Hit the Beach

by Laura Dower

  “Oh, so he was a cowboy?” Madison joked.

  “Ha-ha,” Stephanie laughed, acknowledging the wordplay. “All I remember is that he was my dream-boat, that’s for sure.”

  “Did you ever hold hands, or … even … um … kiss?”

  Stephanie raised her eyebrows. “Who wants to know?” Then she smiled. “Sure. We smooched. Behind a barn. Just a few times, I swear.”

  “I’m so telling Dad!” Madison squealed.

  “What about you?” Stephanie asked.

  “What about me what?”

  “Did you and Hart ever?”

  “What?”

  Stephanie stared hard at Madison. “Kiss?” she asked.

  Madison felt herself blush like red, red roses.

  “Not exactly,” Madison admitted. “We came close, though. I think.”

  “I see.”

  “We sort of held hands and his face got really close to mine, but … the fact is that Mom says I’m way too young to date and kiss.”

  Stephanie nodded.

  “You think so, too, don’t you?”

  “I think maybe your Mom is right,” Stephanie said. “But what do you think?”

  “Well,” Madison said with a shrug. “I know I’m still really young. It’s just hard, because it feels like everyone around me is doing even more than kissing. I mean, shouldn’t I be doing more by now, too?”

  “No, sweetie. Not at all,” Stephanie said. “Maddie, you’re still so young. There’s plenty of time for that. Believe me.”

  “But … what if I really want to kiss Hart?” Madison asked. She lowered her head. “You know, I already had a first kiss—but it wasn’t with Hart. It was with this boy Mark. I kissed him at Gramma Helen’s house. Just once. It was during this fireworks show.”

  “Well,” Stephanie said. “That’s big news.”

  “I never told Dad.”

  “Thanks for telling me,” Stephanie whispered. “It’s an honor.”

  “You have to keep it a secret,” Madison said.

  Stephanie pretended to zip her lips shut. “Where’s this Mark now?”

  Madison shrugged. “I was so lame. I never e-mailed him. He never e-mailed me, either, but still … it was just … I don’t know what happened. I came home after the vacation, and then I started crushing on Hart right away again.”

  “Well, sometimes life is one big curveball,” Stephanie said quietly. “But you really shouldn’t rush anything, Maddie. Take your time when it comes to all that love stuff. There are a lot of things you can explore and enjoy that have absolutely nothing to do with boys.”

  “I know,” Madison sighed. “Gosh, I can’t believe I just told you all that. I told you about Mark!”

  “Don’t worry,” Stephanie said as she bit into a pickle.

  After lunch, Stephanie and Madison headed back to the apartment, grabbed a handful of miniature chocolate-chip cookies, and then went for a long swim in the pool. The water was like a bath, it was so warm. Madison swam a few laps backstroke, freestyle, and breaststroke. She also tried to do handstands, even though she kept flipping over backward before she could poke her feet straight out of the water.

  Whether under the water or above it, Madison’s thoughts kept drifting to Hart. She pictured him sitting on the lifeguard tower at the Far Hills pool. He knew how to do a backflip off the diving board. In fact, he was one of the best swimmers she’d ever met.

  After their swim, Madison and Stephanie sat on the patio for at least an hour without talking, just enjoying the clear, hot skies. Madison had left her laptop inside so she could read a tattered copy of the latest Veronica Roth book instead. She flipped through a copy of Seventeen that Stephanie had picked up at the drugstore. Sitting there in the tropical air, amid the patio chairs, bottled water, and magazines, Madison felt as though she were living the lush life. She was no longer the girl who liked computers and crushed on boys who called her Finnster.

  She was like someone in a music video. LOL.

  Chapter 5

  DAD CAME HOME LATE from his important work meeting, but he came bearing dinner: Chinese food from Lucky Chang, a too-cool restaurant near the offices where he’d been meeting all day. Madison had read about Lucky Chang—it was the kind of place where famous people went to eat and drink.

  Stephanie set the patio table outside, and they ate by the pool. The clouds turned a deep orange-pink, and the sun dropped down in the sky. Everything was perfect—almost.

  Madison had a pang inside.

