Hi, everyone! It's been a while, hasn't it? Over five months, actually. Hehe... yeah, sorry about that. I just lost the motivation to write and put off all my projects and kind of abandoned TCLS for a long time. I am really sorry, though, because I know a lot of people were anticipating the next chapter and were probably very disappointed about my hiatus, especially since I didn't notify anyone.

I can't make promises on when the next chapter will come out, but feel free to read this current one and revisit the story to refresh your minds (although we haven't really gotten far, plot-wise). Thank you for waiting, and here's Chapter Eight for you!

That Cliché Love Story

Chapter Eight

Previously on That Cliché Love Story:

His eyes met Ally, who was still trapped by his legs on either side of her knees, and Austin grinned down at her, taking in the light lipstick on her smiling lips (faded from their make-out session earlier) and the way her eyes brightened as her laughter quietened. At that moment, with her cheeks stained red from embarrassment and laughter, she looked so beautiful.

Suddenly, without a word, Austin cupped Ally's face and tilted her head back to meet her lips with his in a gentle kiss, ignoring the whistles and whoops in the background.

He didn't know why he kissed her. He just did it when the urge rose up instinctively. Like it was the most normal thing he could be doing in the entire world.

And, strangely enough, kissing Ally didn't feel weird or unusual or forced.

It felt right.

Thursday morning consisted of a painkiller and lots of water for Ally. Though she could remember snippets of last night (of initiating a kiss with Austin, of being caught by Cassidy, doing Truth or Dare and the laser stare from Gabrielle), she had massive blanks that she wished she could remember. Everything else between Gabrielle's stare and the moment she woke up this morning, dressed in the red oversized shirt she'd thrifted last week with her makeup removed and her hair a mess, was a huge memory gap.

After she'd taken a shower and gotten dressed in a mustard brown slightly-oversized sweater tucked into the front of a pair of black skinny jeans with rips at the knees. She briefly wondered if she would have to dress more stylish to fit in with the popular crowd, but shrugged it off. If Austin wanted her to do a complete 180 and change her entire wardrobe, he was crazy. There were some things she could change to fit in, but nothing as drastic as her fashion.

A knock on her door caught her attention as Ally stood in front her bathroom's mirror, attempting to hide the bags under her eyes. The door to her bedroom swung open just as she turned around, revealing her amused mother at the doorway, dressed in the navy blue and grey uniform of Oscar's Dry Cleaners. "Well, would you look at that? You don't look as bad as I thought you would." She said, earning an eye roll from her daughter.

"Thanks, Mum."

Penny Dawson stepped into her room, a grin on her face. The same grin that Ally had inherited. "Can you blame me? You came home last night, basically being carried by Austin. You know, the same Austin Moon you haven't even talked to for years? The one you supposedly hated? So, you need to do a lot of explaining, young lady." Despite the scolding tone she used, Ally knew her mother was just being curious.

For a while, Ally hadn't talked to her mother about things that were going on in her life due to the guilt she had after discovering that her parents were working multiple jobs and hiding their fluctuating income from her. She'd only begun to get comfortable talking about school and troubles with school work again.

"We just began talking last week," Ally shrugged nonchalantly. She fiddled with the lipgloss in her hand, unsure of whether she wanted to lie to her mother and say that she and Austin were dating. "It's not that big of a deal."

"'Not that big of a deal'?" Penny gasped, sitting on Ally's already-made bed and messing it up slightly. "Sweetheart, you guys were so close until middle school, and you were so heartbroken that day you came home from school and said you never wanted to see his face again. I think it's a big deal that you're beginning to mend your friendship again, even though you never did tell me what specifically happened."

Ally snorted as she tied her hair back in a messy half-up, half-down hairdo, leaving her brown curls out. "Mum, please, Austin was just being a decent next-door-neighbour and a proper gentleman by taking a drunk girl like me home." She refused to think about how it would be totally different if Austin and her weren't talking, how he probably would've left her black-out drunk at the party if they were still strangers to each other. She shivered at the thought, before standing up and grabbing her backpack. "I should get going now. Don't wanna be late for school now, do I?"

