by Laura Dower
: I haven’t forgotten him DW!!
“Let’s eat!” Gramma’s voice called out from the kitchen, interrupting Maddie’s chat.
Madison quickly signed off. Normally, she’d have wanted to stay online as long as possible, but tonight she felt more like spending time with her grandmother.
“I notice you haven’t been as tired this afternoon,” Gramma said. “Your spirits seem brighter.”
“I do feel better,” Madison said. “Thanks to you.”
“Well, that’s what Grammas are for.”
“Maybe I can go to school on Monday?” Madison said.
“What about your cough?” Gramma said. “You know my rules.”
Coughcoughcough.
Madison covered her mouth. Then her nose twitched.
Ahhhchooooo!
“How come I was feeling fine until you started talking about feeling fine?” Madison asked aloud. She shook off the sneeze. “Wait! Don’t say it. Murphy’s Law, right?”
“Exactly,” Gramma said with a nod.
They finished dinner and dessert, but it was still early in the evening. Madison wanted to watch a double feature on Pay-Per-View, but Gramma gave that idea a big thumbs-down.
“I want you to go to bed,” Gramma said.
“Bed! No way! Gramma, I understand that you’re worried about me and all that,” Madison said. “But it’s only eight-thirty and I’m twelve, not six. I don’t have a bedtime like I used to.”
Gramma shook her head. “Maddie …”
Without another word, an exasperated Madison and Phin headed upstairs, to make Gramma happy.
And it wasn’t torture altogether, because, once her bedroom door was closed, Madison didn’t sleep. Once again she powered up her computer. After she plugged in her super-secret password, two special e-mails appeared in her mailbox.
From: ff_budgefilms
To: MadFinn
Subject: NONE
Date: Sat 27 Sept 4:20 PM
I miss you, honey bear. I feel terrible leaving when you are sick. I’ll hurry home.
Love, Mom
Madison sighed. She missed Mom, too. Mom never made her go to bed that early. The next e-mail was from her keypal.
From: Bigwheels
To: MadFinn
Subject: You Won’t Believe This BUT
Date: Sat 27 Sept 5:14 PM
E-mails R contagious. I think that maybe I caught your flu. Isn’t that what u have? I almost fainted yesterday so my dad took me to the doctor. My fever was 102 degrees. That is the highest fever I have ever had. What’s the highest fever you’ve ever had? I had to come home and take a cold bath and get into bed. Today I don’t have a fever anymore but I still feel weird because I threw up this morning. Ugh. I hate being sick so much. I don’t think I’ll have to go to school Monday though and THAT is a good thing.
Have u seen that boy next door again? I like his name. One of my friends at school is named Joshua. That’s close. U still didn’t tell me what happened 2 Hart? Is he still around? Write back soon. I have to go take a nap now.
Yours till the bath tubs,
Vicki aka Bigwheels
Madison wanted to write a response to Bigwheels right away. She needed to wish her a speedy recovery and tell her that she was sorry about Bigwheels’s being sick, too.
But Madison stopped herself from hitting REPLY.
She couldn’t write back yet. She didn’t have an answer to a question that Bigwheels had been asking for a couple of days.
What had happened to Hart?
And what was Madison going to do about her change of heart?
Chapter 10
Sickest
It’s very, very, VERY early on a Monday and I am already up and dressed for school. I got so much sleep when I was sick (my brilliant theory) that I am wide awake (and feeling better) now. Meanwhile, Gramma is down in the kitchen and doesn’t know I’m up here writing in a file. Sometimes it’s fun being sneaky.
Fiona got sick again yesterday because her brother Chet came down with a fever, too. Bummer. But Aim is better and so am I (according to what the thermometer says which is 98.9 and my lack of cough). Thankfully I never had the throw-ups.
I am, however, not completely well. I still feel a little sick about boys. In fact, this may be the SICKEST I’ve been about one particular boy in a looooong time.
