by Laura Dower
But then she saw a second e-mail in her box with the same subject line. Unfortunately it was from Ivy! She’d hit REPLY ALL when she got Chet’s message. This meant she had been invited.
From: Flowr99
To: Wetwins
Cc: The Skates
Subject: Re: Cocoa Party SUNDAY
Date: Thurs 18 Jan 7:31 PM
Fab! I will TOTALLY see you there, Chet. Thank you again for inviting me. TTFN.
:>) Ivy
Why was Madison so haunted this week by letters from Ivy? Some she could open…and some she couldn’t open, but the letters followed her everywhere.
Madison wanted to screech.
She opened up a new file instead.
Lost and Found
I thought the real snow that falls from the sky was bad enough, but boy, was I ever WRONG! There are worse storms in my life like I-V-Y. How come she acts so superior to everyone else? And how come she keeps showing up wherever I am? I really doubt if Fiona would have invited the enemy over! Chet is a chucklehead.
Skating was a disaster. I felt invisible. And Hart pretended to be all nice, but I think he sees me more like a friend and nothing else. At least I hope he sees me like a friend! Aimee whispered to me today that he is always looking at me and asked if I liked him. I could have swallowed my gum! No way, I said. NO ONE LIKES HART except for Poison Ivy. I hate lying to Aimee, but she can’t know. I would die of embarrassment if everyone knew that I liked the same person as Poison Ivy.
Just when I think I’m done finding out everything I can about Ivy, she somehow makes my life miserable AGAIN. Like now I STILL have this sealed letter that I found. I keep trying to blow it off—and it keeps coming back to bug me!!! The new plan is that I will show it to her at the party and that will be the end of it. She thinks she knows everything, but I will show her a few things. HA!
Rude Awakening: No one likes a snow-it-all.
Ivy’s the real blizzard around here. Just when I think she’s gone, she slams me harder than before.
But she better watch out.
This weekend, I’m ready to slam back.
Chapter 11
“YOU LOOK SOOOOOO GOOD!” Aimee squealed as she and Madison walked into the Waterses’ house together.
It was a half hour before Sunday’s party’s official “start time.” They wanted to arrive early and hang out with Fiona alone for a while.
“I missed you guys so much!” Fiona cooed. She coughed a little. “You shouldn’t get too close, though. Just in case I’m still contagious or something.”
“I missed you, too, Fiona!” Madison leaned in for a squeeze. “And I don’t care if I catch your flu. Being sick would be better than everything that’s been happening to me.”
“I heard that Phin ran away,” Fiona said. “But he’s okay now, right?”
“Yeah,” Madison said. “He had me so scared.”
They walked into the kitchen, where Mr. and Mrs. Waters were both putting food out on trays. They had prepared a fondue pot with melted chocolate, marshmallow crispy treats, and other fun munchies.
“Have some!” Mrs. Waters handed Aimee a brownie, but she refused.
“I’m on a diet,” she said.
Madison rolled her eyes and took the brownie. “I’ll try it,” she said, smiling.
“You know there are like a thousand calories in just one brownie,” Aimee said. Madison ate it, anyway.
In the living room, a VCR was set up with movies so kids could watch TV if they wanted. In the downstairs family room, another area was set up so everyone could hang out and listen to music.
“This is a real party,” Aimee said, impressed. “I thought we’d just be hanging out talking and eating and drinking cocoa. This is serious, Fiona.”
“Well, my parents like to overdo everything,” Fiona admitted. “They always want us to have a good time.”
Madison and Aimee giggled.
Madison loved being at Fiona’s house before the party started…before Ivy Daly came.
She felt around inside her jacket just to make sure the letter was still there. As soon as she got rid of the letter, she’d lose all memories of her enemy.
Dingdong.
Egg and Drew arrived and went into the living room with Chet. They hooked up the PlayStation and started to play without saying hello to Mr. and Mrs. Waters or the girls.
Fiona grabbed a potato chip and took a seat in the dining room. She wanted to be filled in on all the gossip from ice skating.
