Maddie's POV

My name is Maddie. You're probably wondering how I fit into all this. I lived all alone. My Mom was stationed over seas, and my Dad was out of the picture. I lived in the house my Mom left to me by myself. Nothing exciting ever happened.

Nowhere to go, and no one to know. I mostly kept to myself, until... they happened. The boys. I tend to see a lot of them now, mostly on billboards, fliers, and magazines. But part of me still remembers the life before the fame.

It was the fall of '01, I was 16... we all were... except for Mikey.

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"I'll have a strawberry milkshake and a Swiss mushroom burger, please."

"Coming right up." The waiter said. I pulled out my phone and began to search for possible job opportunities. The waiter came back and handed me my food. I grabbed my straw and took a sip of sweetness.

I was just about to bite into my hamburger when two boys, both clad in black, came in a ball of arms and legs. Wrestling they threw themselves around the small courtyard of Bob's Café, and ultimately crashed into me. I fell back into my chair and the three of us crashed on to the cold hard pavement covered in what was my lunch.

"Umf!"

"Gee! You're freakin crushing me, get up!"

"Never Mikey! But seriously bro you're so weak."

I pushed through a pair of legs and arms to make a hole for my voice. "Would both of you please get off of me! I can't...breathe!" Suddenly the weight was lifted and I was facing two boys, possibly related. One had jet-black hair that reached down to his eyebrows. The other one looked younger with a pale boyish face, he had tawny hair that was silky straight and average length. They both wore black band t-shirts and black skinny's complete with matching beat up converse and dark hoodie's.

The one who I guessed was 'Gee' helped me up. I dusted excess milkshake and food from my clothes, fuming.

"Ugh, boys!" I growled as I grabbed my bag and began to storm away passing a table with two other "emo" boys, roughly the same age, staring after me a little taken aback. Where am I gonna find new clothes, I thought. My face turned red as I dived into the nearest clothing store, thank goodness it was on the boardwalk.

I bought a charcoal grey loose fitting tank, and some dark wash skinny jeans. Oh great, it got in my hair! I slowly fingered through my hair trying to get most of the gunk out of it and pulled it up in a messy bun. Finally satisfied I walked out confidentially to find a decent roller coaster on the boardwalk. The mini fair they had running was always my go to place for fun.

"EXCUSE ME! MISS! HEY YOU!" I heard a male voice call far off. Not knowing he was talking to me, I continued walking. I heard then an out of breath voice close to me. "Hey you left your phone at the café." The voice said as he tapped my shoulder to turn me around. I came face to face with one of the "emo" boys from one of the café tables. He flashed a friendly smile and handed my phone to me. His light brown eyes twinkled behind a pair of black nerdy glasses.

"I'm Brendon." he said as he extended his hand with nervous excitement.

"Oh my gosh, thank you so much! I don't know what I would have done without it." I replied taking it gratefully. I shook his hand in return. "I'm Maddie." I smiled and blushed instantly looking down. I wasn't a fan of social interaction.

"Hey Brendon where'd you go?" another boy jogged towards us. "I was looking everywhere for you, oh hello, and you are...?" he said turning the charm on and facing me.

"This is Maddie, the girl that Gerard and Mikey so rudely knocked over at the café." Brendon replied.

"So you know those two jerks that ruined my lunch?"

"Yeah, about that... those were our friends Gerard and Mikey Way. They're brothers and are always picking on each other. Sometimes they just don't know when to behave."

"Ahem!" The new arrival cleared his throat.

"Oh by the way, this is Ryan, he's like my little brother." Brendon introduced his impatient friend.

"Little? I'm the same age as you Mr.!"

"Well, you do kinda look younger with that baby face and all. Like if you were to take off that eyeliner you could pass for Brendon's little brother." I laughed.

"Thanks a lot for that wonderful confidence boost." Ryan said as he crossed his arms and sulked off to the side.

"So what kind of rides do you like?" Brendon asked.

"I love roller coasters not really a huge fan of the ferris wheel. It scares the crap out of me." I replied.

"Are you here by yourself?"

"Yeah." I said sheepishly. "I don't live with anyone else, I'm uh... kinda alone." I answered embarrassed.

Brendon was quiet for a moment. Great, he probably thinks I'm a freak now. "I'm sorry, uh thanks for the phone." I said quickly turning away.

"Wait, holdup!" Brendon jogged and jumped in front of me to stop me in my tracks. "If you want, you could hang out with us I mean minus Gerard and Mikey if you still have hostility against them." he joked. "No use in leaving so soon, I doubt you got all dolled up just to go sit in an empty house by yourself."

I smiled and blushed. "You don't need to feel pity for me or anything, and I don't want to ruin your guys night."

"Nonsense! I kinda get tired of these guys myself."

