Outside, cleaning the puppies' new stall in the barn was when he was first told. Distracted by the Border Collie's romping and rolling around near him, Matt barely noticed when his mother walked into the old barn. The tiny woman touched the door and ran her hand down it, peeling some of the peeling red paint from it. "Matt." He looked up, the slight spring breeze blowing through his brown hair, which hung into his eyes, almost past his nose and curled up at the ends. His bored looking green eyes stared at his mother through his mop of hair. After she hadn't spoken for a moment he went back to cleaning the stall and scooping out the straw when she called his name again, more sternly this time. He shot a glance back at her, almost as if he was daring her to talk to him like that again. "I'm going to the airport...I'll be back soon. Don't you leave the property unless you call me first." Matt wasn't even looking at his mother. His eyes followed one of the five-week-old puppies that were heading straight for the door. "Matthew, are you even listening to me?!"

"Shut the door mom, before the puppy gets out." The women sighed and turned on her heel and shut the door, almost on the puppy's nose. Turning back towards him, his mother started to speak again but Matt cut her off. "Now why are you going to the airport?" She shook her head, frustration obviously filling her.

"I'm going there to pick up someone! Why other than that would I be going?" Although she said this, it obviously wasn't enough or else he wouldn't have questioned whom it was that she was getting. "A friend's daughter. She's coming to stay with us for the summer. Her parent's...old friends of mine...are leaving for Paris for the summer. I'll be back soon." Without waiting for any objections like she knew there would be, his mother turned and slipped out the door, shutting it behind her.

'It's not even summer yet...' Matt thought to himself, but went back to cleaning. Grabbing an arm load of fresh straw for the puppies', he tossed it into the square stall. He repeated the procedure three more times until he was satisfied with the amount of straw in the stall. Patting the side of his leg, he called out to the mother dog. "Molly...come on." She looked up at him with her deep brown eyes and obediently retreated to his side. "Come on girl..get in there." Pointing into the stall, the loyal dog looked up at him one last time and then obeyed, sulking into the stall. The puppies soon realized their mother wasn't near them and wandered into the stall after her. As Matt shut the door and locked it after the last puppy went in, he leaned over the door. Molly stood on her back legs, placing her front paws on his shoulders. "I've got to go Moll...be back later, okay?" As if she understood, she licked his face a few times and then dropped back to the ground where her eager puppies fed off of her.

Now, Matt wasn't the regular kind of boy. He didn't really fit into any groups, although he would fit into the 'punk' label more than anything. That didn't matter though. Matt hated labels. Being hard to get along with, Matt didn't have many close friends and didn't exactly get on the best with his mother. They often fought. It seemed that the only time he was happy was when he was playing his bass guitar and learning new songs, or he was with his animals. That was whom he got on best with; animals. They were the only ones who would actually listen to them, therefor them gaining his respect. He had a way with animals.

Leaving the barn, Matt crossed the yard. He kneeled down, placing one hand under the goat's chin and one hand stroking the top of her head over and over. "Hey Pen..." He whispered. Penny was the goat his mother had found abandon just months earlier. She was still rather small, and her white coat was in need of a good washing. He plopped down in front of her, and the goat knelt down and then laid, resting her head in his hand still. "How are you doing today?" He asked. Although the animals never actually responded, he still thought they could understand what he was saying. It seemed like it anyway. Penny watched him, her eyes occasionally closing and then reopening. After a few moments he stood up. The goat followed him although she made no noise. She never made noise. They never heard her do anything that even sounded like she was making a noise since they had had her. Biting the back of his shirt, Penny caused Matt to stop immediately. Turning around, he gently removed the shirt from her mouth. "No!" He said in a stern voice before turning and walking away again.

A few minutes later Matt returned pulling a hose behind him. Water was leaking from it as he pulled it. Penny stared at him, and Matt seized this opportunity to spray her down. Mud drained from her coat but she didn't move. It was as if she liked the water. He got closer and held the hose almost right up to her body, but she still didn't move, allowing him to clean her thoroughly. Once he finished he allowed the hose to lay in the middle of the field, running, while he dragged the goat to the barn. "Get in there Pen!" He half-shouted at the stubborn goat. She did not want to be confined to a stall, but Matt wanted to keep her clean. He eventually got her in and locked the door.

Leaving the barn once again, Matt scooped up the pale orange kitten that roamed the property. "Hey Cowboy." He muttered, holding the cat close to him as he made his way into the house. It had been his mother's idea to call the cat Cowboy when they got him six months earlier. He slowly walked through the kitchen and down the hallway, dragging his feet into his room. Letting the cat fall the few inches onto his bed, he grabbed his bass guitar from the corner where it stood. He let the strap fall over his shoulder and jumped as he began a song by one of his favorite bands-'This Could Be Love' by Alkaline Trio. Muttering the lyrics as he started to play, and really getting into it like usual, Matt was naturally extremely angered when he heard his mother call for him from down the hall.

"What do you want?" He called from his room, pulling the strap from his shoulder and carefully setting it back into the corner. When she only demanded that he came to see her right away, Matt swung around towards his door and started down the hallway. In his anger, the chains that hung from his baggy black pants collided with the wall but he didn't seem to care. Once he stood facing his mother, he pushed his hair from his eyes, his angry green eyes staring at her. "What?" He asked again, sounding rather bored. He hadn't noticed the small figured girl standing beside his mother.

"Matthew Thomas Zellwegger, don't you dare talk to me in that voice." She whispered, her eyelids lowered and her eyebrows forming a 'V'. "Now..." She stepped aside, her voice becoming normal again. Nodding towards the girl she began talking again. "Matt, this is Madison...Madison, Matt." The corner of Madison's mouth twitched, turning into a smile as she greeted him.

"Hi..." Madison said quietly, surveying him; taking in all his looks.

He didn't seem amused, nor happy about meeting this girl, let alone having to spend an entire summer with her, or talk to her. "Hello." Matt replied simply and then turned away and went back to his room. Nina, his mother, could be heard calling him from down the hall but he didn't turn back. Instead he slammed his door and plopped back down on his bed next to Cowboy. "Hey..." He whispered to the cat, letting his hand run down the cats head and back. He started to drift off to sleep at the soothing sound of the cat's purr, but was awakened by his mother storming into the room causing the door to smack against the wall.