Give and Take

by Laura Dower

  “Oh. Yeah. I called,” Aimee said. “Well … the thing is … I can’t hang out tomorrow morning.”

  “You mean for the hockey game?” Madison asked. “But we—”

  “No, no,” Aimee said. “Before the hockey game. Something came up. Okay? I’ll meet you later on at the rink.”

  “But we—” Madison started to say. “What came up?”

  “Oh, Maddie, I have to go. Dean wants to use the phone,” Aimee said. “Sorry. See you later? Bye!”

  “But, Aim—” Madison started to say.

  It was too late. Aimee had hung up the phone already.

  Madison sat staring at the receiver as though she’d been hit by a rock.

  Chapter 5

  MADISON’S EYES TRACED A CRACK on her bedroom ceiling—down the wall, around her closet-door frame, and all the way to the floor. She snuggled under three quilts, digging her toes into the sheets to keep warm. Winter Saturday mornings in bed were the best: no rushing to school, walking the dog, or anything. Madison could just sleep and snuggle with Phinnie.

  Especially since she wasn’t getting together with Aimee this morning as she’d hoped. Last night’s phone call had put those plans to rest.

  Was it snowing today? Madison leaned out from under the covers to glance out the window. But there was no snow—just a blanket of gray sky. She began to wonder if it would ever snow this winter. Her windows weren’t even that frosty this morning.

  As Madison’s eyes drifted back to the crack in the ceiling, she thought about her friends. It bugged Madison that Aimee didn’t even really give a proper explanation for changing the plans. And she wasn’t the only one. Fiona had said she couldn’t hang out this morning either. Both BFFs had been acting a little distant in school, too.

  Was something really wrong—or was Madison just over-thinking things?

  Since her computer was still plugged into the spare phone jack in her bedroom from the night before, Madison grabbed it and crawled back into bed. Almost as good as snuggling in bed with Phin was snuggling in bed with her laptop.

  She tried to push negative thoughts out of her mind as she opened her e-mailbox.

  FROM SUBJECT

  GoGramma Re: Missing You

  GoGramma Re: Missing You

  GoGramma Re: Missing You

  Bigwheels RE: Ski Trip

  Three messages from Gramma? Madison laughed to herself. Sometimes, Gramma hit the SEND key too many times. Madison double-clicked one message to open it and deleted the other two.

  From: GoGramma

  To: MadFinn

  Subject: Re: Missing You

  Date: Fri 7 Dec 8:11 PM

  My dear Maddie, I am so very proud of you! Of course I’m happy about your volunteering. You are giving so much. Your new grandmother must be thrilled to have you as an adopt-a-granddaughter. I know I am happy to call you mine.

  What is her name? Does she know how lucky she is to have you visiting with her? Remember that you always get what you give.

  You and your mother were right about the telephone. My neighbor Mabel helped me figure out what was wrong. Time to get a new one.

  I love you and think of you often.

  Love,

  Gramma Helen

  After saving the Gramma message into her “Gramma” file (where she saved most of the messages her grandmother ever sent), Madison opened the message from Bigwheels. It was a long one with attachments.

  From: Bigwheels

  To: MadFinn

  Subject: Re: Ski Trip

  Date: Fri 7 Dec 11:11 PM

  You have a lot going on right now, don’tcha? Me too. Winter is busy. Well, every time is busy, I guess. In answer to your question, ur right about the holidays being worse. It’s so strange that u asked about my Mom & Dad fighting b/c lately they have been fighting A LOT again. My little brother Eddie, has been sick with a cold and my little sister Melanie 2. I guess Mom needs a vacation. Well, that’s what she says when she doesn’t realize that I’m eavesdropping on them. I wish my parents would just make up their minds and be 2gether or not.

  So I don’t really have any advice for you about what to do when they argue except 1 main thing: don’t EVER pick sides. Last week I was on my Dad’s side about something and my mother got all mad at me and started crying. Actually, don’t lie to them either. Parents always know or find out when u lie or cover up stuff and then it is SO much worse.

  Does that help? Are you singing in the chorus or do you have a solo for that winter concert? U didn’t say.

