Double Dare

by Laura Dower

  Dad checked the clock on the dashboard. “Well …” he hedged. “We’ve got a reservation, and I don’t want to keep Stephanie waiting.”

  “Oh,” Madison said, deflated like a balloon losing air. Even though Madison didn’t love the idea that Dad was dating, Stephanie was always nice, she had to admit that. Madison could understand why Dad didn’t want her to be sitting by herself in the restaurant.

  But, she still wanted to make the detour to see the puppies.

  “I swear I will only go in for a split second,” Madison pleaded.

  “I know you,” Dad said, “You’ll see one puppy and hold it. And then you’ll want to hold all of them…. Maybe we can go there after dinner?”

  “They’ll be closed then,” Madison said. “Please, Dad? Puh-leeez?”

  “Okay,” Dad sighed. “Okay. But you’ll have to be quick.”

  “I will, cross my heart,” Madison said, giving him a peck on the cheek.

  Dad pulled into the parking lot of the Far Hills Animal Clinic, and Madison opened the car door and jumped right out. “Five minutes only,” she said. “I know.”

  “What about me?” Dad replied, “I want to see the puppies, too.”

  “You do?” Madison said. She grinned as Dad scrambled out of the car and they walked into the clinic.

  “Maddie!” said a blonde woman behind the desk. It was Eileen Ginsburg, animal nurse at the clinic and the mother of Madison’s friend from school, Dan.

  “You’re here to see Fleet’s pups, aren’t you?” Eileen said.

  Madison nodded and introduced Dad. After the grown-ups said their polite hellos, Eileen showed them into the back room. A volunteer was there tending to a sick kitten. Dan was there, too, washing cages.

  “Hey, Maddie!” Dan yelled. He volunteered at the clinic after school to help his mom out. Madison admired how good he was with the animals. “Did you hear that Fleet had puppies?”

  “Yes!” Madison said. “That’s why I’m here. Your mom guessed right away.” Madison introduced Dad.

  “You’ve got your hands full here,” Dad said.

  “Yes sir,” Dan said. “Let’s go see the dogs. There are seven. Can you believe it?”

  Dan led them to a low basket lined with blankets in the corner of the room. “We thought she needed some extra space,” Dan explained. “Usually we don’t have special setups like this, but sometimes. Fleet is special.”

  Fleet lay on her side, looking exhausted, while seven tiny collie puppies nursed at her side. Madison sucked in her breath. The puppies were so little that they hadn’t even opened their eyes yet! “They’re adorable,” she gasped.

  “They really are,” Dad agreed, sneaking up behind Madison. “Lucky dogs.”

  “Dad!” Madison groaned.

  “They’re only four days old,” Dan said. “You can’t touch them yet, or else I’d let you hold one.”

  “Oh, that’s okay,” Madison said. “I’m happy just to look.” She gazed at the puppies again, until she noticed Dad checking his watch. “Whoops! Hey, Dan, we have to boogie.”

  “So soon?” he said.

  “Yeah,” Madison said, smiling at Dad. “But thanks so much for showing them to us.”

  “It was nice to meet you, young man,” Dad said.

  “Come back and see them again,” Dan said. “They get cuter every day.”

  “I don’t see how they could get any cuter,” Madison said, “but I’ll definitely come back.”

  Dan showed them out. “Oh, by the way, Maddie, I got your e-mail invitation. It sounds like fun.”

  “So you’ll be there?” Madison said. “So many people are coming. I can’t wait.” She waved to Dan as she walked to Dad’s car.

  Madison drifted in a happy-puppy fog all the way to the restaurant. When they arrived, Stephanie was sitting at a table, looking at a menu.

  “Sorry we’re a little late,” Dad said as he leaned over to say hello. “We had to stop and see some puppies.”

  “Puppies? Wow! Where did you see those?” Stephanie said. She looked at Madison. “I bet that was your idea.”

  Madison smiled. “Yeah, well this collie had puppies at the animal clinic downtown. I begged Dad to go. Sorry it made us late.”

  “Nonsense!” Stephanie said. “I remember when my dog Max had puppies on the ranch and we watched them be born.”

  “Really?” Madison said. Stephanie had the best stories from growing up.

