Trish De La Rosa was leaning against her locker, lost inside a deep conversation with a peer from school. She was just about to get to the juicy part of her fibbed-story when she noticed how quiet the halls and suddenly gotten and even her one-person-audience had looked away from her, staring off somewhere else.

Trish frowned slightly and looked over towards the school's entrance where everyone's attention seemed to be trained. Trish's face paled slightly and her eyes grew larger than their original size. "What in damnation..." she whispered, gawking, eyes blinking several times as she tried to figure out what she was looking at.

Oh, it was this: Her best friend, Ally Dawson, with Marino High's biggest player, Austin Moon, his arm slung over her shoulder and her finger tips intertwined with his. She shyly smiled at the gawking students all around her meanwhile Austin seemed quite alright with ignoring the looks, probably always used to them.

Austin's eyes roamed along a few students before he found Trish's surprised face. He grinned and nodded towards Trish, saying something to Ally and then swinging his arm away from her shoulder and pulling Ally, by the hand, palms touching, towards Trish. Ally grinned when she saw her best friend and did her best to keep up with Austin's pace.

"Can you excuse us?" Trish muttered to the girl who was still standing there, gawking as well. The girl, Tracy, slowly nodded and carefully walked away.

"Hey, Trish!" Ally said, wide smile.

"Are...What...You..." Trish sputtered, eyes still blinking, her vision practically blurry from all the confusion. Ally stared at her innocently. "You two...But..."

"Sorry, I only speak English." Austin said, sympathetically.

Trish shook her head, face scrunched into a scowl suddenly, "What the hell!"

Ally looked at her surprised. Trish rarely yelled at her and it surprised her to be honest. Trish felt like she had a reason. If she didn't know any better, she'd say her two best friends were dating. Dating without telling her! Dating without notifying anyone! And didn't Ally have Dallas? Where was that boy? Would he be okay with this? Probably not. Trish couldn't stop her thoughts from scrambling all over the place.

"Trish, what's wrong?" asked Ally, innocently.

"You know what's wrong!" Trish shrieked, "What is this?!" she pointed between the two of them.

"What? You mean this?" Ally asked, raising her and Austin's linked hands. When Trish nodded, Ally smiled, "We're dating."

Austin looked down at Ally alarmed before looking back at Trish and forcing a cool look on his face and he nodded his head. He was silently panicking. When Ally told him that they were faking their relationship, he didn't think she meant from their friends as well. This might have just gotten more complicated.

Trish's eyes grew in size. She really had taken away that much, but it was the confirmation of it all that freaked her out. "Since when?" she questioned.

"Last night." Austin said smoothly, trying to remain cool.

"What...What about Dallas?" Trish stammered.

"What about him?" Austin interjected, his voice hitting an irritated note.

"I just...Ally, you...I just thought you two were..."

"Well, they're not." Austin said, abruptly. Ally looked up at Austin slightly alarmed by his impolite tone. Austin glanced down at her before straightening up. He couldn't deny that he was mad at Dallas for breaking his best friend's heart. He knew how much Dallas meant to Ally and for him to just toss her away like that, fueled the rage in him.

"Oh?" Trish squeaked, looking at Ally for information but she was still looking upwards at her new boyfriend. She took a deep breath, nodding as she exhaled slowly, "Oh..."

Trish stared at Austin and Ally. She was stuck in a state of surprise and confusion. Surprise, because it was her best friend's dating, and confusion, because, well, it was her best friend's dating. She swallowed hard and looked between the blonde and brunette.

"Um," Ally tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, "I'll fill you in later, okay?" Translation: I'll make this lie more convincing, I'm kind of on the spot right now.

"Yeah...Yeah, that sounds good." Trish said. "I'm...I'm going to go to class." And with that, Trish robotically turned around and started walking away. She snuck glances at Austin and Ally over her shoulder before turning the corner, heading to her class.

Austin saw that they were still being watched by a few students so he grabbed Ally's arm and pulled her into an empty classroom. He pushed her against the wall, arms trapping her. "Ally, are you crazy?!"

"Yeah, Um, I think everyone is thinking the exact same thing right now-"

"-Ally, you can't lie to Trish!" Austin exclaimed, "We can't lie to Trish!" Austin backed up from Ally, shaking his head. "It's one thing to lie to the entire student body, but Trish!? And Dez?! Ally, they're our best friends! And maybe we can sucker Dez in but Trish...There's no way we can pull it off and when she finds out that this - that we're - fake, she'll have our heads on a stick!"

"Austin, everything will work out." Ally said calmly, "I think we can pull this off. It's just until Dallas sees us together, gets jealous, and wants me back." Ally grinned at Austin.

