"Maddy, this is Lauren, and this is Jasmine," Nina said, introducing the girls to each other.
"Where are you from?" Lauren asked, as she took a seat beside Maddy.
"A little town called Riversleigh, about a hundred miles from here," Maddy replied.
"I think I've been there," Jasmine piped up. "It's up in the mountains, isn't it?"
"Yes, it's a lovely place. I grew up there," Maddy replied, wishing they weren't asking her these questions.
"How come you moved to Smithtown?" Lauren asked.
"My mom just got married to a doctor who works at the hospital here," she said. "It was too far for him to drive to work everyday, so we had to move."
"A doctor?" Jasmine said. "My mom’s a nurse, so she might know him. Actually, I think I heard her saying something about one of the doctors getting married recently. I bet it was him! What's his name?" she asked.
"Hank. Hank Wilson," Maddy replied.
"I'll ask her tonight when she gets home," Jasmine said.
"Do you know anyone in Smithtown yet?" Lauren asked, as she picked at her chicken wrap.
"No, not really. I've just met Nina today, but that's all," Maddy replied, turning her head to look at her new friend. For the first time she noticed how quiet Nina was when the other girls were around. Nina hadn't said a word since she'd introduced them.
Nina smiled at Maddy, and her dark eyes sparkled behind her bright green rimmed glasses. They suit her, Maddy thought.
"Maybe we can get a soda after school?" Jasmine suggested. "Do you want to come, Nina?"
"I'm not sure. Mom said for me to go straight home," she replied quietly.
"My mom's picking me up after school today," Maddy said, "so I won't be able to make it either, but how about tomorrow?"
"It's a date! Do you think your mom will let you come, Nina?" Lauren asked.
"I don't know. I'll ask her," Nina replied. "I'd like to come."
The girls jumped when they heard the bell ring.
"Time to go!" Lauren said as she pushed back her chair and stood up. Maddy noticed how tall and stunningly pretty Lauren was. She had long, honey blond hair tied back in a loose pony tail, and large electric blue eyes that grabbed you. Maddy thought she might have been wearing some make-up. It looked like her eyelashes were darker than normal. Here we go again, Maddy thought! At least Nina wasn't wearing any!
The four girls left the cafeteria together, but as Lauren and Jasmine were in another class, they agreed to meet again for lunch the next day before they separated.
Sarah saw Maddy from a distance. Her heart warmed when she noticed that Maddy seemed to be engrossed in conversation with an Hispanic looking girl. She even looked happy.
"Thank you God," Sarah prayed. She started to wave to Maddy, but then stopped, realizing that this might cause her some embarrassment. Maddy knew where she was to meet her, and the little red sports car kind of stood out anyway.
Maddy stopped once she and Nina had reached the main exit, and looked around to see if her mom was there. Yes, there she was, standing next to her car.
"Is that your mom's car?" Nina asked, almost in disbelief.
"Yes. It was a wedding present from Hank. Whoops, I meant, Dad! I still haven't got used to calling him that," Maddy replied.
"It's very cool," Nina said.
"Yes, it's a pretty fancy car. Maybe you can come for a ride in it one day," Maddy said. "Mom loves driving it, and I'm sure she'd be happy to take you."
"That would be fun," Nina said. "I best go. Mom will be expecting me home. I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Yes, I'll see you in first period," Maddy replied. "Thanks for being so nice to me today, Nina. I really appreciate it."
"No problem. I'm glad you sat beside me."
"Bye!" Maddy called out and waved to Nina as she started to walk towards her mother.
"Wow, you look happy!" Sarah said as Maddy threw her bag in the back and jumped into the car.
"Yes, I finally made some friends. It was a good day. Not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be," Maddy said to her mom as they drove out of the car park. She noticed that the car was drawing a lot of attention, probably because it was noisy and her mom had the roof open. She could have done without that on her first day.
Maddy told her mom all about her new friends, and asked if she could go for a soda with them the following afternoon. Sarah agreed, only too pleased that Maddy had finally made some friends.
