Nicole gives me a look of compassion and walks back toward me. "You can't believe everything you hear, so no, I'm not dating Nick. We're just really good friends. You have nothing to worry about."

I jump at the last thing she says and quickly but nervously ask, "What are you talking about? Why would I worry?"

Nicole smiles and shakes her head. "No reason, I guess. That is, unless you decide something different. Anyway, I have to get inside. I'll see you tomorrow."

I just nod, and she goes back to the front door to walk inside. I turn before she goes inside and briskly walk down the path back to the house. I hurry inside and back up to my room. I pull my laptop out and search for Nicole Hart on Google.

The article comes up about her, along with a picture of Nick and her. I don't know why I'm doing this, but I feel like I need to know more about her. I scroll through the article and just see stretched information made to make it sound like they're together.

One of their big reasons is that while he was gone on his hiatus, he was secretly spending time with Nicole in a romantic place. That is completely false since I know exactly where he was during those few months. I close my laptop and sigh.Why am I even worried about this? I close my eyes and sink into a peaceful sleep.

~•••••~

I'm awakened by the sound of my phone ringing. I rub my eyes and hurry to get my phone from where it's plugged in on my desk. I manage to trip over something on my way, and I face plant. I groan and slowly get back up. The phone stops ringing.

"Shoot," I mumble.

I go over to the desk anyway. After all, I've already fallen, so I might as well not have the fall be in vain. I unplug my phone and look down to see who called me. It's an unknown number with an area code that I've seen in the last few years, but I can't place where it is.

I go back over to my laptop and open it. I search the area code and find where it is, but I still don't really know why I've seen it recently. It's the area code for New York City. I almost stop breathing when I begin to think of the possibility of it being Nick. I quickly shake that thought out of my head and exit out of the website I'm on.

Just then, the front door opens and closes. I assume it's Uncle Sam and Emma, so I move to go meet them downstairs. I check the time and see that it's almost ten o'clock. I slept way longer than I thought.

I hurry out of my room and begin to walk down the stairs. I stop when I see them deep in a conversation. They're so deep in it that they don't notice me standing in the middle of the staircase looking at them curiously. They move into my uncle's office.

I debate whether or not I should try to listen to their conversation or go back up to my room. I eventually decide to eavesdrop, so I quickly but quietly hurry to the door of his office. I lean into the door and strain to hear what they're saying.

It doesn't take long for me to hear what they're saying because Uncle Sam raises his voice slightly and tells Emma, "Honey, it's out of my control now. I tried as hard as I could."

"Sam, do you see how much of a disaster this could cause? From what you told me about it, this could ruin things with Maya," Emma replies.

"Emma, there's nothing I can do," my uncle states.

I hear Emma sigh. "You can't give up. We can't give up. We need to do it for Maya."

"She's eighteen. There's nothing more we can do. It has to be her choice and her choice alone. She's going to find out eventually, so we'll have to tell her before they do," my uncle says to Emma.

Emma sighs again, but I don't stay to hear how she replies. I can't listen to any more of the conversation. I have no idea what they're talking about, so it's an even worse feeling when I know it has something to do with me.

I go back up to my room and close my door. I go out to my balcony and listen to the tide rolling in and out. Just like it always does, it helps me relax. I close my eyes and take a deep breath. A small breeze blows my hair gently.

I keep my eyes closed and take another deep breath. I feel so much better now. I slowly open my eyes and turn on my balcony lights. I sit down in my chair and close my eyes again.

It's finally sinking in that I'm graduating in just a couple of days. Soon, I'll be receiving my diploma and will be able to to go to college somewhere. I have a whole future waiting for me, and I'm ready to take it on. I've always been scared of what comes next, but this time, I'm eager for it.

For the first time in my life, I'm in a good place emotionally. It took a long time to get to this point, but now that I'm at this point, I see that without going through with what I did go through, I wouldn't be who I am. That's so huge for me because I'm proud of who I am.

Emma was right about holding onto the pieces of who I am. I still don't have all of my pieces, but I think that it's impossible to have all the pieces. It's a never ending puzzle. What's the point of life without a little mystery to keep us going?

I smile at that thought. I don't exactly know what's next for me, but I know that it will be another winding road. It's scary to not know what's next, but I know that I'll be okay this time because I've found me, and that's something I won't lose.

"Maya?" Emma's voice interrupts my thoughts.

I open my eyes and see her standing in the doorway of my balcony doors. "Hmm?" I question.

She smiles at me. "I was just making sure you're okay. How did it go with Nicole?"

"Good. She's really nice and eager to help put this event together. She even gave me a packet of all the important details," I reply.

Emma smiles and pulls the packet out from behind her back. "Is this the packet?"

My eyes widen, and I mentally smack my face. "Thank you. I can't believe I left it down there. I can't lose this. It's my brain."

She laughs and looks out at the view. "Mind if I turn the lights on the rail off?"

I shake my head, and she turns them off. I look over at her as she looks up and stares at the sky. I also look up and am greeted by a wonderful sight of millions of stars twinkling in the night sky. It's so beautiful.

Emma's soft voice asks, "Are you ready to go off into the world by yourself?"

I whisper back, "I think so."

"Good," is all she says.

We stand staring up at the sky for what seems like forever. It's peaceful. Finally, Emma decides to call it a night and hugs me goodnight before leaving me alone on the balcony. I close my eyes after she leaves and let my thoughts ramble once again.

All of a sudden, it comes to me. My eyes fly open, and I almost faint from shock. I hurry back inside my room and turn my laptop on. I click open a new file and stare at the blank page. This is it. This is the inspiration I've been waiting for.

