The band isn't bad, for four teenage boys who meet in someone's garage three times a week to practice. They've got a pretty significant following, and their music is better than she expected. Not to mention they're all decently attractive and surprisingly talented.

The lead singer is especially well-practiced at his art. His vocals are incredible, reverberating throughout the old warehouse they decided to hold their concert in.

And for a while, Ally actually forgets about the crisis that she's in the middle of trying to fix. The weight is lifted off her shoulders as she jumps with the small crowd to the beat of the loud music.

But then the concert is over and people are filing out. She watches the band as they walk offstage. The lead singer has a confused look on his face, and she nudges Trish with her shoulder to point him out.

"What do you think they're doing?" Ally asks.

Trish shrugs. "Don't know, don't care. Let's go."

"One second."

Ally carefully weaves her way through the crowd until she has a better view of the four band members. Then she hears the unmistakable voice of the lead singer.

"Guys, I gotta go – "

"No. You don't," someone else says. The guitarist, maybe?

"Yeah. I do. Cassidy – "

"Can wait." Ally definitely recognizes the keyboard player, who sang along with Austin.

She sees the lead singer roll his eyes. "Fine. What."

"You've been being kind of a jerk lately," the drummer says bluntly.

The singer crosses his arms. "Okay…?"

"And you've been late to…well, just about everything. Even this show!" the keyboard player adds.

"So? I don't need as much practice as you guys do. And I was out with Cassidy before the show."

"We also hate your girlfriend," the guitarist deadpans.

"I don't care," the singer replies.

"Austin, we're kicking you out of the band."

"What?"

"It's not like you care about it anyway. You're always complaining about practices and saying you only did it to get girls. Well, now you have one. And we're kicking you out," the drummer tells him.

"You guys are bluffing," Austin scoffs.

"No. We're not. In fact, we've already replaced you." The guitarist points at a guy standing a little ways away, looking slightly uncomfortable. He waves awkwardly.

Austin's jaw clenches. "Fine. Whatever. You guys are gonna be begging for me to come back, anyway. You wouldn't be anywhere without me."

And then the blond storms off, stopping to give the new lead singer a solid punch in the face. Ally swallows nervously, remembering her dilemma.

She runs after him. "Wait!" she exclaims.

"Ally, what're you doing?" Trish asks, hot on her heels.

"Trying to fix something! I'll meet you at your car!" she calls back to her friend, catching the door Austin flung open and sprinting after him. "Wait!" she calls to him again.

Finally, he stops in his tracks.

But she's running too fast and she can't stop in time so she barrels into him. He's strong, though, and catches her with ease.

"What," he says, frustration evident in his voice.

She bites her lip and takes a step back, her mouth running dry at his angry glare. She opens her mouth to speak, but he holds up a hand to stop her.

"If you're wanting to sleep with me, I don't have sex with fans," he says.

She blinks in confusion, and then her eyes widen in embarrassment. "N – no," she stutters, "that isn't – oh gosh no."

"Then what do you want? I haven't got all day."

"Well…I heard you arguing with your band, and – "

"And you want to offer me your condolences?" he asks sarcastically.

"No…I have a different offer."

"I already told you – "

"Not sex!" she squeaks. Then she clears her throat, blushing profusely. "My glee club just lost our best tenor, and we have the state competition next month. But if we're missing someone, then we can't perform. And you're really talented, and I was wondering if maybe you'd help us out and join?"

"No," he says flatly.

"No?"

"N – O," he spells. "No. I am not transitioning from an actual band to some lame glee club full of friendless losers."

"We aren't friendless losers," Ally says defensively. "We're a tight-knit group of dedicated singers who just want to win our competitions."

"You'd have to pay me."

"I – I guess you could have some of the prize money. But that's only if we win."

Austin presses his lips together in thought. "Fine."

"So you'll do it?"

"I'll come to one of your practices and see if you're any good. If you are, then I'll do it. And if you're not, then you were never gonna win in the first place."

"O – Okay," Ally says. "Our next practice is on Tuesday at 2:30 in the choir room at Marino. You go there, right? I – I'd appreciate it if you were on time, please."

"Probably not. Are we done here?"

"I – I guess so."

So Austin gets in his car without so much as a goodbye and peels out of the parking lot. Ally bites her lip and walks to Trish's car.

"What was that about?" her friend asks.