Chapter 3
Maddy jumped out of bed the following morning, and couldn't wait to get to school. She had to do her chores first though, including collecting the eggs. She skipped into the chicken coop, and gave Henrietta the fright of her life when she tried to give her favorite hen a big cuddle and kiss.
After a quick breakfast, Sarah dropped Maddy at school. She headed straight to her locker and home room, and was pleased to see that Nina had also just arrived.
They took their seats together, and chatted easily whilst waiting for the bell to go. Maddy looked up when a hush fell over the classroom. She expected to see the teacher, but instead she saw a feisty looking girl standing at the front with her hands on her hips.
"What are you all looking at?" she said.
"You!" a boy who was sitting in front of Maddy and Nina called out.
Everyone laughed. The girl sauntered slowly to the back of the classroom and took a seat on her own.
"Who's that?" Maddy whispered to Nina.
"Alexandra Peterson," Nina whispered back. "She's bad news. Nobody likes her. She wasn't here yesterday."
"What's her problem?" Maddy asked.
"Nobody really knows. She keeps to herself mainly, but she's rude to everyone she meets."
Just then, the teacher entered the classroom, and all conversations ceased.
Being a keen student, Maddy concentrated hard in class. She noticed that Nina often struggled, and offered to help her when she could. She guessed that being the youngest of six children didn't help when it came to schoolwork. Nina was really talented at art, though. She seemed to have an eye for color and design which Maddy didn't have at all.
They met the other girls for lunch again, and chatted together for the next half hour. All of them, including Nina, were looking forward to their afternoon session at the soda parlor.
That afternoon, however, in her Science class, Maddy’s comfort zone was rocked.
She and Nina were sitting quietly in the Science lab, listening to the teacher explain about the project she was giving them for the term. They were to work in pairs, and could choose from a number of different topics. Maddy assumed they’d be able to choose their own partner, and was surprised when the teacher said she would allocate the partners randomly.
She held her breath while the teacher called out each pair in turn. She didn't want to be matched up with any of the boys, that was for sure. It looked like she was matching up girls with girls, so that was good. Maddy hoped and prayed that she might get paired with Nina, but when the teacher called out her name with that of Alexandra Peterson, she almost died right there and then.
Nina reached over and put her hand on Maddy's arm. It seemed that the whole class was looking at her. It was obvious that they all felt sorry for her.
Meanwhile, Alexandra slunk back in her chair with a scowl on her face. When the teacher told the class to move around and sit with their partner, it was Maddy who stood up and walked slowly to where Alexandra was sitting.
"Hi Alexandra. I'm Maddy. Maddy Richards. I hope we can be friends." Maddy didn't know what else to say, and sat down beside her.
"I don't want to be your friend," she replied. "I don't want to do this stupid project either."
This is going to be fun, Maddy thought. "I don't think we have a choice," she said. "We need to decide what topic we want to do. Which one would you prefer?"
"None of them," she said, still skulking in her seat with her arms crossed.
"How about we do the disease one? My dad's a doctor, so he
could help us if needed."
"Whatever," Alexandra replied.
As the project was to be worked on out of school hours, Maddy suggested they meet up the following afternoon to make a start.
"Where do you want to go? Your place or mine?" she asked.
"You're not coming to my place!" Alexandra sat up quickly, brushing her blond hair away from her face.
"Well, I guess it's my place then. We can get a lift with my mom, and then she can drive you home once we're done," Maddy said. "Unless you want to get picked up, that is."
"I'll walk."
"Okay, whatever works." Maddy was starting to feel exasperated, and wondered how they would ever be able to work on this project together, let alone get it finished.
As she joined her friends at the soda parlor that afternoon, they discussed what they knew about Alexandra Peterson, which they realized wasn’t much.
"I heard that her mom left a while back, and that she lives alone with her dad, but that's all I know," Jasmine said.
