WILD THING:

SUMMARY:

Ally Dawson is the known bad girl. Austin Moon is the known good guy. Who knows what is possible when two polar opposites are paired together for a three week Music Project. Perhaps music is the one thing that just makes these two fit. [COMPLETELY AU AND OOC]

Chapter One

Friday 9:26 P.M.

Austin answers his ringing cell phone. "Hello?" he greets into the phone, relaxing into the driver's seat of his car.

"Hey, Austin," greets his female friend, Trish. Austin frowns, recognizing the sound of loud music in the background.

"Trish? Where are you?" Austin questions, furrowing his brows.

"I know you told me not to go to Cassidy's party, but I just wanted to check it out!" Trish explains quickly. Austin sighs. "And it's sort of...Well, there's a lot of weird people here. Would you mind picking me up?"

Austin groans. He doesn't exactly like walking into those party houses. It always reeked of beer and cigarette smoke, the people were always loud, drunk, and obnoxious. Austin really did prefer sitting alone in his room with his guitar on Friday nights. "I'll be there in five," Austin hung up his phone. He started his car and then sped off into the direction of the party.

Austin pulls up in front of the giant beach house. He can hear the music from inside his car. The other students from Marino High School had been talking about this "exciting" party all week. Nothing they said even gave him the temptation to join them in their partying. Besides, Austin was better off at a silly charades party with his two best friends and instead of beer or drugs, they'd get drunk on soda and high on chips.

Austin gets slightly worried when Trish hasn't made it out of the large beach house so he decides to jump out of the car. He stuffs his keys into his pockets and slowly makes his way up the creaking steps of the beach house. He's hesitant but reminds himself that his friend was in there. He slowly opened the door and the reeking smell of sweaty teenagers, spilled beer, and cigarette smoke filled his nostrils immediately.

Austin grimaced but stepped into the house. He saw a couple of the guys he's hung out with at school hanging by the stairs or making out with a pretty girl, but Austin only shook his head and searched the place for his friend.

"Oh, Austin!" called Trish, waving at him. Austin spotted her trying to sneak her way out of a conversation with some drunk guy and so Austin slowly approached. "Gabe here was just telling me about his new car," Trish said.

"Trish, let's go," Austin said, impatiently. He didn't want to stay in here any longer. He had sworn to never go into a party and he doubted he'd ever want to step inside one again. Trish quickly nodded and said goodbye to the drunk boy who just stumbled his way to the backdoor to grab fresh air.

"Thank God, you're here. This was a mistake," Trish said, "Did you call Dez?" she asked, nervously. The last thing Trish wanted was for her boyfriend, somebody who is totally anti-parties, to find out where she was tonight.

"No," replied Austin, "It crossed my mind though," he told her. Trish sighed but thanked him for not spilling the beans to him.

Austin's eyes combed over the dancing bodies inside the beach house and his eyes landed on one specific girl: Ally Dawson. There she was dancing with a boy who looked two years younger than her, holding onto her hips as she swayed them with the beat of the music. She's running her fingers through her hair, throwing her arms up toward the ceiling, and laughing cheerfully.

Austin never exactly knew Ally, but he'd heard a lot about her. (Who hadn't? She was Ally Dawson!) He'd heard about how she sneaks out of the house nearly every night, deals drugs, drinks until she can't walk, she's never missed one party, and she's cheated on three boyfriends until she'd got what she wanted - a promiscuous reputation. Ally was the baddest girl to ever walk Marino High School. Austin always wondered if there was more to her, or if she was just born this way.

"Hey! Moon's here!"

Austin and Trish looked over to where the announcement was made. Austin politely smiled towards the group of people who seemed confused but happy to see Austin. He pointed his thumb towards the door proving that he needed to leave. Suddenly, somebody threw a strong arm around Austin's neck, pushing him towards the groupie.

"You just got here, don't tell me you're leaving," said the alcohol smelling boy who was nearly as tall as Austin. Trish groaned, it's almost like drunk people don't want you to leave, she thought to herself.

Austin laughed slightly, "Uh, Thanks, Mitchell," said Austin, "But I was just grabbing Trish and getting her home."

