by Laura Dower
The groups stood by the manatee-viewing area for another half hour or more. Then they loaded back on to their buses and headed for the ELC again. Parents would be coming back soon to pick everyone up for the day.
Once again, Stephanie showed up solo to get Madison.
Back at the apartment, Stephanie grilled Madison on day two at Camp Sunshine. She asked about the cute boy, of course, but Madison tried to avoid that subject. When Dad still had not returned by dinnertime and Stephanie couldn’t get him on his cell phone, she and Madison decided to order take-out Mexican food from a restaurant down the street.
After the food arrived, Madison noshed on quesadillas while Stephanie devoured chicken with mole sauce.
After dinner, Stephanie asked if Madison wanted to play a card game or maybe Scrabble, but Madison wasn’t in the mood. Instead, she escaped to Dad’s office. She hadn’t written in her blog for more than a day, and she needed to go online—now.
She’d been in the office for only a few minutes when she heard the front door slam.
Dad.
She started to get up to rush into the other room to say hello and tell Dad all about camp that day, but then she heard Dad yelling. She stopped in her tracks.
“Come on!” Madison heard someone shout from the other room.
The voices were like ones she had heard the night before, only louder, faster.
“Please keep your voice down,” Madison heard Stephanie say more than once.
This time, Madison could hear everything clearly. In fact, it was hard not to eavesdrop. She leaned against the door frame and pressed her ear to the door.
“I didn’t plan this,” Madison heard Dad say. He sounded frustrated, angry, and tired. “This client is very important. My cell battery died and I didn’t realize it, I promise you—”
“Save it,” Stephanie growled. “You should have found a way to call. Your daughter is here staying with us.”
“I know. Maddie understands.”
“That isn’t the point, Jeff,” Stephanie said.
The sound of their voices dipped a little bit, so Madison pressed closer to the door. She could hear only bits and pieces of their dialogue.
Suddenly, she heard a door opening.
“Maddie?” her dad’s voice called.
Madison shuffled backward and threw herself on top of Dad’s bed, pretending to be immersed in her work, or her laptop. She clicked a button, but nothing came on. Dad’s laptop was unplugged! She panicked: she needed to look busy. She just knew her dad was coming down the hall.
The door opened slowly, but it was Stephanie standing there, not Dad. What was Madison supposed to say? A million things raced through her mind.
Then she noticed Stephanie’s eyes. They were pink-rimmed, as if she’d been crying. The two of them just stood there and stared at each other blankly for a moment before Dad came into the room, too.
“Hey, Maddie,” Dad said.
“What’s going on?” Madison asked.
Dad put his arms around Stephanie’s shoulders and pulled her close.
“We’re okay,” he said. He kissed the top of Stephanie’s head as he addressed Madison. “Look, I’m sorry I was late tonight.”
Stephanie took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, too, Maddie. I’m just a little tense these days,” she explained. “It’s work …”
“Okay,” Madison shrugged.
She knew something was up—way up. But she didn’t ask any more questions.
Chapter 9
DAD ACTED SUPER NICE for the rest of the evening. After he apologized for missing dinner, he even invited Madison to use his laptop again.
As Madison got herself set up at the computer, Dad slinked out of the room. Madison entered his password and clicked on the Internet browser key.
SERVER BUSY.
The TweenBlurt server had gotten busier than busy these days, with all of the new games and features offered on the site. The company had promised an update, but that hadn’t happened yet. While Madison waited for the server to come back online, she thought about all the crazy things that had happened since she’d arrived in Florida. This was the most jam-packed (or, as Gramma Helen would say, strawberry-jam-packed) vacation ever.
Beeeeeep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
Madison looked at the screen and grinned. She was finally online.
After checking her e-mailbox—empty? Bummer!—Madison moved to some other areas of her favorite interactive site.
First stop: BloggerBlurt. There were brand-new posts there from Fiona, Aimee, and Lindsay, in that order. But Madison completed her own blog entry before checking out the other ones. She didn’t want to derail her train of thought from the day at Camp Sunshine.
