas shouted, holding his nose and glaring at us both.

"Like I just said, I don't think I broke it." Austin sighed, shaking his head nonchalantly. I couldn't help bursting into laughter.

"Come on Austin, I got my clothes. Let's go." I sighed, turning round to head back to his car.

"Where are you going?" Dallas asked. I snorted.

"Why would I tell you?" I asked him.

"Because then I might not spread the rumour around school that Ally Dawson skipped school to spend the day with Austin Moon…I wonder what conclusions people would jump to then…" he said, raising his eyebrows. I shrugged.

"I have one friend, other than Austin, in that entire school. As if I would care what people think." I said as I climbed into Austin's car.

"Surely the teachers would care…" he said. I laughed.

"They wouldn't believe you, Dal. In fact, no-one would." I shrugged, and then Austin had started the engine and we were tearing down the street. Once we had turned the corner and I knew he wouldn't be able to see us anymore, I let the tears fall.

"Ally? Are you okay?" Austin asked when I buried my head in my hands.

"No. I hate him Austin, I really do, but every time I see him I remember how much I loved him, and how much I thought he loved me…it just hurts." I sobbed. He looked at me pityingly, as if he wanted to comfort me, but couldn't because he was driving. After a minute or two he pulled up outside a Dunkin' Donuts.

"Why are we here?" I asked him, wiping my eyes.

"Because I don't have much experience with crying girls, and even less experience with crying girls that are my friends, but everyone knows that Donuts solve all your problems." He smiled. I laughed.

"Is that your way of saying you had a craving for donuts?" I asked him. He shrugged, then nodded.

"I really love donuts." He said, shrugging with a 'what can you do' motion.

"Come on then. Are you paying?" I asked him.

"Do you really have to ask?" he replied.

"I don't mind paying." I told him. He shook his head.

"Nah, it's okay. The guy always pays."

"On a date. This is just two friends hanging out. You paid for the food earlier, so now it's my turn."

"No."

"Austin…"

"Fine, you can pay for your own. But I'll get the drinks." He compromised, and I knew it was the best I was gonna get, so I nodded in agreement.

I was beginning to realise that Austin wasn't the bad boy everyone thinks he is. In actual fact, he's pretty sweet, and funny, and nice. Maybe it was all a façade…

When we got outside Austin pulled out a cigarette and a lighter. And I realised that even though we were friends now, he was still a bad boy. But that didn't mean I had to like it.

Grabbing his lighter, I made use of the only thing I had ever been any good at in gym- throwing.

"Ally! What the fuck?" He shouted. I smiled.

"Smoking is bad for you. I might have just saved your life." I said. He grinned, and then pulled another lighter out of his back pocket.

"Ha!" he said triumphantly. I kicked his hand, making him drop the lighter, then I stomped on it. He shook his hand, wincing in pain.

"Ha!" I echoed him. He rubbed his hand, then smiled at me and raised one eyebrow.

"Touché, Dawson…touché." He said, and we both walked back to his car laughing.

The next few days passed in a blur. There were no more incidents while I was staying with him, and eventually I cooled off enough to go home. Austin dropped me back, and I hugged him, thanking him for letting me stay. I didn't kiss him, although I desperately wanted to.

When I walked in the house, dad was waiting for me in the lounge. I took a deep breath, then went over to sit next to me. He didn't say anything. We sat there in silence for a while. Half of me just wanted him to speak, the other half didn't want to hear him tell me how angry he was with me. Finally, he spoke.

"I'm going to take you to see your mom." He told me. I looked at him. He looked completely serious.

"Seriously?" I asked him, unable to believe it. He nodded. I threw my arms around his neck and started crying.

"Oh my God, dad, thank you so much!" I sobbed into his shoulder. He rubbed my back.

"It's okay. While you were gone…you gave me a chance to think. And, for a while, I was sure that you weren't coming back. And I realised that I couldn't stand to lose you as well. It's hard enough losing your mother." He said, and I could tell by his voice that he was close to tears as well.

