All Shook Up

by Laura Dower

  I just called over to Aimee’s house and her mom says you should go over there as soon as you get this. I am SO sorry, honey. Call me when you get this. I will keep trying the house, too. I hope you aren’t sitting out on the porch waiting for me.

  Love you,

  Dad

  Madison stared dumbly at the computer screen.

  Dad wasn’t even in Far Hills right now?

  Of course it wasn’t really a problem, Dad being in Boston. Aimee lived just a few houses down, and Phinnie was already there, and Madison was just fine on her own like this. After all, she was practically thirteen. Well, twelve and three-quarters, anyhow. She was old enough. She was responsible enough.

  Madison hit a quick REPLY.

  From: MadFinn

  To: JeffFinn

  Subject: Re:

  Date: Wed 23 Sept 4:12 PM

  Got ur messg. Dad. I am home but keyless. Dumb me—left my spare up in my room. Yeah, I know. So that means I actually AM sitting on the porch. Whoopsie. Total fiasco. Sorry u were worried :>)

  Thanks for calling Aimee’s mom. I am going to head over there right now. I will call u from Aim’s house l8r on ur cell. ILYL&L.

  xoxo

  Maddie

  Madison powered down her laptop and shoved everything back into her orange bag. She pulled out the yellow windbreaker that was shoved in a side pocket, too.

  Bracing herself against the drizzle, Madison headed toward the Gillespie house. Maybe this would work out better. She’d be able to finish her homework with Aimee, and she’d see her beloved Phin. She and Aimee could walk their dogs together after dinner the way they had always used to do when they were younger.

  It wasn’t raining very hard, so Madison looked up at the sky and stuck out her tongue, thirsty for a few droplets. She thought about what Gramma Helen would have said in a situation like this. She’d probably have said that this was one of those times where, “when life gives you lemons you need to make a big old pitcher of lemonade.”

  And what was there really to be glum about anyway?

  Madison made a new friend that day: Madhur.

  She was on her way over to her best friend Aimee’s house.

  And she was about to participate in a very special conference at her school.

  Madison climbed up the steps to Aimee’s house and knocked three times.

  Doug Gillespie answered the door with a grunt and swung it open so Madison could step inside. Aimee twirled out of the shadows, dancing, as she always did.

  “I am so psyched! Mom told me you were coming!” Aimee cried, lunging forward to give Madison a hug. Then Phin scooted out from around a corner and jumped right onto Madison’s legs.

  “Rowwooororooooo!”

  Madison grinned.

  “Lemonade,” she said quietly to herself. “Definitely lemonade.”

  Chapter 4

  SCHOOL ON THURSDAY SAILED by with an uneventful sequence of classes. Poison Ivy wasn’t even around in Science to make things interesting. Madison set her sights on the one potential sweet spot of the day: the first big meeting to discuss the upcoming junior leaders conference. All participating students and faculty were getting together that afternoon in the music room.

  After the final bell of the school day, Madison walked down the hall toward the meeting. Mr. Gibbons had hung up large posters all along the hallway announcing the event. Madison couldn’t help getting excited as she read a poster headline: JUNIOR LEADERS WANTED!

  As she stopped to read the rest of the poster, Madison felt a tap on her shoulder. It was Madhur.

  “On your way to the meeting?” Madhur asked.

  Madison turned and smiled politely. “Yeah,” she said. “What do you think a world nations luncheon is?”

  “Um … Chinese egg rolls and french fries?” Madhur joked. “I can’t imagine this cafeteria doing anything more interesting than that. Although it would be way cool if they whipped up some traditional eats, like Thai chicken, or sushi, or something a little more diverse, doncha think? My mom could come in and make aloo gobi.”

  “Aloo what?” Madison asked.

  “Indian food,” Madhur said. “My food.”

  Madison giggled and they walked on down the hall together. Soon they ran into Aimee and Fiona outside the music room.

  “Maddie,” Aimee said with her hip cocked. She held out a large tortoiseshell hair clip. “You left this on my table last night.”

  “Duh!” Madison pretended to smack her own forehead. “I wondered where that went….”