"Hey!" Ryan yelped from the back. This time Ryan was joined by a whole heard of black clad boys. My eyes slightly widened. I turned to look at Brendon.

"Are those guys with you?"

"Yeah." Brendon sheepishly replied. "If you don't wanna hang out with us anymore I understand."

"I was actually thinking of taking you up on that offer."

Brendon's face instantly lit up. "Really?"

"Yeah sure! I don't see why not."

"Cool." He offered out his arm, and I looped mine through casually. We met the group of boys halfway. "As you already know, that's Ryan, and there is Gerard and Mikey," he said pointing to the two familiar faces. They smiled slightly and waved. "That's Spencer," Brendon said as he pointed to a chubby pale faced kid with slicked back hair. "Over here we have Frank, Ray, and Bob." The one known as Frank was short compared to Ray and Bob and had traditional emo bangs covering half of his face.

While Ray had a gigantic mass of curly brown afro, and Bob had a serious expression and mimicked Frank's hairstyle just with blonde. "And last but not least is my best friend Patrick." He pointed to a boy my exact height. Hazel brown hair peeked out from a nice fedora. He too wore a pair of stylish nerd glasses and flashed a smile.

"Hey where's Pete?" Brendon asked. Spencer mumbled in the most mono-toned voice possible, "He went to go make out with some chick in the haunted house ride."

"Well... this is Maddie, she's gonna hangout with us tonight. So we're gonna check out some roller coasters."

"Aren't you supposed to be scared of roller coasters Brendon?" Ryan asked.

"NO!" Brendon said defensively. The rest of the group dissipated except for Patrick and Ryan. Ryan began talking to Patrick. "You know he's just doing this to get that girl right?" Patrick nodded.

"Obviously. I see it all on his face, love-struck. Come on, let's go watch from a distance like creepers." he said. Both of them walked off.

"Oh if you're afraid of roller coasters, we don't have to do that." I said.

"No, no, no I want to."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes I'm sure. Let's get on the Thunder." Brendon led me to the line. We waited in line, I noticed that he began to get more nervous as the line moved up.

"Are you sure you're okay Brendon? You don't look so good." Before he could answer the ride attendant ushered us to the next available seats. Brendon began to breathe faster. "Brendon calm down! Look at my face, you'll have fun, I promise." He nodded shakily as he licked his lips nervously. The ride began to move and Brendon started to freak out.

"Okay we're moving now. This is not good." He said. I held his hand and said "Give me your hand it will be okay."

"You promise?" He whimpered. I couldn't really so I lied and said, "Yes." The ride went off and we were hit with the blast of coaster air.

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As the train pulled back into the station, we both let out breaths of relief. I looked down at my hand realizing I couldn't feel it. I noticed that Brendon's knuckles were white from holding on. "So..." I laughed., "What did you think?"

"I almost died. But if that was dying, then that was AWESOME!" He answered triumphantly. I laughed as we both exited the car.

"So what next?" I asked.

"You're gonna try something for me." Brendon answered.

"What is it?" I asked. Brendon smiled.

"The Ferris wheel!"

My smile dropped immediately. "It will be okay." He said mimicking me. He grabbed my hand in his and led me to my worst fear.

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"Oh my gosh!" I said with my eyes shut tight. I felt bad because I felt that I was squeezing the life out of his hand. He hesitantly put his other hand over my shoulder.

"It's okay, just open your eyes." I slowly opened one eye at a time.

"See it's not that bad." Then the ferris wheel came to an abrupt stop and the seat swung wildly.

"NO!" I grabbed on to Brendon with both hands like my life depended on it. Oh my gosh oh my gosh I'm gonna die! I cannot believe I am making this big of a fool of myself.  I thought. Brendon pulled me close.

"Do you mind?" He asked me. At this point I didn't really care, I just wanted off this thing. I just nodded fearfully.

"I got you, you're safe with me." He whispered. The ride began to move again but neither of us did. When we were safely back on the ground we noticed it was near midnight.

"Geez that was embarrassing." I laughed nervously.

"Hey, I don't mind. You saw how bad I was!" Brendon smiled. He had a nice smile, I'm glad I took him up on this offer.

"I better get going." I said.

"Wait can I at least have your phone number? I had fun tonight." Brendon stopped me.

"Sure." I pulled out a piece of paper from a notepad I had in my back pocket and scribbled down something. I folded it up and handed it over. We held hands for a few minutes. "I had a lot of fun. Tell the guys I said bye."

"Okay." Brendon said. I could tell he was love-struck. By me? I didn't believe it. I smiled and walked away. I hid behind a nearby bush and watched him open the piece of paper gingerly. On it in my scribbled handwriting I wrote Thnks fr th Mmrs and on the back, my address. I smiled as I watched this dumbstruck look appear on his adorkable face. I began to walk hoping I would see him again.