"It's not every day you see Austin Moon at a party, enjoy it!" encouraged another peer. Austin glanced over at Trish who gave him an apologetic look.

"Look, Guys, This isn't my thing," Austin told them, unwrapping Mitchell's arm from his neck, "I came for Trish, I've got her, and I'm leaving."

They didn't acknowledge his explanation when they were suddenly distracted by something, "Oh, Damn!" they cat-whistled. Austin frowned slightly and looked over to who they were distracted by.

Ally Dawson. Of course.

No longer was she grinding around in the crowd. She had taken herself and her red, alcohol filled solo cup and joined the DJ on the platform. Austin didn't particularly see anything to cat-whistle over. She wasn't undressing or dancing seductively like he'd expected her to, she was just throwing her arms in the air and spinning herself around - just as she did in the crowd, only this time, she pulled the DJ with her and started dancing with him. Her body touching his as he grinned excitedly. Austin shook his head and looked away. He grabbed Trish's arm and decided to leave the party.

"What do you think of her?" asked Trish, her ears buzzing from the loud music as they were greeted by the calm, silent air.

Austin arched his eye brows as he looked both ways before crossing the street and getting to his car, "Ally Dawson?" he questioned. Trish nodded. "I don't know. She's...not somebody I'd consider hanging out with. Is my consideration a good choice?"

Trish nodded and said, "She's bad news, no life, not even a future ahead of her. She's practically dying right now and doesn't even know it." Austin turned his keys in the ignition. "We used to hang out, you know," Trish said. Austin looked at Trish alarmed.

"You hung out with Ally Dawson?" he gawked. Trish nodded. Austin stared at her, "We've been friends since the tenth grade and you've never mentioned this."

Trish shrugged, "I guess it slipped my mind. I wasn't too concerned about her," she said, "She wasn't always like that. Sometimes I wonder what happened."

"What do you mean?" Austin questioned.

Trish buckled herself in, "I mean, we were practically best friends since the first grade. We hung out every day after school and all day on the weekends. She was an amazing friend, and she was very well aware of it. But as time went on, I basically watched her deteriorate; Candy became drugs, fun rolling around on the grass became rolling in weed. Slowly, she started acting differently, she started ditching out on plans, mouthing off to the teachers, skipping classes, wearing tons of makeup. I'd caught her smoking in the sixth grade and in the summer she showed up to my birthday party drunk. By the time seventh grade rolled around, she wasn't even the same person anymore. She started partying in sixth grade. Did you know her Dad would take her to those parties?" questioned Trish. Austin looked at her before looking towards the house where the window displayed a good view of Ally taking off her shirt to the crowd with a huge, drunk grin on her face. "Eventually, she stopped calling me and hanging out, she started hanging out with new people. People who were just like her. I didn't mind it really, I never exactly pictured hanging out with somebody who was drinking, partying, and dealing. She disappeared one day, near the end of seventh grade and then it went around the school that her Dad had taken her to California. But by tenth grade, she showed up again like... that." Trish pointed towards the house where a couple of other girls were now on the platform, dancing their hearts out with Ally.

"So, her home life sucks?" Austin questioned, finally shifting the stick into drive and ripping away from the house before they'd see something they didn't need to.

"I guess so," Trish said, "I never recognized it as a kid because her Dad was always gone. But I look back now and I see it. I see just how awful she was raised. Her mom took off when she was three, nobody knew where she went, and her Dad...Well, his idea of 'spending time with her' was taking her to parties and teaching her how to gulp down a shot."

Austin stared at Trish for a moment before glancing into the rear view mirror and watching the beach house become further and further away.

Trish said, "I'm just glad I got out of being her friend. Who knows where she could've dragged me down."

. . . . . . . . .

Monday 3:02 P.M.

Austin glanced over his shoulder for the third time during last period. Ally Dawson was sitting diagonal of him in the last row. He had never noticed her in this class before. The second semester of classes had started a couple months ago, he generally always recognized the faces in the classrooms but yet he had managed to never spare her a glance let alone acknowledge her existence. He wondered how she managed to stay out of his sight.