Who skated with whom? What happened on the ice?
Most important, she wanted to know…what was Egg doing the whole time? Her major crush on Egg didn’t go away even when she hadn’t seen him in days.
Dingdong. Dingdong.
Ivy and Hart, by coincidence, arrived at the exact same time.
Madison hated coincidences. It was the superstitious side of her acting up. She figured that this coincidence meant Ivy would be sitting next to Hart the whole time they were at Fiona’s (when not surrounded by her drones, of course).
Madison kept a hawk’s eye on her enemy during the start of the party. She had to find the right time to bring out the letter.
But when?
She almost followed Ivy into the bathroom once, until Ivy shot her a look.
“I think I was here first,” Ivy said, shutting the door. “You’ll have to wait.”
There was another moment in the middle of eating when Madison found herself in the kitchen alone with Ivy. But all she could do was stare. She had a total speech block.
“Do you have a problem?” Ivy asked.
Madison took a mouthful of chips. “No,” she said, chewing. “I was just zoning out. Sorry.”
“Whatever,” Ivy grunted.
As Ivy walked away, Madison fingered the letter inside her pocket. Why couldn’t she let go? Why couldn’t she just tell her the truth? The longer Madison waited to share the sealed letter…the bigger deal it became.
After everyone had eaten plates of food from the kitchen, Chet gathered the group in the family room with Twister. But no one really felt like playing a game where you had to bend and crouch.
“We just ate,” Dan said. “My stomach is way too full.”
He burped for emphasis.
“How gross,” Aimee said.
He burped again.
“I know! Let’s play truth or dare instead,” Ivy suggested.
Fiona started to say, “I don’t really want to—”
But Egg interrupted. “Totally!” he said. “Excellent idea. Truth or dare.”
The group sat on the floor in a circle. Ivy sat next to Hart, just as Madison had predicted. Everyone else sat mostly boy-girl, boy-girl.
“We should actually play spin the bottle truth or dare,” Ivy said, amending her original suggestion.
“What’s that?” Madison asked.
Ivy demonstrated.
“You spin the bottle and it lands on someone like this.” She grabbed a soda bottle from the table and spun it around on the floor. “So in this case it landed on Rose. Now, I ask Rose, ‘Truth or dare?’”
“Dare!” Rose blurted.
“Okay.” Ivy laughed. “So now I think up a really, really good dare. Like, spin the bottle again and you have to kiss the person it lands on.”
“Kiss?” Aimee exclaimed.
“I don’t want to play this game, Ivy,” Fiona said.
“Oh, don’t be a baby,” Chet said to his sister. “It’ll be really fun.”
Aimee leaned over to Fiona. “Maybe it won’t be terrible. Let’s try.”
“Okay, so who’s going to start?” Ivy asked. She handed the bottle to her left to Drew. He smiled as he took it.
Drew spun. It pointed back to himself, and everyone in the room laughed.
He spun again, and it landed on Hart’s friend Susie.
“So what do I do?” Drew asked.
“Truth or dare?” Ivy reminded him.
He asked Susie which she w
anted.
“Truth,” Susie said, without missing a beat. “Absolutely.”
“Okay.” Drew thought for a minute. “Have you ever been to a foreign country?”
“Wait, wait!” Ivy blurted. “What kind of a question is that?”
“You didn’t say there was a special kind of question I was supposed to ask,” Drew said.
“Well, everyone knows that you’re supposed to ask better ones than that,” Ivy said. “No one cares if she went to a foreign country.”
“I do,” Madison said.
“I have a better question!” Egg said. He whispered it to Drew.
“Okay.” Drew changed his question. “What’s the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to you?”
Susie smiled. She thought for a moment.
Hart cracked up. “I know that one, Susie. Don’t lie!”
“Hart, be quiet!” Susie said. “Let me see…”
Ivy made a face. “What are you talking about, Hart?”
“Let Susie answer,” Madison said to Ivy. Of course she was curiouser than curious about what Susie and Hart had meant by that comment, too.