  Write back soon.

  Yours till the ice skates,

  Bigwheels

  P.S. I attached some poems to this e-mail for u 2 read let me know if u like them. One is from English class.

  Madison read Bigwheels e-mail through twice and opened the poem file that had been attached. She read through poems called “Snow Day,” “Turkey Sandwiches,” “My Friendship,” and “Listen Up.” They were all similar. Bigwheels wrote a lot about finding true love and about friends. Madison liked the poem “Hard to Find” the best. It was an alphabet poem—at least up to the letter T.

  Hard to Find

  Always keep friends

  Because they should be

  Close by

  Don’t forget

  Everyone needs them

  Friendship is so important

  Gives you a good feeling

  Hard to find

  I know it

  Just find it

  Kind

  Loving friends

  Make you feel good about you

  Never critical

  Open hearts

  Putting you first

  Quiet

  Real

  Special friends for special times

  Take care of friends

  Madison shot back an e-mail thanking Bigwheels for the advice and the poems. Then she tried to call Aimee again, to find out where they would be meeting at the hockey rink, but Aimee wasn’t home. Neither was Fiona. When Madison called the Waterses’ house, Fiona’s twin brother Chet answered the phone and made some joke about his sister not being there.

  Where were they?

  Madison wondered if her BFFs were together—wherever they were.

  After writing in her files and cleaning out part of her closet, Madison watched TV and helped Mom make date-nut bread. Lately, Mom had been into baking cookies and cakes and breads. Their entire cupboard was filled with treats. Before long, the afternoon arrived and Madison got dressed for the hockey game.

  Since she still had not heard from Aimee or Fiona, Madison asked Mom to give her a ride over to the ice rink. She hoped her BFFs would be waiting there for Madison to arrive.

  The rink was packed. Parents dropped off their kids out front. Mom pulled the car up to the curb to unload and Madison jumped out.

  “I will pick you up in two hours,” Mom said. “Play nice, okay?”

  “Very funny, Mom,” Madison said. She straightened out her ponytail and reknotted her striped scarf. Cold air nipped at her neck.

  At first, Madison didn’t see anyone she knew. But then, through a cluster of kids, Ivy came into view. She was standing by a door to the rink with Rose and Joanie. Madison walked over.

  “Hey, Ivy,” Madison said.

  Rose turned and sneered. “Um … did you say something?” she asked.

  Joanie laughed. “I think someone said something.”

  “I just said hello,” Madison said. “And I said it to Ivy, not you.”

  “Well excuse me for living,” Rose said. “Ivy, she said hello.”

  “Hi,” Ivy said quietly, shooting a look at Rose.

  “Can we please go in?” Joanie said, whining.

  Madison couldn’t believe it when they all three turned their backs to her and walked inside. Ivy was acting like a different person. The Ivy from The Estates trip the day before had been “Imposter Ivy.” This was the more familiar attitude Madison knew from school.

 
Madison followed the enemy inside and approached the risers where everyone was sitting to watch the hockey game. She scanned the rows, searching for her friends. On one side of the seats were the Far Hills fans; and on the other side were fans from the opposing team, the Flames. Madison spotted Aimee and Fiona, talking together.

  “Hey, you guys,” Madison said, climbing over a few other kids to get to them. “I thought maybe you’d wait outside for me. What’s up?”

  Aimee and Fiona stopped whispering and turned to look at Madison.

  “Oh-em-gee, Maddie!” Aimee cried. “We totally saved you a seat.”

  Unfortunately, when Aimee turned around, someone else had sat down there. They wouldn’t move, so Madison sat in the row behind her friends.

  “Hey, did you see Egg in his hockey gear?” Fiona asked. “He looks super-cute today!”

  “You have Egg on the brain,” Aimee said.

  Fiona giggled. “Yeah, I guess so.”

  “So, Maddie,” Aimee asked, twisting her body around. “What did you do today?”

  “Hung out,” Madison replied. “Alone,” she added.

  “Look, I’m sorry about canceling our plans today but we both had other really important stuff to do that I forgot about,” Aimee explained. “Right, Fiona?”

