Pre-A/N: I wrote this chapter an insanely long time ago, but I'm just now posting it because… Well… I'm lazy like that. I'm including the author's note I wrote at the time mostly because I just kick ass and (even though no one reads my notes) you all read my story just for my witty hilarity in the A/N section. And now, two days later when I'm actually adding more to my Pre-A/N, I just have to tell you that this chapter's called Smack Me, but I'm naming it after my current favorite song by the Juliana Theory. I almost put the name of the song but...You can see that on the little menu thingy. Ta!

A/N: So… No one reviewed my last chapter… It got tons of hits, but… Jesus. Well, I am so loyal I'm going to write more anyway. In case it isn't clear, the gang has about a week left in Tamales Bay. Also, we found out in the last chapter that it was Nick who snogged Sara in the dark. And Maddy and Greggyo are in a fight… Shame. Anywhom, I guess I'll get to that story now, and you better review or I will personally send you all sad and pitiful emails. I'm pitiful. Also, I've been listening to this Dexter Freebish song called Leaving Town and it makes me sad, so this chapter is pretty angst-ridden.

Avec l'amour,

Maddy

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With a sickening smack, Maddy's hand came in hard contact with a face for the second time in twenty-four hours. "What the hell were you thinking?" she shouted in Nick's face. "I mean, I know you like her but you can't just snog an unsuspecting girl in a dark room. It just isn't done and if you fuck up this dance competition, I swear to God I will go to Vegas and drag you out into the street so I can blow your fucking head off."

"What's your damage?" Nick spat. "Just because your little boyfriend is jealous doesn't mean you can get in my way."

"Get out of my face," Maddy growled, shoving him out of the way and storming down the long corridor to lock herself in a bathroom. Despite the situation, she couldn't help but think how very cliché the whole scene was. She wondered what Greg thought of the situation, now that he knew about Nick's face-sucking run-in with Sara. "Jesus…" Maddy moaned at the ceiling, "What have I gotten myself into?"

With that she dashed out of the bathroom to her father's office, took out a red ballpoint pen and a legal-sized sheet of paper. After writing for a while, filling the page with her bubbly penmanship, Maddy taped the note to Greg's room's door, changed out of her pajamas into jeans and a wifebeater, pulled on a pair of sneakers and ran out of the house towards the beach, lit only by the rising sun.

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"Mia, did you see Madds this morning?" Catherine inquired, pulling a cigarette out of her case and lighting it. The girls were standing outside in the cool, morning breeze waiting for Greg and his fellow members of the lazier sex to rouse from slumber.

"Nah, maybe she went to get some ice cream or take a walk or something. I don't really know her that well… Maybe when Greg finally wakes up he'll be able to tell us where she is," Mia replied, eyeing the smoke curling out of Catherine's cigarette. It was whipped away by a gust of wind, and Mia shifted her gaze to Sara, who'd opened her mouth to speak.

"I think we may find out sooner than you think," she said. "I can hear Greg's big feet on the stairs inside."

Heather rolled her eyes and laughed, looking in the window and watching Greg come careening down the stairs, a paper clutched in one hand. He fell flat on his face at the end of the staircase, and soon after the rest of the boys came stumbling down into the front hall, pausing to watch as Greg picked himself up off the oak floor.

"Maddy left this morning, she left a note on my door," Greg gasped after bursting, out of breath, through the front door, nearly knocking Natasha over. "Listen to this:

Greg and company,

Sorry for the change in plans. I'm going to be gone for a day or two or more, depending on when I get bored of my new-found independence. I realized that taking on eleven houseguests, ten of whom I don't know, is no small feat. No offense to any of you, honestly, you've been great. Needless to say, I have "emotional instability" and I had a small breakdown (or two) last night. I s'pose you can ask Nick and Greg all about that, I'll let them handle the embarrassing explanation.

For the time being, I'm somewhere in Tamales Bay, don't look for me. I need to work some stuff out regarding friendships and priorities on my own right now. If I'm not back in a week, I hope you had an alright time and I'm sorry you'll be missing the dance competition without me. If I'm gone longer, the note taped to my self-mutilated body should explain some things. Bye.

With all the love my cold heart can give,

Maddy Jenne"

"Come on, what are we waiting for?" Natasha said loudly, grabbing the note out of Greg's hands and scanning it. "We've got to find her, she's not going to survive one night on the street."

"We don't even know where to start looking," Archie said, grabbing Mia's arm protectively. "Tamales Bay is a small town but there's no way we can search the whole thing in one day."

"We can sure as hell try," Gil stated. His eyes burned like the ash in Catherine's forgotten cigarette. "But right now I'd like to hear Nick and Greg's explanation."

"Yeah," Jim said, leaning towards them. "What'd you do to her last night?"

