I was startled at the sound of my front door slamming. I folded the corner down on the page in my book and poked my head out of my bedroom door. 

"Mom?" I called out. All I could hear was the shuffling of papers and a couple cabinets opening and closing. She wasn't supposed to be home for another hour so I was confused as to who was in my home. I stepped out, following the unknown noise. I silently stepped down the stairs as my my heart began to speed up. 

In my head, I was telling myself that these were last few minutes of my life and that there was a serial killer in my home plotting my death. I was one to worry, that explained a lot of things. As you can tell, none of these things were ever true though. Nothing I ever worried about was actually a big deal and shouldn't be fussed about. 

I snuck around the corner into my kitchen where I met my mother's back a few feet in front of me. She turned around slowly then flinched once she saw me. 

"You can't sneak up on me like that." She said. She placed a hand over her chest that might be pounding as fast as mine.

"Me sneak up on you?" I chuckled. "You scared the shit out of me!" I watched her as she picked up and apple from the bowl in front of her. She pointed her finger at me before taking a bite. 

"Language."

"Sorry." I mumbled. She signalled me to sit next to her at the empty table. I walked over slowly, finally taking a seat. "I thought you were a burglar." I admitted. She smiled lightly at my childish comment as she always knew I thought these things. 

"So," She took a slight pause as if she needed to collect her thoughts. "I'm letting you off of your punishment completely." I nodded my head slowly, not wanting to get all excited when I knew there was a catch. I breathed out once. 

"Thank you." I said politely. 

"But," As always, there had to be one. Nothing was ever this easy. "You're going to have to move out a week early. Just by yourself." I became immediately confused and drew back from her. 

"By myself? Why?" I frantically asked.

"Since we're renting the house, the homeowners wanted somebody to be in there as quick as possible, so I said that you would." 

"That takes a week away from me saying goodbye to everyone?" I became defensive at the subject. She knew I wanted enough time with everyone and that this was cutting it short. Too short.

"You'd have the same amount of time either way." She looked at me with an apologetic look in her eyes, something I've been seeing far too often lately. I could only stare back at her, feeling an undeniably amount of emotions. 

"Okay. I guess..." I stood up and made my way to the fridge searching for a soda. I heard my moms heels click towards me as I began to shut the door. 

"How are things between you and Michael?" I cracked open my can to fill the awkward silence. 

I was getting tired of that word. 'Things.' These 'things' were not just useless matters as the word made it out to be. They were things that I held dearly and close to me, they were things that matter the most to me. I didn't like that the word to describe Michael and I's relationship, or whatever it was, was a 'thing.' 

"We aren't anything anymore." I said without emotion. This was the exact opposite of what I feeling though. 

"I didn't scare him off did I?" She laughed once, trying to lighten the mood after my unexpected answer. I didn't reply back as I didn't actually know why he left. "Please tell me you aren't blaming this on me." She sighed and let her arms drop into her lap. 

"It was his choice, I don't really know why he-" 

"Well good. I don't have to worry about him in your bed again." She was trying to joke around and change the pessimistic atmosphere, but she was only making me more upset about it. I rolled my eyes, not wanting to rethink what happened that morning. 

"Can we not talk about that?" I asked bluntly. She shrugged her shoulders and raised her hands in defense. 

"I liked the boy until then. I knew he's nothing but trouble." She waved her finger at me as if she was somehow making a point. 

My mom had never been into my love life or previous relationships too much so I don't exactly understand why she was so interested now. The thought of Michael running past my mom kept replaying in my head an endless amount of times and it infuriated me more than it should. I shouldn't be getting this angry and upset over a boy I had met a bit over two months ago, but in those two months I had discovered so much more about myself and my life. We helped each other through this vicious cycle and leaned on each other for any type of support and he had practically left a gaping hole in my life and in my heart.

"Was, Mom. Was. He used to be, as in the past. That was the biggest trouble he's been in the whole time he's been here." I don't know why I still felt the need to defend him, but I still did. Just because he didn't need me anymore didn't give me the right to be an asshole towards him.

"Yes, because good guys just let go of a girl because he got in a little bit of trouble."

"That's not the reason." I snapped. "Actually, I don't even know the reason, but that isn't it."

"He was no good for you, honey."

"He was good for me, and he still is. When you were gone for a whole month he was able to step in and be there for me. He respected me and he was there to comfort me when I was upset and he did all these wonderful things for me and over time he made me fall in love with him, okay? I am in love with this stupid boy that you don't like anymore and because of one stupid and unknown reason he doesn't want to deal with me anymore." I began to stomp up the stairs and make my way to my room. I wanted to stop myself before I took things too far.

