by Laura Dower
Madison gave herself brown eyes and a crew cut. “Ha! Look at me! I look like my brother—if I had one!”
They laughed. Fiona tried a full-figure makeover with a whole new style. She put herself into a teeny-tiny, itsy-weenie polka-dot bikini.
“I look like an even bigger fool with this look!” she shrieked. “Would you ever wear something like this in public? I don’t think so!”
They both tried to cut and paste on the same exact blondie wig, dress, and shades. Then they hit a different button and turned themselves into squirrels with people faces.
“This site is so weird,” Fiona said. “In a good way. What else do you have on your computer?” “Lots of things,” Madison said. “The thing is, I started out keeping real files of pictures of clothes, sunglasses, cool shoes, temporary tattoos and stuff like that, like from all the teen magazines.” Madison showed Fiona the stacks of colored folders, “I cut stuff out and keep it in folders and I organize it all by categories so if I need to make something like a card I know where to look and find it.”
“You are so organized.” Fiona gasped.
“I guess so,” Madison tilted her head to the side. “I like to make stuff. Actually, I LOVE to make stuff. And I really like being organized.”
“Can I see what you’ve got?” Fiona asked.
Madison shrugged, feeling a little protective. She really wanted to show off all her stuff—including the files of Madison Finn. But she decided at the last minute that it was much better NOT to share. The files were super-secret, after all.
Fiona didn’t ask again. She didn’t push.
“Files are SUCH a good idea. I need to get organized in a BIG way,” Fiona continued. “I still have all these boxes to unpack from our California move! Plus, my Mom and dad expect me to be like a straight-A student in junior high. They have me like on the advanced placement list at all the Ivy League colleges already.”
“College?” Madison gulped.
“Dad says it’s right around the corner,” Fiona said. “He is like this super achiever and I think he expects me and Chet to be the same way. And since Chet is such a lump, I guess that leaves me. I have to do well for the both of us.”
Madison couldn’t believe Fiona was giving so much thought to college. It was five years away! Still, she admired the fact that Fiona wanted to do well in school. Madison took the same kind of pride in being a top student.
“Hey, Madison, you should store our makeover picture in a new and improved Fashion File,” Fiona joked, hitting a few computer keys. “Forget Harvard and Princeton! We can be maw-dells!”
“You really could be a model, you know,” Madison said earnestly.
Fiona laughed so hard, she spit. “NOT!”
Madison decided to save the picture of them as “blondie twins” as a screen saver. She’d e-mail it to Fiona, too, later.
Fiona walked back over to the photo of Egg. “You know, Madison, I really, really, really would love to meet your friend.”
“Egg?” Madison gawked. “You may change your mind when you see him up close, Fiona. He’s like a real wrestling freak and—”
“I like sports!” Fiona squealed.
Madison laughed. “Can I ask you a question?”
Fiona shrugged.
“Have you ever kissed a boy?”
Fiona smiled coyly. “Yeah.”
“A lot?”
“Well, I have kissed two different boys.”
“Two? But …” Madison couldn’t believe it. “Tell me everything.”
“Well, it’s really no biggie.”
“TELL ME!”
Fiona thought for a minute.
“There was this guy I was in totally in love with in California and we were boyfriend and girlfriend for a year. His name was Julio and we saw each other at the beach for this school volleyball squad and then we saw each other every single Thursday for a year. In the beginning we were just like smiling at each other. But this one time after a scrimmage, I got a point in and he grabbed me and kissed me, right there in front of everyone.”
“Were you embarrassed? I would have been so embarrassed!” Madison shuddered.
“I was embarrassed by the fact that everyone started clapping and hooting. But whatever. I was secretly hoping he would do it again. It wasn’t a long kiss, the first one, but it was nice.”
“Did he kiss you again?”
Fiona dropped her head. “Yeah. A lot.”
“So what happened to you guys?”
Fiona frowned. “He kissed my friend Claire, too. A lot.”
