HELLOOOO! First off, I hope everyone is having an amazing summer and waiting in suspense for the next Austin and Ally episode. Am I the only one wondering why Austin and Ally didn't get back together? If a guy wrote a song for me I'd probably marry him, for crying out loud! Anyways, I apologize if this chapter is not as appealing to you as the others, but I really wanted to write about Ally's close relationship with her parents and her growing friendship with Trish. But don't worry, I made sure to add some cute Auslly scenes here and there and, of course, some conflicts that are about to burst out into the open. Does Kira really not have any feelings for Austin? Will she break the girl code? What will Ally get herself into next? Alright, well thank you to everyone who is enjoying this so far, I appreciate you all SO MUCH. I am going to end this pointless rant now. Oh wait... Laura joke: How do you organize a space party? ...You planet! HA HA HA, okay, I promise, I'm done now.
"Alls, dinner time!" Dad called from downstairs. I sighed, taking one last look at the fresh lyrics in my song book.
Give me a chance
Why won't you come my way
It's so hard, I've been waiting for days
And even if all my wishes came true
I'd still be missing one star, it's gotta be you
I shut it, sighing, and placed it beneath my pillow. I looked around my room. It really did seem like a drizzle of rain, what with the plain white walls and boring black and white comforters. My desk stood, cold and alone with pencils and pens neatly stacked upon the surface. Clomping down the stairs, I noticed Dad staring fondly at an old photo hung along the kitchen wall. I smiled softly, wondering whether I should break the silence.
"I miss Mom, too," I said. He quickly turned around and I giggled at his reaction, like a deer caught in headlights. "Has she called yet?"
"Last week," he replies. My smile fades slightly. "Don't worry, honey. She said she'll call this Friday." I breath in relief. "Never mind that. C'mon, I actually cooked tonight." He gestured towards our dinners awaiting on the kitchen counter. I stepped forward and peered down at the delicacies, then shot him a look.
"TV dinners, Dad? Really?" I asked him. I shook my head and took one, placing it in front of me and taking a seat.
"At least they're not burnt," he reasoned.
"Good point."
We chewed in silence for awhile, and it wasn't comfortable silence or awkward silence. Just... silence. The steak still tasted a tad bit cold, so I got up to warm it for an extra minute in the microwave. I leaned against the counter, the hum of the microwave filling in the void.
"Ally," he suddenly said.
"Yeah?" The microwave beeped and I carefully took out the steaming hot dinner and carried it over to my seat next to him. I popped a small slice of steak into my mouth. Oh yeah, much better.
"Are you alright?"
I stopped in midchew. "Yeah, Dad, why?"
"Because Austin hasn't called at all yet today, like he usually does," he replied. I squeezed my eyes shut.
"Oh." What was I supposed to say? That Austin didn't like me, but he had his eyes on Kira, my best friend from Hawaii, who unexpectedly came back, and I thought I would be having an amazing senior year but now it's just-
"Ally, honey, you know you can talk to me," he said, interrupting my whizzing thoughts.
I stabbed the steak with my fork. "Kira's going to school with me now."
"So I've heard," he replied, popping peas into his mouth.
"Austin, Kira and I all ate lunch together," I continued, stabbing my peas this time.
"Alright."
"He offered to show her around campus." Stabstabstabstab.
He looked at me with wide eyes before slowly taking the fork out of my hands. I felt my eyes well up and soon his arm was around me, my shoulder in the crook of his neck. I sniffled. I was supposed to be a senior, not a first grader.
"He's your best friend, Alls," he said, ruffling with my hair like he always did when I was younger. "And if you think that he's going to replace you with Kira just because she's the shiny new girl, well, think again."
I let out a small, choked laugh. "You're supposed to say that. You're my dad."
He pulled away and laughed. "Maybe so. But you know what I think?"
I sniffle again. "What?"
"That some girl can't just change your friendship with Austin. Maybe it's time to, you know, tell Aus-"
"Noooo!" I yell, jumping out of my chair. "Okay, conversation over. Thanks for the advice, Dad." I leaned over to hug him and give him a quick peck on the cheek before racing back upstairs to the safety of my bedroom. I slumped onto my bed.
I shouldn't.
I wouldn't.
