Maddy changed into her pajamas and went to bed, not even bothering to brush her teeth. That night, she had a dream... or rather, a memory...

Maddy was sitting lazily on the swing in her backyard, while her parents talked about Jumpstart. They'd been speaking of it for some time, and Maddy didn't really understand much about it except that she would have to go all alone.

"Three years is a very young age for someone to travel so far on their own..." said Maddy's mother, apprehensive. "She might get lost, or scared..."

"She'll be fine!" said Maddy's father. "And she won't be all alone. Grace is going too. And she's such a cheerful little girl! She'll take good care of Maddy for us." Maddy's father looked to his gloomy daughter, smiling warmly. "You want to go to Jumpstart, don't you, Maddy? So that you can be with Grace?"

Maddy gave a tiny nod. "Sure," she said quietly.

Maddy's father turned back to his wife. "See?"

Maddy's mother sighed. "I just worry about her is all. She's so shy and easily frightened. And I want to be able to watch her grow up, which I can't do if she's not with me."

"You'll be proud of her," said Maddy's father. "When she comes back, she'll be eighteen. She'll have accomplished all levels of school, something that takes much longer here. Their education is the best!"

Maddy's mother frowned. "Well... alright. I guess we should do what's best for our daughter."

"Exactly what I'm saying," said Maddy's father.

Maddy's mother looked very sad. Maddy slowly got off the swing and walked over to her.

"Don't be sad, Mommy," said Maddy. "When I can write, I'll write you letters all the time."

Maddy's mother only looked sadder. She turned away and mumbled, "Sure you will..."

The next month, Maddy's parents drove her to where the next ship to Jumpstart was docked. Maddy sat solemnly in her car seat, clutching her suitcase. When the car stopped, Maddy pushed her door open, and Maddy's parents unbuckled her from her car seat and helped her out. Then the family walked up to the ship. They stopped there, and Maddy's father motioned for Maddy to walk up the ramp. Maddy took a deep breath and pulled her suitcase up the ramp. When she was half way up, she sadly looked back at her parents, who just gave her gentle smiles. Maddy swallowed and continued walking.

When Maddy got onto the ship, she sat down on a seat by the railing and looked at her parents, who seemed tiny from the distance. The ship started to move, and Maddy cried as she waved goodbye to her parents.

"Mommy... Daddy..." she said, tears rolling down her cheeks.

Maddy woke from her dream to the sound of birds chirping outside her window. She slowly sat up and stretched, then rubbed her eyes tiredly. She turned and put her feet on the ground, slipping quietly out of bed.

Maddy opened her closet and pulled out a pale pink overall dress with a white t-shirt underneath. After changing into that, she put on white socks and Mary Janes. Then she brushed her hair a little and walked outside. She was surprised to see Grace playing ball with a group of other Newbies.

"Grace?" Maddy said.

Grace stopped playing to run over to Maddy. "Hi Maddy!" said Grace. "I found out some more stuff this morning. We start school tomorrow!"

Maddy was silent for a moment. "School?" she said.

"Yes!" Grace said. "Our first ever day of school is tomorrow! That's what we came here for, silly!" She laughed, pulling out a piece of paper from her pocket. She unfolded it and said, "This paper says what Lands we'll be in each year."

"Lands?" said Maddy.

"Yeah!" said Grace. "If only I could read I could tell you all of them! But I do remember that the first one is StoryLand. JumpStart has four Lands. We're gonna learn more about it in the tutorial."

"I see," said Maddy. "And that's today?"

"Yeah," said Grace. "At eleven o'clock. Do you wanna get some breakfast?"

"Breakfast?" said Maddy. She felt her stomach growl, and suddenly realized that she was hungry. "Where?"

"C'mon," said Grace, taking Maddy's hand.

Grace led Maddy out of the neighborhood, past the Enchanted Sanctuary, and across the bridge to New York, where there was a small coffee shop. The girls walked inside and up to the counter, where a few teenage Jumpees were working.

"Hello, how may I help you today?" said one of the girls working there.

"I want a donut and a cinnamon roll," said Grace. Maddy couldn't help but notice Grace didn't have very good manners. Grace nudged Maddy, as a sign for her to order.

"Oh, um, I'll take a muffin... please," Maddy said, quickly pointing to a chocolate chip muffin in the display case.

The employee nodded. She pulled out the foods the girls had requested and put them in a paper bag, which she handed to Grace. Grace smiled and ran over to a table. She and Maddy sat down and began to eat their breakfast.

"It's kinda weird to not see any adults," Maddy commented.

Grace nodded. "Yeah, since everyone leaves JumpStart at eighteen."

"So... we don't have school anymore after we leave?" said Maddy.

Grace nodded. "Yup. In fact, we get to graduate when we're only twelve. After that we get jobs."

"You know a lot about this, don't you?" said Maddy.

Grace smiled proudly. "Maybe. Not nearly everything though. We're going to learn a whole lot more in the tutorial."

"Right," said Maddy. "So... are there any more places to eat here?"

Grace nodded. "There's a sushi restaurant across the street. And at Poseidon's Hangout there's a cafe, but it has pretty much all the same foods they sell here. There's also a cafeteria in each of the Lands. See, here's a map." Grace took out a map and put it on the table.

Maddy looked at it. "This place is huge," she said.

"You think?" said Grace.

"Well, for a school," said Maddy. Her eyes wandered across the map, and she wished she could read the names of the places.

I'm sure they'll teach us how to read in StoryLand, Maddy thought.