"Austin, the lead singer, just got kicked out of the band. I asked him to join glee club."

"You what?"

"He said I'd have to pay him, and that he'll only do it if we're good, but he agreed. If that counts."

"You're insane."

"We might have a new tenor, though."

"Okay, everyone. I just want to tell you that Austin Moon will be visiting us today. I don't know if any of you know of him, but he was in a band that had a falling out. And since we lost Johnathan he may agree to be our replacement tenor, which would allow us to compete in the state championships. But he has a bit of an attitude and isn't a huge fan of glee club, so I want you all to just be nice to him and not make him angry, okay?"

The rest of the glee club make sounds of agreement. Ally glances at the clock. It's 2:30, but Austin isn't here.

Figures.

"Let's start practice, then."

They warm up and sing their set a few times, and then they review the choreography for it, which they only just learned last week. Still, everyone remembers it relatively well and their routine isn't looking too bad.

There are only fifteen minutes left of practice when the door opens and Austin comes strolling in.

"Austin!" Ally says, plastering a polite smile on her face. "You're here!"

"Yeah." He sits down at the choir teacher's desk. "Show me what you've got so I can make my decision and leave."

Ally looks around at everyone. "Alright, then."

They perform their set for Austin, and he stares at them blankly from the beginning to the end. When they're finished, Austin stands up.

"Uh…you can get out early today, guys," Ally announces. The other glee club members quickly clear out, leaving Ally alone with Austin.

"So…what did you think?" Ally asks the tall blond.

"Listen, Ashley – "

"It's Ally."

"Whatever. Your little glee club's alright, I guess. But you're lame. Boring. Tired. Did I mention lame?" Austin shrugs and shoves his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket. "Your style came from last century. If you wanna entertain people, you gotta do it right."

"So…are you in or out?" Ally asks.

"I'll help you win your little state championship," he says, "if – "

"I already told you I'd pay you," Ally tells him.

"I have another condition," he tells her. "You have to redo your set, make it not make me wanna rip my ears off."

Ally purses her lips.

"Fine," she says. "But you have to be on time and take practices seriously."

"I don't take orders, sweetheart," he tells her, tapping his index finger on her nose condescendingly.

And then he just walks out.

She resists the urge to scream in frustration.

Reminding herself that he's really her only hope, she hurries to catch up to him so she can tell him their practice dates and times. He looks annoyed the entire time, but she tries not to let it get to her.

Ally rants to her mom about him as soon as she gets home. She doesn't normally do this, but he's just so rude and obnoxious and annoying she can't help it. Not to mention that he's basically running her glee club, getting her to do pretty much whatever he wants just because he knows he can take advantage of her desperation.

He's just an all-around jerk, and he knows it.

"Ally, honey, couldn't you have asked someone else?" her mom asks her.

"I tried that," Ally replies with a sigh. "Everyone thinks glee club is for losers. Including him."

"Show him that you aren't a loser."

"How?"

Her mom shrugs. "Go out, have fun, be social."

"That sounds like a lot of work that I don't have time for."

"Ally – "

"I gotta go upstairs and start creating a whole new set for us that we're gonna have to learn in a month," she says. She doesn't wait for her mom's reply before going upstairs and locking herself in her room.

"No. I'm not singing this."

Ally takes a deep breath. It took her all weekend to put together their new set. And by all weekend, she literally means all weekend. She didn't sleep, didn't do any of her homework, and hardly ate a thing. She can't even remember if she used the bathroom.

"I used more modern songs like you asked," she tries.

"I am not singing a solo in a One Direction song," he sneers, shoving the music back in her hands.

"Fine, then maybe you should arrange our set, since nothing I do seems to be good enough for you!"

"No," he says flatly. "I don't think you understand, sweetheart. This is practically charity work for me. I don't have to be here, I don't want to be here, and if you don't change the set I'm not gonna be here."

She clenches her jaw and sets the music on the piano next to her. "Well then maybe you should go! Not like you would've helped us anyway!"

Immediately after the words come out of her mouth, she realizes her mistake. The blond shrugs and starts walking out of the room, but she rushes forward and grabs his wrist.

"I didn't mean that!" she says quickly. "I'm sorry. Please don't leave."

Austin turns around again and looks at her, shaking her hand off his wrist and crossing his arms. He raises his eyebrows and looks down at her condescendingly.

"And why shouldn't I?"