All I can think about is Josh Turner.
What will I REALLY do when I see him in person in the halls or in the lunchroom @ FHJH? Will he say hello and be nice or blow me off like I’m some puny, insignificant seventh grader? That could happen, right? I mean, I am just a seventh grader.
Wow. I hope not.
The right outfit is essential, as Aimee would say. Right now I am wearing a patchwork skirt and sweater top. The skirt is from the Boop-Dee-Doop outlet store that just opened. Stephanie got it for me. She said it makes me look taller. Josh is tall. And the sweater is purple so my eyes sparkle a little. At least I think they sparkle. I wonder if Josh will get close enough to see my eyes—or if he’ll even care.
What do boys like him care about anyway?
Madison glanced at the clock and realized she needed to hurry. Aimee would be arriving to walk to school with her in a few minutes. But they’d be a twosome today—not a threesome. Since Fiona had had a relapse, she was staying home.
Madison was excited to get back to a normal school—and life—schedule. So was Aimee. When she knocked on the door of the Finn house, Aimee couldn’t stop yammering.
“I was thinking a lot about our optical illusions project, and I think we should have a home page that is like an illusion. You know, if you select one part of it, a page pops up, and if you select another part of it, another page pops up, and then there are different illusions on different pages, and the illusions can rotate and fly across the screen….”
“Slow down, Aim,” Madison said, “who’s going to program all that?”
“I don’t know,” Aimee responded. “You?”
“Ha!” Madison let out a fake laugh. “I don’t know how to make stuff fly across the screen. Anyway, didn’t Lindsay say we have an extension on the project?”
“Yes,” Aimee said. “So you don’t want to talk about the project now. Is that it?”
“I just have my mind on other stuff. You know….” Madison’s voice drifted.
“On other stuff … but not Hart, though, right?” Aimee said.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Madison asked.
“Ever since you told me about that other guy at school …” Aimee rolled her eyes. “I just think that it’s really weird that you could like Hart soooo much and then, all of a sudden, you don’t like him—”
“I never said that I didn’t like him anymore,” Madison replied.
“Well, you’re totally blowing him off,” Aimee said.
“I am not!” Madison frowned. “Whose side are you on? Hart’s or mine?” she asked.
Madison had a thing about taking sides. She liked to have as many people in her corner as possible. Just then, however, she felt like the cheese in Farmer in the Dell. She stood alone.
“Maddie, I’m on your side. Duh. Of course,” Aimee said.
Madison smiled. They were at the front door of their school by then. “Thanks,” she said.
“Let’s meet up after third period,” Aimee said, hugging Madison before they went their separate ways.
“Sure thing,” Madison said. She slung her book bag over her shoulder and walked in the opposite direction, toward her science classroom.
Mr. Danehy’s class was packed, even though the second bell had not yet rung. Madison scanned the room.
Poison Ivy sat on a stool by the lab table where she and Madison always sat. Despite their differences, they somehow managed to coexist as science partn
ers in class.
At least, they tried to coexist.
“Could you share the lab assignments with me?” Madison asked when she took her assigned seat at Ivy’s left.
“What assignments are you talking about?” Ivy snapped.
“I missed a couple of labs and some homework when I was sick last week….” Madison said.
Ivy held her hand up in front of her face like a shield. “So? And stay away from me. I don’t want to get sick.”
“I’m not sick anymore,” Madison said.
“Whatever,” Ivy said.
“Ivy, can I please read your notes? You are my partner,” Madison insisted.
“You know I don’t take notes,” Ivy said. “I don’t have to help you.”
“Yes, you do….” Madison sighed and gave up. She wanted to take Ivy’s notebook and hurl it across the room … or better yet, take Ivy and hurl her across the room. But she took a deep breath instead.
On the other side of the room, Hart waved. Madison smiled back.
She could ask Hart for his notebook. Madison had never read anything Hart wrote down in class, but he did raise his hand a lot, and Madison assumed he was a strong science student. Egg teased him once with the nickname Smart Hart.
