chapter four
we're graduating!

The rest of the school year flew by and now it was time for graduation. They had already gotten their yearbooks, and crowned their superlatives. Chad was crowned most attractive, Nick got best hair, Tara got most likely to succeed, Mindy got most likely to survive the hunger games, Madelyn got best smile. Mindy and Chad got brains and brawn and Madelyn and Nick got cutest couple.

Madelyn stood in her bedroom, a white summer dress on as she placed her gown over the top of it. She put a pair of wedges on, having curled her hair and grabbed her cap before making her way down the stairs where Nick was waiting for her.

"Ready?" He asked her, holding his hand out for her to take.

"As I'll ever be." Madelyn commented, taking a hold of his hand as they made their way to Nick's car. They two drove to the school, listening to the high school musical three soundtrack, which wasn't the best idea when Madelyn nearly had a breakdown half way there. Nick parked the car, the two getting out and being immediately greeted by their friends.

"Mads!" Mindy exclaimed.

"Minds!" Madelyn replied in the same tone, hugging the girl before moving to hug Tara, then Sam, then Chad. "Can you guys believe we're graduating?"

"Nope."

"Not at all."

"I have no idea how we managed to get this far."

"I'm genuinely confused."

"Glad we're all on the same page." Madelyn nodded with a smile. She grabbed onto Tara's and Mindy's hands, the group all walking inside the school and towards the gym where the ceremony was being held. Madelyn walked in, waving at Martha before noticing the two women stood next to her. "Excuse me."

She left her group of friends rushing over to them. "Mum! Aunt Sid!" Gale and Sidney spun to face the girl, wide smiles on their faces as they hugged her. "What are you doing here?"

"You're graduating! We wouldn't miss this for the world." Gale told her.

"And your dad couldn't come so I'm here." Sidney stated with a smile.

"Thank you both." Madelyn smiled gratefully. "I have to go sit down, I'll see you after."

"We'll be cheering for you." Gale called after her. Madelyn spun around, giving them a thumbs up before walking over and finding her assigned seat. Since her last name began with an R she there was only three people in between her and Nick since his last name began with an S with Mindy, Chad and Tara being closer to the front.

The principle got up on stage, doing their speech before beginning to call names out. The group including Sam, Gale, Sidney and Martha cheered for Tara first, who smiled awkwardly as she shook everybody's hand on stage and then Chad, who sauntered across the stage, winking at a few girls in the front row, and then Mindy, who had already rolled her eyes at her twin brother and was now walking across the stage smugly.

Madelyn was the next person in the group to walk up on stage. She carefully walked up the stairs, making sure she didn't trip over, smiling widely as she shook everyone's hands and was handed her diploma, moving her tassel on her cap to the other side. She sent her mum and Sid a large smile, then looked up towards the sky before leaving the stage once more.

Nick was the last person in their little group to go up on stage. The boy sauntered up there, shaking their hands casually, winking at Madelyn and bouncing back off the stage again.

When everyone had finished, the valedictorian said her speech, talking about people they had lost during the year and the future they all had ahead of them. At the end, they threw their caps into the air as the audience clapped for them and they were dismissed.

Madelyn grabbed Nick's hand, pulling him through the crowds and outside onto the fields where everyone was gathered. The two made their way over to the rest of their friends and their respective guardians that had showed up.

"We did it!" Chad cheered.

The group laughed before Mindy turned to Gale, grabbing everyone's attention. "Did you bring it?"

"Bring what?" Madelyn asked.

"This." Gale pulled out Dewey's camera from her bag, the group all smiling at Madelyn who held a confused look.

"You think we'd forget about our little video tradition." Tara piped up.

"Never ever." Chad shook his head.

"You guys planned this for me?" Madelyn asked in slight shock.

"Of course we did." Nick smiled. "Because we love you."

"Yeah we do!" Chad exclaimed. "Now let's do this."