Her cheeks turn pink with embarrassment. "We…we need you," she mutters.

"Sorry, what was that? I couldn't hear you over your incompetence."

Ally takes a deep breath, trying to calm her anger. "We need you," she says, a little louder than the first time.

"Ah, you need me," he echoes with a nod, chuckling and shaking his head as though she's a clueless child. "Well then, sweetheart, I suggest you fix the set."

"Well…maybe you could help me," she offers hesitantly. "You clearly have a vision in your head that I don't see, so maybe if you helped me put together the set you'd be more satisfied."

"Yeah, no. I told you, I'm not doing any extra work."

And then he walks out again.

She grabs the sheet music off the piano and rips it in half.

She 'arranged the new set' by switching out the One Direction songs with songs from different bands that night. It seems to fly with him.

"I guess this'll do," he says after she shows him the changes.

"Good," she says with a sigh of relief. "Now practice is about to start, so please – "

"Whatever," the blond interrupts, walking onto the risers to join the glee club members beginning to trickle into the choir room.

Ally starts the practice, and she thanks her lucky stars that she has such talented and easygoing friends, because not only do they catch on quickly to the new music but they are also quite flexible in the change.

And aside from Austin interrupting her every five minutes with a sarcastic comment, the practice actually goes fairly well.

"Alright," Ally says at the end. "Since we have all new music, would you guys be okay with adding an extra practice or two here and there in order to make sure we have time to perfect the routine?"

Everyone seems pretty enthusiastic. Well, almost everyone.

"Can't," Austin's voice drawls from in front of her. She looks at him. "I have a date with my girlfriend."

"But I didn't even say a date or time yet," Ally says, knitting her eyebrows together.

"Correction: I'm going to plan a date with my girlfriend."

Ally exhales. "You guys, go ahead," she announces to the rest of the glee club. "See you tomorrow."

Her friends start piling out, giving her sympathetic glances as they pass. Austin starts walking out too, but Ally marches over and stands in front of him.

"We need you at these practices."

"I'm gonna be busy."

"You don't even know when they're gonna be yet!"

"Still gonna be busy."

"Austin, you're not even trying to enjoy this."

"Because it's not enjoyable. I'm only doing this for the extra cash."

"Well, maybe you would enjoy it if you just let yourself! You don't have to act like some jerk who's too cool for everything all the time!"

"And you don't have to act like an annoying control freak all the time! You're lucky I'm even doing this!"

Ally exhales in frustration. "Fine! Whatever! Miss the practices, but if we don't win because you don't know what you're doing, you're not getting any prize money."

"Hey, that's not – "

"I asked you to help us win. If we don't win, you didn't hold up your end of the deal. That means you get nothing."

This time, she's the one who walks out.

He storms into practice and slams the door behind him. He's late, of course, and everyone stops singing and jumps in surprise at his entrance. He clomps up to his spot and glares at Ally.

She decides to get mad at him later, so after welcoming him with as little bitterness as she can muster she continues on with practice.

Surprisingly, Austin is pretty caught up with their music, even though he's hardly been paying attention and he was almost an hour late today.

After practice, Ally catches Austin's arm.

"What," he spits.

"What is with you today? You're even more moody than usual."

"Well, that's because today is my anniversary with my girlfriend, who wanted to spend the day with me. And I had to cancel because I had to come here. And she was not happy about it, which means I'm gonna hear all about it later. She's already mad enough I'm stooping so low to do this, and now that it's actually interfering with us hanging out she's furious. Your stupid glee club is ruining my life."

He starts storming out again, but she's determined to have the last word.

"Sure," she says, "go stomping out again like you always do, acting like a five-year-old throwing a tantrum because he didn't get his way."

Austin stops and turns on her, just like she knew he would.

"I'm the five-year-old. I'm the five-year-old?! You're the one who throws tantrums if you don't get your way! You're the one who demands all of my time and attention, and you're the one who needs everything to be perfect! You're the one who wants everything your way or no way!"

"Are you kidding me?!" she exclaims. "You made me change the set twice just because you didn't like it! You're the one throwing a tantrum because you have to be two hours late to your anniversary afternoon with your girlfriend!"

"She has work," Austin says, "which means now we can't hang out at all."

"Then hang out with her tomorrow! If she really cares about you then I'm sure she won't care."