But most importantly, I couldn't.
I shut off the lights as I snuggled into my comforters. It was on nights like these where the house fell asleep but my brain stayed awake as I battled with the voice in the back of my head.
What if your dad is right?
He isn't.
How do you know?
I just do.
You know you want to tell him.
Actually, I don't know. So why don't you just leave me alone?
I sighed and debated my choices. Perhaps I did tell Austin. If he liked me back... Well. I would burst into tears of joy, hug him, and before I could stop myself, kiss him. We would stroll through the hallways, with people's smiles in approval as the gossip flew that our so called platonic friendship was not so platonic after all. He would bring me to fancy cafes for our anniversaries and attempt to feed me chocolate cake. He would grab my hand when he realized it was missing in his and intertwine our fingers. We would be happy.
We could be happy.
But if he didn't like me back... I bit my lip and squeezed my pillow tightly to my chest. That's exactly what I was afraid of, the what ifs. What if he avoided me? What if he laughed?
What if it ruined our friendship? Austin and I have spent so much time together that I'm not sure what life would be like without him. I grab the pillow, pull it over my head, and make sure my scream of frustration is muffled.
"Partner up!" Mrs. Jefferson called. I immediately connected eyes with Trish as we both smiled and began to make our way towards one another. Trish took my hand, squeezing it.
"Thank God you're in this class, Ally, or I'd be stuck with all these dorks," she whispered, nodding her head to the people around us, scattering around the classroom in search of a partner.
"Hey, I'm a dork too, you know," I admitted.
She rolled her eyes and laughed. "Well, at least you're a fashionable dork," she replied. I looked down at my outfit for the day: a simple pink and orange floral dress paired with wedges. I smiled.
"Thanks, Trish." We sat at our desks and turned our attention back to Mrs. Jefferson. "What do you think she's going to make us do?"
"Dissect a human brain," Trish muttered. My eyes widened. "I'm only joking. An assignment of some sort, I'm guessing."
"Throughout the year we will be touching on different topics that relate to the human body, most importantly the human mind. The way we act, think and feel is more scientifically complicated than we think. But what I want you all to do," Mrs. Jefferson said, walking around the class and placing a single composition notebook in front of each and every one of us, "is to write and observe human actions. Make statements, draw theories and opinions. This will be your own personal experiment as to how humans work, and how their actions affect others. At the end of every week, I will be collecting your journals to simply check and make sure you're following through on your assignment."
"Why do we need partners, then?" Trish asks out loud.
"As a pair, you will be sharing one journal with your partner and working on these observations together," she explained.
"Can we observe anything?" I asked, flipping through the blank journal and itching to grab a pencil and fill the empty lines.
"Anything at all. It can be on why you think teachers give homework and how it affects students. It can be about... social media and whether you think it's wreaked havoc or become an advantage in today's society. You can even write about relationships in high school."
"Like platonic friendships?" Trish asked, looking at me with a twinkle in her eye. I felt my cheeks burning.
"That is an excellent topic to observe and take notes on, Trish," she declared, her smile stretching all the way to her eyes. "Good idea."
Trish beamed in her seat and raised her eyebrows at me. I shook my head. The entire class began to murmur as different ideas were thrown into the air. I sighed.
"Trish... platonic friendships? Really?" I asked.
"What? Mrs. Jefferson even said it was a good topic," she replied innocently.
I narrowed my eyes. "Okay. As long as it doesn't have anything to do with me and Austin, then-"
"Ha! So there is something going on between you and Austin?" She sat in front of me, pencil at the page and ready to write whatever I said. I took the pencil out of her hand.
"No," I said. "There is absolutely nothing." I couldn't help but frown at the truth.
"But you want there to be something," she said. I began to fiddle with the hem of my dress.
"Of course not," I stammered.
"Wow, you really are a terrible liar, Ally. Alright, whatever you say. How about we use this hypothesis?" My eyes averted their attention to the clean page as she wrote in big letters on the first line.
CAN BOYS AND GIRLS BE JUST FRIENDS?
I let out a small laugh and uncapped my own pen.
ALLY DAWSON: YES.
She shook her head at me, smirking.
TRISH DE LA ROSA: NO.
She sighed. "Let the observing begin."