  “I am so totally jealous of you guys. Why didn’t you call me, so I could come over for the sleepover, too?” Fiona said.

  “The sleepover was a last-minute kind of thing,” Madison said. “I was abandoned by my parents, so …”

  “You were abandoned?” Madhur asked in a serious tone.

  “No, no, no.” Madison quickly corrected herself. “I wasn’t really abandoned. I just meant that my parents weren’t around—well, they were both working last night. So I went to Aimee’s house for the night. She lives right up the street from me.”

  “Oh,” Madhur said, sounding relieved, as if she’d momentarily thought that someone had really abandoned Madison. “My parents don’t allow me to go to sleepovers—especially not ones during the school week.”

  “Bummer,” Aimee said.

  “Yes, they can be quite strict,” Madhur said.

  “So, you’ve never been to any sleepover … ever?” Fiona asked.

  Madhur shook her head. “Never.”

  “Wow,” Madison said. “Sleeping over at a friend’s house is the best thing. You can stay up all night and gossip.”

  “And do makeovers,” Fiona chimed in.

  “Gee, I need one of those,” Madhur joked. “But my parents would never approve. I once got a tube of lip gloss as a gift and Mom freaked on me. She is very traditional like that.”

  “My parents don’t approve of half the stuff my brother and I do, either,” Fiona admitted. “But that only makes it more fun, doesn’t it?”

  “I guess,” Madhur said softly.

  As the girls stood there, a rowdy group pushed past. It was all of Madison’s guy friends. From the back of the group, Egg rushed over to Fiona and yelled, “Boo!” right in her face. Chet walked up with his backpack half off his shoulders and grumbled a low hello. He even said, “Wassup?” to Madhur, which was very strange, since Chet never said much of anything. Dan and Drew didn’t speak. Their eyes were fixed on a new 3DS that Drew held in his hand.

  Hart was bringing up the rear. He came right over to Madison.

  “Hey,” he said sweetly.

  Madison smiled self-consciously.

  “Madhur,” Hart added. “You guys are hanging out again, huh?”

  Madison poked Hart in the shoulder. “She’s in the conference, too. I told you that.”

  “Cool,” he said. “Well, see you both inside.”

  He raced in to grab a seat near Egg and the other boys.

  “Come on,” Fiona nagged, tugging on Aimee’s sweater. “We have to go get our seats now.”

  Madison knew Fiona wanted to get a seat near Egg. Lately, she’d been obsessed with following him everywhere—and sitting with him whenever possible. If she didn’t sit close to him at lunch, she would complain about it for the rest of the day.

  At the back of the music room, the conference faculty advisers had posted various sign-up sheets and lists of names.

  Madison and Madhur walked up to one of the sheets and spotted both of their names—next to each other.

  “I wonder what that means?” Madison said aloud.

  Madhur smiled. “It means we’re partners. We’re partners! That is so lucky, right?”

  Madison couldn’t believe it. It was luckier than lucky, indeed.

  “Who’s your partner, Aim?” Madison asked.

  “Chet,” Aimee groaned. “How could that possibly have happened? There are at least fifty other kids in this room.
Why didn’t I get some cute ninth-grade boy? And why isn’t Ben Buckley here? Fiona, how did I get cursed with your brother?”

  “Chet isn’t that bad, is he?” Madhur said.

  Fiona raised her eyebrows. “You obviously don’t know my brother.”

  As it turned out, Fiona wasn’t happy about her partner, either. She’d been matched up with a super-quiet eighth-grade girl who wore baggy jeans, a T-shirt that said, “Ask Me Why I Care?” and black nail polish. Of course, Fiona was trying to be upbeat about the arrangement. She always looked at the bright side.

  As her friends paired off, Madison began to feel more and more grateful that she and Madhur had been matched up. It was karma.

  Madison’s cluster of friends sat together in the middle section of the riser seats in the music room. More and more kids filtered in and took seats around them. The room filled to capacity in no time with seventh, eighth, and ninth graders.