"Okay." Madelyn nodded, laughing. The group all placed their caps back on their heads, gathering around as Gale recorded them.

"We're back, I'm Chad, though I bet you already know that." Chad flexed into the camera.

Mindy rolled her eyes at him. "I'm Mindy."

"Tara here." Tara spoke up next from the other side of the line.

"Nick as always." Nick smiled.

"And I'm Madelyn." Madelyn exclaimed. "Everyone."

"And this is senior graduation!" They all shouted in unison, throwing their caps up into the air as they group hugged, smiling into the camera.

"I love you guys too." Madelyn smiled as Nick rushed away from the group.

The group all took photos with each other, laughing as Tara had trouble staying up in her heels, the heel digging into the mud beneath them causing her to keep falling over. It wasn't long until Nick came rushing back to the group, an excited smile on his face.

"Guys, guys, guys!" Nick exclaimed, the group all turning to face him. "I just got off the phone. I got off the waitlist, I've got a place at Blackmore!"

"What?" Chad exclaimed, hugging the boy,

"Oh my god!" Tara smiled.

"We're all going to New York!" Mindy quickly came to the realisation.

"We're all going—" They began to celebrate before suddenly stopping, turning to face Madelyn, who had stepped away from the group. "Unless, you're going to Stanford."

Madelyn too had been accepted into Blackmore university, the group having a plan of all travelling to New York and spending their time in college together. But she had also been accepted to Stanford and was ordered to think about going there to better her own future by everyone in her life.

"Um..." Madelyn trailed off, looking over the hopeful looks on her friend's faces and she realised something. She had her whole life in front of her, her whole life to go and get a great job but for now she was young and young people needed their friends, needed stability. Madelyn had lost too many people to abandon the ones that had stuck by her for over a decade. "Of course I'm coming to New York with you guys."

The group all cheered as they brought Madelyn into their group hug, celebrating that they would spent the next four years making new memories with each other because a journalism degree was just a journalism degree at the end of the day, no matter where you got it from.

"Are you coming to New York for us? Or because you don't have to pay rent in the dorms or in a house because you can live with your mum?" Mindy asked Madelyn, her arm over the girl's shoulder.

"For you guys obviously." Madelyn answered before shrugging with a smile. "The mum living there thing is just a healthy positive."

Mindy laughed at her best friend. Nick handed Madelyn her phone across the huddle, raising his eyebrows at her. Madelyn smiled, taking it off of him. She turned her phone on, sliding across so the camera popped up.

"Everyone get in." Madelyn told them all. The group all huddled around, pulling funny faces as she took the photo before turning it to a video. "Hey dad, we're at high school graduation! And everyone is here, even mum and Aunt Sid. Today has been great and we're all going to New York together!"

The group all cheered in the background as Madelyn moved to camera around so everyone was in the frame. They all smiled as they hugged once more, taking more and more photos before leaving Woodsboro High for the last time.

Two months later and the group was packing up to move to New York. Madelyn had already packed most of her stuff along with the rest of the group, sending them off to New York the week before so they turned up in time. Madelyn was simply finishing packing up some clothes that she was taken on the plane with her.

Chad and Nick were gonna move into the dorms together, the college already telling them that they will have another roommate. Mindy was also going to stay in the dorms while Tara and Sam had their own apartment lined up, just waiting for a roommate to answer their online ad and Madelyn was moving in with her mother.

The girl finished packing, zipping her suitcase and grabbing her bag. She made her way down the stairs to meet Nick at the bottom. He stared at her impatiently, having already been ready for the last forty five minutes.

"Sorry, I was picking an outfit." Madelyn told him. She had settled on a pair of baggy tracksuit bottoms and an oversized band tee. "You ready?"

"As I'll ever be." Nick replied with a smile. The two walked outside, locking the door for the final time in a while, before putting their stuff in the boot of the car and getting in. They drove to the Meeks-Martin's house, picking up Tara, Chad and Mindy. Sam and Martha got a taxi to the airport so Martha could say goodbye to them all before driving Nick's car back to his house.