I smile and begin typing away. For the first time in forever, I'm writing something that I'm truly passionate about. I'm writing about something that matters, and I have a feeling that the end result is going to be something that I can be extremely happy about.

~•••••~

"Maya? Maya?" Alli's familiar voice asks as she shakes my shoulder gently.

"W-what?" I ask tiredly as I slowly open my eyes and blink a few times to get my eyes adjusted to my bright room.

Alli smiles excitedly and backs away from my bed to do a small dance as she tells me, "There's no school today! How exciting is that? And, by this time next week, we'll be college freshman!"

I groan. "Allison Dunn, my summer has officially started, and I really didn't want to wake up early today. Why would you wake me up this early?"

Alli raises her eyebrow and laughs. "Have you already gone crazy? Maya, it's almost noon."

I jump up in shock and check my clock to see if she's right, and I see that she is. I scramble out of my bed and hurry to my closet. I grab underwear, a coral tank top, and a pair of jean shorts and toss the items on my bed before hurrying to the bathroom to brush my teeth and brush my hair.

Alli follows me like a little puppy dog and asks, "What is it?"

I've already begun brushing my teeth so my reply is, "They're coming at noon."

Alli raised her eyebrow and asks, "I think you really have gone mad."

I shake my head and spit out the toothpaste. I finish the last few seconds I have to brush my teeth, rinse out my mouth, grab my brush, and explain, "Nicole told me that the rest of the crew is arriving at noon."

"Ohhhhh," Alli replies.

I nod and quickly brush through my hair. I grab a ponytail rubber-band and pull my part of my hair up and out of my face to create a half-up half-down look. I rush out of the bathroom and check my clock. It's eleven fifty-five.

"Alli? Will you grab me some shoes?" I ask her.

Alli hurries over to my closet as I pull my pajamas off and slip on the clean underwear. I quickly pull the coral tank top over my head and pull my shorts on. Alli comes out of the closet with my new black sandals in her hands. I thank her and slip them on.

Honk! Honk!

"What was that?" Alli asks.

I look at the clock and see that it's twelve o'clock. I groan. "Most likely the crew. I can't believe I'm not there to greet them with Nicole."

We walks downstairs and open the front door. What we see are three very large vans. They drive past the house and down to Nick's house. I can faintly see Nicole's figure standing in the doorway. I watch with Alli as numerous amounts of people get out of the vans, along with numerous amounts of luggage.

"Woah," Alli whispers.

"Yeah. Those are the people that Nick is leaving me in charge of. He's insane," I reply.

Alli laughs. "You've got this. He wouldn't have asked you to be in charge if he didn't think you couldn't do it."

"Or he just lost his mind," I shoot back, some of my old sass coming back.

Alli laughs again. "There's some of that Maya sass. I've been wondering if it would ever come back."

I raise an eyebrow and ignore her comment. "I have to go meet with them. Want to come with me? I have a feeling that you and Nicole will get along."

Alli shrugs her shoulders and says, "Sure, why not. It's not like I have anything to do, anyway."

It's my turn to laugh as I lead her down the path to Nick's house. We walk side by side and watch as the last few people are inside. Nicole turns to go inside but stops and waves when she sees us. I wave back and pick up my pace slightly.

"Hi," I greet Nicole as we arrive at the house.

"Hello! Who's your friend?" Nicole asks as she smiles brightly.

"This is my best friend Alli," I tell Nicole.

Alli steps forward and says, "Nice to meet you."

"You too. I'm Nicole, in case you didn't know. You guys want to come inside and meet everyone?" Nicole replies.

I nod, and Nicole leads us inside where chaos seems to be in action. Everywhere we turn are different pieces of luggage and sounds of loud chatter coming from every direction. It's almost like it's a party. It looks like an endless amount of people, making me worried that I won't be able to remember anyone.

Alli shouts over the noise to Nicole and me from behind us, "I never would've thought it would take this many people for an annual festival!"

I shout back, "It never has. I guess Nick is going big."

Nicole gives me a smile and nods in agreement. She then clears her throat and shouts over the noise, "Alright everyone! I need your attention! Quiet down!"

The room goes quiet as all eyes turn us. "What's up Nicki?" one of the guys among the group of people calls.

Nicole smiles. "Glad you asked, Tanner! I have with me here, Maya Walker. She's the person Nick left in charge of this event. That means you all will treat her respectfully and do exactly what she says. I'm going to be her right-hand woman. Now, it would be great if you all could introduce yourselves to her."

Everyone starts talking, making Nicole roll her eyes. I laugh. It's as though none of them have ever heard of the one person talking at once rule. I look over at Alli and see her laughing as she stares at a group of men talking, more like shouting, to each other, their faces growing redder and redder.

"Quiet!" Nicole yells, quickly getting everyone's attention. "Introduce yourselves in an orderly fashion. Let's start at the right and work our way to the left."

That seems to work because everyone stays quiet and waits for the first person to go. The first person introduces herself, and I'm lost from there. Despite it only being around twenty people, they all decide to include their jobs in their introductions. That wouldn't be such a bad thing if I wasn't already overwhelmed with everything that I'm going to have to do.

From going over the packet yesterday with Nicole, it seems like this job is going to be way harder than Nick made it sound, and it's making me stress out more than I thought I would.

"Maya? Want to say anything to the group?" Nicole asks, breaking my thoughts.

I look at the room full of people and only remember the first person's name. I gulp. This is such a bad, bad idea.