New chapter. Nothing much to say today.

Marino High School, 11:30 AM, Wednesday, April 17th. Lights, camera, action!

Trish and I walked to one of the outdoor tables to eat lunch. I stumbled to the tables with my tray containing my lunch in one hand and my backpack around my other arm. Both were unbelievably heavy.

"Anything new you'd like to tell me about Austin before he and Dez come?" Trish asked. Meanwhile, I was struggling to carefully set down my tray. Not that it mattered anyways.

"Besides the fact that he likes Kira and we have zero chance of getting together, then no there's nothing new to tell you," I answered. I took out a random notebook, hinting Trish that the subject was fragile at the moment. She took the hint and changed topics. Trish babbled on about how she almost got busted shooting spitballs at the math teacher, Mr. Lukewarm. I tried to focus on her but other things were on my mind.

"Earth to Ally! I think it's time we have a one on one girl talk." Trish moved closer to block out any eavesdroppers. "You got it bad. Clearly, you really like Austin and you won't stop thinking about it."

I shook my head in denial. "Trish, I'm over Austin. He can date anyone he wants to."

Trish snatched the random notebook and flipped to the pages I've been blindingly doodling over. Each page was doodles of Austin's name and songs I've written about him. She raised her eyes as if telling me that I was wrong. I let out a huge sigh and grabbed my notebook back.

"Fine, I guess my feelings got the best of me. It's hard to ignore the feelings I've been getting when I'm around him or thinking about him."

"Not to mention those feelings you've been getting whenever Kira and Austin are hanging out," Trish pointed out. She was right after all; I've been extremely jealous over their budding romance. Trish looked at me straight in the eyes and continued, "So what are you going to do? You can't sit there and feel sorry for yourself."

What am I going to do? I'm tired of pretending that I don't mind that they're hanging out. I definitely can't go up to Austin and confess my true feelings for him.

"I've got an idea. It's crazy and you're going to help me with it." Trish looked at me curiously. I flashed a nervous grin before diving into my lunch with a new hunger for my plan and food.

Dez and Austin walked up to our table and sat down, tray in hand and backpack on arm. We all exchanged greetings and began engaging in a debate about dancing. I removed myself from the conversation to begin drawing out my plans.

"What you up to?" Austin asked. He peeked over to my notebook. I quickly covered it with my arms. If he saw what I was doing, not only would he know I liked him, but he would also know the risky un-Ally like thing I was going to do.

"Nothing," I lied. I grabbed a forkful of spaghetti and shoved it into my mouth. Austin exchanged glances with Dez, who responded with a confused expression.

He turned back to me and said, "Are you okay? You've been acting weird lately."

"Weird? I'm not acting weird. What would make you think that? I've been acting normal all day, every day. Normal. But who would actually know what normal is? Normal can be anything like – "

"You're babbling. When you babble, you're hiding something." Of course I'm babbling. I'm the worst liar and hider in the universe. When I lie, I end up cracking a smile or laughing. When I'm trying to hide something, I end up babbling on and on about anything to keep the conversation going. It's a typical Ally Dawson thing.

"What?" I squeaked out. "Me? Hiding something from you? That's impossible. You know I tell you everything."

"You're right, Ally. I know you wouldn't hide anything from me." His body inched closer to me until our legs touched. He held my hand and looked me in the eyes. "You're always so honest with everyone. That's why I trust you so much." I know what he was doing. He's trying to make me spill. He knows I'm hiding something and he's trying to use my trust against me!

"Um…well thank you Austin. I…I…" Suddenly, I'm at loss for words. His eyes were so pretty. They sparkled in the sunlight. I bet he's got the best eyes in the world.

A hand waved in front of my face. "Huh?" I responded. I shook myself out of my trance and looked at my friends. They all stared at me weird, as if I had a booger on my nose and they didn't want to say anything. I turned away, blushing. Great, just great. I blew my cover. Austin for sure knows I like him.

Dez filled in the awkward silence gap by talking about his pet rock. For once, I was glad he was talking about something out of the ordinary and random. With all this embarrassment I've caused to myself, two good things came out of it. Austin was still close to me and we were still hand in hand. None of us were letting go anytime soon.

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