“Well, I guess you’re right, Hart,” Susie said, looking over at Hart again. “That was the most embarrassing thing ever. Well, this summer…Hart saw me naked.”
“WHAT?” Ivy and Madison screamed at the same time.
Ivy covered her mouth. “Get out!”
Fiona giggled.
“You’re joking!” Rose blurted.
And the rest of the boys started to laugh, especially Drew. He even started to snort.
“I only saw for a second,” Hart corrected her. “And I didn’t even know what had happened. But Susie was so embarrassed. She kept apologizing every time she saw me. It was embarrassing for both of us.”
Madison couldn’t understand how something like that could have happened between Hart and Susie. How could they even look at each other?
Ivy obviously couldn’t believe it, either. She had a look on her face like she’d bitten into a lemon.
“Who’s next?” Drew said, passing the bottle over to Susie.
Susie spun, and it landed on Chet, which made her laugh. Madison remembered that she’d admitted during skating that she thought Chet was cute.
“DARE!” Chet said. “I am not revealing any truth to you guys. No way.”
“Okay, Chet,” Susie said. “Then spin the bottle and whoever it points to…you have to carry them around the room.”
“What?” Egg shouted. “That is so stupid.”
“As long as you don’t have to carry me,” Dan said. Except for a series of gross-out burps, he hadn’t spoken much until now. Everyone laughed at the comment, though, since he was the heaviest kid in the room.
Chet spun the bottle. It landed on his sister.
“NO problem, man,” Chet said. He lifted Fiona into a piggyback position and circled the family room, throwing her on the sofa at the end of it.
“Thanks a LOT,” Fiona said as she crawled back down to the floor.
“Hey,” Susie said, smiling. “I was going to tell him he had to lick someone’s arm. Be glad I picked the piggyback thing instead.”
Chet spun the bottle again and asked Ivy if she wanted truth or dare.
She thought for a moment and then said, “Truth.”
Everyone wanted to tell Chet what question to ask, but he didn’t want to hear anyone else. He already had a question in mind.
Madison couldn’t believe Ivy had chosen truth. But Madison also suspected that Ivy would probably lie about whatever she was asked.
“Which teacher do you have the biggest crush on and why?” Chet asked.
Everyone groaned.
“Why didn’t he ask her which person in the room she had a crush on?” Fiona whispered. “My brother is a dork.”
“SHHHHHH!” Chet said. “So what’s your answer, Ivy?”
“Well, I would have to say…Mr. Danehy,” Ivy said. “Because science is my favorite subject.”
“What a lie,” Madison said out loud.
“Excuse me?” Ivy said. “That is not a lie. Are you calling me a liar?”
“I’m your science partner, and it is SO a lie. And a big, fat, slimy one at that.”
“Well, I answered the question, so I get to spin,” Ivy said, ignoring Madison and twisting the bottle around on the floor.
Madison’s heart sank when she saw where the bottle landed. On her.
“Well, Madison!” Ivy said with glee. “Okay, so do you want truth or dare?”
Madison looked over at Aimee for some kind of life preserver, but Aimee was distracted. Fiona was gazing off into space somewhere, too.
“I’ll pick truth,” she said at last. “Truth.”
“Okay, then,” Ivy said. She rubbed her hands together like some mad scientist. “Tell the group what person at school you have the biggest crush on and why.”
The whole room tilted. Madison felt her hands get sweaty, too.
She had to lie.
“Um…well, no one, really…” Madison stammered.
“That is SO not true, Madison,” Ivy said. “And you know it.”
Madison blinked. “How would you know?” she asked.
Ivy smirked. “Because I do. You have to tell the truth, Madison. Spill it.”
The whole circle of friends got silent. Everyone’s eyes were on Madison. Even Hart was staring at her.
“We’re waiting…” Ivy said.
Madison grabbed her knees and rocked back and forth a little.
“Okay, Ivy.” Madison took a deep breath. “You got me. I will admit my crush to everyone in this room. I have a crush on Egg Diaz.”
“WHAT?” Egg said. “You are the world’s worst liar!”