  The waiter came over with menus and took the drink orders. Dad requested an appetizer of vegetable samosas. Madison had never tried those before. He always made her try one new thing every time they ate out.

  “So how’s school, Maddie?” Dad asked, changing the subject.

  “Oh—the usual,” Madison said.

  “Madison has entered a webpage contest,” Dad told Stephanie. “And I think she can win.”

  Madison rolled her eyes. “Dad …” she moaned.

  “What? I’m not allowed to be proud of my daughter?” Dad asked. “How’s it coming, by the way?”

  “Actually, it’s going pretty well,” Madison admitted. “Fiona and I have been following your advice, keeping it simple. The link you sent to us really helped. It’s hard work, though.”

  “Sounds like it,” Stephanie said. “And what else is going on? Any exciting dances or parties coming up?”

  “Actually, my friend Aimee and I have been planning a surprise party for our other friends Fiona and Chet. They’re twins,” Madison explained. “We’re going bowling.”

  “Twins?” Stephanie exclaimed. “My goodness. Twice as much fun then!”

  “Who’s coming?” Dad asked. “The usual suspects?”

  “Yeah,” Madison said—then stopped. “Actually, I think everyone is coming. I’m not sure about Egg, but everyone else says they’ll be there.”

  Dad’s eyebrows shot up. “What’s up with Egg?” he asked.

  Madison looked down at the pink tablecloth. “Well, he hasn’t RSVP’d,” Madison admitted. “He and I sort of had a fight.”

  “A fight?” Dad repeated. “What about?”

  Madison glanced up at Stephanie. For some reason, she didn’t want to talk about this in front of Dad’s girlfriend. “It’s nothing, Dad,” Madison said quickly. “Can we drop it?”

  “But you and Egg are best friends,” Dad pressed. “Tell me what’s going on. I don’t like to hear that you’re not speaking …”

  “Jeff—” Stephanie said.

  “Wait, I want to hear this. Tell me why you’re not talking, Maddie.”

  “Dad, didn’t you hear me? I said, forget it, okay?” she snapped. The last thing she wanted right now was to relive the whole Egg ordeal.

  “Madison, you can talk to me about anything, you know—” Dad said.

  “Jeff—” Stephanie tried to interrupt him again.

  “It’s no biggie, all right? Egg is just being a wiener, as usual.”

  “A what?” Dad said. “What did you say?” He glanced over at Stephanie, and she put her hand on his arm. “Madison, I don’t like it when—”

  “Why don’t you just listen? I don’t want to talk about it!” Madison said.

  “Jeff—” Stephanie tried to intervene again.

  “Just leave me alone, Dad!” Madison shouted. “Go on another business trip or something, why don’t you?”

  Dad sat back in his chair, stunned. Madison hardly ever raised her voice at him. She never did it in public. Why was she doing it now? She gulped down her glass of ice water and stared at the wall. Why had those words slipped out?

  Madison just wanted to run away.

  “I was only trying to help,” Dad said softly. Madison could tell by his voice that she’d hurt his feelings, but she didn’t know what to say. She couldn’t believe she’d said that stuff about a business trip.

  “Jeff,” Stephanie said, “I think maybe we should change the subject. Let Madison just sit quietly, okay?”

  Dad bristled at Stephanie. “Please, don’t
tell me what to do with my daughter, Steph,” he said, his voice strained. Madison couldn’t believe that Stephanie was coming to her defense and that Dad was reacting the way he was. It felt like the way things were with Dad and Mom before the Big D.

  The waiter came over with the drinks and appetizers. But when Dad handed Madison her vegetable samosa, she pushed it away. She couldn’t eat. She couldn’t look at him, either. No one was talking now.

  Dinner took forever. The ride home was long and Dad and Stephanie spoke in the front seat about work, trying to include Madison in the conversation. But she didn’t feel like talking to anyone. She wanted everything just to stop or start over, or something other than this. She needed to be back home with Phin.

  Madison thought she’d been on top of the world, planning the party and webpage. So why had she snapped at Dad? Would he ever forgive her for starting the fight in the restaurant?

  Gramma Helen told Madison once that there were moments in life when everything crashed in at once, like a big wave. And at those moments, sometimes you felt lost. There, in the backseat of Dad’s car, a place that had always been supersafe, Madison felt lost.