"You don't know her," the blond scoffs, rolling his eyes. "I ditched her for glee club. I ditched our anniversary just so I could come sing a cappella with a bunch of bratty, friendless perfectionists with nothing better to do than sit at school for an extra two hours every day!"

Ally clenches her fists, taking a step closer to him and glaring up at him.

"You're calling us bratty and friendless?! Look at you! You're throwing tantrums just because you don't wanna be here, and you're taking out your frustration by yelling at people for no reason! And you think you're so cool and popular, but the only person I've seen you hang out with since your band kicked you out was your girlfriend. No one else wants to talk to you! Maybe if you weren't so bitter and selfish, people would actually like you!"

"Selfish?! I'm helping you! You're the one ruining my life with your stupid glee club!"

"You're the one who's letting it ruin your life!"

"You know what, I can't do this anymore. I quit."

He starts walking out again.

"Of course you quit." She laughs bitterly. "And of course you need the last word. I don't know why I even tried."

Austin seems set on ignoring her, but apparently his immaturity gets the best of him and he once again returns to stand in front of her.

"I know why you tried," he sneers. "It's because you're a desperate, pathetic wannabe who doesn't feel like she's worth anything unless she wins. Well, I've got a newsflash for you, sweetheart." He leans his face so close to hers that she can feel his breath on her face. "No matter what you place in that stupid competition, you still won't be worth a dime."

And then he walks out, the weight of his words too heavy on her shoulders for her to say anything else.

"Hey, where has Austin been?" Trish asks her after practice a week later. "State's next week, and he hasn't been here to learn any of the choreography."

Ally hasn't figured out how to tell them that Austin quit yet. She knows she has to within the next few days, but she's still holding on to the hope that there will be some miracle that'll allow them to perform with one less person.

But she knows that's ridiculous.

"He…he quit," Ally admits, looking down.

"He what?! And you didn't tell us?!"

"I didn't know how…and I was trying to talk to the people, but they said we can't compete. I'm sorry…"

"You shouldn't have trusted that he'd stay in the first place," Trish says, shaking her head.

Ally sighs. "I know that now. I was desperate."

She tries to push those last words he said to her out of her mind, but they still sting.

"So what're you gonna do?" Trish asks.

"Give up," Ally replies with a shrug. "I'll tell everyone tomorrow."

"And give Austin that satisfaction?"

"Don't you get it, Trish? He doesn't care what we do. He only cares about himself."

Trish purses her lips but doesn't say a word. Ally knows that Trish can tell something else happened that she's not sharing, but Ally's thankful that Trish doesn't push it.

For the rest of the day she tries to forget about Austin and her crushed glee club dreams. It works for a while, until she's asleep and she finds herself dreaming of competing in the competition with her blond nightmare at her side. Except in this dream, he's actually trying. And it's really, really nice.

But then she wakes up, and she has to go to school, and it's not nice. She sees him in the hallway a few times, but of course she doesn't say anything. He's too busy being moody.

She tries to convince herself that her friends won't be mad at her when she tells them they can't compete. But Trish's looks of disappointment all day convince her otherwise.

The journey she makes from her last hour classroom to the choir room feels like a march to the gallows and her impending death. She knows deep down that they really won't be mad, just insanely disappointed, but she still hates having to tell them such bad news.

She walks in and sees everyone there, talking excitedly about the competition next week and already practicing their choreography. She takes a deep breath.

"Hey, guys. Um, I have something to tell you."

Taking note of the serious tone in her voice, everyone stops talking and looks at her.

"About the competition next week. Austin…" she trails off, trying to figure out how to say it.

Before she can continue, the door opens and Austin Moon himself saunters into the room and walks to his old spot on the risers.

She stares at him in shock, her jaw hanging open and her eyes wide.

"Take a picture, sweetheart. It'll last longer."

She continues to gape at him, so surprised she can't really form any coherent thoughts.

"You're wasting your precious practice time," he says. "You're supposed to be a control freak."

Is he being rude or just teasing her? What is he doing here?

She snaps out of her state of shock and shakes her head. "R - Right," she says.

"Wait, what was it you wanted to tell us?" Dez asks. "About Austin."

"N – nothing," Ally stutters. "Let's just get on with practice."

Austin catches on to the choreography way faster than Ally expected, and he pretty much makes up for the week he wasn't there. The only places he struggles just slightly to learn the moves are when he has to dance with a partner, and unfortunately that partner is her every time.