At the end of class, Madison decided to ask Mr. Danehy directly about makeup work. He handed Madison copies of the previous week’s lab on germs.
“Miss Finn, I appreciate your following up on this, but I really think you should work with another student, not just with me,” Mr. Danehy said. “Why don’t you talk to Nancy Powers? She’s an excellent student. Or Beezie Webster? Or maybe Hart Jones?”
Madison gulped.
Hart? Her teacher was telling her to work on questions with Hart? What did that mean? Was that some kind of sign?
Once outside of the classroom, Madison raced to her locker. She had only a few moments to grab her books for history class. There was a quiz review on the American Revolution, and she didn’t want to miss it.
“Madison?”
Madison turned to see who was saying her name. It was Josh Turner. In person.
“I thought that was you,” Josh said. “I didn’t recognize you without the windowpane. Uh … that’s a joke. A bad joke, but who cares?”
“Oh,” Madison said. Her tongue was officially tied.
“I hope you weren’t freaked by those dumb signs the other night. I was just playing,” Josh said, brushing the hair away from his face.
“Oh, that’s okay,” Madison said.
“Yeah, well … I have class. See you around,” Josh said.
“See you through the window!” Madison chirped.
Josh laughed. “Sure.”
Madison fanned herself with a notebook. She felt as though the blood had stopped pumping through her veins. Her whole body was in a state of quasi-shock. Josh looked even cuter walking away than he had up close.
See you around.
Madison turned back to lock her locker. But she wasn’t alone.
“Finnster!”
Madison jumped. “Hart, you scared me.”
“I was trying to say hello in science, but then class started and …”
“I was so focused on catching up on work I missed when I was sick….” Madison said.
“Oh, that’s okay,” Hart said as he stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Um … was that Josh Turner you were just talking to?” he asked.
Madison nodded. “Yeah. He’s my neighbor, you know.”
“I know,” Hart said. “I was there the other day on the porch.”
“Of course,” Madison said. “Look, can we talk later? I really have to run.”
“Later?” Hart nodded. “No prob. Later.”
But Madison didn’t connect with Hart later. At lunch, even though Hart had an empty seat next to him at the regular orange table, Madison sat with Lindsay. They talked girl talk, about Fiona’s being sick again and about the failure of their web project to get off the ground. The flu had them all seriously sidetracked. A few times during lunch, Madison glanced over at Hart, just to see if he were looking. But Hart just joked with Egg and the others as he did every day. He didn’t look her way once.
“Are you going to say anything to him?” Lindsay whispered at the end of lunch.
“Who?” Madison asked.
“Maddie!” Lindsay smirked. She tilted her head in Hart’s direction to indicate him without saying his name out loud. Madison pretended to ignore her.
Lindsay got the point and promised to shut up about Hart and other boys. On the way out of the cafeteria, however, as they headed up to the media lab, Lindsay broke her promise.
“Look!” Lindsay pointed down the hall. “It’s the other one!”
Madison nudged Lindsay hard with her elbow. “Shhhhh!” Madison said. “Someone might hear you! I am so embarrassed.”
Madison stared. Josh was standing there with a few friends. She watched as he walked down the hall. The truth was that Josh didn’t really walk—he swaggered. His arms swung in perfect motion, like two alternating pendulums.
How had she never noticed him before? How had this ninth grader been drifting around FHJH for the whole school year so far and living next door to Madison without their orbits crossing?
When Josh turned toward the gymnasium and student lounge, Madison and Lindsay veered off toward the media lab. They dumped their bags at a computer terminal in the back.
“Let’s send Fiona an e-mail,” Lindsay suggested. “I told her I would.”
“Great idea!” Madison said.
Lindsay turned on the computer and logged on to the e-mail program.
