by Laura Dower
“You won’t believe this but that girl Fiona’s in my science block. Maddie, she is a major poser. I wouldn’t be so worried if I were—”
“Excuse me?” Madison couldn’t believe Aimee would say something like that, especially when she knew how Madison felt about her newest friend. “What do you mean by ‘poser’? She is not a poser. She’s nice. She’s my new friend, Aimee.”
Aimee rolled her eyes. “Well, I don’t know. She just is. Look at her. Why do you think she’s sitting with them!”
Madison sneaked a look back at Poison and the gang. Fiona was drinking a juice.
“What about the way she looks?” Aimee said.
“Since when did you judge people like that? What are you talking about, Aimee? She’s new. She doesn’t know Ivy is poisonous.”
“Hey, I’m not judging her! Come on, Maddie!”
Just then, Egg walked up to the orange table. “Hey, Maddie, can you set me up with that one with the braids? If you ask me, she’s pretty cute.”
“No one asked you anything, Egghead.” Aimee threw a grape at his head.
Drew didn’t say much. He just laughed whenever Egg laughed.
Madison turned her body a little so she could spy on Fiona’s table some more. What was going on?
It was like this whole other Fiona was sitting there with ivy.
It was like this whole other Aimee was sitting here with Madison.
Aimee, as usual, kept right on talking, changing the subject, too. She was good at that. “Okay Maddie, you have to tell me about your classes. I am so bummed that we don’t have English or science together. How did that happen? Who did the stupid schedules and let’s go complain!”
“I don’t know,” Madison mumbled.
Aimee told Madison about her science teacher who she claimed was close to a hundred. “I swear! She can barely stand at the front of the classroom to write on the marker boards. And her element chart looks like it was made in 1950 or something, it’s falling off the wall. And she wears those orthopedic shoes you know the ones I mean…”
“She’s really old,” Drew added, simply.
This time, Madison was the one who rolled her eyes. “Well, old doesn’t mean anything except that she knows a lot more. So that’s good, right? You guys are so obnoxious.”
Aimee ignored that comment and kept right on talking. “Hey, Egg, who do you have for science?”
“I haven’t had science yet,” he grunted, devouring a sesame bagel.
“Hey, Maddie, you won’t believe who I saw in the hallway by the way!” Aimee said.
“Hart?” Madison couldn’t keep herself from grinning even though Aimee had her a little annoyed.
“Did you see him too?” Aimee shrieked.
“Hart Jones?” Egg asked.
“Hart Jones?” Drew repeated.
“Yes, are you deaf? Hart Jones.” Madison said, not revealing any more information than that. She lowered her voice. “He looks really different though.”
“Different?” Aimee shrieked again. “He’s a babe!”
“Shhhhhh!” Madison shushed her. “What if he’s around here?”
“If you don’t want him, I’ll take him,” Aimee joked. “Drew, don’t you remember that drip who used to always follow Madison around and stuff? He was even nerdier than Egg!” She threw another grape at Egg’s head.
“Of course I know Hart Jones, Aimee,” Drew piped up. “He’s my cousin.”
Egg laughed, hard. “Ha! Nice one, Aimee!”
“Oopsie!” Aimee gasped and covered her mouth.
She and Madison burst into peals of laughter. “NO WAY!”
Egg picked up his snack tray and pulled on Drew’s shirt. “Let’s go. They’ve crossed over into the girl zone. I can’t handle this.”
Aimee smiled again. “Mad and Hart, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-l-N-G.”
Now Drew was the one who looked a little confused.
Madison grabbed a grape and threw it at Aimee. Of course, Madison’s typical luck caused the grape to ricochet off Aimee’s shoulder and into the assistant principal, Mrs. Bonnie Goode, who happened to be walking by at that exact moment. She shot a look in the direction of the orange table and Egg almost laughed milk out of his nose, it was so funny.
“Nice way to start the school year, right?” he cracked after the A.P. had walked away. Drew chuckled too.
Aimee finished up her yogurt and the four of them went off to the Assembly Hall. One more double period and the Far Hills seventh graders were free. Seventh grade had started with a whoosh and a bang.
