Jay sat on the floor in the middle of his best friend Maddie's lavender bedroom. He watched as she slowly finished packing her belongings into the big black suitcase that was lying on the floor. They were both silent.

"I can't believe you're leaving tomorrow." Jay said, breaking the silence.

Maddie didn't respond. She simply tossed a pair of jeans into the suitcase and zipped it up. She couldn't believe it either. By this time tomorrow she would no longer be in the modest Dogtown that she knew and loved. She'd be in Georgia. In some giant house with her father, step-mother, and step-brother. It was her dad's idea; apparently her grades and behavior weren't exactly up to his expectations. He thought a change of location and companions would fix this.

Her mom, Callie, didn't agree, there was really nothing wrong with her daughter at least not in her eyes. Maddie wasn't a bad kid, she was just having fun. She was basically a straight c student, with the occasional d here or there (which was pretty good considering all the times she skipped school). And the only thing wrong with her behavior was that she had come home drunk once or twice. But Callie didn't want to argue with her ex-husband. He had threatened to take her to court so he could have full custody if she didn't agree. Knowing that she and her mom didn't have the money to get a lawyer Maddie reluctantly agreed to live with him.

Maddie sat on the suitcase across from Jay and just stared at him for a while. She didn't want to leave him. They had been best friends since they were little.. He was there for her when her baby brother died, when her parents got divorced, and when she just felt like crap. She was always there for him too. He often would just show up at Maddie's to get away from everyone else.

"What time is it?" Maddie asked Jay.

"Probably around 9. Why?" He questioned back.

"Let's get out of here. I don't leave for another 12 hours, and the guys are expecting us to come to Tony's around now. Now is no the time to sulk. Lets party!" She said trying to sound excited.

And with that she grabbed her skateboard and her camera and left. Jay followed closely behind. They went and enjoyed her last night in Dogtown just hanging out at Tony's.

The next morning Maddie woke up at 5. She couldn't sleep. She was nervous, and sad, and upset and unsure. She pulled on her jeans and a grey tee shirt, brushed her long reddish brown hair and went into her kitchen. Her mom, Callie, was sitting at the table drinking coffee. They had figured that Maddie would still be asleep by time her mom left for work so they had said their goodbyes last night.

Maddie and her mom weren't particularly close, they weren't best friends or more like sisters then mother and daughter. Maddie's mom was usually working or out drinking or with her latest boyfriend. She wasn't mean or abusive or anything like that. They just hardly saw each other, and neither really minded.

Even thought they weren't close when Maddie looked at her mom and felt herself tear up. Callie got up from the table and hugged Maddie. She too was crying now.

"I'm so sorry." Her mom managed to choke out between her cries.

"It's not your fault. I'll be back soon enough." Maddie replied.

"Take care of yourself kid. I'll miss you so much."

"I'll miss you too."

With that there was a honk of a horn outside. Callie's ride to work had come. She kissed her daughter and with one last goodbye left. Maddie watched her mom drive off and dried her tears. She then grabbed a book and sat on her couch reading until it was time for her to leave.

At promptly 8:15 Maddie heard the noise of her friends outside her house. It was time. She walked outside and started saying her goodbyes. She was close with everyone but closest with Jay, Tony, Stacy, and Sid. So they were the ones taking her to the airport. As she hugged everyone else goodbye Tony and Jay loaded her luggage into Stacy's car.

"We should probably go now if we want to beat the traffic." Stacy suggested.

Maddie nodded and climbed in the car between Jay and Sid. She rested her head on Jay's shoulder as they drove off leaving her home and friends behind.

"You guys will write to me. Right?" Maddie questioned them as they approached the airport.

"You're kidding, right?" Tony joked.

"Of course we will. We're not going to just forget about you once you go." Sid said with a smile, pulling Maddie into a hug.

"Good." Maddie said.

They had passed through the airport security and all of that shit. The five of them were now standing near the ticket taker. Maddie's plane was now boarding. This was the hardest part, she had to say goodbye to her favorite people without ever knowing when she would see them again.

Stacy grabbed her first and engulfed her in a hug. He kissed the top of her head and looked her in the eyes,

"I'll miss you so much. It won't be the same here without you." He said smiling at her.

"I'll miss you too." She said hugging him tighter.

Next was Tony. He also hugged her then placed his hands on her shoulders and said, "Just don't let them change you. I'm going to miss you chica."

She kissed his cheek and started to cry.

Sid hugged her also and promised her that if she ever needed him he would be on the next flight to Georgia. She smiled at her friend and hugged him again, crying into his shoulder. She felt him stroking her hair as if to say everything will be ok.

As more and more people boarded the plane she realized it was time for her to part with her best friend. As she approached Jay more tears poured down her face.

"Don't forget me." Jay said right as Maddie walked up to him.

"I could never do that. You helped make me who I am, as lame as that sounds." She said with a laugh.

"I'm gonna write you a lot. And call you whenever I can." He promised her.

"I'll be back as soon as I can get my dad to let me go. And if he never lets me go I'll be back when I'm 18. He can't tell me what to do then. And it's not the far away. I mean I'm almost 16 now." Maddie started to ramble.

"I love you and I am going to miss you so goddamn much."

With those words Jay pulled her up against him in a heartfelt hug. The didn't let go of each other until Tony came over and reminded them that she had to get on the plane.

Maddie unenthusiastically walked onto the plane with tears streaming down her face. She turned around and looked back at her friends giving them a sad wave. Then continued on her way, not knowing when she'd see any of them again.

It had been over a year of hell for Maddie at her dad's house but she was now returning to Dogtown. She couldn't believe it and she wondered how much things had changed.

Authors Note- so that's the beginning of my story. It's just kind of a general introduction, nothing really happening. I'll add more soon. I know that there are a lot of original character stories, but I really wanted to write this one. However, I don't think that I'll have Maddie end up with any of the main characters because that's been done a lot, not that those stories are bad. They're not. Actually, I'm not even really sure what will happen in this story yet. So uh, review please?

Oh yea, the italics are meant to show that that happened in the past or was a flashback. Just in this chapter the whole chapter was basically a flashback. Yup.