From: LuvNstuff
To: Wetwinz
Subject: MORE GOSSIP 4 U
Date: Mon 29 Sept 1:02 PM
Fiona! Maddie & I are in the media lab @ school and we had to write. HOW ARE YOU? I can’t believe Chet made u sick all over again. N e way I have major gossip
“Wait! Don’t tell her about Josh,” Madison said. “Or Hart. I really don’t want to talk about boys.”
“You don’t want to talk about Josh? Why not?” Lindsay asked. “That’s the juicy stuff. What’s your problem?”
“Please,” Madison insisted. “I know if we tell her anything she’ll tell Egg. I just don’t want everyone to know my secrets, especially not Egg. He’s the world’s biggest blabbermouth….”
Madison felt bad keeping something hidden from one of her BFFs. But she was feeling confused enough about boys just then without gossip or rumors messing it up. Plus, she was worried about writing anything down on a school computer. What if someone who used the computer after her were to read what she wrote?
Lindsay’s fingers froze over the keyboard. “Okay, so if I can’t tell Fiona the best gossip about you, then what do I write?” she asked.
“Just tell her we’re working on the optical illusions webpage.”
“Fine,” Lindsay said. She kept typing.
Madison and I were talking about the optical illusions project. We miss you lots.
“What else am I supposed to write about?” Lindsay asked.
“Just say … we found a few books … and a cool website,” Madison suggested. “I don’t know. Make something up. She won’t know the difference.”
Lindsay typed some more.
Have u done n e work on it yet? Maddie sez she found a website but I have to admit that I didn’t do n e work and I’m the only one of us who isn’t sick! It’s a good thing there’s an extension. E us l8r?
Lindsay signed the e-mail and hit SEND. “That was so lame,” she said.
Feeling guilty about not having done any work, they took an hour to surf the web for ideas. Madison had a little bit of a headache (a leftover from being sick), and she was still coughing, but it was fun to be back at school, working and hanging out with her friends.
Although they had agreed to meet Aimee up in the media lab during the free period, Aimee never showed up. Madison figured that Aimee had a dance meeting or a stu
dy hall she’d forgotten. Usually Fiona was a space case, but being sick was making all of them a little absentminded this week.
Lindsay plugged the words optical illusion into a search engine. It turned up brainteasers, checkerboard shadows, and various geometric designs. One picture showed the face of an old woman, which turned into an Eskimo in the blink of an eye. Many webpages were devoted to M. C. Escher, an artist who drew, among other things, pictures of staircases that led nowhere. Another website was devoted entirely to shape and color illusions that quitters could use as patterns for their quilts.
There was more than enough for them to use there—the hard part would be figuring out what not to use. Lindsay and Madison each took notes for their webpage. Madison saved the web addresses with art on them so she could find images to post later.
Gramma Helen was waiting up with dinner when Madison got home from school. The first thing Gramma did was reach out to touch Madison’s forehead.
“Not too warm,” Gramma said, hugging Madison. “And how’s the cough?”
“It’s still there,” Madison said, groaning.
“I could have picked you up at school, you know,” Gramma said.
“I know,” Madison replied. “I needed to stay late to work on this web project I’m doing with my friends.”
“Your mother called,” Gramma said.
“Is she coming home?” Madison asked.
“Tomorrow, I think,” Gramma said. “She’s calling back with the times of her flights and all that. I told her we were getting along famously….”
“Of course!” Madison giggled. “Just the two of us and not all three of us, right?”
“Two’s company….”
“Three’s a crowd!” Madison joked.
“Oh, by the way, I saw that boy next door again,” Gramma said. “We walked the dogs together this afternoon. He’s a nice boy. Phin loves his dog. I think he said her name was Poodle or something like that.”
“You know his dog’s name?” Madison pulled off her jacket and threw her stuff down in the hallway. “You went for a walk with him?”
She stood there, her mouth wide open.
She prayed that Gramma Helen hadn’t said anything embarrassing—like, “my granddaughter thinks you’re super duper cute!”