“Uh-oh.” Madison made a face.
“Yeah. It was bad.”
“What about the other guy?”
“Okay, when I kissed that guy it was just a dare. Maybe it doesn’t count exactly, but it was a dare and I kissed this eighth grader, Clark Cook, on the last day of school last year. He wasn’t even that cute. But we really kissed. And I swore I was going to die because I felt his tongue and I almost lost it and all I can say is thank goodness we moved away from California and I don’t have to go back to school and face him again. It was like kissing a dog, seriously.”
“Whoa.” Madison was impressed, even if one of the kisses was bordering on gross. “You kissed two different boys already. That’s like …”
“Not really so great,” Fiona confessed. “And leaving those guys in the dust is one good reason for having moved here to Far Hills, right?” Fiona laughed. “No more DOG kisses, except for Phinnie, of course!”
“I’m so jealous. I haven’t really ever done anything with a guy. I never even noticed guys until lately. Well, it’s okay because no one likes me anyway.”
“That can’t be true, Madison! You are so pretty! You’re just not paying attention, I bet.”
Madison was embarrassed, as usual. She fought the urge to get off her bed and run away.
“It is so true, Madison,” Fiona repeated. “I bet lots of guys like you. Didn’t you say that Hart guy was chasing you around?”
“Yeah, but he’s a loser.”
“Still, he’s a loser who’s a GUY!”
“Come on, Fiona, this is so embarrassing. I get too nervous around guys. I’m the person who runs away from people, remember? Besides, the only boys who even look at me are all into wrestling and stupid boy stuff.”
Fiona laughed. “Yeah, I know. Like Chet, my brother.”
Fiona stayed all day long until the sun went down. It was the best day of the summer so far. It was better than Brazil. It was better than shopping. It was better than anything. Madison had never really talked about this stuff with anyone else before today.
When Mr. Waters came by to give his daughter a lift home, Fiona whispered good-bye in Madison’s ear: “Thanks for being my friend.”
Fiona
We are official friends.
She has said so three times including today right here in this room. She told me when we went for ice cream last Thursday and I dropped my scoop of Raspberry Bliss on the ground. She told me in her living room the other day when we were looking at her family’s old photo albums. And she told me just now. Three time’s a charm, right? Mom always says that.
I think Fiona Waters is perfect and she has such a funny sense of humor and she’s a little spaced out and forgetful but I forgive her. And she’s experienced, too. She’s kissed 2 boys! Maybe she can help me in that department?
We talked for a while today about the whole boy thing. I admitted to her that I always get crushes on older boys like the ones Mom says to stay away from. She laughed at my story from last year when the ninth grader Barry Burstein who lives up the block asked me out and I had to tell him I was still in sixth grade. Mom called his mom she was so mad but of course I was flattered. Sometimes I see him around the neighborhood but he’s still embarrassed about thinking I was older than I am.
Anyway, Fiona says that boys are no big deal and that when we’re in school I’ll see that for sure and even I, Madison Finn, will have a boyfriend some day
.
I think the rest of the kids at Far Hills are all gonna be soooooo jealous of me because the new girl who is so cool is already MY friend. She and I will take electives and try out for soccer together. Fiona said so. And we’ll sit next to each other at lunch. We’ll maybe get into the same homeroom if we’re super lucky. I hope we’re lucky.
Fiona Waters is like the friend I have been waiting for all summer. She is the antidote to all this loneliness.
Madison stared at what she had written and then turned off her computer. Phinnie had fallen asleep at her feet.
“Maddie!” Mom called from the kitchen. “Your father’s on the phone.”
Madison hadn’t even heard the telephone ring. Her mind was someplace else. On her way downstairs, she suddenly remembered something.
Something important.
Aimee was coming home tomorrow.
Chapter 8
MADISON LOOKED AT THE clock. It was just after eleven.
Aimee would be pulling into her driveway any moment now.