"This better not be for nothing." Austin mumbled to himself. "Ally, what am I gonna do about the girls?" he questioned.

"What?" she asked.

"The girls," he said, like it was obvious. "I practically have them lining up for me, I can't just leave them hanging. I have to do something with them."

"You're not doing anything with them while you're with me." Ally said.

"But I'm not with you-"

"-You are until Dallas wants me back!" Ally exclaimed, "You have to be a caring and loyal boyfriend so he'll see just how good you are to me and then he'll be on his knees, begging to have me back then you can go back to having a lineup of girls waiting to be pathetic for you."

Austin grunted, "Is this going to take long because I kind of want my free will back?"

"It'll take as long as it's going to take!" Ally shoved him slightly.

"Ow," Austin pouted, "Fine. But I hope you're not one of those mean and bossy girlfriends-" he stopped and gasped, grinning wide, "Wait, Yes, be one of those bossy, demanding, mean girlfriends! It could be my next sob sorry for a new woman! You know, this just might-"

"-Austin," Ally gave him a look.

"Sorry." he muttered. The school bell rang.

"I'm going to be late!" Ally shrieked, dashing out of the empty classroom. Austin shook his head and followed her. Ally glanced back at Austin just to see him winking flirtatiously at another girl. She scowled, "Austin!"

His eyes widened and face paled as he looked back at Ally, startled, "I didn't do it!"

She sighed, shaking her head and looked at him again, "I think we're going to have to go over a few things tonight." she told him.

"Wait...Like rules?" Austin asked her. Ally nodded her head. Austin chuckled haughtily, "Sorry, Als. You know I don't do rules."

"Oh, you will when I'm through with you." she sang with a smug smile. Austin frowned. "See you around!" and she took off in the direction of her class, already anxious about walking into her class two minutes late.

x

"So, you and Austin?"

Ally slowly looked up from her notebook and saw a girl eyeing her with curiosity. Ally swallowed hard and smiled shyly. She recognized this girl to be one of Austin's many exes, her name was just as dazzling as her smile: Kira Starr.

She flipped a lock of dark hair over her shoulder, "So, Are you and Austin like a thing now?" Kira questioned. Ally nodded her head. "Interesting," said Kira, "I never pegged him as the type to go after his nerdy best friend. After all, he'd sworn to me that you two were nothing more than pretty much siblings. The thought of dating you makes him cringe."

Ally stared at Kira for a long moment, "Austin would never say something like that about me."

"Maybe you don't know him as well as you think." Kira said, giving her a pointed look. Ally shook her head and focused on taking notes again. Ally wasn't stupid; Austin would never say something like that specifically for the reason that Ally was his best friend. Austin and Ally had a different connection than anybody even knew about yet. The connection didn't have to be butterfly-feelings (Which is wasn't), it was just simply their bond.

"He'll drop you anyway." Kira continued, "He does to every girl. It takes a lot to entertain him and if Dallas got rid of you, don't fool yourself into thinking Austin won't."

The mentioning of Ally's ex made her heart squeeze in her chest. She obviously wasn't over him yet. Ally nearly got the feeling it would never happen. Dallas had meant so much to her. He was her first boyfriend, she wondered if he'd be her only boyfriend ever.

Instead of getting upset about Dallas, Ally licked her lips and looked at Kira. "Thanks for your input, but my relationship with Austin is my own business, not anyone else's."

Kira looked at Ally, shocked by her reply, before her face relaxed again. She slowly nodded. "Alright, just thought I'd warn you."

"It's appreciated, not needed." Ally muttered and cringed when she realize Kira had heard her.

"Wow, I never pegged you to be the mouthy type." Kira said. "Then again, I didn't peg you to be the slut-type either."

Ally stopped what she was doing and looked at Kira. She didn't say anything in response. She kept her mouth shut and then hesitantly got back to her notes. Kira smirked and turned herself around, facing the whiteboard.

Ally glanced over and saw two girls whispering something to one another before they looked back at Ally and then resumed whispering to each other again. Well, Ally thought, Should've known being Austin's fake-girlfriend came with a price.

Ally shook her head. The rest of the class involved: Ignoring the gossip, ignoring the looks, and gritting her teeth until they were practically dust particles inside her mouth. Sure, Ally knew being Austin's fake-girlfriend wasn't going to be the best position in the school, but she had merely forgotten that transitioning from the dorky girl who loves school to being Austin's Moon's Girlfriend was going to be so traumatic.

But then she saw Dallas watching her from his seat, and yeah, this was going to be so worth it.

x

Short, short, short... :(