Time seemed to speed up as Austin got closer and closer to Sonic Boom, closer to Ally. He took a deep breath, and entered. He didn't see her anywhere, so he figured she must be upstairs. He slowly made his way up the steps. Opened the door to the practice room. And what he saw made his blood run cold.
Ally felt nothing. Her feelings just seemed to have gone numb. Nothing. No pain, no happiness. No reason. And at that moment, she knew that she would be cutting. Because she probably wouldn't feel it anyways. Reaching under the front desk, she rummaged around until she found a small knife used for cutting opened new shipments of instruments. She slipped it into her sweater pocket, unnoticeable to anyone who wasn't paying extreme attention.
She continued her work, always conscious of the knife. It taunted her, but she waited for the right time. While she reorganized the violin display, dusted off the grand piano, sold a guitar to a customer, her mind was somewhere else.
Then the instant Ally had been waiting for occurred. Through the glass doors, she could see a couple, walking together. They were talking, and laughing, and it caused her to be painfully aware of how much she loved Austin.
He probably hated her for breaking up with him. When she had said those terrible words, in his eyes, all she could see was heartbreak. She knew how Austin cared for her, but after what she'd done, she doubted he still felt the same. And that was why she had to...had to.
Creeping quietly upstairs, she knew she looked suspicious, and was thankful for the fact that her dad wasn't in the store. She burst into the practice room, and quickly shut the door behind her.
Shoulder. That was the best place she could think of. Easily hidden. She wielded the small knife like a miniature sword. She then brought it to her shoulder. It grazed lightly against her skin.
But before she could even do any real harm to herself, the knife was roughly snatched out of her hand, and thrown across the room. The clatter it made as it fell to the ground was followed by pure silence. Ally slowly turned to the person behind her. It was Austin. And his expression was indescribable. It was just...shocked. And hurt. And even disappointed.
"Ally Dawson. I never want to see that again. Ever." His voice might just have been worse than his face. Ally stared into his eyes for what felt like forever. For once, it wasn't nice. His eyes just kept asking her, 'Why?', while hers replied with 'Please forgive me.' It seemed that what wasn't being said was making all the difference. Finally, Ally decided she couldn't take it anymore.
She burst into tears. Austin wrapped his arms around her. Sobs shook her entire body as she cried into his chest. When Ally eventually raised her head, the first thing she said was,"Austin, I'm so sorry." He shook his head.
"I know why you broke up with me. But...you were about to-"
"That's what I'm sorry for. I figured Trish would tell you why....oh, Austin, I was so stupid!" Another tear leaked out. "I was scared. I know Indigo can't do anything really bad to me. Can she?" Ally questioned her own thoughts.
"I wouldn't let her," Austin assured, putting his hand on her shoulder.
"Anyways...I don't know. I just don't think I could take all the comments a second time. But I would risk it for you. Then I was worried about us. That's the reason I was about to cut. I thought we were done, and I didn't know what to do. You're the one who lights up my world. I-I need you, Austin." Austin and Ally stared into each others eyes again, but this time it wasn't painful. Not at all.
"And there's no way I can make it without you," Austin agreed in a whisper.
Ally was wearing flats, she raised her toes slightly to kiss him. It was light and hesitant at first, but soon they were kissing passionately. Their kiss deepened even further, and Ally found she actually enjoyed it. But something nagged her thoughts. She pulled away.
"Austin..." she began tentatively.
"Yea? What's wrong?" he asked.
"I just...is everything cool between us now? I don't want to do anything wrong. I can't afford to mess up again."
"Of course we're cool. Like I said. I understand why you did the things you did. But I need you to promise me something," Austin told her.
"I think I know where you're going with this," Ally said.
"Good. I need you to promise that you will never try self-harm again. It kills me to think that what you attempted today was partially because of me not being there for you."
"No, Austin. It wasn't your fault. Never your fault. But I promise."
"If anything ever happened to you, Ally, I wouldn't know what to do with myself." Ally smiled at him.
"I'm not sure how you do it. You always say the things that make me the happiest." She took his hand, and rested her head on his shoulder. Their perfect moment was ruined as a call from downstairs made Ally's shoulders tense. "My dad's back! He can't see you! Technically, I'm not supposed to talk to you." She looked frantically around the room. "Quick, in the closet!"
