A/N: I do not own anything related to Instant Star. Hope everyone enjoys!

Chapter Two – Never the Right Time to Say Good-Bye

It had been tense ever since her father had walked in with his mistress. Jude wondered how her dad had been so stupid to bring her into her mother's house. Nothing was said over breakfast. It was just filled with an awkward silence that someone could cut with a knife. Once Jude had finished her pancakes, she walked out of the room and went back upstairs. She needed to get away from the tenseness for at least 15 minutes. It had made her so sad to see the way her parents were acting around each other. It was hard to imagine that not even a year ago everything was perfect. Ever since Yvette had come into their lives, it had been downhill ever since. Of course Jude held some resentment against her father but there was also a tremendous feeling of love for him.

Upon entering her room, she made a grab for her journal and just started to write down some thoughts and feelings. She was almost through this journal and pretty soon would need to buy another. Evidently she had been upstairs longer than 15 minutes because when she looked at the clock during a moment of thought, she shot up and hurriedly put all of her music stuff in her knapsack and grabbed her guitar case. She was supposed to leave in less than an hour and her car wasn't even loaded up yet! She quickly ran downstairs but stopped short when she saw that all her bags were gone.

"Mom?" she questioned loudly. No answer. Jude tried again. "Mom?"

Jude dropped her stuff by the door and walked into the kitchen hoping to find her mother. The sight she saw surprised her. Her mother was sitting at the table with her head in her hands sobbing uncontrollably. Immediately Jude went over to her and embraced her.

"It's going to be ok, Mom. Believe me, it's all going to be ok soon." Jude tried to soothe her mother but it was turning out to be a task.

"How do you know that?" Victoria asked after her sobs had slowed down. "How do you know that everything will be alright soon? You don't know what this feels like Jude. It's like my heart has been ripped out of my body and stomped on. It was even worse this morning seeing them so happy together under my roof! He's not supposed to be happy. He's supposed to be just as if not more miserable than I am." Victoria said, trying to give Jude some sort of insight in to the situation. Jude, not knowing what to say just grabbed her mother into a tight hug trying to offer some form of comfort.

After about 20 minutes of trying to calm her mother down, she sent her upstairs to rest. Today was going to be an emotional day for both of them and she didn't want to burn her mother out before she even left the house. Jude glanced down at her watch and sighed. Only 15 minutes left until she was supposed to be on the road.

Jude went outside on a hunt for her belongings when she found them packed nicely into her car. She sighed as she put her knapsack and guitar case in the passenger seat. After arranging them so that when she drove they wouldn't go flying all over the place, Jude made her way back inside. She had completely missed the piece of paper tucked under her windshield wiper.

When Jude got inside she found her mother cleaning up the breakfast mess everyone had made. Jude busted inside in with love for her mother. She wished that someday she would be as strong as her. Jude smiled as she made her way to the table.

"Do you want some help with that?" she asked, trying to pick up a plate but was stopped when Victoria turned around.

"No, it's okay honey. I'll finish this after you leave. Right now I just want to apologize for my behavior earlier. I didn't mean for you to see that and I'm sorry." Jude shook her head and sighed.

"It's fine Mom. You don't have to apologize to me. I completely understand." Jude replied, giving her mom a sort of sideways hug. Victoria patted Jude's shoulder and shakily smiled.

"Aren't you supposed to be on the road right now?" Victoria asked, once Jude backed out of the hug. Jude nodded her head.

"Yeah, I was actually about to leave. I just wanted to see if you were okay and everything."

"I'm fine, honey. Now, you have everything that you need? Car filled with gas?" Jude laughed and made her way to the door.

"Yes, I have everything. I have the directions; I have Jamie and Kat's address in New York and I have all of my bags in the car. And yes Mom, the mustang is all gassed up and ready to go." Jude reassured her mother, but also trying to reassure herself. This was the moment that she would drive away from everything that she knew and try to make it on her own. Her eyes began to well with tears as she walked out the door. Victoria followed her closely and tried to hide her tears. When Jude finally reached the mustang, she turned around and just threw herself into her mother's embrace.

"Good luck honey and call me when you get to Jamie and Kat's, okay?" Victoria asked, this time being the one to comfort her daughter and not the other way around. Jude nodded her head against her mother's shoulder and finally backed away. Jude sniffled and opened up the car door. She went to hug her again and sighed.

"I'm going to miss you Mom and I'll definitely call you when I get to Jamie's. I love you." Jude said. Her mom nodded and blew her a kiss as Jude got in the car and backed out the drive. Jude waved to her mother before completely leaving the drive way and going on down the street.

Once Jude had made it out of Carson Hill, driving by all the childhood places she used to play, she pulled out her cell phone and called Kat. She was hoping to let them know what time to expect her but all she got was a recorded message letting her know that Kat was not available. She pressed one and took a breath so she could leave a message.

"Hey Kat, its Jude. Just letting you know that I'm on the road and I should be there in a couple of hours. I'll try giving you another call when I get closer. I'm excited to see you guys!" Jude said into the phone. Once the message was delivered, she fiddled with the radio hoping to find a good road trip song on. She stopped when her favorite band was playing and started singing along. Now that she was finally on her way, Jude was extremely excited about arriving at Berklee. Never being to Boston before, she had a feeling that this was going to be an adventure, and she hoped that her feeling was correct.