  Dad noticed that something was wrong. He guessed aloud that maybe Madison was upset because he hadn’t been able to spend the day with them, but Madison assured him that she wasn’t upset.

  “I’m just homesick,” Madison admitted. “Well, more like friend-sick.”

  “Hmmm,” Dad said thoughtfully when Madison told him what was bugging her. “Maybe we can fix that feeling.”

  “How can we do that?” Madison asked.

  “Try your laptop.”

  “Huh?”

  Madison told Dad that online messages and chat rooms were too hard to manage with all the time differences.

  Dad shook his head. “No, no, I was thinking of something else. What about a blog?” he suggested.

  Madison slapped her forehead. “Of course! A blog!” she exclaimed. “Why didn’t I think of that? Dad, you’re a genius.”

  “I know,” Dad said, not very modestly.

  Stephanie just rolled her eyes. “It is an excellent idea, Jeff. If Madison keeps a blog—and all her friends do the same—everyone can stay updated on all the little stuff. After all, that’s what matters.”

  “Right,” Madison said, grinning from ear to ear.

  “It will be a little bit like a one-sided conversation,” Dad went on, “but I think it might help ease some of your separation angst. I mean, you are here for two weeks. That’s a long time for you.”

  “Too long!” Madison agreed. “I mean, I’m happy to be here, but, I mean …”

  “I know what you mean,” Dad said reassuringly.

  Since Madison’s laptop had been acting up, Dad helped Madison set up a blog page on his office computer. She immediately forwarded an e-mail with all the automatic sign-up information for the blog to her friends. Individual pages would be created through the TweenBlurt website. The whole process was way easier than Madison could have imagined.

  Before Madison could enter her simple profile, the screen prompted her to select a password. This would keep her blog page secure.

  A single word popped into her mind.

  It wasn’t Hart (although the thought of him did cross her mind).

  It wasn’t friend, either.

  The word Madison had thought of was the one that honored the person who had just that very moment made her feel truly hopeful about the coming weeks: Dad. Although he had been gone earlier that day, Dad had still come through (as usual) for Madison. Of course, it had to be Dadddd, since the password needed to be at least six characters long.

  She quickly typed up her brief profile and added her first official blog entry before drifting off to sleep.

  Name: MadFinn

  Country: United States

  State: Florida (right now n e way)

  Gender: Female

  Favorite color: Orange

  Interests: Computers, reading, playing flute, animals, esp. cute pugs!!!

  Expertise: Worrying (& missing my BFFs!)

  08-08

  Ta Da! I can’t believe it but I really have my own blog page. You always told me I should do this, Aim. Dad showed me how & it’s so E-Z. So now we ALL have to do it and then it will be like we’re having a slumber party long distance from California to NY to Florida and all the way to England. I didn’t do much today except get a suntan and walk on the beach BUT it’s way cool because I collected all these shells. I decided that while I’m here I want to make you each something. I’m thinking about just the right thing. My camp starts tomorrow. I’m clueless about that. HELP
! What r u doing wherever u r? Write yr own page sooner than soon. Miss you more than n e thing.

  It was a short entry, but it said all the right stuff. Madison hit SAVE BLOG and shut off the laptop.

  She fell asleep hoping that by the following afternoon her BFFs would add their own blogs to the mix. She also couldn’t wait to tell Bigwheels about the blog page, since Bigwheels had had her page up for months.

  Soon Madison Francesca Finn would be back in touch not only with her friends, but with her old self again.

  The next morning, Stephanie was in the kitchen making more coffee. Madison could smell it brewing. She glanced at the alarm clock on her nightstand, one of the old-fashioned wind-up kind. She’d forgotten to set it. But that didn’t matter. She was up.

  The first day of Camp Sunshine was here, but all Madison could think about doing was checking her brand-new blog again.

  When she opened the page, Madison saw that it had already been read twice. She guessed the identity of the reader, which was confirmed when she saw a posted message from Aimee.

  Madison clicked on a posted link to Aimee’s new blog page.

  Name: BalletGrl

  Country: United States

  State: NY

  Gender: Female

  Favorite color: Purple or pink or anything pretty

  Interests: Ballet and dance

  Expertise: ???