Mr. Dawson burst into the practice room not a moment too soon. "Ally, there's a customer who's been waiting downstairs awhile! They need their guitar tuned. Why aren't you helping?"
"Dad, chill. I was just looking for a spare tuner in this closet. I thought I saw one last week," she lied smoothly.
"And then I want you back downstairs immediately after you find it! I have to meet with someone, but expect me back in about half an hour." her dad explained.
"Sure dad. I'll be here." She watched her dad leave the store from the top of the staircase, following him with her eyes until he was out of sight. Then she rushed to the closet.
"Wow Ally, that's probably the best lie I've ever heard out of you," Austin laughed, stepping out.
"It's not a bad thing!"
"No, it's not. But it's still funny." Ally lightly hit Austin's arm.
"Anyways, you need to get going. My dad's gonna be back soon," Ally pointed out. Austin nodded.
"Yea, I have homework and stuff. You are going to be at school tomorrow, right?" he asked.
"Of course. And Austin..." Ally started as he neared the door.
"Uh, yes?" he responded warily. She crossed the room over to him and hugged him tightly.
"Thank you."
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The next morning, in a deserted corner of the school, all of Team Austin crowded around Dez's laptop as he made a few final edits to the video of Trish. "I still can't believe you guys are doing this for me," Ally smiled at her friends.
"C'mon, Ally. Give us one reason why we wouldn't, " Trish said.
"Yeah, we'd do anything for you; you do so much for us," Austin added. He kissed the top of her head softly.
"Austin, be careful," Ally warned. Seeing Austin's confused look, she explained more. "If Indigo sees that we are still a couple, she'll re-post the video." Austin's face fell.
"Oh, right. Sorry."
"It's sweet, really. But while I admire it, at school, tone it down just a little." Austin nodded.
"Anyways, are we almost ready to upload this?" he asked Dez.
"Almost. But I just need to run it one more time, to make sure everything is perfect. Then it takes a little while for everything to load. But pretty soon, it'll be up for the world to see," Dez replied matter-of-factly.
"Oh, I'm so excited for this!" Ally exclaimed.
"Aaaaaannnd its loading!" Dez announced five minutes later.
"Yes!" Trish exclaimed.
"What up?!" Austin and Dez did their handshake. Then the bell rang for the start of school.
"We'll check again at lunch. By then, everyone will have seen it," Dez stated. The four friends headed off in their separate directions, all smiling.
"Ally!" her third period history teacher shouted. "As much as we appreciate the music your pencil is making against your desk, some people are trying to take a quiz!" Ally felt her face go hot. She was so happy and excited, she hadn't even noticed she was doing it.
"S-sorry," she whispered softly. A few students laughed, Ally continued to blush, looking down at her paper in embarrassment. Finally, finally, the class ended, though she was no longer in such a great mood.
"What's wrong?" Austin asked her as they met up to walk to the math class they were both in.
"Why do you assume something's wrong?" Ally covered. She didn't want her bad mood to bring anyone else down.
"I think we've had this conversation before, Ally. I know you. Plus, whenever I ask that and something really is upsetting you, you always say, 'What makes you think something's wrong?'." Ally smiled.
"Oops. But it's nothing big. Ms. Mitchell just kind of yelled at me during my test. Kind of embarrassing. But I'm fine." Austin gave her a sympathetic look.
"Well, as long as you're okay." They walked into math together. Ally did her best to ignore the stares directed at them, and she could tell Austin was doing the same.
She took her seat next to Laurel Steinhardt, a most-of-the-time friendly person. "Can I borrow a pencil?" Laurel asked in a whisper.
"Of course," Ally replied. As she reached for one, she accidentally pushed her math textbook off of her desk. It fell to the floor with an excruciatingly loud thud. Everyone's eyes were staring at her, and she blushed deeply for the second time in less than an hour.
Across the room, Austin looked at Ally to see if she was okay, but she wasn't paying any attention to his side of the room. She reached down to pick up her book, her face cherry red. Austin felt bad for her, but he also knew that if he did anything right now to cheer her up, it would draw even more attention to her. And he could tell she didn't want that.
Why do I keep embarrassing myself? Ally thought. She kind of wished Austin was next to her; he could always make her smile. But that would go against the purpose of their pretend breakup.
Class continued without any problems, then at last, it was time for lunch.