“No lie, Egg,” Madison said. “So there. Can I spin the bottle now?”
Ivy sat backward on her hands. “I guess.” She looked confused.
Egg was shaking his head. “No way, man!”
Drew started snorting again.
Fiona nudged Madison before she spun the bottle. “Did you mean that, Maddie, about having a crush on Egg?”
Madison shook her head. “No way.”
Fiona breathed a sigh of relief. “I thought so, but…you were so convincing.”
“Are you going to spin the bottle or what?” Rose asked.
The bottle whirred around so fast that it moved halfway across the floor inside their circle.
“Hart!” Drew shouted.
“Truth or dare, Hart?” Aimee asked.
Madison looked him squarely in the eye. “Well?”
He looked right back at Madison and said, “Truth. Let me have it.”
Madison grinned. “Okay.”
Right then and there, she decided to ask him a real question. She knew Hart wouldn’t lie no matter what. So she took a chance.
“Have you ever liked anyone in this room?” Madison asked. “And I mean ‘like’ like, not ‘good friend’ like. You know?”
“I know what you mean,” Hart said.
He sat back and looked around the room.
Everyone waited for his answer.
Chapter 12
“THE TRUTH IS, I do like someone in this room,” Hart said. He didn’t look at anyone in particular.
Fiona giggled.
“You do?” Madison asked again. “So the answer is ‘yes’?”
“Yeah,” he said.
“Oh, man!” Egg said. “Who is it? Who is it? Come on!”
“That wasn’t part of the question,” Hart said. “I don’t have to answer with a name unless it’s part of the question, right?”
Madison nodded. And of course, she’d purposefully left the name part out. She felt her heart beating, like she’d swallowed something huge.
He liked her?
Maybe.
“Your turn to spin, Hart!” Ivy said. He smiled at her and picked up the bottle. This time it landed on Egg.
He picked dare.
“Okay, th
en,” Hart said, daring him. “I like Ivy’s suggestion. Spin the bottle and then you have to kiss the person it lands on.”
“Get out of here!” Egg shrieked. “What if it lands on YOU, bozo?”
“Pucker up!” Drew said.
Egg looked nervous. He spun the bottle.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!” Fiona screamed. It landed on her.
“No way, man, I am NOT kissing her. She’s sick,” Egg said. “I’ll catch some nasty germs.”
“I’m all better, actually,” Fiona said. “You won’t get sick.”
“Yeah, well, I won’t risk it.”
“You can’t blow this off, Egg. It’s the game. Everyone else played fair,” Dan said. “Kiss her.”
“Kiss her! Kiss her! Kiss her!” everyone started to chant.
Aimee stood up. “Hold it!” she said. “Everyone needs to stop. Chet and Fiona’s mom and dad will hear us.”
“You didn’t say where I have to kiss her,” Egg said.
Fiona blushed.
Egg leaned across the circle and kissed Fiona’s bent knee.
“There!” he said, proud of himself.
“We need to get more specific about the questions in this game,” Ivy said. “Like if we ask people who they like, we ask for names. And real kisses are required.”
“That was a real kiss, Ivy,” Egg argued. “Why do you have to see everyone get embarrassed?”
Ivy just shrugged. “I don’t,” she said. “I just—I don’t.”
She cut herself off. The room was silent.
“Fiona!” a voice called from outside the family room. It was Mrs. Waters. “Do you or your friends want any more snacks?” she yelled through the doorway.
The boys all jumped up for more food, but the girls stayed put.
“I think this game is history,” Aimee said.
“Sure looks that way,” said Susie. “I think I’m going home. I have to head back to boarding school tomorrow.”
“No! Don’t leave!” Fiona said. “Please?”
But everyone started to gather their stuff.
“Plus you have a math test tomorrow,” Aimee reminded Madison.
“Oh, wow! The snowstorm made me forget that completely,” Madison said.
“And I have ballet practice in the morning,” Aimee added.
Everyone got Susie’s phone number, e-mail, and address at school so they could keep in touch. In one day she’d become a good friend.