Ally was slouched in her seat, hiding her cellular phone under her desk as her thumbs tapped the letters on the touch screen swiftly. She glanced up every now and then to catch the teachers doings. She somehow managed to sneak the in-class texting. Austin never texted in class, unless it was absolutely necessary. It was important to him that he understood every word spoken in the class. Unlike all the slackers in Marino High, Austin actually wanted to graduate.

Dez sent Austin an odd look. He'd noticed Austin's casual over the shoulder glances which was odd because Austin wasn't one to zone out and gaze around the class room while the teacher was talking. Dez glanced over his shoulder but couldn't spot one girl who Austin would take an interest into. Austin smiled slightly at his best friend and focused on the board. He decided to drop the questions of how he'd never noticed Ally before until Friday.

"Miss Dawson," the teacher suddenly said, gazing to the sinister girl in the back row. Ally looked away from her phone screen and saw the teacher staring directly at her along with a couple of heads turned to stare at Ally. "Is there something on your phone that needs to be shared with the class?"

"Uh," Ally looked at her phone before looked up innocently at the teacher, "Not really, some chick got pregnant on Friday though." There were several snickers from the students around her. The teacher crossed her arms, a muscle in her jaw ticked. "Thank God it's not me," Ally mumbled to the student sitting left of her, her comment ending with a soft chortle. The student next to her was most likely Ally's friend as she laughed softly with Ally.

"Miss Dawson, your phone please," she held out her palm.

"Of course, Ms. Suzie," Ally responded giving her a red-lipped smirk as she leaped up from her chair and walked smoothly to Ms. Suzie, setting the phone into her palm. "Gonna need this back soon," Ally murmured humorously.

"I'll be the judge of that," Ms. Suzie said. Ally shrugged, smirking as she slouched back into her seat, sinking low into it. Ms. Suzie set Ally's phone onto her desk and cleared her throat. Austin stared back at Ally who was now just picking at old nail polish that was peeling on her finger nails. He slowly looked back at the teacher. Ally Dawson was sure a character - she was so chill, laid back, sinister, rueful, smooth, and wild.

"Well, now that we finished the movie we'd been watching for the last couple of days, we will be starting on our new assignment," Ms. Suzie announced. "You will be assigned a partner for this assignment," she said, collecting papers in her hands to hand out. "For this particular project, you and your partner will be writing a song together. You should know how to write one by now from what we've gone over in class and due to your strengths in music. You and your partner will be given the time limit of three weeks to write your song and then perform it to the class. This project will require effort, it is worth 50% of your grade so I suggest that you work wisely," she said, giving looks to certain students who obviously slacked. "This project will also require to be taking up a lot of your free time, you will not be given the opportunity to work on this project during class."

Grumbles were heard from students. Austin didn't understand why they were grumbling. This was a Music Class. It was an option that they had selected when registering for this year. Shouldn't they be enjoying this class? They had selected it themselves after all. Austin was never upset when it came to this class. He loved everything about it - the lectures, discussions, the instruments they got the opportunity to play, the concerts they were taken to, the in-class movies they watched. This class was great.

"I've paired you up with the partners I'm sure you will work best with. Some of you will be given the opportunity to allow partner swaps, but I'm keen with my choices," Ms. Suzie explained, "Tyler with Bella, Sarah with Kylee, Jonah with Michael, Dez with..." Dez and Austin crossed their fingers, "...Anna," Austin and Dez sighed disappointedly, "Jacob with Shawn, Stephanie with Carson, Austin with Ally..." The list went on but Austin caught the look of horror on Dez's face.

"Maybe we could swap. Ally and Anna together, you and I together," Dez said, "There's no way Ms. Suzie should risk your mark being with that nobody."

"Dez," Austin gave him a look. Despite everything Austin knows about Ally, he didn't think it was right to call her a nobody. In fact, Austin didn't think anybody deserved to be called a nobody. Dez sighed. Austin was known for his kind personality and the way he only served people with respect and loyalty. He never talked bad about anybody, probably why a lot of girls seemed to have a crush on Austin.