Her mother pursed her lips as if holding back from asking more questions. Ally internally prayed that she wouldn't pry and ask about what had been happening lately; she wouldn't have the answer to any of her questions. Thankfully, she merely smiled softly and bid Ally a goodbye, allowing her to leave the house as quickly as she could.

As soon as Ally stepped out of the house, she ran into someone and stumbled backwards, almost falling onto her butt if a pair of arms hadn't caught her at the last moment. Shocked, she reached out and grabbed the first thing she could – which seemed to be the long locks of a certain redhead.

"Ow, ow, ow!" Dez yelped, an arm leaving her back to pry her hand out of his oddly soft hair. "Allywhatthefuckpleaseletgoofmyhairorsohelpme–!" His words merged together as his voice raised to match a teenage boy going through the beginning of puberty. At the sound of pain in his voice, Ally immediately let go of his hair, stepping back to regain balance. She pulled her hand back, eyes widening at the sight of red strands stuck between her fingers but before her friend realised that she had pulled a bunch of his hair out, she hid her hand behind her back and rubbed the strands off on her cashmere blue sweater.

"Sorry, Dez." Ally gave him a sheepish smile, which was met by a sad puppy pout. "You okay?"

"Do I look okay to you?" He shook his messy head at her, not bothering to pat down the locks that stood on end. He sighed, "this is what I get for trying to be a good friend and giving you a lift to school."

At his words, Ally perked up. "You're giving me a lift? How come?"

"Austin had to leave early for basketball practice, and Trish never wakes up before 9 AM, so here I am." Dez stepped back and began heading towards his grey Jeep, gesturing for Ally to follow him. Reluctantly, she followed him. A part of her would rather walk to school than get into the car of someone from the popular crowd, but he'd gone through the effort to come pick her up, so she couldn't bear to be rude. Plus, they'd gotten on pretty well last night, if she remembered correctly.

When she buckled into the passenger side and Dez began driving, they settled into an awkward silence.

Ally glanced over at the redhead, unsure if she wanted to start a conversation or allow him to start a conversation. Deciding not to risk it, she merely turned to look out the window, watching familiar houses pass by.

She remembered the first time they'd moved into the neighbourhood.

She was around 7-8 when her family had moved into the two-storey house; her father's store was doing incredibly well, and her mother was working under Ally's grandfather's company as a manager for some branch she can't remember the name of, and they'd bought the house at the urging of their friends Mike and Mimi Moon since they'd finally saved enough money to buy one. She remembered loving the fact that they lived in a house now because they'd been living in a small apartment before, and she liked being around her elementary school friend, Austin. She remembered dancing under the sprinklers with Austin and other neighbourhood kids on hot days, and on the colder days, hanging out in the Moon's living room with a hot chocolate. She remembered little Ally thinking that one day, she'd like to live in this neighbourhood with her own family and watch her kids play in the park down the street.

She doesn't know if the current Ally would want to live in this neighbourhood now, though. She's spent a majority of her life here, and a part of her wanted to travel the world and see what it held. Plus, she wanted to get out of Miami; it held a lot of bad memories from the past few years, and she knew she would never be able to forget them if she remained here.

Ally let out a defeated sigh unknowingly, causing Dez to glance at her.

"What's wrong?" He asked her, returning his eyes to the road as he turned the corner before the school.

The brunette turned to him, eyes wide in confusion. "Huh?"

Dez shrugged, "I don't know. You were sighing, so I thought something was wrong."

Ally frowned, trying to remember if she had and then turned back to Dez. "Uh... sorry, I didn't mean to. I was just thinking about how growing up in my neighbourhood and in Miami." She cleared her throat before turning to face the front, watching as the sight of their school grew closer. She hoped Dez wouldn't pry anymore, because she honestly had no clue what she would say if he asked more questions. (She'd never been really good at making things up on the spot.)

Unfortunately, Dez didn't leave the subject alone.

"Was that all?" At Ally's raised eyebrow, he tried to clarify what he meant. "It's just... why would that make you sigh so sadly? Unless you have bad memories of this place?"