08-10
I never thought I’d say this but: MANATEES ARE BEAUTIFUL. I think we should put a bumper sticker on our car back home that says that. At the end of the day, Will told me that he thought Ann and I were the smartest girls at the camp. I don’t know how he knows that, since he hasn’t even met all the other girls there, but that’s what he said and I liked the compliment. BTW for those of you in the pitch black dark here: Will is this guy at Camp Sunshine who could be a model or a TV star. He is that cute. And he’s also smarter than smart, obviously. The truth is, I can’t believe I’m actually wasting brain space thinking about him. Am I crazy? I want Hart, right? I mean, Hart is mine, right? If I had to do a total comparison of Hart and Will, I just know Hart would be declared the winner. He would have to be. No contest. So I need to put this Will guy right out of my head. Now.
BTW: I think you should aim really, REALLY high in London, Lindsay, when it comes to guys, that is. Like … Y don’t you try to find Prince Harry? LOL. And a special shout out to Fiona from moi: pleez write more. I miss u. :>). GTG.
Madison clicked POST. Then she hit the BACK browser button and selected another blog page. She clicked on Fiona’s name, and a blog page popped up with images of little soccer balls around the edges. Fiona was getting good at design—and at computer games. Madison figured it was the Egg influence. She read the blog.
08-10
Have u ever heard of Space Mountain? I hadn’t ridden it even though I lived here 4 so long. Well, it ROCKED. That’s what Chet kept saying. He waited on line and rode it SEVEN times. I only rode twice. Otherwise I would have thrown up. :>) Best ride though: soarin’ over California. You fake hang-glide over redwoods and ocean and it’s so cool. Made me miss living here. Anyway, we’re off tonight for my old neighborhood. I’m sleeping over @ my old BFF Debbie’s house and I can’t wait. I wish u all could meet her. She sounds exactly the same as when I left, but I’m still nervous about seeing her and the old group. Deb told me that everyone knows I’m coming and this guy I used to like whose name is Julio (remember, Maddie?)—well, he’s around and he knows I’m coming. He told Deb he wanted to see me. OMG. Ok. So no one can tell Egg about that one, ok? I feel a little guilty even though I know that’s dumb b/c Julio is really just a friend. Anyway, it’s nice that Julio wants to be friends again, right? Meanwhile, my mom and dad keep talking about how much they miss California. Dad says he misses his old job out here. When Uncle Ron told them about an old house, Dad instantly started talking about how he could renovate it. I don’t think anyone is serious about moving back here—it’s all just talk—but I still can’t help thinking about it. I love Far Hills and everything, you guys know that. But I love it here too. I just had forgotten how much.
Madison reread Fiona’s entry twice, but she didn’t want to think too hard about what Fiona said. How could Madison swallow the idea that her newest BFF would move back to her old home, all the way across the country? That would never happen! It just couldn’t happen.
Aimee’s blog was next. Madison began to read—slowly.
08-10
OMGOMGOMG Did u guys read Fiona’s blog? F: you can’t move back to CA!!!!!!!!!! Hello? You have us now and we need 2 stick 2gether. OMG I don’t like it that ur so far away. It’s bumming me out. BTW:
dance is good. Well, it’s better than good. Someone from the local paper has been coming to rehearsals and apparently they want to do a human interest piece (whatever that is) on ME!!! I sort of laughed it off @ first but then Mom said it was a chance to show my stuff. I guess the local paper is profiling all sorts of kids our age. My fear: IVY will get her own page, too. Can u imagine how weird that would be? What is HER special talent? I can just see her red-haired ’do on the front page with a caption: “Local Girl Wins Everything, Gets All the Guys, and Never Gets Zits!” LOL. But seriously, things here are looking pretty rosy-rosy. No, I have not seen Mr. Ben Buckley, but that’s cool b/c dance takes up like 9 hrs a day and I don’t have much time 4 n e thing else EXCEPT this most excellent BLOG. Don’t forget, Fiona, ur NOT moving. Just wanted to say that again because I could. ;>)
Madison grinned at Aimee’s plea to their BFF. Then she turned to Lindsay’s page to read. Of course, Lindsay had attached photos, including one taken at the Tower of London (where she was pretending to put her head on a real, ancient head-chopping block) and one taken at their hotel (where she was, in fact, sipping from a teacup). Lindsay looked cool posing in a foreign setting. Madison noticed that in one of the photos she was even wearing a blue T-shirt (with a dog’s face on it) that Madison had lent her.
