The day after Cole had visited The Grays, Lucy awoke to the smell of freshly brewed coffee coming from her bedside. She sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

"Good morning Lucy!" chimed a familiar voice.

Lucy looked up to see her mother smiling down at her with a tray filled with baked goods from the bakery on Rose Street that Lucy had picked up the afternoon before.

"Hi Mom," Lucy said whilst stifling a yawn. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, actually, I wanted to talk to you about something," replied Mary, whilst making herself comfortable on Lucy's armchair.

"Sure... what is it?" Lucy asked questioningly.

"Well, Lucy, I wanted to know what you thought about Cole,"said Mary whilst carefully studying Lucy's facial expression.

"Well. I don't particularly like him all that much.I just think we're too different," replied Lucy.

"Too different? But Honey, Cole and you are basically the same person. From the career dreams to your favourite colour. I really don't understand why you would say that Lucy, I mean if you think about it, you and Daniel were actually too diff-," Mary continued but Lucy was no longer listening.

At the mention of Daniel's name, Lucy's mind wandered back to that fateful day all those years ago, when Daniel had decided to leave West City. What would have happened if Lucy went after him? Sure, she had no idea where he went but what would have happened if she just tried? Would she still be here? Would she be living a different life? Would she be happy?

"...Cole is such a lovely boy. I heard that they have a - ," continued Mary in the background.

Lucy glanced to her photo wall. Daniel's smiling face beamed back at her. She wondered what he would look like now, after all these years. Did he still have the same sparkling eyes? Was his hair just as messy as before, or did he finally learn to use a hairbrush? What was he doing with his life now? Was he still the same kind and caring person he used to be? Was he still full of incredible advice?

'Advice...' thought Lucy. 'What would Daniel tell me to do in this situation?' she wondered.

And suddenly, like lightning, it struck her. Lucy did not have to deal with this. She didn't have to go to medical school. She didn't have to speak to Cole Douglas. She didn't have to let her parents find her a husband. She didn't need to stay in West City at all for that matter. She could leave. She was an adult. She could go wherever she wanted. She could go where she felt happy. And that's when Lucy finally learnt one of the most important lessons of her life; she didn't need to follow her parents instructions and orders and demands. No. She needed to follow her heart.

"...and their South Sea beach house is almost three storeys hi-"

"MOM!," shouted Lucy. "I've had enough. I can't do this anymore. I don't want to go to medical school. I don't want to marry Cole Douglas. I don't care about his family's beach house or who they know.I appreciate everything you and dad have done for me, but I need to do what's right for me now. I need to do what will make me happy. And I will never be able to do that with you constantly interfering in my life!" screamed Lucy.

With that, she flung off the duvet, walked to her closet and started bundling outfits into her overnight bag. She had been holding in years and years of frustration and she had finally reached her breaking point.

"Lu...Lucy? What are you doing? Where are you going?" questioned Mary.

Ignoring her mother, she quickly finished packing up her toiletries and ran to take what was the quickest shower of her life. When she emerged from the bathroom, her mother had left from her room.She quickly packed up her camera bag, and backpack and hurried downstairs to write her parents a quick goodbye note.

Five minutes later, Lucy was backing out of her West City home driveway for the last time. And she was about to embark on one of the best journeys of her life with no maps or navigation. The only direction she had was her heart, and she had finally started to learn how to follow it.