  “Yeah, plans,” Fiona said. “Really important plans.”

  “Huh? Where were you guys?” Madison asked.

  Just then, the bullhorn sounded. The game was about to begin. Since it was just a junior-high scrimmage, there weren’t very many spectators, but everyone was screaming at the top of their lungs. Madison could no longer hear a word Aimee or Fiona said.

  The players skated out onto the ice with sticks in the air. Egg did look kind of sweet in his hockey gear. He was playing goalie. Drew Maxwell, one of Egg’s best pals, was in the right wing position. He was fast. Hart skated quickly around the ice, too. Madison’s eyes followed him. She’d heard that he’d won awards for skating. Bigwheels would be impressed.

  Madison’s keypal loved ice skating more than anything, even if it was only hockey players, not figure skaters, doing it.

  As the game began, Fiona and Aimee tried turning around to talk, but it was so hard to hear that they’d turn right back around again. Even though Madison was in the middle of the crowd, she felt a little alone sitting there. Ivy and her drones were all the way down toward the front, right near the ice. Madison guessed that Ivy was probably making eyes at Hart through the barrier. Poison Ivy would do anything to be closer to him.

  Kids spun loud noisemakers and yelled for their favorite players on both sides. When Egg made a big save with his glove, Fiona jumped up and clapped. Madison wanted to do the same when Hart scored a goal, but she restrained herself. Liking him was her biggest secret; and she’d do anything to protect it.

  The game got boring after a while, so Madison decided to go to the bathroom. On the way out, she nearly collided with an old woman who smiled and went on her way. Madison thought of Mrs. Romano and wondered what her adoptive grandmother was doing at The Estates while she was here watching hockey. Did she have grandchildren who played hockey? Did she have any family? Madison realized that during their visit she’d forgotten to ask some important questions.

  From inside the bathroom, Madison heard the crowd roar. She guessed that the Far Hills team had gotten another goal and hurried to get back to her seat. The scrimmage lasted for another half an hour, and then everyone filed out of the ice rink. Madison still had twenty minutes to wait for Mom, so she asked Aimee and Fiona to wait with her.

  “Well,” Fiona said. “Actually, we can’t really wait because my dad is coming to pick us up …”

  “Yeah,” Aimee interrupted, “but … do you need a ride?”

  “Well, my mom is coming back,” Madison said.

  “Oh,” Fiona said. “So you don’t need a ride?”

  “I guess not,” Madison said.

  “Well, we can all talk later,” Aimee said.

  “Later?” Madison said. She felt a twinge in the pit of her stomach, like something was very wrong.

  “Yeah, later. I’ll e-mail you,” Aimee said. “For sure.”

  “Look, there’s my dad’s car,” Fiona yelled. Mr. Waters waved from the car. Madison waved back.

  Everyone stood around staring at each other.

  “Are you guys mad at me or something?” Madison asked.

  Aimee and Fiona looked at each other but didn’t say anything.

  Madison sighed. “Because I feel a little out of it. You guys couldn’t hang out earlier today and you were barely talking to me during the game and …”

  “Oh-em-gee! Mad at you? NO WAY!” Aimee squealed. She leaned in to give Madison a huge hug.

  Fiona joined in for a three-way hug. “We’re SO not mad, Maddie.”

  “Oh-em-gee, why would you ever think we were mad?” Aimee asked.

  “I don’t know,” Madison said, more confused than before.

  Mr. Waters honked the horn.

  “Oh! We have to go now,” Fiona said.

  “I know, I know,” Madison said. “E me later, right?”

  “Of course!” Aimee and Fiona both cried.

  The pair piled into Mr. Waters’s car, and it disappeared through the rink parking lot’s exit gate. By now, the rest of the seventh graders began to disappear, too. Hart, Drew, and Egg got into the car to drive home together with Señora Diaz. Ivy came out and she and the drones got into Mr. Daly’s car. Ivy even waved good-bye when she left.

  Madison leaned up against a wall and waited for Mom.

  Luckily, Mom arrived on the scene a few moments later.

  “How was the game?” she asked as Madison got into the front seat.