"No, we go right," she sighs again.

"I know," he snaps.

He does get it right by the end of practice though, and they end up running their full set a few times without any major catastrophes before they leave.

When practice ends, everyone excitedly hurries out the door. Ally smiles and stays to clean up the room, and she notices that Austin hangs back too.

"You came back," she says.

Austin shrugs. "Yeah, well…I was bored and there was nothing else to do."

"What about Cassidy?"

"She, uh, she dumped me," the blond admits, shoving his hands in the pockets of his ripped jeans. "Couldn't date a glee club loser."

Ally bites her lip. "I'm sorry. Guess glee club really is ruining your life."

"And yet I came back anyway."

She smiles slightly. "Kinda draws you back in, doesn't it? Even if you don't want it to."

He glances at her. "Yeah, something definitely does."

"Thank you for coming back," she says, walking over to where he's leaning against the grand piano.

"I'm still only doing this for the money."

"And I'm still thanking you."

"I still think glee club is for losers."

She smiles. "We may be losers, but come competition I think we'll come out as winners."

Austin blinks, his face expressionless. "That was terrible."

"At least I have a sense of humor."

Austin rolls his eyes.

"So…is there any reason why you're still here? Not to be rude, but – "

"I wanted to…apologize," he manages, almost choking on the word. "I crossed a line I shouldn't have crossed the other day with what I said. I'm sorry."

"Wow, the Austin Moon being civil?! I should be recording this!" He gives her another blank stare. "Thank you," she says with a smile. "I forgive you."

"Then I guess I'm out," he says, standing up straight and heading towards the door.

"See you at practice tomorrow!" she says cheerily.

Austin shakes his head and leaves the room.

And for the first time ever, she's left smiling.

The competition is tomorrow. Tomorrow. And for some reason Austin is back to his old ways of not caring and not trying. Ally is not happy about it.

"What was that?" she asks him after practice. "I thought you wanted to be here now."

"I never said that," he says. "I said I was bored. I'm still bored here. And I don't like any of you."

"Well, if we don't win – "

"We're gonna win," he interrupts.

"Not if you don't actually try in practice!"

"Practice is stupid. I'm fine without it."

"This is because you're mad at me about Cassidy breaking up with you, isn't it? You're trying to stress me out only to win the competition just so you can get your money and be done with us. That's what this is all about, right?"

"I don't care about your stupid glee club or how much stress you're in. I don't even care about Cassidy anymore. I just don't care about anything."

"Well that's a pretty sad way of living life."

"And being a friendless loser in glee club isn't?"

"You're in glee club."

"Because you're paying me if you win. Then I'm out and I'll never have to talk to you or anyone else in your lame glee club again."

Ally sighs. "I told you, if you'd let yourself enjoy it – "

"I don't want to enjoy it," he interrupts. "I don't want to be here, I don't want to be around all of you, and I especially don't want to see you every day."

He walks out of the choir room, and Ally follows. She's angrier now than before. Does he honestly think that she likes having to see and be around him every day?!

But for some reason, she's also kind of hurt. They may constantly be at each other's throats, but after his apology the other day she thought maybe things would start to change. Guess not.

"You can't say that to me," she says. He seems to ignore her. "You can't tell me what a nightmare I am when you're the one making things difficult!"

He stops and turns on her. "You're the one on my ass about everything!"

"Because you're the one not listening!"

"Well you're the one – "

She interrupts him before they can get into this cycle again. "The point is, if you'd just apply yourself and quit trying to act so much better than everyone else, maybe you wouldn't be so unhappy in glee club and maybe other people would actually want to be friends with you!"

"I have friends!" he exclaims. "It's you who needs to quit being so stuck-up and perfect all the time! Maybe then you'd have friends!"

Ally takes a deep breath, knowing that there's no winning an argument with him. Austin runs a hand through his hair and looks up at the ceiling.

"This is stupid," he says. "This whole thing is just…" He runs his hand through his hair again and looks down at her. "You're – "

"Let me guess. Stupid?"

"Why aren't you intimidated by me? Like, at all?"

"You're not intimidating," Ally says with a shrug. "You got kicked out of your band, you think you're so cool but you're not, and your girlfriend apparently only liked you for your status. Pretty sad, if you ask me."

Austin laughs bitterly. "And that. You say things like that. You say things that no one else would dare say to me."