"Oh, dad, of course I was coming back. I just…I was so angry. You know how I get…I didn't want to lose it and say something I would regret. But what I don't understand is why you aren't angry with me…I disappeared for five days, dad. I skipped three days of school." I said. He looked at me, surprised.

"Well, I didn't know you had skipped school, but we can deal with that later. The reason I'm not angry is because I trust you, Ally. I am so lucky to be gifted with such an amazingly talented, clever daughter. Not once during the time that you were gone did I doubt that you were safe. I knew you would be at Trish's." he said. I deliberated for a moment; do I agree with him, let him think I was at Trish's? Or do I tell him the truth? Finally I decided to tell the truth; he would speak to Trish's mom at some point, and there was no way she wouldn't tell him the truth.

"About that…I wasn't at Trish's, dad." I sighed. He looked confused.

"I thought Trish was your only friend?" he said. I smiled.

"Well, she was…until I started tutoring Austin. As it turns out, he's not as bad as I thought. I said. I saw a range of emotions on his face. Finally, he settled on confusion.

"Austin Moon? The guy you've hated for years?" he asked. I nodded.

"Yeah…"

"So, what, you two are friends now?"

"Yeah." I said, waiting for him to get it. Then I saw his expression change from confusion to anger, and I knew he understood.

"You stayed with a boy? For five whole days, you were sleeping with a boy?" he yelled. I shook my head.

"Not sleeping with him…I was on the couch, dad. We're just friends. Calm down." I said. He went even redder, if that was even possible.

"As if I'm going to believe that, Ally!" he shouted. I scowled.

"Come on, dad. You know me. I wouldn't do anything stupid." I said calmly. His expression softened a little, but not much.

"That isn't the point. I thought you were more sensible than that. Staying with a boy. For five days. In his bedroom, no less." He muttered, but I could tell that the worst of his anger was gone.

"Dad, I swear it won't happen again. You can trust me!" I tried to keep my voice down, but I was frustrated.

"I know. I do trust you. It's just…you're a young lady now. It's hard for me to think of you staying with a boy…" he said, grimacing. I laughed.

"Don't worry about me, dad. I can take care of myself. Besides, it's not like we were alone. His dad was there, and I think his mom was too." I told him, deciding to leave out the part about his dad being drunk, and how even Austin wasn't sure if his mom was there.

"Okay then. Now, there is something else I would like to discuss with you. About your mother…I'm going to take you to visit her." He sighed, obviously reluctant, but I was happy anyway.

"Really dad? You're serious?" I asked him, grinning excitedly. He nodded, but frowned.

"Don't get so excited about it, though, Ally. Remember, she's only got a month or so to live, according to the doctor. She's not going to be up to much catching up. I'm not sure how she is, since I haven't seen her since she left, but I'm pretty damn sure she won't look like the healthy, happy mother you're expecting." He warned me. I scowled at him.

"I'm not stupid, dad. I was never expecting her to be healthy or happy. And I wasn't expecting to live happily ever after. I know she is going to die, but I want to meet her anyway. She's my mom. I can't just let her die without even meeting her." I said softly, hoping he would understand. I'm not sure if he did or not, but he nodded anyway.

"Okay. Well I was lying when I said that she's in Texas. She was born there, grew up there, and wanted to die there, but they kept her in a hospital about two hours away from here, since it had the best facilities. We'll be back tomorrow, for sure, but we may stay at a hotel overnight. You've already missed plenty of school, another day won't hurt. But you're going back on Thursday." he sighed, and I knew he was saying it to convince himself more than me.

"When are we leaving?" I asked him, excited.

"Now, if you want. I mean the sooner the better. If you want to spend as much time as possible with her, we should get there as soon as we can." He said. So I quickly packed a bag, and we left.