The group all piled into the car, driving to the airport, screaming all kinds of songs at the top of their lungs with all the windows down. Madelyn smiled as she continued to sing along, her excitement for the adventures ahead growing by the moment.

The group arrived at the airport, parking and making their way inside. They said goodbye to Martha, the woman practically blubbering as she said goodbye to her children and their friends. The group made their way through check-in and security, getting everything checked before they waited around for their gate to be called.

They sat across the chairs, mindless chatter between them and an excited buzz in the air. Finally their gate was called and the group made their way onto the plane. Unfortunately, because there was six of them they had to split up. Chad and Nick sat together with Sam, while Mindy, Madelyn and Tara sat together in front of them.

Mindy, Tara and Madelyn spent most of the flight talking about what they were going to do in New York before they decided to all watch a movie, trying their hardest to click play at the same time so they could watch it together.

Hours later, they arrived in New York. The group made their way off the plan, waiting for their luggage to appear on the conveyor belt. When had got it all they made their way outside to try and hail a taxi or something.

"Maddie!" The girl spun around to see her mum standing there.

"Mum!" Madelyn rushed over, throwing her arms around him. "You brought guests?"

Gale turned to see a few people stood behind her. "Oh no, I just came from work, these are my drivers. There here to take you all to your respective houses."

"Awesome." Madelyn smiled, waving her friends over. "Nick, Chad and Mindy are going to Blackmore, Sam and Tara are going to their new apartment and I'm coming with you."

"Okay." Gale turned and told the drivers where each of them were going before turning back to the group. "They're ready for you. Nick and co in that one. Tara and Sam in this one and me and you Maddie are in that one over there."

"Okay." Madelyn nodded, turning to the others. "Meet up at the Carpenter residence later?"

"Yes."

"Sure."

"See you then."

"Awesome."

"Okay, I'll see you guys later." Madelyn waved. "Send the address over."

"Will do!" Sam called over her shoulder.

"See you later!"

The group said their various goodbye, all walking to their respective cars. Madelyn followed her mum over to her car, the woman driving herself to her own house with her daughter instead of being driven there.

"Was the journey okay?" Gale asked.

"Yeah, I'm a tad tired." Madelyn answered.

"That's slight jet lag. Don't sleep though because it will make it worse." Gale advised her.

"Noted." Madelyn nodded. "I'm really excited for this mum."

"Me too." Gale smiled. "I'm glad you chose New York."

"Me too." Madelyn agreed.

Later in the evening, after Gale had helped Madelyn unpack and the two had some very needed mother-daughter time, Gale drove Madelyn over to Tara and Sam's new apartment. Madelyn waved goodbye to her mother and made her way over to the rest of the group that was waiting outside.

"Hey guys." Madelyn greeted the twins and her boyfriend.

"Hey Mads." The group all greeted her. Nick put his arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him.

"This is our roommate Ethan Landry." Chad introduced the boy to her. "Ethan this is Madelyn."

"Nice to meet you." Madelyn smiled.

"You too." Ethan smiled shyly.

"And this is Anika." Mindy introduced the girl.

"Hi." Madelyn sent her a wave.

"Hey, I love your necklace." Anika complimented, referring to Madelyn's buttercup necklace.

"Thank you." Madelyn smiled softly. The group turned when they heard the door creak open, Sam and Tara stood there.

"Hey guys." Tara greeted. "Come on."

The two led the group up the stairs and into their apartment, giving them all a little tour as they were introduced to the two new additions. The group spent the rest of the evening eating pizza they ordered and enjoying their first night in the big city, ready for tomorrow when they would meet Sam and Tara's new roommate Quinn.

( 💌 ) isobel's notes
AND WE'RE IN NEW YORK
THE GROUP ARE SO CUTE I LITERALLY
CANNOT DEAL
MADELYNS BIRTHDAY NEXT CHAPTER 🤭