"I heard that too," Lauren added. "I don't think she has any brothers or sisters. She doesn't seem to do anything outside of school."
"She's often away," Nina joined in.
Maddy took a sip of her soda. "I don't know how I'm going to be able to work with her. I might have to end up doing the project on my own."
"You'd be able to do that, easy!" Nina said, looking with admiration at her new friend. "Maddy's real smart, you know," she said to the others.
Maddy squirmed in her seat. She didn't want them to think she was a nerd. She wasn't!
"I'm not really, Nina," she said. "I just like learning, that’s all. I like doing lots of other things as well, you know. I got this cool bike for my birthday. I used to ride everywhere with my best friend back home. Do you guys have bikes?" She looked around at the girls expectantly, but they were all shaking their heads, even Nina.
"Pity," she said. "It might have been fun to go for rides together. What about ice-skating? Do you do that in winter?" she asked, this time really hoping for a positive reply.
"Yes! Skating's cool!" Jasmine said. "The rink stays open all year, so we could go anytime."
"That would be great!" Maddy said. "How about we go on Saturday afternoon? Can you all come?"
Lauren and Jasmine said they could straight away, but Nina said she'd have to ask her mom first.
"I hope you'll be able to come, Nina," Maddy said, turning to look at her best friend. She was starting to realize that her new best friend had a different home background to hers. She thought it might be interesting to meet her family at some stage. Maybe Nina would ask her over some time.
"We need to get going," Lauren said, pushing back her seat. "We've all got basketball training this afternoon. It's been real good, though, Maddy. Maybe we can do it again sometime?"
"Yes, that would be fun," Maddy replied. "I've never played basketball. Riversleigh wasn't big enough to have a team. I guess you guys are good at it."
"We've been playing for a while," Jasmine said, "but we're not that crash hot. Maybe you could come along and watch. You could join if you wanted to."
"I think I'd like that," Maddy replied. "Do you play, too, Nina?"
"Yes. I'm not that good either, but it's fun. It'd be great if you joined, Maddy!"
"I'll just check with my mom, but it should be okay."
Maddy called her mom on her cell, and got the go ahead from her.
"Great," Lauren said. "Let's go. It's not far from here. It'll only take five minutes to walk."
The girls grabbed their bags and headed down the busy main street to the indoor fitness center.
"Wow, this is huge!" Maddy said to Nina as they entered the noisy building. "I've never seen so many courts before!"
Nina led Maddy to a bench where she could sit and watch the training session, but when the coach saw her sitting there, he asked her if she'd like to join in.
"I don't know how to play. I think I should just watch for a while," she said.
It didn't take long, however, before her new friends talked her into joining them, and she found herself running up and down the court with them doing sprints, jumps and turns. When she was given a ball to dribble, the coach took a few minutes to show her the basics. He was very impressed at how quickly she was picking it up.
Maddy sat and watched the first half of their practice game, but was keen to get on the court and have a go, so when the coach called her over, she didn't hesitate, and took her position as a forward. Lauren, being the tallest in the team, was playing the center position.
"I'm not really sure what to do," Maddy said to Lauren as they took the court.
"You'll be fine. Just look for openings and have a go."
Maddy surprised everyone with her quick thinking and ball handling skills. She even surprised herself!
"You were great!" Nina said to her when she came off. "How did you pick it up so quickly?"
She wiped her face with the towel that Nina offered her, and got her breath back before answering.
"My friends and I back home used to muck around with a ball a lot, but we never played a proper game," she said, still panting. "We used to just have fun together. I guess I've always liked sporty type things."
"You should join the team," Jasmine said. "We need some more players."
"Yes," Nina added. "You might help us win for once!"
"I think I'd like that. I'll have to check with my mom and dad, though, but it should be okay.”
That night when Maddy, Sarah and Hank were having dinner together, Maddy told them all about her day.
"Sounds like that Alexandra is going to be a challenge for you," Hank said as he took another helping of mashed potato.