Ally thought about it and wondered how she could answer the question without sounding like a sad puppy. "It's not necessarily the place that I have bad memories of. More like..." She trailed off as Dez pulled his Jeep into a parking spot, watching students enter the school or hanging out front. She sighed, glancing down at her twiddling thumbs. "The people. It's the people I have bad memories of."

The silence she was met with was deafening, and Ally immediately regretted admitting such a personal thing to him. She barely knew the guy, despite knowing him for multiple years, and she didn't know if he would take what she said seriously at all. For all she knew, he'd take what she said and tell his friends to joke about her behind her back. At the thought, Ally panicked and grabbed her bag. "Uh, thanks for giving me a lift, Dez. I'll see you later." Without waiting for him to respond, she threw open the door and jumped out of the car, hurrying to make it to the school in fear of Dez catching up.

The first period went by smoothly. She had AP Calculus and aced the pop quiz that Mr Briggins gave them, but she still felt tense after the car ride with Dez. She hadn't seen Austin or Cassidy or Trish yet, but she'd accidentally made eye-contact with Kimmy while walking past her to go to the bathroom and received the coldest glare she'd ever seen the cheerleader give anyone. To say she was anticipating the next class with a majority of the popular kids would be a lie, but she knew how to suck it up and deal with it. At least she shared that class with Austin. If anything happened, she was comforted by the thought that he'd be there.

When Ally entered the door to Mrs Daniel's history classroom, she immediately took her seat at the far left of the front of the classroom. Kira, Kimmy, Gabrielle, Trent, Elliot, Gavin and Austin shared this history class with her and usually sat at the very back. The rest of the popular kids were in a separate history class, which she was grateful for; if she had to deal with the whole of the Kings and Queens of Marino, she'd probably die.

As she sat there, waiting for Mrs Daniel's to arrive, she glanced over at her shoulder to see who was here today. She saw Kira and Elliot comparing notes, Kimmy and Gabrielle looking at something on their phone, and Trent leaning back in his seat with his eyes closed, hair looking damp. Just before she turned back to face the front, he opened his eyes and met her brown eyes with his unexpectedly. Before she could break eye contact with him, he surprised her by sending a wink her way. Rather than blushing, Ally frowned at the odd and sudden gesture, unsure of what brought it on. She barely resisted the urge to visibly shudder, turning around when she heard the sound of the door swinging open.

A smile appeared on her lips at the sight of a certain blonde stepping into the room with Gavin. His wet hair was slicked back, but a few unruly strands managed to curl over his forehead despite him pushing it back. Unlike every other day, Austin wasn't wearing his leather jacket - today, he wore Marino's very own colours; a yellow and white letterman jacket with a teal 'M' on the left breast. He looked every bit the popular boy and jock.

Austin made his way over to her, a grin on his lips as he crossed the room to take a seat beside her. "Hey," he murmured before ducking his head and catching her lips in a very short and light kiss. In the corner of her eyes, Ally saw her cousin turn away, but she doubted Austin noticed as he shoved his bag under the table and turned towards her, excitement on his face. "You won't believe what just happened."

Ally raised an eyebrow at him, her curiosity piqued. "What happened?"

He leaned down, lowering his voice. "I just had a bunch of freshmen come up to me and ask if I was really dating you, and when I told them that I was, they just squealed and went on and on about how pretty you are, and how lucky I was to be dating such a down-to-earth girl like you." He let out a laugh that sounded like a mix between chuckling and giggling. "They were asking me what you're social media usernames were to follow you and friend you on Facebook, and god, it took forever for me and Gavin to get here because they wouldn't shut up about your outfit last night."

Ally's eyes widened in surprise before narrowing in suspicion. "Are you serious?" She snorted, "Austin, they probably don't even know me. They're most likely just saying it to get on your good side."

