ALLY:

I had to leave earlier that day for my dentist appointment. I left Kira Starr (or as the students called her, Ms. Starr), a friend of Trish's and mine, and who we went to middle school and high school with in charge of my class. Kira was the guidance counselor at Kinloch Park, and she had been working there as long as me. She had a bachelor's in psychology and it was certainly her calling- she had always been the kind of person who knew how to give advice and comfort you in times of pain.

I was in the waiting room reading Cosmopolitan, because I'd been waiting for the past fifteen minutes. My dentist, Dr. Shawn Field, called my name.

"Dawson, Allison Catalina?"

(AUTHOR'S NOTE:

I don't know whether Ally's middle name is either Edgar or Willow, but like I'm constantly stating, this is an AU, so Ally's middle name is Catalina)

I stood up, holding my purse with my things. I sat in the dentist's chair at A new smile dental center and Dr. Field put the heavy apron on me and gave me the bite blocker.

"I'm going to take your x-ray now. Just sit still for the camera."

The camera clicked and he said,

"All done."

He wasn't just my dentist, he also was my friend. I mean, I didn't have a personal relationship with him, (because apparently it was unprofessional of a dentist or doctor to have a personal relationship their patients) he was just really nice to me and interacted with me very well. He took the bite blocker from my mouth, took my apron off and put the blue dental bib with clips around my neck. He took the toothpaste, covered the polisher with it, and asked me,

"How's life?"

I said,

"Not the worst, but pretty hard right now. I have two jobs, the salaries are not the best, but I think I can try to live off of them and my dad just had a heart attack."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Is he OK?"

"He is now, but I worry he could have another one, or he could be paralyzed in some way."

"I'm glad he's OK. Open."

I opened my mouth and he cleaned my teeth, rinsed the toothpaste off with the water jet, and put the suction tube in my mouth.

"Time for the mouthwash treatment. Bubblegum or Peppermint?"

"I'd like Peppermint."

I picked up the small paper cup and drank out of it. Peppermint was my favorite flavor.

"All done. You also brush and floss at least twice a day, don't you?"

"Of course."

"I'll be right back, I'm going to get your x-rays."

"OK."

He came back with my x-rays and told me,

"Your teeth, gums and enamels looks good."

I said,

"Thank you, Dr. Field."

"Pleasure's all mine, Ms. Dawson. You have a beautiful smile."

I smiled at him.

"It's all because of you."

I picked up my purse and left. I got in my car to go home and grade my papers. This was going to be a fun process. But the sooner I started, the sooner I'd finish. I just got home and changed into some pajamas- a white see-through racerback tank top that showed my light pink bra (Most of the time, I didn't wear a bra with my pajamas or loungewear, unless if I had a see-through top. I just didn't feel comfortable letting people see my nipples) and hot pink pajama pants with white polka dots and put my phone on my nightstand. I took my contact lenses off and put my glasses on. Most of the time, I wore my contacts to work, occasionally I wore glasses to work, but I wore my glasses at night.

I put all the papers on the coffee table, grabbed a red pen, and went over to the freezer to defrost some Stouffer's macaroni and cheese, frozen broccoli and a glass of water. I felt too tired to cook food, and I also wanted to do as much grading as possible. I just ate my dinner, and I decided to start the tortuous process known as grading papers. Well, I decided I'd grade one class period a day. I taught seven periods a day because I worked from eight-thirty to three, so it would take me about a week to grade everything.

I also decided to listen to some music while grading. Music always made everything more fun. Especially a process as monotonous as grading tests or papers. As much as I hated grading papers, I knew I had to. And I did love being an english teacher. I had discovered my passion for teaching in eighth grade when I was a TA in an english class because I got along so well with the teacher, reading had always been my favorite thing to do and obviously I did well in school. I saw I was getting a Skype call from my mom, who was my biggest inspiration to be a teacher, because she was a teacher.

Except she taught nature studies and she taught undergraduate college students and I taught junior high school students.

"Hi, Mom,"

I said.

"Hi, Ally. I just called to check in on you."

"Well, life's same-old, same-old. But I could have it worse- I could be on the street."

My mom gasped.

"Well, I hope that never happens. I heard about your father, I'm so sorry. "

My parents, despite being split up, still were good friends and cared about each other.

"It's OK, Mom. I'm just glad he survived. And you visited him, right?"

"Of course. Your father and I may be split up, but that doesn't mean I don't care about him."

My mom also got along very well with Katie. They went to high school together and were great friends. She asked me,

"Whatcha got there, Ally?"

"Papers that I have to grade. Lucky me."

"What are they on?"

"I had my class read Oliver Twist."

My mom chuckled.

"You were obsessed with that book when you were in High School. You read it… four times?"

I giggled.

"Five!"

I discovered Danny Fonda's paper and it was just one of the most horrendous things I'd seen all day, that I had to burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?"

I guffawed,

"This paper I'm grading by this troublesome student is just so awful, that it's hilarious! It has less words than I required, single spacing and in fact, I can read it to you right now."

My mom laughed.

"I'd love to hear it."

"I didn't read Oliver Twist because I didn't give enough of an F (Yes, he dropped the actual F bomb, but I didn't feel comfortable saying any curse word stronger than "shit" or "dick", and the same went for homophobic, sexist or ableist slurs that I definitely will not repeat) to read it. Reading sucks fifty, hard, herpes infected, hippopotamus dicks. I would rather have a rhinoceros on cocaine stomp on my balls and than die a slow painful death than read that stupid crap. I honestly don't give a damn if I fail my this f-ing class, I just don't want to read a fagtarded book. Ms. Dawson has too many tampons stuck in her pussy and can go suck dicks of drunk f-gots for all the shits I give."

My mom gasped as if she'd just heard a rape joke. My mom, shortly after she'd divorced my dad, was raped by a schizophrenic man and she hated rape jokes. I hated them too, because they were mean-spirited and just plain awful.

"He sounds like a miscreant."

"You have no idea. I have a very adversarial relationship with him. His grade right now isn't looking so promising- he completely disregards homework and schoolwork, has the mouth of a South Park character and uses his phone in class. If it's one thing I hate, it's when my students are rude and disrespectful to me."

My mom said,

"That's why I have my students turn in their electronic devices before class."

I wrote on Danny's paper a big F in a red marker, and my comment said,

"Unacceptable. See me after class."

My mom said,

"Well, I just called to check in on you, sweetheart. I don't want to keep you from your grading."

"That's OK, Mom. I'll talk to you another time."

"Bye, sweetie. I love you from my heart."

"Bye, I love you too, Mom. We should have some mother-daughter time soon."

"I love the sound of that."

She hung up. Ugh, I felt my energy dropping. I needed something sweet. Fortunately, there was a Starbucks across the street. I just slipped on a pink hoodie and white bobs and opened the door. Walking down the hall, I saw the most recent tenant who'd just moved in a few days ago.

I'd definitely seen him before, but I didn't know his name. He looked a bit different than he did last time. He had longer hair when I first saw him, but it was shorter now. I decided to be friendly to him because he seemed nice enough.

(AUTHOR'S NOTE: Ally finally meets Austin! I wonder if they're going to hit it off ;). Stay tuned if you like the story!)