"When you're young things don't last forever." She called from behind me.

"Of course they don't last forever. Just look at you and Dad." I slammed my door shut and broke down immediately. I couldn't believe the words that had spilled from us, it seemed that none of us cared what we were saying. I hadn't even realized my last statement until I crawled into my bed and thought about the situation which made me become even more upset. I had been so bitter since Michael told me that he didn't want to see me anymore.

My thoughts were scattered and scrambled and my head was turned completely upside down. I was over thinking and I knew it, it was something I accustomed myself to over the years. My body was yearning and aching for something; for someone. I just didn't know what they were. They were unidentifiable.

At points like these I just needed someone by my side, just someone to listen to my pointless thoughts. I searched for my phone that laid under my covers and immediately scrolled to Michael's contact. My phone pressed to my ear as I heard the rings begin. Before another ring went by I realized why I was up in this mental and physical state in the first place.

After a few presses to my screen I dialed Julia's number and waited for her to pick up. I nibbled on my nails nervously, which was something I hadn't done in months.

"Hello?"

"Come over." I briefly said through light tears.

"Are you okay?" She quietly asked. No matter how many times someone asked me this, I would never give them a straight answer, not even the ones closest to me.

"I'll explain later."

"On my way."

Within 15 minutes I heard a knock on my front door, followed by my mom scurrying to answer it. Their muffled voices were heard from upstairs and then began to come closer. Julia shamelessly skipped up my stairs and busted into my room. Without word, she came and sat on my bed with me, squeezing me tight into a hug.

"Do you want to tell me what's going on?" She questioned, finally breaking our silence. I tugged at my lip as I sorted through my thoughts.

"Well first of all, I'm moving hundreds of miles away, which you already know." She nods her head slowly and kept her eyes glued on my hands that rested in my lap.

"And I just said some pretty rude things to my mom. I feel awful." 

"What'd you say?" She looked back up at me, catching my guilty eyes.

"We were fighting and she said that something like 'Oh, you and Michael weren't going to last anyways because you're young.' and-"

"Why would she say that? I thought you and Michael were inseparable." She cut me off with a confused tone. 

"Not anymore. Now all he wants to be is separated." I shrugged my shoulders, not knowing much more behind it.

"Geez Maddie. Was this because your mom caught him?"

"I have no idea." I confessed. "I yelled at him in a grocery store parking lot after he said we shouldn't see each other and I haven't seem him or talked to him since."

"Have you told him you're moving yet?" She asked in concern.

"Yeah. It was the last thing I said to him." I let out a small laugh. "And now I'm leaving a week early and I want to fix things with him and I just...can't. He doesn't want to put any effort into me anymore." I hung my head low, embarrassed at the fact that I knew this was coming all along and I still played along.

"Don't say that. I know he still cares." I felt her arm wrap around my shoulder, pulling me into a side hug. "Everyone saw it Maddie, we all saw it the first day we met him. You were introducing him to us and all he could look at was you. He looked at you like nothing we'd ever seen." She pulled back and lowered her voice to more hushed tone. "Remember the night at Ashton's when we all jumped in the lake naked?" I smiled briefly at the thought of that night. 

"Yeah." I slowly said.

"When we all came inside we started talking about how you guys were going to be that couple that sits on their front porch in their rocking chairs when they're 80. As cheesy as it sounds, you guys were probably the best thing to happen to all of us. I've gained so many new friends and experiences, and so have you. And when you move, you'll be able to tell everyone about the crazy lot you were friends with." Her voice cracked at the end which made my head dart up to meet her face. A huge smile was plastered on her face, but a single tear fell from her eye.

"You're going to make me cry even more." We laughed at each other's state and brushed the tears off our cheeks. "I'm going to miss you guys so much." My attitude was a lot brighter now. I was giggling and crying at the same time which was actually something I didn't mind. I was happy that we could share moments like these, but at the same time it made me realize how much I needed them and missed them.

"You have two weeks." She declared. "Two weeks make or break things. You can let it all go, or you can try to mend it back together. You aren't leaving here on a rough note, I won't let it happen." I thought carefully about her words, letting them sink into me.

I didn't quite know what was going to happen over the next two weeks, but I didn't want to ruin things. I simply had to let things go. I had to let it all fold out by itself. No matter how much I wanted to meddle with different aspects of my life, I had to let them all play out and not interfere. Julia was right, there was no way I was leaving without knowing I had the time of my life here and no one is going to get in the way of that.

-

A/N:

idk if i liked that chapter i can't really tell, but it's slightly important so yeyyyyy

also, thank you for 5K reads i appreciate it alot :,-)

oooooo what's going to happen ooooo only i know