Picture-Perfect
Page 7
Madison and Fiona just stood there with nothing to say.
Brrrring.
“That’s the bell. I have to go to class,” Aimee said. “Are you coming, Fiona?”
Fiona grabbed her stuff, too, and gave Madison a look as she walked off.
It was as if someone had stolen the real Aimee and replaced her with a ballerina clone.
Madison said a quiet good-bye and watched Aimee and Fiona as they disappeared around a corner. Then she grabbed her books and headed off to her English class. There was a busy morning of quizzes and essays ahead, and she was planning to spend the afternoon in the computer lab helping Mrs. Wing, her favorite teacher, with updates to the school’s Web site.
Later that day, when Madison arrived at the computer lab, Mrs. Wing was busier than busy. Other kids were milling around, too, including Egg and Drew. They were scanning in photos for the site.
“Nice of you to show up,” Egg cracked. “What are you doing here, Maddie?”
She hadn’t been by the lab to help after school very much this spring. Madison’s volunteering and schoolwork had been taking up most of her time.
“Hiya, Maddie,” Drew said sheepishly. Madison was beginning to think maybe Drew liked her from the way he acted around her, all shy and sweet. But there was no way she wanted to think about that, so she just smiled.
“Don’t act so surprised that I’m here, Egg,” Madison said. “I’ve been busy, that’s all.”
Egg made a face. “Yeah, right.”
Madison gave him a knuckle noogie on his shoulder, and Egg let out a little “Ouch.”
“We were just downloading pictures from the last soccer games,” Drew said.
“There’s a really good shot of Fiona, actually,” Egg said. “Wanna see?”
Madison grinned. “How is Fiona, Egg?” she asked.
Egg turned beet red. “How should I know? Duh. You see her more than me.”
Madison grinned even wider. “Yeah, right.”
As Egg and Drew continued scanning, Madison placed the photos in a collage on the soccer page. She wrote some captions, too.
GOALIE JUST MISSES THE BALL!
FAR HILLS FORWARD DAISY ESPINOZA ON THE GO!
GAME-WINNING KICK FOR THE RANGERS!
They had only been sitting there working for a short time when someone barged right into the classroom. Egg’s mouse almost slid off the desk.
It was Fiona.
“Oh, Maddie, you’re here!” Fiona said, breathless, running over to the terminal where Madison was seated. “You won’t believe what just happened. I was in last period standing next to Aimee and she … she … collapsed.”
Madison shook her head. “What?”
“Like, onto the floor?” Drew asked.
Fiona caught her breath. “She was standing there normal one minute and then the next minute she was lying there in a heap. Roger and her dad came over like ten minutes ago from the bookstore to pick her up. Nurse Shim was freaking out. It was so awful.”
“Where is she now?” Madison said.
“Home, I guess,” Fiona said. “Yeah, that’s what Nurse Shim said.”
“I hope she’s not really sick,” Egg said. He sounded worried for real.
“Let’s go!” Madison declared. She grabbed her orange bag and asked Egg and Drew to take over the rest of the computer scanning.
“Go where?” Fiona asked.
“Over to Aimee’s, to see if she’s okay,” Madison said.
The walk back toward the Gillespie house on Blueberry Street felt like an eternity. Bags felt heavier, sidewalks seemed longer, and the air even seemed hotter.
“I bet I know what happened,” Fiona said as they trudged along. “She wasn’t eating. That can make you faint, right? Like the other day at the mall, she made fun of our lunches. She’s always talking about not eating.”
“I guess you’re right,” Madison sighed.
“I know you guys have been friends way longer than I have been,” Fiona said. “But not eating and getting so angry in class … I’ve read magazine articles … this kind of behavior can be wicked serious.”
“You sound like a doctor or something,” Madison said.
“It’s true, Maddie!” Fiona said. “I remember seeing this book in the library … What was it called? The Best Little Girl in the World! And haven’t you seen that TV special about eating disorders? What if Aimee is anorexic?”
Madison sighed. She knew what Fiona was saying. She’d seen a show about eating disorders on TLC.
This didn’t seem real. It definitely couldn’t be happening to their friend.
It was all a lot of drama; that’s all.
The girls pushed themselves to walk a little faster. Thankfully, the Gillespie house was in view. Aimee’s brother Roger had just walked out onto the front porch.
“Roger!” Madison cried out. “Is Aimee home?”
Roger had his head hung down low. “Did you guys see what happened to my sister?” he asked.
“Aimee fainted,” Fiona said.
Madison nodded. “Fiona was there.”
“The doctor is up there with her now,” Roger said. “He said her blood sugar was low. Apparently, she’s dehydrated, too.” Roger threw his arms into the air. “Doc says she may have been starving herself.”
Madison and Fiona grabbed each other.
Fiona was right.
“Is she going to be okay?” they asked at the exact same time.
“Doc says she’s lucky nothing worse happened. But—” Roger cleared his throat. “Did she stop eating or what? I want to know why she did this to herself. What did she say? Doesn’t she eat lunch with you guys every day?”