A tall, blonde figure leaned against my locker and I broke into a grin.
"Um, excuse me, you're blocking my locker," I teased as I lightly shoved him to the side. He chuckled and stood behind me, resting his chin against my shoulder as he watched me spin my combination. I tried to relax the rate of my heartbeat and ignore the fact that he was standing so close to me.
"24-30-12..." he murmured. I smacked his head.
"Austin!" I exclaimed. I felt his laughter vibrate through me and a warm chill ran down my spine.
"As if I didn't already know your combination, Ally," he said, releasing his chin from my shoulder and instead swung an arm around me. "I need your help."
"Austin, we've barely started the school year and you already need help with your Anatomy homework?" I groaned, grabbing a notebook and shutting my locker door as we began to head to the cafeteria.
"No! No, I need your help with Kira," he sighed. "She's just so-"
"Awesome," I interrupted, feeling my throat closing in on me.
"And pretty and funny," he added, a goofy grin on his face. I felt myself plummeting. "I really want to ask her out."
"But you've barely met her!" I exclaimed, pushing his arm away from me. "You don't even know what she's like."
"That's why you're gonna help me," he said, slinging an arm back around me. I sighed. "Come on, Ally. Please, please, please, ple-"
"Austin," I sighed exasperatingly. "I can't."
"Why not?" he asked, frowning.
Because you like him too much. Because your heart would break into a million pieces if you even tried, the voice in the back of my head whispered, but I pushed it away.
"I'm..." I racked my brain for an excuse. My eyes fell upon a bright yellow flyer on the cafeteria's bulletin board. "I'm trying out for the school play!" As soon as the words fell out of my mouth, I wanted to grab each and every one of them and shove them all back down.
Austin cocked his head to the side. "The school play? Ally, you have major stage fright."
I shrugged. "I want to try and do something different this year," I explained. We took a seat at our usual table and I eyed Trish and Dez. They both waved and Austin and I waved back. "Maybe it's time for me to tell you."
"Tell me what?"
My eyes widened. "Oh no, I mean," I said, quickly backtracking before he questioned even further, "maybe it's time for me to... to step out of my box, you know? Step into the spotlight for once, just see how it feels."
He grinned. "Wow, Ally, that's great. I am so proud of you," he said. "You are going to be amazing."
"You think?" I ask, even though I have no idea what I've just gotten myself into. I'm not even sure what the play is about, what the lead part is, or even what songs are going to be sung. But maybe this won't be such a disaster after all. Maybe it really is time to just take this leap of faith and try.
"I know you will," he said, taking one of my hands in his. I could almost feel Trish's eyes from the table next to us burning a hole into my back. "And I'm going to be sitting in the front row, rooting for you all the way."
I looked into his eyes and opened my mouth to say something, anything, but nothing came out. I smiled instead.
"Hey guys!" a cheerful voice suddenly said. Austin quickly took his hand out of mine and smiled.
"Hey, Kira!" he exclaimed, his voice cracking a bit, something he tended to do when he was feeling nervous. I sighed, feeling the weight of my AP Psychology notebook in my bag. I locked eyes with Trish and she shot me a look.
"So," she said, dragging out the vowels, "what are you two up to?"
"Ally is going to join a play," he stated.
Her eyes widened. "Really?" she squealed. "Ally, that's great!"
"Greaty great great," I replied weakly.
"We should watch it together, Kira," he said, sending her that stupid smile of his.
She shot back a million dollar smile as well. "Yeah, sure!"
I felt my stomach clench.
"Great!" he replied, sending me his secret accomplished smile. I grinned back until my cheeks felt as if they were going to fall off.
Later that night, Dad entered my room again, without knocking. What is it about parents not knocking on your doors before they enter? It seems like common courtesy to me, but apparently not in the Dawson household. The house phone is in his hand once again. I sigh and look up from my Calculus homework.
"Dad, can you tell Kira to just call me back later?" I asked, my heart feeling weary and guilty for not wanting to talk to Kira. I didn't hate her but... why did she have to flirt with Austin? She was supposed to be my best friend.
"It's not Kira, honey, it's your mom," he answered, holding the phone out to me. I gasped and shot off my bed, quickly grabbing the phone. He chuckled, then left to prepare dinner. Which probably meant another TV dinner of some sort.