  Didn’t Dad remember what it was like to be in seventh grade?

  After a quick good night to Dad and Stephanie, Madison ran inside to say an even quicker hello to Mom and then headed directly upstairs. Phin panted all the way up the stairs behind her.

  Luckily, there was one person who could understand what she was feeling right now. And that someone could give her good advice, too.

  “Hello, laptop,” Madison said, logging on to her computer. “I’m back.”

  From: MadFinn

  To: Bigwheels

  Subject: HELP

  Date: Tues 26 Sept 9:00 PM

  I need ur help big time. I’m having friend and parent angst. I just got into the hugest fight with my Dad.

  And I had a fight earlier today with my friend Egg. I feel like I am fighting with everyone. Meanwhile, I’m trying to plan this party and do work for that contest. My head is exploding!

  Please meet me in a chat room or e-mail me back ASAP?

  Yours till the tree tops,

  Maddie

  Chapter 9

  Apologies

  Remember that crashing wave that Gramma Helen talked about? Well, now here comes a mega monster tsunami. It’s Wipeout City.

  Fiona thinks that we’re being too mean to Egg. Scratch that. She thinks I’m being too mean to Egg. I guess Chet (that fat mouth!) told her all about my Egg argument in the library the other day, and now she thinks that I’m only interested in the contest so that I can show Egg up. She’s acting a little cold to me, I think. Great. The party is in two days and Fiona is mad.

  NO ONE—and I mean absolutely NO ONE—gets where I’m coming from these days.

  I mean, I’ll admit that part of what Fiona says is true. Showing up Egg is part of the reason that I’m in the contest. But it isn’t the only reason. The fact is that our webpage is looking greater than great. It has a bunch of different sections: English, Math, Social Studies, History, Science and Technology, Art and Music, and even Foreign Languages. Each section has a different graphical theme, and links to the most helpful sites we could find. We have a real shot at winning this thing.

  So Fiona is pressuring me to apologize to Egg, but I just don’t want to. I know that she’s seriously crushing on him—but I can’t get around my feelings. I really wanted to be on Egg’s team and he blew me off. And he’s the one who turned it into this double dare. I won’t apologize.

  And it’s the same thing with Dad. I can’t believe I yelled at him last night—I never do stuff like that. But I felt like he just didn’t get what I was saying, and it was frustrating. Even though he was trying, it didn’t really help. And now he’s off on one of his business trips, and I can’t even call him to apologize. See?

  Rude Awakening: If there are two sides to every situation, why am I always on the wrong side?

  Madison heard the doorbell ring and quickly hit SAVE. She leaped up from the desk and ran downstairs. She knew who was at the door. This person could surely snap her out of the little blue funk, right?

  “Presenting … the missing ingredients!” Aimee said, twirling around with a big brown paper bag. She’d fixed her blond hair in a loose topknot and her cheeks were pink. “Sorry I’m late. Ballet class ran over.”

  “Thank goodness you’re here!” Madison said, and opened the door wide so Aimee could twirl inside.

  “I am so ready to bake,” Aimee declared. “And I brought chocolate frosting and a bunch of other stuff we can use to decorate the cake. Roger was a big help, actually.” Roger was Aimee’s oldest brother, and he knew how to do almost everything—including cook.

  “Great!” Madison said with a smile. “This is going to be so much fun!” She could feel the blue funk fading already.

  Mom was pouring herself a glass of cranberry juice when Madison and Aimee walked into the kitchen. “Hi, Aimee,” Mom said. “Are you girls all set to bake Fiona’s cake now?”

  “Yep,” Aimee said, dropping her bag on the counter.

  “Need any help?” Mom asked, taking a sip from her glass.

  “Nope,” Aimee said.

  Mom smiled. “Well, you don’t mind if I supervise the oven part of this afternoon, do you? You need to be careful.”

  “Of course, Mom,” Madison said, giving Aimee the eye. “Where did we put Gramma Helen’s recipe card for Super Fudge cake?”

  Mom rifled through the cards inside an old wooden recipe box that she hardly ever used. She pulled out an old, stained card and handed it to Madison. “There you go. All the ingredients should be in the cabinets and the fridge. And I bought more flour yesterday.”