08-10 (Tuesday afternoon)
It’s later in the day & Dad and I are headed to the Tate Gallery here in London and I CAN’T WAIT! I want to see the Rosetta Stone. Do you guys remember reading about that in school this yr? It’s this stone where all language originated. It has the three original languages on it. I think. I need to do some more research on it. And of course I feel like I need to see it, considering I am the biggest reader in our class. Well, I don’t mean to brag, but reading is the one thing I’m pretty cool at. I’ve already read three books while I’ve been on vacation (mostly on the plane & at bedtime). And I read that book u loaned me, Maddie, the one called Sixth-Grade Glommers, Norks, and Me. Liked it a lot even though sixth grade seems so far away now. I found this other book Trauma Queen by Barbara Dee. Sooooo good. Of course I’ll probably re-read all the Harry Potter and Hunger Games books again. They have these huge displays for the books here, too, just like in the U.S.A. Maybe I’ll see J. K. Rowling on the street somewhere. How cool would that be? Dad let me go to this very hip bookstore near where we’re staying. I spent an hour in there. He had to drag me out. :>) But I miss u all sooo much. Do u miss me? I promise 2 send more pictures. Did I say I miss u? :>&
Madison couldn’t help smiling. She felt as if all of her friends were right there in the room with her.
Just then, the computer screen went blank. Madison gulped.
Was she causing every laptop she touched to crash?
A moment later, she realized the computer was fine. It was TweenBlurt—again. The message flashed: SERVER DOWN.
Madison closed the windows that showed each of her friends’ blog pages. Then she opened a word doc. The blog entry she’d composed was for everyone else’s benefit, but the files were for Madison Finn’s eyes only (MFEO!).
Of course, she’d have to save any file she created to Dad’s hard drive. But she could e-mail it to her e-mailbox later—when Dad got her orange laptop up and running again.
Hit the Beach
Rude Awakening: Slow and steady wins the race, unless you’re talking about Internet connections or love connections. Sigh. My two weeks at Camp Sunshine would be a lot more fun if:
a) my laptop didn’t keep crashing
b) Dad and Stephanie weren’t fighting all the time
c) I didn’t miss Hart s-o-o-o much.
“Madison! It’s for you!”
Madison stopped typing and looked around the room. The clock said it was a little after nine. She hopped off the bed and stretched her arms overhead, shook out her hands, and blinked a few times.
Stephanie poked her head into the room.
“It’s for you,” Stephanie said, handing her the portable phone.
Madison’s stomach flipped. It was late. Was it Mom? Aimee? Or maybe Hart?
She laughed at herself. Hart didn’t even have her dad’s phone number.
“Oh, it’s someone from Camp Sunshine, I think,” Stephanie said before she disappeared through the door again.
That made Madison’s head spin even more. Someone from camp?
Was it Will?
Madison’s throat constricted. She raised the receiver to her ear.
“Maddie, am I calling too late?” a voice hollered.
It was Ann. Of course.
“I wanted to call you, because I was surfing online and I found your name using Google.”
“You what?” Madison asked. Her heart sank. Had Ann discovered Madison’s blog? No, she couldn’t read that. It was password-protected on TweenBlurt.com. What had she found?
“I googled you,” Ann said. “I was sitting here looking up stuff online about manatees and turtles—you know, for camp—and then I put in your name, and it came back with all these hits.”
“What hits?”
“Well, your name is listed under the staff of the Far Hills Animal Clinic. How cool are you to volunteer for that?”
“Oh, yeah,” Madison said, still kind of dreading hearing about whatever else Ann may have uncovered.