He shrugged nonetheless. "It doesn't matter; what matters is that our plan is working. Even freshmen are taking notice of you now so it's only a matter of time before everyone knows your name and who you are. Gabrielle doesn't know what's coming her way." Austin smirked before leaning back and glancing over his shoulder. "Hey, Gav, back me up here and tell Ally she has fangirls because she won't believe me!"

Gavin, who had lingered at the doorway, unsure if he should follow Austin or sit with the rest of his friends at the back, perked up and made his way to sit on the desk behind Ally. "He's not lyin', you know. These four girls came up us and they were asking all these things about you. I think you got yourself a bunch of groupies, Ally."

"Wait, wait, wait!" A new voice joined the conversation as Elliot, having noticed that his closest friends were sitting at the front without him, had gotten up, packed up his stuff and sat down next to Gavin. "What's this about Ally having groupies?"

Ally threw her head back and groaned, "ugh, don't start them."

Austin turned in his seat, ignoring Ally's comment. "Well-"

No matter how many times she sat at the popular table, Ally doesn't think she could ever really get used to it. Oddly enough, it felt burdening to sit at the table in the centre of the cafeteria, among everyone else who had been sitting there for years now, while the rest of the other students sat in the other tables. She felt like everyone was watching her every move, and that set her on edge.

A hand on her shoulder made her jump at the unexpected contact, as she spun around to look at the culprit. She let out a relieved breath at the sight of Cassidy, a familiar face in an unfamiliar environment, who proceeded to take a seat next to her with an amused smile on her lips.

"Did I scare you?" The blonde teased her, pulling a neatly wrapped sandwich out of her bag.

Ally laughed, "yeah, kind of. I was just zoning out, that's all."

"Ah, yes. I do that too; this environment doesn't really provide a lot of chances of having an intellectual conversation." She whispered before taking a small bite out of her sandwich. Gently, she wiped the corner of lips as if there were any crumbs or sauce there. Ally smiled, a part of her envious of the easy, graceful and ladylike way Cassidy carried herself. "So, where's your Prince Charming? Shouldn't he be here to protect his Princess from all the wolves?"

Ally snorted, glancing around the table to see if the others had heard her. Luckily, it was only Kira and Kimmy sitting at the opposite end of the long table, deep in conversation about something. "He insisted on getting my lunch for me, and when I said that he didn't know what I liked, he said he'd take that as a challenge. He's been in the lunch line for about ten minutes now, so I'm afraid he's having a breakdown about the various menu options."

Cassidy giggled, lightly covering her mouth with her unoccupied hand. "Yep, sounds like Austin." She nudged her shoulder against Ally's, blue eyes glittering. "You know, you're pretty lucky, Ally. For however long I've known Austin, I've never seen him treat any of his girlfriends so lovingly."

"Ha, okay." Ally shook her head in disbelief. "If you say so."

"No, I'm serious. He's doing all these sweet gestures, which he's never done for Gabrielle before, and they dated for almost two years. You're changing him, Ally Dawson." Cassidy insisted and took another bite, crossing her legs elegantly under the table.

Although Ally wanted to disagree, she didn't get the chance to as some boisterous chatter approached the table. She watched as Elliot, Dez, Gavin, and Austin took a seat on the available seats with their own trays of food; Austin sat next to her with two trays of food and she suppressed a smile when he slid over what she assumed was her tray.

Austin raised a dark blonde eyebrow at her, "well?"

"Well, what?"

"Did I get it right? Is this what you would normally get?" He leaned forward, eyes wide and eager.

Ally resisted the urge to snort and roll her eyes before turning to look at the content on her tray. Two years ago, the school cafeteria had to make the lunches more nutritious and healthier after the PTA held a long meeting about how the food would lead to the declining health of their students and children. She wasn't really a picky eater, although she did have preferences, so she knew whatever Austin got her, she'd eat it regardless.

What sat on her tray was a paper plate with a slice of Hawaiian pizza, a bunch of grapes, blueberries, strawberries and raspberries, a cold water bottle and a slice of chocolate mud cake. Oddly enough, Ally felt that it was probably what she would get; Hawaiian was her favourite topping on pizza and she never bought any other drinks besides water in the school cafeteria. Plus, who could resist a slice of chocolate mud cake?