"Yes, I'm not looking forward to working with her at all. I asked her to come over tomorrow afternoon to make a start. Is that okay, Mom? She might not turn up. Seems like she skips school a lot."
"That will be fine, sweetheart," Sarah replied. "It'll be interesting to meet her, I must say. I'm so glad you've made some nice friends though. You'll have to ask them over so we can meet them. Maybe after ice-skating on Saturday?"
"That would be real nice, Mom. I'll check with them tomorrow."
"Oh, and what about joining the team? Is that okay?" Maddy looked first at her mom, and then at Hank, but couldn't guess what their response was going to be.
"We'll need to think about that one, Maddy. Whilst it could be good for you to join, especially if your new friends are playing, we just need to make sure it won't clash with church on Sundays," Hank finally said.
Maddy leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. She wasn't used to having Hank tell her what she could or couldn't do. If it had just been up to her mom, she knew it would have been okay.
"I'll contact the coach and find out more," Sarah said. She realized how disappointed Maddy was, and hoped it would work out okay.
The following afternoon, Maddy walked out with both Nina and Alexandra. She'd actually been surprised that Alexandra had turned up at school, and even more when she agreed, albeit reluctantly, to go home with her.
"I still don't want to do this," she'd said, "and I'm not going to be your friend. But call me Alex, will you? I hate Alexandra."
As they walked to the front of the school, both Maddy and Nina tried to include Alex in their conversation, but she just ignored them. Her bag slung over her shoulder, she walked with her head so high that Maddy thought she'd trip up the steps.
They left Nina at the front of the school, and Maddy turned to walk into the car park where Sarah was waiting for them. She wondered what Alex would think when she saw her mom's little red sports car.
"Alex, this is my mom, Mrs Wilson," Maddy said when they reached the car.
"Hello Alex," Sarah said. "Nice to meet you." Sarah's voice was genuine and inviting, but all Alex could do was reply with a curt hello.
"Sit in the front, Alex. I'll jump in the back," Maddy said as she threw her bag onto the back seat and squ
eezed in after it.
Alex eased herself into the front seat and continued to look straight ahead, even when the car sprang to life, causing all those around to look at it.
"How has your day been, Alex?" Sarah asked. She glanced at the sullen girl sitting beside her. She would be very attractive if she smiled, Sarah thought to herself.
Alex shrugged, and looked away.
"Did you find out about basketball, Mom?" Maddy shouted from the rear.
"Yes. I spoke to the coach, and all is well." Sarah turned her head slightly so Maddy could hear her. "They play on Saturday mornings, so it won't be a problem. He said he'd love to have you on the team."
"Yay!" Maddy replied. "I'll have to tell the others! And they all said they'd love to come over after ice-skating on Saturday, but they'll need to check with their parents."
"Maybe you'd like to come too, Alex?" Sarah thought it was worth asking even though she knew what the answer would most likely be.
Alex turned her head to look at Maddy's mom. Her face was set as hard as concrete.
"I don't think so." She turned her head away again. This really is going to be a challenge for Maddy, Sarah thought, as she wondered what had caused her to be like that.
Sarah stopped the car in the driveway to let Maddy and Alex out before edging forward into the garage. Maddy could see Alex sizing up the large two story home and wondered what kind of house she lived in.
"Come inside, Alex. We can grab a snack and then get stuck into it." Maddy opened the door and led Alex into the kitchen where Sarah had already laid out a full spread of cute cup cakes and cookies.
"I'm not that hungry," Alex said, but temptation got the better of her, and she reached out for a vanilla cup cake with pink frosting as she sat on the stool beside Maddy.
"Mom's cup cakes are the best! She's always baking. She's tried to teach me, and I like helping her, but hers always taste better than mine. Do you like baking, Alex?"
She shook her head, and looked around at the immaculate kitchen. She noticed the wedding photos on the shelf above the far bench. That's why they have different last names, she thought.
The Madeleine Richards Box Set (The Madeleine Richards Series Book 4) Page 15
