"Stay amazing, okay?"

The words left Jackie's mouth and sliced through the final threads of her frayed relationship with Marco, ending their time together as her skateboard carried her into the cool summer night.

Don't look back, don't look back even for a moment. If you see him- You'll just- Damnit.

She hadn't looked back, but it didn't matter. The thoughts tore through her mind as her cool exterior began to crack. The smile she had given him twisted into a grimace and the first tear rolled down her check. She pressed on toward home. The further into the night her board took her, the closer she came to breaking down. As her vision blurred, her house emerged from the darkness. She dumped her board on the lawn, pushed through the front door, ran up the stairs into her room, collapsed on her bed, and lost it.

A soft morning light cut through gray clouds and drifted into Jackie's room. She stirred from her fitful sleep red-eyed and exhausted. Beyond her room stood a world that, for once, she was not ready to face. Not today, not tomorrow, maybe not ever again. Lying in bed, her mind drifted. It wasn't just Marco that had her so upset. All her life people had been making and breaking promises to her. So many broken promises had finally broken her spirit. She thought about when she was 6 and got a puppy, her parents promised would love and protect her, until it ran away one day. When she was 8, how her mom had promised her from that hospital bed she would beat her cancer. A year later in the cemetery as she cried over her grave, how she made her dad promise not to leave her too. At age 10, his suicide led to her moving upstate to live with her uncle, her last living family. Her best friend at her old school had promised to keep in touch, then just as quickly forgot about her. And now the latest in her line of crushing disappointments, the boy who made her believe he would always be there, care for her, get to know her. Finally, somebody she thought would be able to get past her chill exterior and relieve the pain buried underneath. Just to find out he was lying to himself and never really hers in the first place. It was best for both of them to cut him loose now, but it didn't make her feel much better. As a fresh round of tears threatened to spill, her thoughts were interrupted by a buzz from her phone. Looking over at it, she found a text from Janna.

You. Me. The park. Let's go.

Jackie hesitated for a moment before texting back an agreement. Did she really want to leave her room today and face anybody? Something inside her told her she did, and although she thought that part of her was crazy, she went along with it.

Janna was already waiting outside the Echo Creek park when Jackie walked up. She already knew what had happened, totally not because she had been spying on Marco again.

"Hey Jackie, let's go for a little walk, I know you need it."

Jackie followed, but barely offered a grunt in response. They walked in silence for a few minutes until they reached a bench and Janna motioned for her to sit.

"So it's over, huh?" Janna began. "Everyone sorted out their true feelings and all that crap and it was time to pack up and go home?"

Jackie's only response was to draw in a sharp breath and turn her gaze toward the dirt. Janna dropped her playful mood upon seeing this.

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were that hung up on him."

"It's not just him I'm upset about. It's everybody, Janna. Everybody who says they'll be there for me just suddenly drops out of my life. Nobody keeps their promises to stay and I don't know what to do anymore. What the point of even trying with people is at all?"

"Jackie," Janna said softly, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"You'll probably leave me soon too."

"You can't tell me what to do."

Jackie looked up at her but couldn't even get a word out before Janna continued.

"I'm just one person, I can't speak for anyone else who left you behind. But they certainly don't speak for Janna Ordonia. I'm never gonna do something because some other people have done it, you know that better than anyone. I hate following people. And just as much as they can't control me, they can't control you either. You're so strong and caring and kind to other people. When you first moved here, you reached out to me and became my friend when almost nobody else would. Even after how others have failed to live up to what you expected of them, you haven't fallen for their ways. You're always the one who can be there for someone else. You know what I mean? You're just the kind of person you need in your life. And I know you can't be the only one out there. It's okay that you're not okay right now. You don't have to bounce back right away. It might be slow but you'll recover from this, and in time you will find other people like you who won't let you down. Until then, I'm gonna try my best to be one of those people, at least for you, because you deserve it. And, uh, you must be a bad influence on me or something, making me say things like this," she finished with a chuckle.

Jackie felt a wide smile spread across her face as she drew her friend in for a hug, silently crying tears that were a mixture of sadness and joy. Janna was right. She was the kind of person she wanted in her own world, and she couldn't let herself down by giving up on everyone else.

She was going to be alright.