  The faculty advisers stood in a row facing the risers: the assistant principal, Mrs. Goode; Mr. Gibbons; a couple of social-studies teachers from the upper grades; Egg’s mother, Señora Diaz; and Mrs. Wing, Madison’s favorite teacher and the school “cybrarian.”

  Mrs. Wing passed around a few handouts that explained in more detail the agenda for the meeting.

  “I am overwhelmed by the turnout of volunteers for the conference,” Mr. Gibbons said proudly. “As many of you saw at the back of the room, we have compiled a list of partners for the day of the conference and the week or so leading up to the conference. It is your job to execute the small tasks assigned to you, to do whatever research is needed, and, for some of you, to make a short presentation at the meeting itself.”

  Mrs. Wing reached Madison’s row with the handouts. She smiled, wearing her bright red scarf and red lipstick. Madison knew she wasn’t the only student who liked Mrs. Wing best, or who considered Mrs. Wing to be a role model. Lots of other kids were rushing to help this teacher out. Right now, three different boys—including Egg—jumped up to help pass out the sheets of paper Mrs. Wing carried under her arm.

  On the sheet was a list of tasks that the committee was responsible for handling before and during the conference.

  “Now,” Mr. Gibbons began again, “let’s get to work.”

  At some point in the middle of Mr. Gibbons’s talk, Madison saw Hart, two rows ahead, turn around. Madhur must have noticed, too, because she leaned close and whispered in Madison’s ear.

  “He’s so cute,” Madhur said, grinning.

  “Who?” Madison asked.

  “Hart Jones, of course,” Madhur said softly. “I saw you look at him, too. You guys are friends, right?”

  “Yeah,” Madison said. “Friends.”

  Madhur grinned. “I have had a crush on Hart since forever,” she said.

  Madison had to work hard to keep her jaw from dropping.

  Madhur had a crush on Hart? Her Hart?

  “Really?” Madison gulped. “You do?” Madison knew at that moment she should just tell Madhur the truth: that she and Hart were more than friends.

  Thankfully, Fiona, Aimee, and Lindsay were not listening to their conversation. Aimee had been acting weird about Madhur since the previous day.

  Even last night during their sleepover, whenever Madison mentioned Madhur, Aimee had tried to change the subject. If she found out that Madhur had a crush on Hart Jones—she would have something big to say about it.

  Madison needed to change the subject, from Hart back to the conference—fast.

  “Er … Madhur … it says here on the sheet Mrs. Wing passed out that you and I have to do research on world hunger,” Madison said.

  “I know,” Madhur said. “I got copies of these pages yesterday when I met with Mr. Gibbons.”

  “You did?” Madison asked. “Wow. You really are prepared.”

  “My mom and dad like me to get my homework done in advance, even if it’s an assignment for an after-school event like this. They’re perfectionists. I like to make them happy.”

  Madison nodded, even though she didn’t have a clue as to what Madhur was talking about. Madison’s parents weren’t even around half the time, due to work conflicts. They rarely checked her homework, but, rather, left that to Madison, as a part of an understood “at home” honor code. There was no prodding or dogging Madison to do more, more, and more. She was simply expected to do the best she could.

  “I like to make my parents happy, too,” Madison mumbled halfheartedly.

  At that moment, Egg flicked a spitball. It hit Madison in the head. She wanted to lunge forward and throttle him. Sometimes she got tired of dealing with Egg’s constant antics. She often felt like his target—and she hated it.

  Mr. Gibbons shot a look in Madison and Egg’s direction, as if to say, “Shhh!” But they weren’t the only kids making noise. Everyone was having small side conversations, and the volume in the room was slowly building.

  Mrs. Wing clapped her hands together to get their attention. Mrs. Goode played a few notes on the piano.

  Everyone grew silent again.

  “One of the most important parts of the conference,” Mr. Gibbons finally said, “is the charitable piece. Mrs. Wing will explain this to you.”

  Mrs. Wing planted herself in the center of the room, waving her arms around her head as she spoke. The bracelets on her wrist jangled.