  “What did Mrs. Waters decide about the rest of the food for the party?” Aimee asked.

  “Pizza—all the way,” Madison said. “And some ice cream for dessert with the cake.”

  “Man, this will really blow my diet!” Aimee said.

  “You’re on a diet?” Mom asked.

  Aimee shrugged. “Well, I’m just watching what I eat.”

  “Hey, Aimee, Mom says we should serve everything in twos since it’s a birthday party for both Chet and Fiona. Isn’t that a cool idea? Unfortunately, we couldn’t really come up with food that’s served in pairs.”

  “That is brilliant!” Aimee exclaimed. She balanced on the tips of her shoes as though she was doing a ballet move. “Totally, positively, absolutely BRILLIANT!”

  “What are you talking about?” Madison asked.

  “Let’s make two cakes,” Aimee explained, “Twin cakes, get it?”

  Madison threw her hands into the air and hugged her friend. “Aimee, you’re a genius! Why didn’t I think of that?”

  “But you did think of it, silly,” Aimee replied. “I just helped you.”

  “Let me just make sure we have enough to make two cakes,” Mom said as she pulled the eggs out of the refrigerator. Quickly, Madison and Aimee loaded up the countertop with the rest of the ingredients. They were almost out of baking powder, but when Mom measured it, it turned out that there was enough.

  “Bummer. We’ll need more frosting,” Aimee said. “I only brought enough for one cake. Let me call my dad, or Roger. They can stop at the store on the way home from the bookstore.”

  “Sounds good,” Mom said. “Why don’t I let you girls get cooking? Call me if you need anything.” She disappeared into her office.

  Aimee and Madison sifted and stirred everything together for about an hour. It took so long because they couldn’t help but gossip in between.

  Phin helped too, snatching up every scrap that found its way to the floor. When Madison pulled the chocolate-covered beaters from the batter and carried them to the sink, Phin followed her so intently that he didn’t see Aimee walking toward the cabinet with the bag of flour. She tripped over him and the sack of flour went flying—all over Phinnie! Even a good shake didn’t get all of the whit
e powder off him. And he couldn’t stop snorting.

  “Mom!” Madison called out, laughing. Aimee rushed around with a wet dish towel trying to get the flour picked up, but she only made things worse. The white powder turned into white, wet lumps.

  Mom raced into the kitchen. “Oh, my!” she said. “Aimee, stop that! We can sweep it up, don’t use a wet rag.”

  Aimee dropped the towel, which fell on top of Phin with a plop.

  “Rowroooooooeeeeeee!” he wailed.

  “Oh, Phinnie,” Mom said. “I’m afraid you’ll need a bath now.” She whisked him away, half-laughing at the mess. “And while I’m gone, you girls need to clean up, okay?”

  Phin looked at Aimee and Madison from over Mom’s shoulder. He licked his lips but scowled when he realized the white stuff on his face didn’t taste so great. Madison and Aimee burst into a fit of giggles.

  After Mom left the room, they put finishing touches on the first gooey chocolate-on-chocolate cake. Someone tapped at the kitchen sliding door. They turned around to see Aimee’s mom standing there with Blossom, the Gillespie family dog. Mrs. Gillespie held Blossom on a leash with one hand and toted a plastic bag in the other.

  “Frosting, anyone?” On the other side of the glass, Mrs. Gillespie dangled the bag. “I heard that you needed more ingredients.”

  “Mommy, hello!” Aimee cried.

  “Hi, Mrs. Gillespie!” Madison said as she pulled open the door.

  Aimee’s basset hound, Blossom, bounded inside. Madison stooped to pet the dog’s soft ears.

  “Don’t worry, Blossom,” Madison said. “Phin is just getting a bath. He’ll be back in here any minute.” Blossom wagged her tail as though she understood. She really was Phin’s girlfriend.

  “This cake looks great,” Mrs. Gillespie said. “Dad told me you’re making twin cakes. Who’s this one for?”

  “I guess this one can be for Fiona,” Aimee said, digging a small tube of white frosting out of the bag. “Madison, do you want to do the writing?”

  “Your handwriting is better than mine,” Madison said. “Go ahead.”

  Aimee jumped at the chance. She used her best script to write out Happy Birthday, Fiona, and stepped back from the cake proudly.