Of course, Fiona had eaten lunch with THE ENEMY, but the more she thought about it, the more Madison realized that Fiona had no idea who was enemy and who was friendly in this war zone. All’s fair in lunch and war, so if Fiona had no facts, she had no way to know that girl was evil.
It was up to Madison to help Fiona see the poison in Poison Ivy.
She’d send Fiona an e-mail later on about it.
Chapter 12
MADISON, AIMEE, AND EGG walked home together after school let out. Drew lived on the other side of town.
It was one of those hot and humid days that makes you sweat behind your knees. Egg complained, “Why did I wear long pants?”
“So no one would have to look at your ugly legs, obviously,” Aimee laughed. They chased each other up the street.
Madison had searched for Fiona before leaving school, thinking maybe they’d walk home together too, but she was nowhere to be found. Madison hadn’t seen Chet anywhere in school today, either. Far Hills was a big place. Of course, lucky Madison had seen Ivy in every single hallway, classroom and girls’ bathroom. Poison Ivy was really contagious.
Aimee dropped Madison off on her porch and continued up the street, skipping.
Phin was at the front door the moment Madison entered the house.
“Wanna go O-U-T?”
They were just going to cruise around the lawn for a quickie, but Madison walked a little farther up the street. Soon she found herself at the corner of Ridge Road, right by Fiona’s.
“Hey, look where we ended up, Phin,” Madison said with mock surprise. “Should we go see Fiona?”
“Rowrrroooo!” he howled. Madison took that as a “yes.” She needed to see her new friend. She wanted a chance to apologize for her behavior in the cafeteria. She hadn’t meant to run away that time—but she had.
As Madison approached number five Ridge Road, she saw Fiona sitting on her front porch. She was alone, which was good. Madison didn’t feel like dealing with her twin brother in the middle of this mess.
How would Madison apologize? She figured that Fiona might be extra-understanding, because Fiona knew Madison was in the habit of fleeing when things got weird and that had definitely been one of those weird moments.
“Fiona,” Madison practiced what she would say. “Fiona, I am very sorry for leaving you there today with the enemy. You see, Ivy Daly is not exactly a friend of mine. She—”
Madison froze.
Ivy Daly was standing there on Fiona’s porch.
Poison Ivy must have been inside or out of sight when Madison had first glanced that way.
She turned around and ran home as fast as she could. No one saw her great escape.
“Hey! My junior high schooler!” Mom cheered as Madison rushed inside. “Well, how was it?”
Madison was flushed. She dropped into a chair.
“What is it honey? Are you okay? What happened?”
Madison’s dramatic entrance had Mom worried she was sick or something.
“Mom, do I have a sign on my head that says ‘Keep Back 100 Feet’?”
Mom leaned in closer and gently grabbed Madison’s arms. “What happened, sweetie? What happened at school?”
Madison looked up at her mother. She didn’t want to cry. She told herself not to cry. She didn’t want to yell, either, not now. Her feelings were jumbled and the words wouldn’t come out like she wanted them to come out.
M
adison had never, ever lied to Mom before now. In fact, she always shared everything with Mom. But right now, she couldn’t tell her the truth. Madison was too embarrassed by today’s events. So she lied.
“Nothing’s wrong. Mom, not really. School was okay. I like it. I like my classes. My teachers are okay. I saw everyone. I’m gonna go now.”
“Madison?”
She just didn’t feel like getting into it, not one little bit. She was too ashamed, too devastated, too woozy. She went up to her room and curled up in a ball with Phin.
An hour or so later, the phone rang.
“Mad-i-son!” Mom bellowed from downstairs. From the pinched sound of her voice, Madison knew who was on the line. Dad.
“Hey,” she cooed as she took the receiver. Madison needed Dad badly.
He told her to be out front by five o’clock. Tonight was their very special dinner and Madison missed Dad so much and she needed his moral support—now more than ever. Plus, Dad was making Madison’s favorite thing on the planet: french fries and steak. She’d first had it last year when she went to Paris with her parents—before the big D. She kept a postcard of the Eiffel Tower up on her wall to remind her what it was like when they were all together.