"I'm just being honest with you. If you wanna get some sort of revenge on me for being the only person who won't put up with your crap, then go for it."

"I don't think I could if I tried."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Austin shakes his head, laughing in an odd, humorless tone and bringing his hands to his face before dropping them.

"Of course this would happen," he says, more to himself than her.

"Of course what would happen?"

"I should've known the second you walked up to me and started stuttering and begging with those big brown eyes for me to join your little glee club that this was going to happen." He shakes his head again and lets out another bitter laugh.

"What's going on here?" she asks, completely lost.

He meets her eyes, as if he's just remembering that she's still here.

"Nothing's going on," he says quickly. Then he rests his hands on her shoulders and looks in her eyes. "We're going to win tomorrow. Don't you worry your pretty little head, sweetheart."

And then he walks away, leaving her confused and frozen in the hallway.

What was that about?

More importantly, why isn't she fuming at that stupid nickname? Why did it almost sound endearing? And why did she almost kinda sorta like it?

Now, she's really confused.

Austin's late. They were supposed to meet at the competition at ten so they could run their set before competing, but they missed their time slot because Austin still isn't here.

"Ally, stop pacing. You're gonna create a rut," Trish says from the couch in they're waiting in.

"Where is he?" she asks.

"Maybe he's ditching us," Trish says.

"We can't compete without him!"

"Maybe he forgot?" Dez suggests.

"He told me yesterday that we were going to win. And he's not even here."

But then the door opens and Austin walks in. Everyone else sighs in relief, but she glares at him.

"You're late," she says.

"You're surprised?" he replies, raising his eyebrows.

"We were supposed to run our set again!"

"We don't need any more practice."

"Yes we do!"

"Well, it's a little late for that."

Ally clenches her jaw and grabs his wrist, dragging him into the hallway outside the room. She pins him against the wall and grabs the collar of the red button up that's part of his costume, looking up at him as menacingly as she's able to when he's so much taller than her.

"I don't know what kind of game you're trying to play here, Moon. First you hate it, then yesterday you suddenly act sort of sweet and promise we're going to win, and now you show up late and act like you don't care again!"

"I never cared," he says, removing her hands from his shirt collar.

"Then what was all that about yesterday?"

"It was nothing. Don't worry about it."

"So you don't care if we win?"

"I want my money. But I don't care about winning just to win it for you and your glee club. Especially not after you've been such a nightmare."

"I've been a nightmare?!"

"That's what I said, sweetheart."

"All I want is to win a competition!"

"So you're being a control freak and making everyone hate it!"

"Everyone else wants to win too! You're the one who hates it!"

"Well, maybe I wouldn't hate it so much if you weren't so annoying!"

"It sounds like you hate me more than anything else, so stop dragging glee club into this!"

Austin clenches his jaw and grabs her biceps, pinning her arms to her sides and leaning over her slightly. "You know what? Maybe I do hate you!"

She glares up at him, unfazed and he stares down at her with those cold, narrowed eyes. "Then stop taking it out on everyone else. You made a commitment and I know you can help us win, so do it for the money or whatever. You can hate me all you want, but I don't want to let them down."

His eyes soften, along with the rest of his face. His grip on her arms loosens as he scans her face and swallows. "I..." He trails off, seemingly at a loss for words for the first time ever.

But then suddenly his eyes are closed and his lips are on hers and before she knows what she's doing she's closing her eyes and kissing him back, only slightly freaking out.

He lets go of her arms and wraps his arms around her waist, pulling her into him. She rests her hands on his shoulders, relaxing into his arms as he tightens his grip around her. A tiny voice in her head tells her to push him away, but she tells it to shut up and let her enjoy this for a while.

But then he pulls away, leaning his head back against the wall. She can hear his ragged breathing matching hers.

She expects herself to be appalled, angry, even disgusted at the fact that Austin Moon just kissed her. Instead, she just finds herself disappointed that it ended so soon.

Almost as if he's reading her mind, he dips his head down and reconnects their lips. It's less hasty this time, and sweeter.

She moves her hands up into his hair, which is even softer than it looks, and he lets out a sigh as he rests his hands on her hips.

Everything about him is soft and sweet and so unlike the Austin she's used to that for a second she forgets that this really is Austin Moon that's kissing her.

Then she faintly hears the sound of a door opening, followed by a loud shriek. She jumps away from Austin in surprise and finds Trish standing in the doorway, looking horrified.