Just behind them on the street, Mrs. Gillespie pulled up in her car and drove into the driveway. She rushed past them, asking Roger if Aimee was upstairs. She was holding her cell phone. Madison was sure that Mr. Gillespie had called her right away.
When Mrs. Gillespie said that it was all right to see Aimee, Fiona and Madison went upstairs. Aimee looked paler than pale. Her skin was as washed out as her bedsheets. But she still managed to say hello.
“Wow, everyone’s here,” Aimee said.
The doctor was retaking her blood pressure. “Keep still,” he cautioned. “You need to stay very quiet. Close your eyes, Aimee.”
Aimee’s eyes were droopy. She looked over at her friends. “I messed up. I’m sorry.”
“You rest, Aimee,” the doctor said. Then he told everyone to step outside so Aimee could sleep.
“Just as I suspected, your daughter passed out due to lack of nutrients and insufficient hydration,” the doctor said. “Have you noticed any changes in her behavior lately? Has she been more irritable?”
Mrs. Gillespie shook her head. “She has been dancing a lot. Probably too much, I guess,” she said. “Have you noticed anything strange, dear?” she asked her husband.
He shook his head and asked Roger the same question.
“I barely see her, Ma,” Roger said. “She dances nonstop, every day. She’s obsessed with it.”
The doctor listened closely, nodding. “Anything else?”
The Gillespies shook their heads no.
“Actually,” Madison spoke up, “we’ve noticed some changes in Aimee.” She glanced over at Fiona.
“We have,” Fiona agreed. “Aim seemed upset lately.”
“Upset?” Mrs. Gillespie said. “About what?”
“Dance mostly,” Madison said. “She didn’t fit into her costume or something. And she was talking about the way she looked a lot.”
Mr. and Mrs. Gillespie hugged each other.
Roger shook his head. “Does she have an eating issue?”
The doctor frowned. “Sounds likely that she was on the way to that, but I don’t think it was anything quite that serious—yet.”
He escorted the Gillespies down the stairs and into the kitchen, where they sat around the table talking about what to do next and how to get Aimee healthy again. Madison and
Fiona asked to say a quick good-bye to Aimee. She hadn’t fallen asleep yet.
“Thanks for coming, you guys,” Aimee said when her BFFs appeared in the doorway.
“We were soooo worried,” Fiona said.
Madison sat on the edge of the bed. “Why did you stop eating, Aim?”
“I don’t know,” Aimee moaned. “I felt fat. Everyone in dance is better than me. There are a lot of reasons.”
“Aimee!” Madison said. “You’re not fat! You’re skinny. What are you talking about?”
Aimee started to cry. “I just felt like … I’m sorry.”
“Why are you sorry?” Fiona asked. She sat on the other edge of the bed. “You’re the one who’s sick.”
“I messed everything up,” Aimee cried. “Now I’m sure Dad won’t let me go to the concert, either. I ruined everything.”
Madison and Fiona looked at each other across the bed. No concert would be bad news. They hadn’t thought about that consequence. But they didn’t want Aimee to feel badly about it.
“Don’t worry about the concert right now,” Madison said. “It’s not until the end of the week. Maybe you can still go.”
Aimee sniffled. “I doubt it. When my dad makes up his mind to something he usually never changes it. And Roger always sticks with Dad. So he probably won’t be going either as the chaperone. We’re doomed.”
“Quit worrying,” Fiona said as she stroked Aimee’s forehead. “You have to get better first.”
“Yeah,” Madison chimed in. “You will get better. We’re not doomed. Not yet.”
Aimee was still crying a little. “I was so mean to you guys in school today. I’m sorry for that, too. I wouldn’t blame you if you never talked to me again.”
“Aimee!” Madison exclaimed. “Will you stop talking like this?”
“We’re your BFFs,” Fiona said.
“We love you,” Madison added.
“You guys are such good friends,” Aimee said. “I love you, too.”
The three held hands on top of the blankets, squeezing extra tight.
After a few more minutes, Madison and Fiona left for home. Their mothers would be wondering why they hadn’t returned home from school yet. And they both had bags filled with homework.
It had been a wild week already—and it was only Monday?
The Nikki concert was four short days away.
Chapter 10
From: MadFinn
To: Bigwheels
Subject: You Won’t Believe This! ! !
Date: Tues 21 May 4:23 PM
Wow do I have a story for you. Well, remember how I said my BFF Aimee was acting all weird? She passed out in school yesterday!!! Thankfully she’s OK though. Her mom says she’ll be OK to come back to school in a few days. She just needed to rest and EAT. She was obsessing sooo much about her body lately she stopped eating!! Personally, I couldn’t IMAGINE not eating.
She’s a ballet dancer, I told you that, right? I think Aimee wished she could be the skinniest one in her dance class. Aimee’s ballet teacher actually went over to her house and talked about what happened. Aimee said everyone was telling her she can’t starve herself if she wants to be a dancer because she can’t dance well if she is weak. The idea of NOT dancing freaked Aim out so much that she agreed to go on this special diet supervised by her mom (who is this health nut) and her dance teacher (who is this superstrict crazy lady). Aimee has to write down all her meals and bring some high-protein lunch to school and take vitamins. Sounds gross to me, but she’ll do N E THING to dance.