The group met in the same deserted corner they had earlier, and Dez pulled his computer out of his backpack. "Okay. Let's see how the video is doing." Time literally slowed down for them as he opened the laptop and searched up the video. Ally gasped.
"Two thousand and twenty-three likes since this morning!" she squealed. Austin laughed, and Ally grabbed his hands and began dancing with him around the secluded area. True, she wasn't a dancer at all, but she was getting better, and nothing was going to bother her now.
"Guys, someone's gonna see you..." Trish warned.
"I don't care! I'm too happy!" Ally giggled. Austin spun her around, and they continued to dance, until the dreaded voice came up behind them, causing them to snap apart.
"I knew you wouldn't be able to do it, Ally! And you know what happens next," Indigo called. Ally didn't have any words. But Dez did, and they actually made sense.
"Yea. You post the video, I can totally report you to the school, get you suspended, you're forced to take it down, it all works out in the end." Indigo seemed taken aback.
"Well, uh...why would that get me expelled..?"
"Cyber-bullying is actually against the law. Sounds lame, but it's pretty simple," he told her.
"So...I could get, like, arrested?" Indigo inquired nervously.
"If it comes to that. So maybe you could leave?"
"Like, now," Trish added. Indigo stood still for a moment, pondering the words. Then she said in a barely audible whisper,
"I hate you guys so much!" With that, she turned, and did leave.
"That girl has some serious issues," Austin announced.
"Well, she won't be bothering us anytime soon. Thanks to Dez," Trish complimented, for probably the first time, raising her hand for a high-five.
"Um, uh, yea! I mean-" he cut himself off and slapped her hand. Austin and Ally shared a they are so in love kind of look, and laughed.
"What?" Trish said.
"Nothing..." Ally said conspicuously.
_____________________________________________________________________________
After school, Trish walked with Ally to Sonic Boom. "It's nice just having girl time," Ally decided. "I mean, Austin's amazing, but this is nice." Trish nodded.
"Yea, I know what you mean." They continued to talk about the most random of things, until Ally brought forth a topic worth paying attention to.
"How come you never told me you like Dez?"
"Well, you, know, I hardly even noticed it myself- wait a minute! I take it back, I take it back!" Trish exclaimed loudly, realizing how Ally had tricked her.
"There's no point in trying to hide it now, Trish," Ally smirked. "But seriously, you guys are cute together." Trish shrugged.
"Maybe. I mean, I kind of like him, but like he's weird all the time, ya know?"
"How could I not know?" Ally asked. Trish laughed.
"Yea. But when he's not weird...he's...not weird. That probably makes no sense," Trish said.
"I know what you're trying to say. And he obviously likes you," Ally claimed.
"He does?"
"Uh, yes! That's why he isn't acting weird. And you, complimenting him? You guys could put up a billboard saying 'we like each other,' and it still wouldn't be as clear as how you act right now around each other."
"Do you think he knows?" Trish questioned.
"Who, Dez? Nah. Love is blind," Ally teased.
They continued on their way to the mall. Upon reaching the store, Mr. Dawson gave Ally a look. "Oh, you have to go," Ally reminded Trish.
"Oh, right. Sorry, I forgot. Crazy father."
"Exactly. I mean, I don't know why it's such a big deal. I'm sixteen, not six. So I kissed Austin. Why does that upset him so much?"
"Maybe..." Trish began thoughtfully, "maybe he's afraid that if he doesn't be so overprotective, you'll end up like your mom. Maybe." Trish knew the basics about her mom, but not everything.
She had a very good point, though. Ally hadn't really thought about it like that. Her dad was being a better parent than she knew.
"Yea. That makes a lot of sense. Bye Trish," Ally said absentmindedly. She rushed into Sonic Boom.
"Okay, so I need you to organize the clarinets and tune the guitars. I'm going to grab some lunch, but I'll be back." Before her father could leave, Ally hugged him tightly.
"I love you, dad." He seemed taken aback at first.
"I love you too, Ally."
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OMG I love how many reads and votes and comments this story is getting! Happiness! I didn't think it would get more than one hundred reads, but it has like five thousand! I love you guys!
And in other news no one cares about but I need to tell the world...I got into advanced choir! Yay! And the play I'm in has two performances next week!
Anyways, vote and comment please! It will add to my list of happiness!