"Mom?" I said.
"Ally!" Her voice rung loud and clear through the speaker and I smiled, closing my eyes to let the sound soak through my whole body. "Oh, sweetie, I miss you so much."
"I miss you too, Mom," I replied. "How are the apes?"
"They are adorable. Ally just gave birth!" she squealed. So that's where I got it from.
"Ally? Mom, you named a monkey after me?" I asked in disbelief.
"At least it wasn't a tarantula, right?" she reasoned, and I giggled. "The forest is just absolutely breath taking here. Of course I have to swat flies every five seconds but it's worth it!" I wrinkled my nose at the thought of all the insects. "So how are you?"
"Could be better," I admitted. You never know how much you really need your mom until she disappears. It was awkward to ask my dad to buy pads every time he left to go run errands.
"Oh no, what's wrong?" she asked, and I heard a slapping noise in the background, probably her hand coming in contact with a fly. "Is it a boy?"
I bit my lip and sighed. "Yeah, it's a boy," I murmured, picking at a loose thread on my comforter.
"Is it Austin?" she asked softly.
"Mom..."
"Honey, everyone can see that he's not just your best friend. He's much more than that," she said. "Maybe it's time that you tell Austin how you really feel."
"You sound just like Dad," I groaned, sinking into a pillow as I pushed my homework aside.
"I love how even though we're separated we still think alike," she chuckled before continuing. "And Alls, you know I'm just telling you this because I want you to be happy. And because I want my grandchildren to be good looking."
"This is my last year of high school, Mom. I don't want to ruin it by telling Austin how I feel."
"How do you know it's going to be ruined?"
"Because I know he doesn't feel the same way."
Silence filled the air for a few measures until she spoke. "Who's the other girl?"
"Kira," I sighed.
"Kira?" she asked, clearly confused. "Isn't she in Hawaii?"
"Her dad moved his record label here to Miami so she's going to the same school now," I explained.
"Doesn't she know that you like him?"
"Yeah, but... I don't know, it's complicated."
I heard another slapping noise in the background. "Ally, if Kira was really your best friend, she wouldn't pounce on Austin."
I throw my head back and laugh. "Pounce, Mom? Really?"
"Sorry, I've been in the wild for too long!" she laughs. "But seriously, sweetie, if she goes against the girl code-"
"Mom," I groan. Next thing I know, she'll be saying OMG.
"You might need to reevaluate your friendship with her," she finished. "I have to go honey, Ally is bugging me for a snack. You know I love you, right?"
"Me or the ape?" I tease. "I love you too, Mom."
As I hang up the phone, I close my Calculus textbook. My head can't stand another look at those numbers right now. I take out the AP Psychology notebook from my bag and open it, uncapping a pen.
REASONS WHY BOYS AND GIRLS CAN BE JUST FRIENDS:
1. THEY HAVE KNOWN EACH OTHER FOR SUCH A LONG TIME THAT FEELINGS ARE IMPOSSIBLE TO RECIPROCATE.
2. THE BOY HAS SEEN THE GIRL WITH MISSING TEETH AND TERRIBLE TUTU OUTFITS.
3. THE BOY HAS FEELINGS FOR SOMEONE ELSE, THEREFORE MAKING IT IMPOSSIBLE TO LIKE THE BEST FRIEND.
I tapped my pen against the page, hoping to come up with more reasons but finding it hard to. Was Trish right? Did every boy and girl really eventually become romantically involved? I looked at a photo booth strip taped onto my wall of me and Austin, our tongues sticking out in the first picture, embracing one another in the second, pinching each other's cheeks in the third, and him ruffling my hair in the fourth.
This friendship is too platonic for me to handle.
I had to take occasional breaks while writing this because it was bringing back memories of when this happened to me... Yes, yes, I went through the whole "I think I like my guy best friend," "My girl best friend is moving to my school," "My guy best friend and girl best friend like each other" thing. I think that's why I'm really channeling all those memories into this story. Of course, time heals all wounds, and everything is fine now. ANYWAYS. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, don't forget to review if you can or if you want to so I know how I'm doing and just so that I can hear your lovely opinions. Friendly reminder: You are all amazing, don't let anyone tell you otherwise!