"Austin, she'll wreck your grade," Dez said, "She'll bring your grade down so low, you'll have to take an extra course just to graduate. She parties every night, do you really think she'd give up her free time to work on a song? She doesn't care, you'd do everything."

Austin sighed, "I know she's not good news, Dez, but she doesn't deserve to be called a nobody," Austin argued.

"Then you obviously don't know a lot about her," Dez mumbled. Austin looked at his best friend but before he could say anything, Dez caught Ms. Suzie's arm to stop her as she walked by their desks. "Ms. Suzie, would you mind if Ally and Anna work together instead? Then Austin and I could work together?"

Ms. Suzie glanced at the two boys before shaking her head, "I would accept but Austin's got the highest grade in this class," her eyes connected with Austin's brown ones, "Ally needs this grade."

Dez sighed, dropping his hand, listening to Ms. Suzie apologize before she walked away to attend to a student who had a question. Austin and Dez shared a glance.

"It can't be that bad," Austin told Dez, shrugging.

Dez parted his lips to reply but was interrupted when Ally suddenly stood up and blurted loudly, "Who the hell is Austin?!"

Austin grimaced slightly before raising his hand and slowly giving her a wave with his pointer finger. It caught Ally's attention as she focused on the blonde boy. She'd seen him around, but she figured he must be a loser considering she'd never seen him at a party before. Because partying was everything in the eyes of Ally Dawson.

Or was it?

"Perfect," Ally grinned smugly at him before dropping down into her seat again, not taking her eyes from him.

Austin slowly looked back at Dez, "I take it back," he murmured, "She's gonna be a handful." Dez nodded knowingly before the two boys waited for Ms. Suzie to give more instructions.

. . . . . . . .

3:37 P.M.

Austin shut his locker noisily before he jumped, seeing the sudden figure leaning against the lockers. Austin stared for a moment as he registered what just happened. He adjusted the strap of his bag on his shoulder as Ally grinned sinisterly at him. "Hey," she said.

"Hi," Austin said, unsurely.

"It seems that we're partners for that project," Ally said, "Exciting," she gave him a lazy grin. Austin watched her mouth as she chewed her wad of gum. He focused away from her mouth and nodded awkwardly. Ally used the arm that was hiding behind her back to extend toward him, "Well, I'm Ally." She smirked again.

Austin stared down at her hand before shaking it lightly, "Austin." he said. Ally grinned at him one last time.

"So, I'll be seeing you around then?" Ally said, her gum cracking between her teeth. Austin nodded.

"I guess you will," he said.

"Great," she smirked before taking off down the hallway, her bag smacked the back of her thighs as she walked in her worn down Chuck Taylor's. Ally casts Austin one last glance with a smirk pulling on her lips as she disappears around the corner. Austin stares at the corner for a few long moments before he's distracted by two voices calling for him.

"Austin!" shouted Trish, running down the hall and grabbing onto him so she wouldn't slip. She laughed as Dez slid past her and wasn't all too lucky so he was now on the ground groaning. The halls were practically empty besides a couple of kids who were still grabbing their things from their lockers or even spending time with their boyfriends/girlfriends.

Austin laughed, shaking his head. Austin and Trish helped Dez from the ground. "I think I just threw out my back," Dez groaned, attempting to stretch out his back until flinching in pain. When Dez felt a little better, he tossed a lanky arm around Trish's neck and they focused on their blonde friend.

"Are you ready?" Trish questioned him, nudging Dez forcefully when he pulled on the ends of her hair.

"Ready?" Austin questioned.

"Yeah, you're performing at the Jungle Cafe in an hour," Trish reminded him.

Austin's eyes filled with remembrance, "Oh, right," he then shook his head, "I don't know why that slipped my mind."

"Oh, I know why," Dez said, "Ally Dawson, that's why."

"What?" Trish and Austin chorused looking at Dez, startled.

"Austin got paired with her for his Music Project. Still feeling bad for you, buddy," Dez said.

"I'm hoping she won't be too bad. It's just three weeks," Austin said. Trish and Dez shrugged.

"Who cares about her," Trish said, "Let's get you ready for playing at the Cafe." Austin slowly nodded and followed.