  “As you know, we decided to have this small conference instead of hosting a model United Nations or a millennium conference at our school. We also decided that we would create an added feature for our meeting. We’ve asked the PTA to develop a special crafts and bake sale at the conference, to raise money. This money will be donated to an international cause in the name of the school and the participating students.”

  By the time the meeting had concluded, everyone was clear about his or her role for the weekend. The room buzzed with excitement and anticipation.

  On the way out, Madhur and Madison made a plan to meet sometime that weekend to talk about their topic—and to do whatever research they needed to do. Madison figured they could work together at school or outside school. They could use the computer in either place, and the library resources would help with their conference presentation.

  A few moments later, Aimee caught up with Madison at the lockers.

  “Want to come over again tonight?” Aimee asked, smiling.

  Madison tossed her head. “Maybe we can walk the dogs together. I don’t know if Mom has another meeting tonight. When I talked to her last night, she said she might.”

  Aimee and Madison strolled out of school together. When they got to the glass doors in the school lobby, Hart raced past them both.

  “See you later, Finnster,” he called out, waving.

  Madison waved back, giggling.

  “Gag me,” Aimee groaned.

  Madison lightly punched Aimee in the side. “Quit it. At least we’re not like Fiona and Egg.”

  “Not much,” Aimee admitted. “Fiona has completely flipped—and so have you. The only sane ones left are me and Lindsay.”

  “Oh, right,” Madison quipped.

  They walked toward the curb of the parking lot in front of the school, bags swinging at their sides.

  Suddenly, Aimee stopped short.

  “Is that your dad?” she asked.

  Madison squinted. It was her dad. He’d parked in the parking-lot turnaround. He waved his arms frantically in the air.

  “Maddie! Over here!”

  Madison and Aimee hustled over.

  “What are you doing here?” Madison asked. “Is Mom in New York City again?”

  Dad shook his head. “Oh, no. No, I just flew back from Boston. And the very first person I wanted to see—and surprise—was you. Want to go get ice cream with your dad?”

  “Before dinner?” Madison asked.

  “Dinner, schminner,” Dad said. “I want a cone.”

  Madison giggled. “Aim, you wanna come?”

  Aimee shook her head. “I can’t. I have t
o race home and get my dance stuff. I have a rehearsal across town today, and my brother is going to drive me. Sorry, but I’d better run. Thanks a bunch for the invite, Mr. Finn.”

  “Abso-tootly,” Dad chirped.

  “Don’t forget!” Aimee called out to Madison. “I have rehearsal tomorrow right after school, but we said we’d hang out around four, right?”

  “Right,” Madison said. “See you at your house.”

  “Sure thing. Bye!”

  As Aimee disappeared down the street, Madison embraced Dad warmly. “It’s so good to see you, Dad,” she said.

  “Surprises are good, right?” Dad said. “As opposed to yesterday’s rainy-day disaster?”

  “Oh, yeah,” Madison nodded with a laugh. “Abso-tootly.”

  Chapter 5

  This New Friendship

  So today in the second half of lunch I was talking to Aimee in the bathroom and she started crying. Really crying. And Aimee never ever EVER cries so it was v. weird, esp. since we’re @ school. I kept thinking someone like Poison Ivy would barge in and catch us there. Ivy always has perfect timing when it comes to those kinds of things.

  Aim’s problem is that she found out she can’t do the whole future leaders’ conference because it conflicts with her dance performances. She can’t even TRY to do both b/c her mom said she had to choose one activity or the other. Naturally she picked dance and now she is majorly bumming b/c she thinks not doing the conference means she’ll be left out of our whole grp of friends. I told her it doesn’t mean that AT ALL (of course not!!!) but she won’t listen. Here’s the thing: Aimee hasn’t said it directly but I think she’s sorta jealous of this new friendship btw. Madhur & me. Is that nuts??? I’ve only been friends with Madhur for like a minute so what is Aim worried about? But she sounded sooo serious & sad & it bummed ME way out.

  After we finished talking Aim went down to the nurse to see if she could be excused from the rest of school. I think she must have gone b/c it’s almost last period anyway. What am I supposed to do to make her feel better? IS there anything I can do???