  “Okay, I guess,” Madison replied. “We won. But I feel like I’m on another planet.”

  Mom fished around for more details, but Madison didn’t know how to explain. She didn’t have the words yet. When they got back home, however, Madison went upstairs immediately, opened a new file, and started to write.

  Give and Take

  Major newsflash: Ivy the enemy is being friendly (well, sometimes) and Aimee and Fiona the friends are acting like the enemy (avoiding me?).

  Repeat after me: HUH???

  Okay, so my BFFs aren’t really being mean or n e thing, but I get this strange feeling that they don’t want to hang out together. That hurts me a little. What’s worse is when they get all nice with me, which is especially unlike Aimee. She only does that when she’s acting fake. I’ve never seen her do that to anyone but people she doesn’t like. Why would she have to be fake with ME?

  I am so confused. How am I supposed to celebrate the holidays when my BFFs don’t want to even ride home with me and my mom and dad won’t stop fighting? I hope that things get better in time for the Winter Jubilee concert. We have a lot of singing rehearsals coming up.

  Gramma Helen says that I’ll get what I give. Just when does that start, exactly? I thought I was giving a lot.

  Rude Awakening: It’s hard to have a warm heart, when all I’m getting is the cold shoulder.

  Chapter 6

  BY MONDAY MORNING, EVERYTHING seemed to be back to normal with Aimee and Fiona. They called and e-mailed when they said they would over the weekend. Aimee even came by with Blossom to walk Phin together. Neither girl explained why she had acted so strangely at the hockey game, but Madison didn’t require an explanation. She just wanted her old BFFs back.

  Not everyone was back to their normal selves, however. Ivy was as fake as ever, pasting on her super-grin Monday afternoon when they drove to The Estates for the second official visit. She sat near Madison again—not Hart.

  “I have been missing Mrs. Wood all weekend,” Ivy said as they boarded the minibus.

  “Missing her? But you only just met her,” Madison said.

  “Well, you know,” Ivy said with a dramatic flourish, waving her arm in the air. “I get very attached to people quickly.”

  “You do?” Madison
said, stifling a giggle.

  “Sure I do,” Ivy said.

  And you get unattached pretty quickly, too, Madison thought.

  “Don’t you care about your person?” Ivy asked.

  “You make it sound so funny,” Madison said. “Like we have them on loan from the library or something.”

  “Well, Nurse Ana and Mr. Lynch said we are responsible for them,” Ivy said.

  Madison smiled. “Yeah, for like an hour. Ivy, you are so …”

  “So … what? I am taking my responsibility very seriously,” Ivy said. Madison could almost hear the old, familiar snarl in Ivy’s voice.

  “I’ve thought about Mrs. Romano a lot,” Madison said. “She and I had fun talking on Friday. I just think she’s lonely.”

  “I would be lonely, too, if I lived there,” Ivy said. “Mrs. Wood doesn’t act lonely at all.”

  “That’s not what I mean,” Madison said. “Mrs. Romano seems lonely because she has no real friends. Well, except her birds.”

  “Her birds?” Ivy asked.

  “She watches them from the windows,” Madison explained.

  “What a freak,” Ivy said.

  Madison frowned. “Sometimes you can be so … so …”

  “What?” Ivy asked. “So … what?”

  “RUDE,” Madison blurted. “I can’t believe you’re even volunteering. Why do you bother?”

  Ivy got very quiet, which surprised Madison. Normally, Poison Ivy would snap back with some obnoxious comment of her own, but she didn’t say anything at all. She just shrunk down into her gray wool coat and sulked. Madison actually started to feel a little guilty about what she’d said.

  When they arrived, Nurse Ana was there to greet the seventh graders. “Hola!” she cried as the electric swinging doors to The Estates opened up.

  Everyone filed into the conference room. Each visit required a reorientation with the social director. Davy Miller was bummed out because there were no sodas this time.

  “Did everyone have a good weekend?” Mr. Lynch asked.

  Señora Diaz told the kids to talk about any concerns or questions they had after the first visit, but of course no one had any. Everyone just sat around and stared. Joey O’Neill picked his nose, and ate it too, this time.