"Well," Greg started, thinking of how best to phrase his story without using Sara's name, as she was standing directly in front of him. "I suppose it started when I asked Maddy to help me with this girl I like. She didn't think I was doing my part to try and… to get the girl to like me back. Then she thought I made a move on this girl, a dirty, disgusting move that took advantage of the girl-" Greg gave Nick a significant look. "-and she didn't believe me when I said it wasn't me at first, so we got mad at each other and, well, that's where my part in the story ends."

"And where mine begins," Nick said, clearing his throat. "It seems that Maddy thinks I'm the one who took advantage of S- the girl, and that's… Not what happened. She ran off after giving me a pretty good talking to… Or shouting at, is, I think, a little more apt."

"So who's the girl? Did you meet her in Tamales Bay?" Sara asked, completely unsuspecting. You'd think she'd have caught on by now.

"Um… Yeah. We met her on the beach." Greg said quickly, giving Nick a look. He nodded vigorously. Continuing, Greg said, "Everyone but me and Nick and Maddy was in the water, so none of you know her."

"Oh," Sara said, brightening. "What's she like?"

"That's beside the point," Heather said, sensing Nick and Greg's collective discomfort. "We really have to find Maddy."

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Natasha and Jim were canvassing the main drag of Tamales Bay. They checked ice cream shops, Maddy's favorite coffee house, music stores, even a store dedicated to selling memorabilia from Cher's many farewell tours.

"Fuck. Where is she, Jim?" Natasha said, collapsing next to her search partner on a bus bench and leaning her head on his shoulder.

"If I knew, we'd already be eating ice cream somewhere with her, probably," Jim said, wondering if anyone else was having any luck. Gil was looking around the mall with Catherine, Archie and Mia were still looking around Maddy's neighborhood, Warrick and Nick had taken another section of main street, and Heather, Sara right beside her, had run off to Maddy's dance teacher's studio. Greg had gone off alone, presumably feeling responsible, and was searching the beach.

"We should get going," Natasha said, not moving from her comfortable position, nestled against Jim. He put a hand over hers, feeling the cool of her skin for a moment before standing up and pulling her up alongside him.

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Greg ran a hand through his hair, his signature move when he was stressed. He'd searched every inch of the beach except for the small patch of sandy forest that covered a tiny corner of the white sand. He hadn't thought Maddy would go there.

"Holy hell!" he said out loud, remembering. When he and Maddy had been young, they'd built a sort of platform on the outstretched limbs of a tree which hung out over a small gulf in the beach.

Sneakers spraying up sand behind him, Greg bolted toward the forest, splashing through puddles of salty ocean water as he went. He saw the base of the tree in the distance, a yellow ribbon he and Maddy had tied together as children still knotted jauntily around its trunk. Grabbing one of the lower branches, he swung himself onto it and peered above the edge of the platform, at the level of his nose from where he was standing. There, in torn jeans and a sand-smeared white shirt, was his best friend from long ago.

Her mermaid-blue hair was sticking to a tearstained face, her glasses were pushed almost all the way down her nose and the laces of one sneaker were almost completely undone, giving her the appearance of someone who's lost a lot of luxuries in a very short amount of time. She shifted her starry-eyed gaze from the sky to Greg's hazel eyes, her thin, blonde eyebrows knitting in a frown.

"Sod off," she said in a choked voice, looking the other way.

"No, Madds, I'm not going to leave until you let me apologize. I know you went through a lot to get your parents to leave and allow you to invite ten strangers and me, who they've never really liked, into your house. And you've done a lot to try and set me up with some girl you don't even know. And I guess I can even see why you didn't trust me about that Sara-kissing thing, you know most of the stuff I've tried on girls and not all of it is, ah, wholesome."

Maddy rolled her eyes, rubbing tears off her cheeks with the heel of her hand. "To be truthful, I guess I haven't been entirely honest either…" She began, trailing off and turning her eyes back to the sky. Greg waited for her to finish for a full minute.

"How so?" Greg prompted.

Maddy shook her head and stood up. "I don't think I can really talk about it right now. I'll send you a letter from my deathbed and you'll know then." She smiled and hopped down onto the branch Greg was still precariously perched on, nearly causing him to lose his balance. He caught on to her hand at the last second and hoisted himself back up.

"Do you think you're ready to go home?" he asked, fingers still touching the smooth skin of her palm.

Greg's touch sent electric shivers up and down Maddy's spine. Silently kicking herself for the weakness, she drew her hand back. "Yeah, I guess. Ready as I'll ever be, at any rate. Let's go."

As they walked together out of the forest, wondering how the hell they were going to round up the rest of the gang, Greg slung a friendly arm around Maddy's shoulders, with no clue what was in store in the week to come.

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A/N: Yes, I know I already did two author's notes, but I feel the need to do another one. I am begging you, down on my knees, please, please, please review. Just a few words is all I ask. Do you understand what's going on between Maddy and Greg, and such? Please just affirm that you're still reading my story! Sorry this chappie's so long.

Avec beaucoup d'amour, je t'embrasse.

Maddy