  08-08 (late)

  This is the best idea on the planet, Maddie. You deserve a big round of applause (<><><>)—that was hands clapping—I just made that up! :>) So Far Hills is Xactly the same as when you three left. Except that it was supposed to thunderstorm today, which is cool since it’s been too hot l8ly. I have not much to report fm here xcept that everyone is spending most of their time (as far as I can tell) FRYING by the town pool. Major hottie alert: that kid who just moved in down the street from you, Maddie; he looks cuter than ever. OMG. But I don’t have time for boys NEmore except Ben Buckley. LOL. Seriously, I have already had one intense day of dancing since u left. And I GOT THE SOLO!!! Madame said I showed great progress esp. on pointe. Isn’t that good?! FYI: when I was coming out of rehearsal yesterday I saw none other than Ms. Poison Ivy the Terrible on the sidewalk and she was alone (i.e., just parents and no drones) and she actually said HELLO to me. I almost passed out but figured she might think I had a real heart attack or something LOL. OK. So here’s more big news 4 you: my dad is expanding his cyber bookstore. I guess that’s not really a big deal 2 anyone but me & my family, but I wanted to share. Oh, and I also wanted to say that Lindsay prob. won’t get her blog started right away. She called last nite b/c her plane was canceled to London. She and her dad didn’t even leave until midnight or something crazy. She says HELLO tho. Where’s Fiona? GTG now. More rehearsal. I swear I swear I swear I will write in this every day if I can. Peace out and LYLAS.

  Madison laughed out loud at her BFF’s first blog page. Then she clicked around to get to the next one. Not surprisingly, it was from Fiona.

  Name: Wetwinz

  Country: United States

  State: (CA) (NY) (Outer Space—ha!)

  Gender: F

  Favorite color: red or orange

  Interests: soccer, computers, friendship

  Expertise: penalty kicks :>)

  08-08

  I MISS YOU ALL! Maddie, thanx for doing this. Thank yr dad too, ’k? Yes, I am in California. Los Angeles, to be exact. Or, Land of La, as my mom likes to call it. I thought we might go to northern CA to see our old house, but we came here first/instead. It is really nice temps here for the summer. I wish I could come back more. In two nights we go back to Los Gatos to stay with my Uncle Ron and see our old neighbors and all that. For now, we’re just hanging by Disneyland. I’ve never been here. Maddie, aren’t u near Disney World in FLA? It’s like we’re in the same place—only different, you know? Well, enough of that. Chet is being as annoying as ever. Sometimes I wish he’d just evaporate. All he does is play video games. The only thing that’s sort of funny is that he was telling me he misses Egg and Drew and Dan and the other guys a lot. So maybe the guys aren’t so different from us BFFs, right? BTW I also talked to Lindsay right b4 we left. She told me (FYI) that she dropped by the animal clinic and saw Dan there. They talked a lot she said but she couldn’t tell if he liked her or not. Maddie—she pretended to fool him by saying she was at the clinic 2 see u when really (of course) it was 2 see DAN. WTG, Lindsay! Over to you guys. I will write more and more when we get to Northern CA. C U! :>P

  Lindsay had been to the animal clinic to catch up with Dan? Madison could hardly believe it. Just a few weeks before, she’d been nervous about the idea of even seeing him, let alone going someplace specifically to see him.

  Madison chuckled at the thought of Dan and Lindsay chatting by the animal cages. Maybe he could get Lindsay to help him mop the floor or feed the birds. Lindsay would probably do anything to get his attention at that point.

  Madison wanted to post another note on her blog right away, but she couldn’t. She needed to shower and get set for the first day at Camp Sunshine. Dad was planning to drive her there in exactly one hour.

  After a warm shower, Madison debated for twenty minutes about which outfit she would wear. She finally settled on the too-pink capri pants and a little white T-shirt that said HAPPY CAMPER that she’d borrowed from Fiona earlier in the summer. It seemed like the right (and fun) thing to wear to a first day of camp, although she tried on just about every T-shirt in her suitcase before making a final decision. Madison had never been a big part of the whole camp scene, so this was a learning curve for her. She wanted to proceed with caution.