Ally feels heat rushing to her cheeks as she meets Trish's wide eyes with her own. She looks over at Austin, who already has his hands shoved in his pockets and a disappointed look on his face as he stares at the ground.

"What did I just see?!" Trish asks in a shrill voice.

"Knock next time," Austin mutters, brushing past Ally and Trish as he walks in the room with the rest of the glee club members. He pulls the door shut behind him, leaving Ally and Trish alone in the hallway.

"Were you two – "

"He kissed me," Ally interrupts her friend, her face turning even redder. "Austin Moon just kissed me."

"Why?!"

"I don't know!"

"You didn't look too worried about it!"

"Well, I…I wasn't."

"Oh, Ally. You don't like him, do you? You can't!"

"I didn't think I did! But…he was kind of sweet before he left yesterday and he said some weird things and then he looked at me a certain way today and, well, I think I like him now."

"Well, apparently!"

"I think he might like me…"

"Ally, stop. He hates all of us. He's only in this for the money. If you keep thinking like that you're gonna get hurt."

"He kissed me. And yesterday, those weird things he said…there was something in there about him knowing something was gonna happen and my big brown eyes and – "

"That may not mean anything."

"Trish, he kissed me!"

"He's Austin Moon."

"Yeah, but if he thinks I'm such a loser he wouldn't kiss me."

Trish purses her lips. "I guess you have a point. But you can't just ask him if he likes you."

"Why not?"

"Because if you're wrong, you'll never hear the end of it and he'll probably tell the whole school how the glee club loser actually thought he liked her."

Ally frowns. Trish immediately starts backtracking.

"You know I don't think that. I just - "

"I know," Ally interrupts. "We should, uh, we should get back in there."

Trish bites her lip, but she follows Ally back in the room.

She expects Austin to be annoyed with her for some reason and practically ignore her. But the second she walks through the doors, the blond meets her eyes. He still looks disappointed that they got interrupted, and the look on his face tells her that there was more he wanted to say.

"Is everything okay?" Dez asks before she can say anything.

Austin is still holding her gaze, and she notices out of her peripheral her friends staring back and forth between the two of them.

Ally clears her throat and shakes her head, tearing her eyes away from Austin to look at Dez. "Yeah, everything's fine. Trish was just...making sure I didn't kill Austin for being late," she says.

Austin clears his throat from the back of the room. "Well don't lie to them, sweetheart," he sneers, but the look in his eyes is more hurt than anything.

"Ally?" Dez asks.

"I mean, unless you're embarrassed," Austin continues, standing up from where he was sitting down in the back of the room. His mocking tone is laced with hurt. "Unless kissing me is so degrading that you can't possibly let your perfect little glee club friends know about it."

A collective gasp sounds throughout the room.

"Austin, come on," she starts, but then she glances at all the wide eyes of her friends staring at them in shock before looking at him again. "Not here."

"Right. Because you're embarrassed."

She clenches her jaw and walks over to him. "Guys, warm up, go through the vocals, and mark the choreography. We'll be back." Then she grabs Austin's wrist and drags him back outside.

"What the hell was that?!" she asks him as soon as the door shuts behind them.

"You tell me," he says, unfazed, his hands shoved in his pockets way too casually for her liking.

"You kissed me and then just announcedit to everyone as if it was nothing!"

"I didn't realize you'd be so embarrassed."

"You know that is not what this is about."

"Then what is it, Ally?"

"How about the fact that you've been a complete asshole this entire time, only to suddenly be sort of sweet and then randomly decide to kiss me right before the competition?! And then tell everyone else about it and then blame me when they freak out?!"

"You were the only one freaking out."

"Because you just kissed me!"

"I know what happened."

"Can you quit being so calm about this?!"

He raises his eyebrows at her, and she hates that all she can think about is how twinkly they are and how much she wants to kiss him again. "I don't know what you want me to say, sweetheart," he says with a shrug. He sounds tired.

"An explanation would be nice!"

"Why? Since you're so embarrassed of me, wouldn't you rather just agree to pretend it never happened? Seems like that's what you were planning on doing anyway."

"I never said I was embarrassed of you. You've been embarrassed of me this whole time!"

Austin's silenced at that, but he keeps staring at her with those stupid twinkly eyes. She has to look away from him before her brain completely melts.

"You can't even look at me," he finally says.