And Madison was still trying to sign Aimee’s homemade card with just the right words. She was stuck.
She scribbled down the saying from the Girl Scouts: Make new friends and keep the old; one is silver the other gold. But that sounded goofy. In fact, everything Madison thought of writing just sounded terrible. It was like “Return of the Brain Freeze.”
She wanted to say something important. She knew that much. Finally, she knew what to write.
This is just a card to say I missed you and I hope we will never have to be apart like this summer ever, ever again. I am lucky to call you my BFF.
Love,
Madison
P.S. I hope you missed me as much as I missed you.
She folded the card, licked the envelope and waited for Aimee’s call.
There was a group of birds feeding just outside the kitchen window. The male cardinals were bright red. They were biting off the ends of sunflower seeds to feed the gray birds with the tufts on their heads, who must have been the females. They were sharing perfectly. Madison always marveled at how birds worked together to eat and talk and fly—and just be. She wished her mom and dad knew how to do that.
The phone rang. Madison spied the clock: noon. On the dot. Aimee was never late. Not even for phone calls.
“Is this you? Is this really and truly and absolutely YOU?” Aimee screeched. “I am just going to unpack my duffel bag and then I’m coming RIGHT OVER!”
Of course, she didn’t come right over. She didn’t even hang up the phone right away. She started babbling.
She said she missed Madison when she was at camp. Then she said that she had so many stories to share from camp. And then she said she wished so much that Madison had been at camp.
Camp! Camp! Camp!
Madison wanted to kick “camp” in the head. First, it took her friends away from her for half the summer and now what? Were all those same friends coming home—and camp was following them back?
Madison didn’t really feel like hearing about camp tents and lake trips and marshmallow roasts anymore. She had her own stories to tell, right? It wasn’t as if camp had a corner on the market for making new friends. Madison had met someone new and she hadn’t had to go live in a tent in the woods or attend some fancy dance camp to do it. She had met a new friend right here in Far Hills, and she was going to tell Aimee all about it.
But of course, what Madison actually said to Aimee was, “Cool! Can’t wait to hear all about your CAMP!”
Madison felt excitement and guilt and weirdness churning inside her belly. She sat by the window to wait for Aimee’s arrival. Was Aimee’s hair going to be longer? Had she gotten any skinnier? Aimee didn’t really eat all that much to begin with, plus she was a ballet dancer, so that made her like a total skinny-mini. And then there was that Josh guy. Madison knew Aimee would talk about the camp counselor and of course, Madison had no boy stories of her own to compare with JOSH. What if Aimee had actually done something with that Josh guy? What would she say then?
That would be weird.
Of course, thinking through every possible hello and good-bye did Madison no good. The exact moment Madison saw Aimee cross the street, every nerve in her body stopped being nervous. She was just THRILLED.
Madison Finn exploded into a chorus of high-pitched shrieks.
“OH MY GOOOOOOOOD!”
She ran out the front door and Phin followed, barking.
Aimee and Madison practically squeezed each other to death on the front lawn.
“You look sooooo good, Maddie!” Aimee screamed. “I missed you so much!”
“So do you! I missed you so much too! Your hair is so long! You look so good, too!” Madison screamed back.
Their arms wrapped around each other like twine.
“Maddie, camp was like the best experience of my life so far I have to tell you absolutely every single solitary detail you just won’t believe how great it was oh I wish you could have been there. …”
Madison grinned from ear to ear. What had she been so worried about? She could survive a few of these camp stories. With Aimee in her living room again, Madison felt so much better about everything.
Seeing Aimee again, on that muggy Sunday morning after such a long dragged-out summer, was like winning first prize on a game show. It felt as good as ice cream.
“Okay-doh-kay,” Aimee clucked, “so there I was and I was so afraid I wouldn’t make any new friends or anything and oh-em-gee Madison I swear I was like one of the most popular dancers by the end of the summer I swear can you believe it—me?”