  Stephanie and Dad seemed to be even more eager than Madison for the start of camp. Madison offered to trade places with Dad, and everyone had a good laugh.

  When they pulled up in front of the Environmental Learning Collective building, Madison saw the oversize flag waving out in front with a picture of an enormous sun with a smiley face and long rays.

  “Welcome to Camp Sunshine,” Madison muttered under her breath from the backseat of the car.

  Stephanie turned around. “Don’t sound so excited,” she joked.

  “I’m just nervous,” Madison said.

  “What are you afraid of?” Dad piped up. “A few fish? Manatees? Sand?”

  “Dad,” Madison groaned. “Quit kidding around. You know.”

  “You’ll be the star,” Dad insisted. “Everyone will want to be friends with you, because you are just cooler than anyone else.”

  “Great, Dad. Your saying that is like the kiss of death.”

  Stephanie snickered. “Try not to be so encouraging, Jeff,” she teased.

  Madison grabbed her backpack and popped out of the car first. Stephanie followed, and Dad parked the car.

  Once inside, Madison found herself face to face with a wall of turtle shells and petrified fish. She looked up to see stuffed birds, mangrove branches, and other objects hanging from the ceiling. It was as if nature had just exploded by the front door—but in a good way. Off on both sides, other kids waited for the camp directors to come out and lead them into the auditorium.

  Stephanie and Dad hung around for a few minutes, long enough to know that they didn’t really need to be there. Madison would be able to handle the rest on her own.

  She gave both Dad and Stephanie quick pecks on the cheek, so as not to appear too clingy. Madison wanted to make the right first impression. Hanging on to Dad’s arm pleading, “Don’t go,” wouldn’t have gone over very well in any crowd, but especially this one.

  “I know you’ll love it,” Dad said for the tenth time since they’d left home that morning.

  Madison nodded and literally nudged him toward the door. Stephanie followed. And then Madison was alone—or, at least, on her own.

  This is exactly why I have never ever gone to camp before, Madison thought.

  She knew two weeks wasn’t a very long time, but right now Madison imagined it as an eter
nity.

  “Are you here for Camp Sunshine?” a woman with a mop of gray hair and gold-framed glasses asked Madison.

  Madison nodded. “Yes, yes. Am I in the right place?” she asked nervously.

  “Absolutely. Stay put. We’ll be ’round soon to get you.”

  Madison stayed put. She browsed through some books on a bookshelf with titles like Aquatic Journey and The Life of the Tortoise. On one wall was a huge map of the area. Trees, bodies of water, and buildings were clearly marked. Madison noticed one small lake (was it big enough to be classified as a lake or was it more like a pond?) called Madison Bog. She smiled broadly at that discovery. She was afraid to be here, and yet she’d been here all along—at least in one form or another. Even if it was a bog.

  “Nice shirt,” a young boy said. Madison glanced down at her tee and the words Happy Camper.

  The boy pushed back a thick strand of his blond hair and grinned. “Seriously, I like it. It’s cool to watch turtles lay eggs. Doncha think?”

  Madison nodded. “Yeah,” she said. “That’s just what I was thinking.”

  “So, who are you? I mean, what’s your name?”

  “Madison. But most of my friends call me Maddie.”

  “I like Madison better,” the boy said. “It sounds smarter. By the way, I’m Will, and that’s short for William. Most of my friends call me crazy.”

  “Nice to meet you, Crazy,” Madison said with a smile.

  “I’m in eighth grade. How about you?”

  “Seventh,” Madison replied. Then she asked, “Are you from Florida?”

  “Nah, I’m a New Yorker,” Will said.

  “I live in New York, too.”

  “Really? I live on the Upper West Side. Where do you live?”

  Madison gave him a vacant stare. She realized he was talking about New York City when of course she was talking about Far Hills.

  “Oh, no, I don’t live right in the city. I mean, I live in …”

  “The burbs, right?” Will said with disdain.

  Madison couldn’t tell whether Will was being serious or whether he was teasing. And if he were teasing, what gave him the nerve? She looked away, embarrassed.