"I can't look at you because your stupid eyes are all sparkly and I can't think straight!" she snaps.

"Then maybe, for once, you should stop thinking so much, sweetheart."

"Why did you kiss me?" she finally asks, staring intently at the ground.

"Take a guess."

She swallows and looks up at him again. He's still watching her, and she can almost feel every one of her thoughts disappearing until her mind is completely blank. His face softens again.

"Hey, look. I'm...sorry, okay? I thought I was picking up on something, but...I realize now that was stupid. I've been a total asshole, you're right. Randomly kissing you like that and then freaking out on you in front of everyone was a dick move. I'm sorry."

"You thought...what?"

He runs a hand through his hair and gestures to her ambiguously. "I'm not good at this, dude. I've been trying not to like you, but every time I see you and your big brown eyes and how much you care about glee club and everyone in it, I..." He shrugs helplessly. "I thought maybe if I acted like I hated you enough, it would sink in, but really I was just being an ass for no reason and hurting you just because I guess I was embarrassed to like you at first, and that's not fair to you at all. And I'm sorry for that. And I think I tricked myself into thinking I was one of the people you care so much about because deep down that's all I really wanted, and...I'm really sorry."

She swallows. "You like me? For reals?"

He shoves his hands in his pockets again and avoids her eyes. "Yeah..."

"Since when?"

He shrugs. "I - I don't know. A while. But obviously you don't feel the same way and I'm not gonna be the douchebag who gets mad at you for it when I've been nothing but awful to you this entire time because I've been in denial. I just...wanna say I'm sorry for thinking you did and then kissing you like an idiot. And then getting mad at you for freaking out when some random guy you hate became your first kiss."

She frowns, knitting her eyebrows together. "Wait. What makes you think that was my first kiss?"

He looks at her. "I mean...you're in glee club."

She narrows her eyes at him, and he swallows and looks away from her. "Right. Sorry. My bad. Again," he says, before glancing back at her nervously. This is a whole new side of him she never would've thought existed.

"What about Cassidy?" she asks.

"What about her?"

"You guys just broke up."

He shrugs. "Yeah, well...it was a long time coming."

"So you don't hate glee club?"

"I don't know how I feel about glee club. But I'm here, so something is keeping me coming back."

"You said that before. It sounds ominous."

He rolls his eyes. "It's you, Ally. I'm doing it for you."

She feels heat rise to her cheeks again. "Or the prize money."

"Screw the prize money."

She meets his eyes. "Really?"

He nods. Before she can say anything else, the door opens and Trish walks out, her eyes shut tight this time.

"We're on in five so put your clothes back on and get back in here," she says quickly. Then she slams the door shut again.

"We're gonna win," Austin tells her.

"Please shut up and kiss me again," Ally tells him.

He opens his mouth, looking confused, but she grabs his collar and kisses him before he can get a word out. He rests his hands on her back and responds to the kiss immediately, but then he seems to have to force himself to pull away and rest his hands on her arms.

"We're on in five," he says distractedly. "But, um..." He knits his eyebrows and pecks her nose quickly. "Later."

Then he grabs her hand and drags her back into the room.

They win by a landslide. She can hardly believe that her dream came true, but what's more unbelievable is the excited grin on Austin's face when he watches her accepting their prize, and then his refusal of the money she promised him. She didn't think he actually truly meant it when he said he did it all for her. But then again, this day has been full of surprises.

They all go out to dinner and ice cream after, and while everyone else is talking about their performance and their amazing win, Austin turns to Ally.

"So, we like each other," he says.

"I guess we do," she replies with a grin.

"I still don't understand why you like me. I've been an ass."

"Because the few times you weren't a jerk made me see the good in you. And have you looked in a mirror recently?"

Austin chuckles. "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

"So, do you actually wanna do this? Like, go out with me?"

"Maybe. On one condition."

"Uh oh."

She grins at him. "You stay in glee club and help us win nationals."

Austin rolls his eyes, but he smiles all the same. "You know what, sweetheart, you've got yourself a deal."

Ally laughs and he presses a quick kiss to her lips, receiving some protests from her friends.

"But just so you know, I would've said yes even if you didn't stay," she tells him.

"And I would've stayed if you didn't say yes."

"Then let's go on the best date ever and win nationals," she says.

"Piece of cake, sweetheart."

i love this fic but hated how i wrote a few scenes so i fixed it lmao