Madison didn’t ever remember Aimee being so full of herself, but she kept listening. Aimee looked so happy. She was glad to know her friend was proud of being a good dancer. Everyone was allowed to toot their own horn a little, right?
Aimee was dancing around the room while she talked. “So I got the lead in Swan Lake there can you just die? And there was this boy dancer named Willem and he was so cute and I almost forgot!”
“What?” Madison was enraptured by what Aimee was saying and by the fact that Aimee was literally pirouetting in the living room.
“You are NOT going to believe this but Roseanne Snyder was at camp too!”
“Rose Thorn? Get OUT!”
“Yeah, she came for the last session. I forgot to put it in my letter.” Rose Thorn was a nickname Madison had given to one of her classmates. Roseanne was friends with Phony Joanie Kenyon. They were both sidekicks to Class Enemy #1, Ivy Daly.
Ivy Daly was probably the meanest girl in Far Hills. She’d been hated by Madison, Aimee, and Egg for—well, forever. She would be attending Far Hills Junior High, too.
“Rose Thorn is such a snot! Was she in Swan Lake too?”
“She thinks she is all that and she is NO swan,” Aimee taunted.
“And what about that Josh guy you wrote me about?” Madison asked.
“Josh? Oh well he was a counselor so that was never like a real deal or anything. And the truth is I didn’t really like him after all, he just turned out to be well, not a good teacher either. SO! Forget him. Like I was saying there was this other guy Willem and he was the best dancer in the entire place. He was there when I was on pointe for the first time and he picked me up … I think I told you that in my letter that I started pointe, right?”
“Uh-huh.” Madison nodded. She could barely get a word in. Aimee kept on talking for another ten minutes at least. Actually, she had been talking for fourteen minutes and thirty-three seconds…
Thirty-nine seconds…
Fifty-six seconds…
Fifteen minutes!
Madison hated to admit it, but at a certain point she was wishing Aimee would just shut up already. It must have showed on her face.
“Is something wrong?” Aimee suddenly asked, stopping to take a breath.
“Huh?” Madison snapped back to attention. “Keep going, Aimee. I’m listening.”
“But you have this weird look on you
r face. Are you really listening? I’ve been waiting all summer to tell you about this and oh-em-gee you would have liked all these people and the place it was so beautiful Madison it was soooooo beautiful!”
“Aimee, of course I am listening. Go ahead. I wanna know what happened, all right!”
“Okay!” she said, and spun around on her heels. “Fine!”
Madison figured Aimee must have been saving up all these words about camp. Madison had to let her talk or else Aimee would just bust a gut right in her living room.
I just have to be patient, Madison told herself. Aimee will listen right back when it’s my turn.
And the truth was, she did.
“SO!” Aimee said after another eight minutes and ten seconds, “What about YOUR summer?”
It now felt like hours after Aimee had arrived and she was finally ready to hear from the other side. Of course, Madison wasn’t really sure what to say. She could tell Aimee about Brazil and the frogs. But instead, she gently said, “Well, I missed you. It was lonely here without you.”
Aimee looked like she was about to bawl. She threw her arms around Madison. “oh-em-gee, I missed you too! You are so much like a real sister and I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have you here. Thank you so much for listening to me. Thank you so much for being SUCH a good friend.”
Madison hugged her and squeezed. When Aimee said that, it made all the “camp” talk and all the pirouettes around the living room worth it.
They spent the rest of the day together, talking. Madison eventually did get a chance to fill Aimee in on the different kinds of South American poisonous frogs and how not to approach a snake in the rain forest. Aimee kept telling Madison how sorry she was for monopolizing the conversation and sorry she was for being a little overly consumed by camp, but somehow, Aimee never left that subject far behind.
While they were eating wafer cookies Aimee said, “We used to have these in the barn when it rained at camp.”
They painted their toenails with Madison’s special brand-new orange glitter polish and all Aimee could say was, “My feet are so callused from dancing at camp.”