“I can’t believe he makes you steak frites!” Mom groaned. Mom hadn’t eaten meat in four years, a fact she was happy to share whenever the subject of beef came up. She didn’t understand how Madison could be an animal lover and eat meat, too, but Madison usually avoided that conversation. She liked animals but she just wasn’t willing to give up burgers—what was the problem with that?
Because Madison hadn’t seen Dad in so long, she tried to fix up her hair to look extra nice. She borrowed Mom’s yellow sundress, too.
“Why do you want to wear this, honey? It’s too big for you,” Mom stated, zipping up the back. Madison had to wear a white T-shirt underneath so you couldn’t see anything.
“I dunno, Mom,” she answered. “I just feel like wearing a yellow dress, that’s all.”
“It actually looks like the sundress Fiona was wearing the other day,” Mom observed. Of course, Madison had known that when she picked it out of Mom’s closet.
Dad arrived a few minutes after five, but Madison wasn’t fazed. Dad was always late. It made Mom unhappy that he didn’t understand “being on time.”
Mom had staked out the front porch with Phin at her side.
So as soon as he pulled into the driveway, Madison ran for Dad’s car. She liked it much better when Mom and Dad didn’t have to talk to each other face-to-face. Right after the divorce, for about a month, Madison wanted nothing more than Mom and Dad to get back together. Now, she’d rather see them on two separate islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
“Gee, Maddie, your hair looks so pretty,” Dad said as soon as Madison hopped into his car. “And isn’t that a nice color yellow dress.”
Daddy always noticed those things. Madison smiled. She wouldn’t admit that the dress was really Mom’s. As usual, she went way out of her way to avoid the subject of “Mom.”
When they got to Dad’s apartment, it smelled funky, but Madison didn’t say anything. He was never there, after all. In Dad’s townhouse loft, Madison actually had her own room, so she rushed in to visit it. She didn’t have many things, just a photograph of her, Aimee, and Egg taken the summer before at the beach; a beat-up copy of The Phantom Tollbooth; a Magic 8-Ball; and one of Gramma’s hand crocheted afghans.
Dinner was served about an hour after they arrived. Daddy talked nonstop about his new Internet start-up company. Sometimes Dad would get so caught up in talking about himself and his job that he would throw out all these big computer programming words Madison did not understand. She kept listening though. She really wanted to know what the words meant.
Madison felt so safe in Dad’s house, watching him cook. He was a better cook than Mom, at least. The steak was yummy and Madison over-salted her fries too, as always. Of course, they had ice cream for dessert. It was Madison’s favorite flavor: Cherry Garcia.
“So, honey, I have been doing all the talking tonight.”
Of course this was nothing new. He always did a lot of talking. Just like Aimee.
“Maddie? It’s your turn to talk now. Tell me about Brazil.”
Madison told Dad how they went on a big plane; then a smaller plane; and then by boat all the way out to this small village.
“Mom’s making that frog-u-mentary, eh?” Daddy joked.
“Yeah,” Madison laughed out loud. She realized they were discussing the untouchable subject of Mom, but she continued. “I think Mom has to go back in a week or something, too. I dunno. You guys are both out of town a lot these days, I guess.”
“Yeah, well, it’s not forever, Maddie. Hey, so tell me all about your new school. How’s junior high?”
Madison said something about “too many people” and “too much work.” Daddy grinned and handed her a small, wrapped gift. “Here’s a little something for the second day of school. Maybe it’ll be a little less overwhelming. And a toast, of course, to my big girl. I really can’t believe you’re in junior high school. Your old man feels old.”
Madison opened the box. Inside, Dad had bought her a pair of earrings with teeny moonstones in the middle of teeny silver-wire flowers. They were beautiful. Madison modeled them immediately.
When Madison was ten, Daddy had given her a moonstone necklace because, he said, moonstones had special powers. She had worn it everywhere until one day she lost it in the Far Hills public pool. Egg had tried to dive in after it, but the pool filter sucked it up like a leaf. She’d cried for weeks.
Now she had two new moonstones. Maybe these earrings would give her new power? They would be her seventh-grade lucky charms, for sure.