Okay, so, it wasn't like I expected her to see me and smile and hold out her arms and then for us to have a huge, tearful reunion where she told me she loved me and missed me and was so glad I had come. But, honestly, I had hoped for something like that. Which is why I was so disappointed when I walked into her hospital room smiling, only to have her blink at me and ask me who I was.

"I, erm…" I choked, unable to get the words out. It hurt too much; not only to have my own mother not recognise me, but to see her looking so frail. She was so skinny, like a twig, and her eyes were sunken, her lips thin and pale. She looked like a skeleton.

"Excuse me? I think you have the wrong room." She said, and although her voice was soft and raspy it was strong, and she didn't struggle to speak. I had almost expected her to whisper something unintelligible.

"I'm going to ask you one more time before I call the nurse; who are you?" she asked.

"I'm Ally." I managed to choke out. Her expression changed from one of confusion to one of shock.

"Ally, as in, my daughter Ally?" she asked, eyes wide. I nodded, smiling through the tears.

"Hey mom." I whispered. She smiled a little for a second, then frowned, looking angry.

"Did your father bring you here?" she asked. I nodded.

"Yeah, but only because I ran out on him when he told me about you. I left him for five days to make a point and he gave in." I told her, as if it was nothing. She shook her head, smiling wryly.

"You remind me of me when I was your age." She chuckled, then broke out into a coughing fit. I ran over, unsure what to do. I settled for rubbing her back comfortingly until it stopped. She smiled at me, a little embarrassed.

"Sorry, Ally. I don't want to scare you. I guess I'm just not up to that much talking." She muttered. I frowned.

"It's fine, mom. Would you like anything? A drink of water, something to eat? I could plump your pillows for you if you want. I'm a really good pillow plumper. It's one of the things I'm good at." I babbled. She laughed.

"Now you remind me of your father. Constantly talking." She said. I smiled.

"I guess I got the best of both my parents." I joked. She laughed, then erupted into another violent coughing fit.

"I'm sorry mom." I apologised she shook her head.

"It's not your fault." She sighed.

"I'll try not to make you laugh." I said. She smiled, but I could tell she was still in pain. That's when a nurse walked in.

"Who are you? What are you doing in here?" she asked. My mom smiled.

"It's fine. This is my daughter, Ally." She whispered hoarsely.

"Oh, okay. Well I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave, Ally. Your mother needs some rest. Come back tomorrow after five and you can see her." She instructed me. I nodded, saying goodbye to my mother and kissing her on the cheek.

"How did it go?" my dad asked me when I got back to the waiting room. I smiled a little, feeling my eyes well up a little.

"Well, it wasn't the perfect 'I missed you, I love you' reunion I was hoping for. But I never really expected that, anyway. It was great, actually. She didn't recognise me, but then we were talking and she said I reminded her of herself. Then she said I reminded her of you. And I made her laugh and she started coughing." I babbled. Dad grinned and put his arm around my shoulders.

"Sounds like you two had a good catch-up. Come on, let's get you home." He said.

"Wait. Can we come back tomorrow, sometime after five?" I asked him. He thought for a second, then shrugged.

"Yeah, if you want. We would have to leave as soon as you finished school, though. It's a long drive." He said. I shrugged.

"I don't care. I just want to see her." I sighed. He smiled.

"I know it took me a while to tell you, but I'm glad I did. I haven't seen you look so happy for a long time. I don't think I've seen you smile properly since before summer." He smiled. I felt guilty; I had been so depressed about the whole Dallas thing that I had been worrying my dad. I decided to change my attitude; new Ally Dawson, new attitude. I wasn't going to be hung up on Dallas Jones anymore. I wasn't going to mope around and make my dad worry. I was going to enjoy whatever time I had with my mother, and make sure she was as happy as she could possibly be before she died. And I could tell, just from the way she smiled at me and the twinkle in her eye when she mentioned my dad, that she wasn't going to be happy unless me and my father were happy too.

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