ALLY:

I heard a knock at the door. I wondered, who was coming to visit me at three thirty in the afternoon. I opened the door to find Trish, holding Bella on her hip. I smiled,

"Hey, guys."

Trish smiled at me.

"Hey, Ally."

Bella smiled an adorable smile that was a bright spot in this traumatic day.

"Aunt Ally!"

She just cooed in her toddler voice and gave me a kiss. Whenever I saw Trish's toddler, she always greeted me with a smile and kiss. My best friend smiled and laughed at her child.

"I'm sure Aunt Ally loves your kiss, chiquita."

Trish giggled. She often called Bella Chiquita.

I said,

"It was definitely an antidote to my traumatic day."

I closed the door behind her and she took off a ladybug backpack from her shoulder and it had a blue Doc McStuffins sippy cup in one of the pockets that fell out, but she picked it up and handed it and the backpack to Bella, as she sat down on my couch by Trish and she started to drink from it. She gave me a look of sympathy.

"Hey, I heard about the lockdown at Kinloch Park. Are you OK?"

I said,

"I guess I am. But it was really scary."

"I imagine. I took today off work because Bella's preschool went on a field trip to the zoo, and I was a chaperone, and I heard about it during lunch when we had a break, I looked at the news and I heard there was a firearm threat at Kinloch Park middle school and immediately my thoughts were on you and Kira."

"When it happened, I was terrified. My students were, too. It got so bad that the students and staff had to leave early so they could evacuate the school."

"I'm glad you all are OK. Hopefully the meanie's in jail now."

"I'm surprised you didn't use any bad words."

Trish giggled.

"As much as I love to curse, I curb my tongue in front of the little one. I don't want her learning any cuss words from me, Jace or anyone else."

I was determined to have this conversation be more than the lockdown for Trish's toddler's sake.

"Hey, little miss Bella,"

I asked. She looked up at me with her brown doe eyes as she was stuffing her face with white grapes. Her small diamond earrings were sparkling.

"What was your favorite animal you saw at the zoo today?"

Bella said,

"The cheetah. It's like Mommy!"

For as long as I'd known Bella's mommy, I'd known she practically had a fetish about animal print. Cheetah print was certainly one of her favorites. Trish asked her,

"Can you do a cheetah sound?"

She lifted up her hand and retracted it, and made just about the cutest little roar I'd ever heard in my life. She this time dove for a container of Oreo cookies from her cute little ladybug backpack. Trish laughed.

"I've gotta show you some shots I took at the zoo today."

She picked up her gold iPhone 6 plus, which was covered in a purple case that looked like the cover to the 90's Aladdin VHS cover. Aladdin was Trish's favorite Disney movie of all time, and not surprisingly, her love for it had been passed down to Bella. Her lock screen was a photo of Bella dressed like Sofia from Sofia The First (Trish's daughter was obsessed with Sofia The First), in the De La Rosa-Dillon living room with an Ariel kitchen holding an Elmo doll, an Abby Cadabby doll and a stuffed polar bear and her background was a picture of her, Bella and Jace and the three of them were sitting on a playground bench. In the first picture, it had Bella with her name tag that said Bella Dillon and a red scarf tied around her neck and smiling her big toothy smile. In the second, it was a selfie of her and Bella with their name tags (Trish's said Trish De La Rosa Bella's mommy).

The third photo was a picture of Bella pointing to the alligator. The fourth was of Bella's entire class in front of the rhino encounter. There was a video of her going down the slide at the playground, and she was saying,

"Go!"

Bella came sliding down and she was giggling. Trish was saying,

"Good job, Bella!"

The toddler was saying,

"Again!"

"You wanna go again? OK!"

The video ended with that. I asked,

"Did you have a fun day, Bella?"

The half latina, half white toddler giggled and said,

"Yeah. Mommy was there."

Trish smoothed Bella's wavy brown hair.

"Mommy had fun with you too, Princesa."

The toddler climbed on her lap and Trish kissed her on the head. She just snuggled up to Trish, nuzzling into her chest. I just looked at Bella forlornly, thinking about how lucky she was that no natural disasters had happened at her preschool. She was busy cuddling into Trish's chest, and her toddler mind couldn't even comprehend my shitty circumstances. It almost made me wish I was an innocent young child again.

Trish said,

"I hear you like Jace's friend, Austin,"

Trish giggled as she was rubbing Bella's back.

I said,

"Yeah, I do. He lives across the hall from me. I was grading papers a few weeks ago, and I was just under a lot of stress and needed some coffee and he came with me. I've had four dates with him so far, he's left me gifts in my mailbox at Kinloch Park and here, and yesterday, before he went to work, he left a necklace for me."

Trish gushed,

"Aww, that sounds like romance to me. And I've got Jace, so you deserve your own sugar daddy."

I said,

"I do really like him. He made me gain faith in my love life again after Kevin Harvard."

"The son of a rhymes with witch who cheated on you and is in jail for a DUI?"

"Who else?"

"There was your high school boyfriend Nate Clifford."

Nate Clifford was my boyfriend in our sophomore year in high school. He was a very sweet guy, but we broke up at the end of sophomore year because he and his family had to move to California for his dad's job. Bella immediately yawned and was close to dozing off. Trish was rubbing her back and she whispered,

"I think this one's all tired out from the fun she had at the zoo today. I should probably bring her home so she can have her nap. Ally, you just talk with me or Jace if you need anything."

"Thanks, Trish."

I embraced her and she embraced me back. She picked up a sleeping Bella and her adorable ladybug backpack from the couch and I was very surprised she didn't wake up. Apparently she was a heavy sleeper. It was comforting to know that my best friend and her boyfriend were there for me. My phone was buzzing, and it was my mom.

"Hi, Mom,"

I said.

"Hi, sweetheart. Are you OK?"

"Yeah, Mom. I'm just really traumatized."

My mom said,

"I can imagine. I heard the radio broadcast on my lunch break, and immediately my thoughts were on you. Who came to Kinloch Park and threatened your work with a firearm?"

I said,

"I don't know, but it scared me and my third period eighth graders. I had written them vocabulary words that I'll eventually be giving them a test on, and I asked them to write them down in their composition books, when Mr. Starr announced the firearm threat."

"I'm sorry, Ally."

"It's fine, Mom."

My mother said,

"Do I have to have had brought it on myself? I feel really bad for you because you've been through a lot. You have a two jobs, one with a horrible salary and kids who treat you like a doormat, your father had a heart attack, you have a tough financial state and now you had firearm threat."

I said,

"Yeah, I know. But I have had one thing happen to me. I have this new neighbor and I really like him."

My mom said,

"Tell me about him."

I said,

"His name is Austin Moon, and he lives across the hall from me. He's just the sweetest guy I've ever met, he's funny, he's cute and I just really like him."

My mom asked,

"Have you been on any dates with him yet?"

I said,

"Yes, first time I met him, I was so stressed from grading that I needed some coffee, and he came with me, then we got chinese food and ate at his apartment, then I went to his family's house and then we went for breakfast."

"He sounds like an amazing guy. What does he do for a living?"

"He's a juvenile correctional officer. But he's a lot less sketchy than he sounds. I promise."

Hi guys! Just to let you know, the chapter after this will be the epilogue. I want it to end very romantically, kind of accentuating my fixation for romance, especially Auslly romance. It's a disease, a terminal one, so stop me anytime. Let me know in the reviews how you think the lockdown was handled. Thanks for reading! Love, hugs, kisses and peace!