After they had cleaned up all the dishes, Madison started to tell Dad about everything she’d been doing on the new computer.
“I have these files, you see, so I can like, well, get my thoughts organized and all that. I think it’s working so far. Of course it’s only been two days.”
Dad thought the file idea was fine. “As long as you don’t have a ‘Things I Hate About Dad’ file,” he joked.
Madison gasped. “Never! Daddy, of course I wouldn’t.”
Of course, Madison knew she should probably never say never, but she said it anyway. She couldn’t imagine not liking her Dad. He was the one who always came to her rescue. He never said bad things about people. Even tonight, for a few hours, it was like he washed away all the yukkies of the previous few days. Madison found herself talking on and on about nothing at all and yet it all seemed so important, the way Dad listened. He was maybe the best listener in the entire world.
“Well, it’s funny you should mention all that stuff about going on the computer, Madison, because …” Dad handed her a small box before he finished his thought. It wasn’t wrapped or anything, just taped shut. “I have this for you, too.”
“Daddy, what is this?” Madison was perplexed. She opened it and found herself face to face with an e-reader. “No way!”
“I thought it would be a good thing for you to have. I even downloaded that Harry Potter book you wanted to read. And I stuck a photo of you and Phin right there. I hope you like it, sweetheart.”
Madison felt like crying. She was amazed at how Daddy always knew what to get, what to say, and what to do. With her laptop files of Madison Finn and an e-reader, Madison’s tech genius really did have unlimited possibilities. She just wouldn’t tell Daddy that Mom had already given her the book copy of the same Harry Potter. That sort of stuff happened a lot since her parents split.
“So what else is new, Maddie?” Dad asked.
Madison went on to tell Dad about her new friend Fiona and not-so-drippy-anymore Hart Jones and even Poison Ivy.
“I think I’m also going to take a technology class with Egg this year.”
She and Dad swapped stories until they both noticed the clock. It was already ten.
Dad sigh
ed. “Time flies when you’re having …”
“… dinner with the best dad on the planet,” Madison finished his sentence.
Of course. Mom was expecting them back home a half-hour earlier. Madison pictured her out on the porch on Blueberry Street, playing tug-the-chew-toy with Phin, exhaling something not so nice about Dad under her breath. Mom hated when people were late more than anything else.
“We’d better go, Dad.” Madison decided for the both of them.
When they arrived at the house, Daddy walked Madison as far as the front-door threshold and kissed her on the top of her head. He walked back to carry her computer scanner up from the car.
Madison liked it when Dad walked her up to the door. It made her feel safe. Of course, Phineas and Mom were waiting up on couch. Mom opened the door.
“Hello, Jeffrey,” she said coldly. “Right on time, as usual.”
Dad didn’t seem to mind the chill. He jumped at the opening in the conversation. “Hello, Fran. I heard your trip to Brazil was a success? Hearty congratulations.”
“Yes, well, we’ll see you later, then.” Mom looked at Madison and then walked back inside.
Madison tugged Dad’s arm. “Thanks again, Daddy. The earrings are cool and the new scanner is cooler than cool.”
Through the living room bay window, Madison watched as Dad drove away. Rain started to pitter-pat against the sill. She pulled another one of Gramma’s afghans over her toes and watched her breath on the cool glass.
Upstairs, Madison slid into her favorite Lisa Simpson T-shirt and sat down at her computer. She opened yet another new folder and named it.
Mom vs. Dad
She certainly had a lot to say on this subject. Of course, it was all stuff she could never, ever say out loud. She wouldn’t even tell Aimee some of this stuff—and she told Aimee absolutely everything. After the lists were typed, she returned to another file.
Only the Lonely
My school psychologist told me last year that I had to be patient. He told me I had to let Mom and Dad figure out their own lives again. So I am trying. Sometimes it’s hard to imagine how two people could ever have let themselves get so mad at each other the way Mom and Dad did, but it happened and that’s that I guess. I still keep their wedding picture on my file cabinet just because it makes me think of when they were trying a little harder to be nice. They must have loved each other once, right?