Despite this, she wanted to tease him, and tell him he failed. But when she glanced up at Austin, she caught the look of anticipation in his eyes. Instead, she murmured a "Good job," before quickly moving forward to kiss him on his cheek. She smiled, "you got most of it right."

Austin's signature smirk appeared on his lips as he sat back in his seat. "Told you so." He looked at something over Ally's shoulder, eyes sharpening at something as his smirk became smugger. "Aren't I the best boyfriend ever?"

Recognising the change in his voice, the smile on Ally's lips faltered as she turned her head to see what he was looking at. She watched as Gabrielle paused in her step at his words, eyes narrowing at him, before continuing to walk towards her friends at the other side of the table. When she sat down, she made eye contact with Ally and arched a perfectly shaded brow at her, as if asking what she was looking at. Ally blinked at her blankly, before the vibrating of her back pocket of her jeans caught her attention.

She turned away and slipped her phone out, seeing the unknown caller ID. She hesitated on answering, wondering it was just some scammer, but shrugged it off and answered the call. She pressed the phone against her ear, as her finger pressed the other ear in hopes of muffling the background conversations of the cafeteria. "Hello?" Ally asked, eyes on the table. The silence stretched on the other line for a few seconds, and she pulled her phone back to see if she accidentally hung up, but it said the call was ongoing. She pressed the phone back to her ear, "Hello? Who is this?"

Again, no answer. Simply just silence.

She waited for a few more seconds before turning to look at Cassidy, who raised a curious eyebrow at her.

'Who is it?' The dirty blonde mouthed her as she scrunched up the plastic wrap of her finished lunch. Ally shrugged in reply and turned toward Austin again, who tilted his head at her in confusion.

"Maybe it's a prank call?" He suggested, grabbing his water bottle. "Just hang up on them."

Ally nodded in agreement, ready to pull her phone away when she heard something on the other line - a sort of exhale or sigh. She hesitated to end the call after hearing that until a masculine voice entered the phone and spoke, making her heart leap up to her throat.

"Ally Dawson?" He (whoever he was) asked, voice low and quiet. It was unfamiliar, she noted, which meant that she didn't know the caller. A pause and then, "this is Ally Dawson, right?"

"U-Um..." She stuttered, her fingers clenching around her phone as her eyes settled on her lap. She couldn't look towards anyone. "Who is this?"

For a moment, there was no answer. Just silence, as the conversations floated around the cafeteria and over her head. She could hear Kimmy's high pitched giggling from all the way from the other end, and Gavin's southern drawl as he and Dez talked about work across from her. Ally held her breath, waiting for something, anything, to indicate that someone was still on the line with her. (Though she also desperately hoped they would have hung up.)

And then, there was a low, breathy chuckle.

It entered her ears without warning, raising the hair on her arms. Her skin crawled as a cold feeling washed over her. She pulled the phone away and tapped the option to end the call before placing the phone down onto the table. Her arms wrapped around her midsection, fingers clutching the thick fabric of her sweater as if they could shield her away from everything but she knew it couldn't.

Her stomach twisted at the thought of an unknown person knowing her name and phone number. If they (whoever they are) knew that, what else did they know?

Dun, dun, dun!

To be honest, I didn't even know where I was heading with this chapter, but there you go. We're beginning to head towards the rollercoaster that was promised in the summary.

We've got a deeper look at Ally and Penny's relationship, and we're getting to know a bit more about what Ally wants and doesn't want, too. The unknown call is going to be the first of many, and we'll see how it begins to affect Ally, Austin and their 'relationship', so I hope you'll anticipate that. Speaking of Austin and Ally, we didn't get a lot of romantic interactions between them this chapter (sorry), but let's not forget that there are other things that Austin wanted when he made the deal. Getting Gabrielle jealous is just one of those things, and although it's working, we don't see it affecting Gabrielle that much yet.

Anyway, thank you for reading! I hope to read reviews about what you want to happen and what you've thought about this chapter overall.

Until next time, FashionLovah.