I don’t think I ever asked, R U a dancer? I am most definitely NOT one. My friend Egg told me once I had the opposite of rhythm, whatever that is.
I’m of course glad she’s OK but NOW we have to figure out a way to convince Aimee’s parents that she should be allowed to go to the Nikki concert. It’s 3 days away. I’m afraid after all this happened, they won’t let her go ANYWHERE. What do u think??? WBS.
Yours till the spring rolls,
MadFinn
Madison hit SEND and waited for the message that said her mail had gone through. Then her computer beeped.
She had a message.
What seemed like a dream concert was now turning into a nightmare problem! Madison racked her brain to think of other possible chaperones. But they’d been through this list before. No one was cool enough or fun enough or anything that would make sense for the Nikki concert—except Roger.
And now he was busy.
Phin, who was sitting under Madison’s desk, brushed against her leg looking for a little attention. Madison picked him up and looked into his brown pug eyes as she pet his head.
“What’ll we do, Phinnie?” she cooed.
Phin purred and snorted back at her, as if to say, “You’ll figure it out.”
Madison turned off her laptop and opened her history textbook. She had to read chapters 17 and 18 before tomorrow.
Could learning a little about archaeology take her mind off the concert?
Unfortunately, it couldn’t.
By the next day, the concert-chaperone problem had still not been solved—and Madison felt even worse about it.
By the middle of Wednesday afternoon, Madison and Fiona had asked everyone they could think of to join them at the concert. Mrs. Waters said she would consider going, but Fiona flatly refused that option. She was afraid her mother would drive everyone crazy. Madison asked Stephanie, since she’d already offered her services willingly, but the date didn’t work in Stephanie’s schedule. Sadly, she couldn’t make it.
How could people have other plans? What was more important than a Nikki concert?
Madison and Fiona stopped by the Gillespie house on the way back from school to break the discouraging news to Aimee.
“Can your parents go?” Fiona asked hopefully.
Aimee got a sadder-than-sad look on her face. She told her BFFs than even her mom claimed to be too busy to help out. Unfortunately, Aimee’s mom had come down with some feverish stomach flu and couldn’t go anywhere for a few days, least of all a hot, stuffy arena.
It was almost Thursday, just forty-eight hours shy of their concert date. Hope for finding a new chaperone had dwindled down to a teeny-tiny speck.
“I know what this is,” Fiona said in school that Thursday morning. She held up the four concert tickets. “C-O-N-S-P-I-R-A-C-Y,” she spelled it out. “Someone wants to keep us from going. I swear my mom put a curse on us.”
“We have the tickets and we can’t go! Why are we being punished like this?” Aimee cried, grabbing the tickets. “We’re in the front row, and this is so unfair!”
Madis
on tried again to convince Fiona that maybe Mrs. Waters would be their best hope for a chaperone, but Fiona still wouldn’t hear of it. After all the arguing they’d been through, Fiona was fearful that her mom might ruin everything.
“I know I’m being stupid about it,” Fiona explained. “But I just can’t go with my mom. I can’t. I hope you guys can understand.”
Madison wasn’t sure she could, but Aimee wrapped her arm around Fiona’s shoulder. “It’s okay,” she said. “We’ll find someone else.”
Even though Madison didn’t really believe Aimee, it was nice to have the old, nongrumpy part of her personality back. She was looking, feeling, and acting better since Monday’s accident.
The three of them mingled by the lockers before the first and second bells rang for homeroom, puzzling over any remaining chaperone candidates.
Mr. Gillespie? Had to run the bookstore.
Madison’s mom? Date with Paul and his family.
Madison’s dad? Out of town.
“Why don’t you ask Mrs. Wing?” Fiona suggested to Madison. “Aren’t you, like, the teacher’s pet?”
“I am not!” Madison said.
“It’s not a bad idea,” Aimee said. “Mrs. Wing is pretty cool.”
“Ask my computer teacher to take us to a concert?” Madison said. “Are you kidding me?”
Mrs. Wing was a cooler-than-cool teacher. And her husband ran the animal clinic where Madison volunteered. But that didn’t mean Madison wanted them to go with her to a Nikki concert.
How embarrassing.
Just then, Hart and Egg walked past and waved.
Madison turned away a little bit. She was still mad at Hart for liking Carmen.
Following right behind the boys, Poison Ivy Daly appeared from out of a cluster of kids. She was drone-less, carrying her binder and notebooks down the hall toward homeroom. Madison could see that one of the books was plastered with sparkle bumper sticker that read I <3 NIKKI.
“Hello, Maddie,” Ivy grunted as she approached Madison and her friends.
“Oh look,” Aimee said. “Our wonderful class president.”
Ivy smirked. “Yeah, I am. Got a problem?”
Ivy had been elected class leader at the beginning of the school year in a closer-than-close election. No one was sure how she had won, but she had, and she liked to gloat about it whenever she had the chance. Aimee, of course, liked giving her enemy a hard time about the whole thing whenever she had a chance.