“And I found your name in the credits for the Far Hills Junior High school website. If you surf around that site, there are pictures of you and your friends, too.”
“Really?” Madison’s voice shook a little bit. Even though it was only Ann who was revealing all of this, and even though the stuff she had found online was pretty harmless, something about Ann’s discovery bothered Madison. It was as if she’d shone a flashlight onto some secrets and now they were illuminated for the whole world to see. Madison made a quick mental note not to mention Ann by name—ever.
“So, you called to tell me this?” Madison asked her fellow camper.
“Uh-huh,” Ann said. “I just thought it was so cool.”
“So, you’re done looking up my name now, right?” Madison asked.
“I guess,” Ann said. “It’s fun seeing where you go to school and who your other friends are.”
“Yeah, well, it is kind of late now,” Madison said, trying to cut Ann off.
“I’m sorry,” Ann said quietly. “You sound mad.”
“I’m not mad,” Madison said. “I just have to go. That’s all.”
“Oh. Well, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow …” Madison said, her voice trailing off.
She hung up the phone, a bit stunned by the exchange. Of all the people in the world who could have called her, she hadn’t expected Ann. And she hadn’t expected Ann to learn so much about Madison’s life during one Internet search.
Madison went back to the computer and reread her short (and thankfully private) file. Then she pressed SAVE. The blog was great. The school website was great. But Madison knew that the best place to talk about her real feelings was in these private files.
Yawn.
Madison opened her mouth wider than wide.
Yawn. Yawn.
She couldn’t stop yawning, which clearly meant that at that moment she needed sleep more than anything else. Her eyes ached from looking at the computer, reading all those blogs, and doing Internet searches.
It had been a lo-o-o-ong day.
So, with a click and a zap, Madison turned off Dad’s computer and turned herself off, too. She crawled onto the bed and whispered good night to the moon just as she had the night before.
And then Madison whispered good night to Aimee, Fiona, and Lindsay, too—long distance, of course.
Chapter 10
THE THIRD DAY AT Camp Sunshine, which was Wednesday, turned out to be quite sunshiny indeed. Stephanie dropped Madison off outside the ELC. Dad was off at work again.
Once inside, Madison immediately bumped into Will and Teeny. Their parents had just dropped them off, too.
“Hey,” Will said when
he saw Madison.
“Hey,” Madison said, smiling.
“Are you ready for this?” Will held up a yellow sheet of paper with a chart on it.
Madison nodded. Everyone had been given a list to review the previous night. The groups would team up for a camp scavenger hunt today. Of course, she had gotten the list just like everyone else, but for some reason she had glanced at it only that morning, on the drive over, and she hadn’t looked at it closely. The night before, she’d been more focused on feeling homesick. Although she liked camp so far, she missed her friends.
“Just tell me: how are we supposed to find all this stuff?” Will asked.
“Yeah, and what’s a scrub jay?” Teeny asked.
“How come ‘Find three bugs’ counts as one thing to do and not three things to do?” Logan asked.
“And ‘find three shells’ and ‘three rocks,’” Suchita added. “Why so many?”
Madison laughed. “I really can’t believe they put ‘alligator’ on the list. Where are we going to see one of those!”
“Yeah, right,” Teeny said. “I see one of those and I’m so outta here.”
“The alligator must be a joke,” Will said as the three of them sauntered inside with the rest of the campers.
“Hey, guys, wait for me!” Ann said chasing everyone inside. She’d just arrived. Immediately, she came over and stood right next to Will, arms waving all over the place as she explained how that morning she’d almost overslept and almost lost her cat and just missed being super late for camp.
“Whoa,” Teeny cracked. “Take a breath.”
“Sounds like a pretty gruesome morning,” Will joked.
Madison couldn’t help chuckling. Ann sounded silly. But she kept right on talking.
“Anyway! I am so ready for this hunt,” Ann said. “I think that our group has the best chance of winning, don’t you? Because it’s only been a day, but we are all really tight already, right?”
Madison felt herself wince, just a little bit. It had been only three days at camp and already Ann was convinced the Egrets would be friends forever.
