Ally Dawson woke with a start at around 3 a.m. on Monday morning. Her heart pounding and a bead of sweat tracing its way down her head. Great, she thought to herself, how many more of these nightmares am I gonna have. It seemed to Ally like they were recurrent. Every night, and no joke, it was ever night. Sometimes she would wake up at 12 and fall back asleep just to have another one. They varied too. Sometimes she would be buried alive and sometimes all of her friends would die in front of her. Ally's nightmares weren't something she talked about at school but her three best friends could see that something was going on. That something bad had been happening since Ally's mother died two months ago.

That was something else Ally didn't talk about. How her mother left for Africa all cheery and smiling and came back in a body bag. Ally didn't mention how the gorilla that mauled her mother was locked in a cage in Africa and she definitely didn't talk about how her father had been falling off the rocker since the accident. But Dez, Austin, and Trish could see that something was very wrong inside of the Dawson house. However, since Ally refused to talk about anything they couldn't do anything to help. Trish was sleeping over at Ally's frequently and they were all there to support her but they could not fix whatever it was that was causing Ally's depression.

So that's why when Ally Dawson called Austin Moon after having a terrible nightmare, he found himself sprinting over the two blocks between her house and his to get to her. Five minutes later he was holding a sobbing Ally Dawson in his arms. He calmed her down and carried her down the stairs to the kitchen where he put some water on the stove and stroked her hair delicately.

"Shhhhh," he whispered. Trying very hard to not start crying at the sight of the broken girl in front of him. After two cups of tea and a few lullabies, Ally had begun to calm down. The pair had sat down on the couch, Austin cradling Ally silently begging her to stop crying before his heart completely broke in two. For a split second he thought about where her dad was but then his attention was fully on the beautiful brown-eyed beauty who was soaking his shirt in tears.

"Ally, you're okay. You're safe. It will all be okay," Austin whispered into her ear.

It took a minute and then he heard a faint whisper come from his friend, "Thank you Austin."

Ally stood up and hugged Austin, tighter than she ever had before. She looked at him in his brown eyes and kissed him on the cheek, causing him to blush a shade of pink. She looked at the clock on the microwave and turned to Austin her behavior completely changed.

"You should go, go back home and change your shirt. I have to get ready. School starts in an hour."

Austin let out a sigh at the fact that Ally had once again clammed up. Maybe one day she would just let her walls come down. She had to know that Trish, Dez, and him would always be there for her no matter what. He hugged her tightly before saying goodbye and walking out of her house into the cold of December.

Ally watched him leave before racing up the stairs to the shower and washing the dried tears off of her face. She dried her hair letting her curls fall naturally and washed her face with cleanser before putting on her moisturizer. Since her mom died, Ally hadn't used makeup as much. It was a pain in the ass to put on and really just took up to much of her time. After Ally had done her face and hair she let the towel fall off her body and stepped into her closet. She slipped on a pair of panties and a lightly padded bra. Then she looked through all of her clothes before deciding on black yoga pants and a light grey tank-top which she paired with an oversized lavender sweater. She pulled the charger from her phone and grabbed her backpack before sprinting down the stairs and grabbing the keys to her Honda Accord before stepping out of the gorgeous house and into the surprisingly cold hair.

She turned on the radio to Power 96. Her heart skipped a beat when Austin's new song started playing. By the time she pulled into the Marino High parking lot she was singing along, something she hadn't done in a very long time.

"Oooh, oooh, yeah. I'm stuck on you."

Ally turned the car off as the song ended and walked into the school ignoring the sympathetic looks she received. She kept her head down and hurried to her locker to meet Trish like she normally did. She could hear the Latina before she could see her.

" Are you kidding me Freckles. I don't care what your llama needs. I will NOT drive you to the food store to buy chicken!"

Ally shook her head and held back a laugh at the red-heads ridiculousness. As she turned the hallway to get to her locker Trish looked up and elbowed Dez, both of their demeanors changed. Ally felt this pain in her chest because she knew that because of her, her friends couldn't be happy. At least not when she was around. Ally pulled the sleeves of her sweater down and clenched the ends in her hands, pausing for a minute, then walking up to her friends. She spun her lock and grabbed her books.

"So… Ally. How are you?" Trish asked awkwardly.

Ally took a breath and made sure that her feelings were pushed way down before turning around and responding, "Trish. I am fine. Dez. I am fine. You guys need to stop worrying about me. Yes my mom died. My dad is spiraling. But I am perfectly fine. By the way, do you guys know where Austin is? I need to ask him something." In truth she just wanted to avoid him after last night.

Trish and Dez stopped for a second and collected their thoughts before responding. "Okay. You're fine. Umm, I think Austin is in the music room like he always is."

Ally nodded her head and spun on her heels, walking to AP English her first period. She entered the classroom and sat down in her usual seat. In the back corner. She could see the board and hear the teacher but by sitting here she eliminated the looks and people that would stare at her and gossip behind her back. The teacher walked into the classroom and stumbled to the front of the room.

"Hello class...Good morning."

The class let out a collective groan. Mr. Staton was normally never drunk but it had happened once before. Today it seemed like he was high. This however was normal but because of his students success rate the administrators overlooked it.

He turned on the projector and began lecturing the class on Plato's Allegory of the Cave and on Bertrand Russell's arguments on philosophy. An average day and a boring one at that. By the time the bell rang everyone was glad to be out of there.

Ally walked to her next class and was debating the pros and cons of ditching school for the rest of the day when she felt a presence brush against her. She turned to see Austin. She internally sighed.

"Austin what are you doing. I have to go to class."

"See that's the thing Ally. I don't think you should. You look like you're feeling a little sick and I feel like I can't sit through 6 more classes."

"Austin," Ally began as he pulled her through the front doors to her car. "We're gonna get into trouble for this. I've missed way to much school already."

Austin stopped and turned to look at her. "Allison Dawson, you know as well as I do, you were going to ditch anyways. So don't pull that dead mom stuff on me of all people. I get it it's hard but right now you are coming with me and we are going to have fun because Ally, I am worried about you. You are NOT okay and you need a friend. One who knows everything. So either shut up, give me your keys, and come with me or you can turn around and sit through 5 hours of hell. Your choice."

Ally stood with her mouth open for a second before digging around in her backpack and tossing Austin her keys.

Hi! So it's been a long time since I published a story. This is my first multi-chap and I'm super excited about it so I'll be posting regularly. I'm thinking about making this around 20 chapters. PM me with suggestions or questions. Read, review, and enjoy!