by Laura Dower
“Hey, you guys,” Egg called out, and walked over toward the girls.
His mother waved, too, but then headed in the opposite direction back toward the family car. Like Dean, she was just dropping off. Most parents and older siblings were doing that, leaving the younger kids to play and swim together. There was freedom at the lake when moms and dads weren’t there. Lifeguards kept order, but they didn’t hover like parents.
Madison welcomed the cool lake air after the week of heat in Far Hills—especially after dealing with the broken air-conditioning unit at home. She poked at her bathing-suited tummy, wondering whether she should get wet or not. Meanwhile boys barreled into the water, screaming, even though no one was supposed to scream. Girls pulled off shorts and T-shirts to reveal a rainbow of different-colored bathing suits.
Lake Dora was set up with a series of three long, interconnected docks for swimming and diving. There was an area reserved for weaker swimmers and toddlers, an area for swimmers who liked doing laps, and a general swim area with a diving platform.
Most of the seventh graders were headed for the free swim area.
Madison stood off to the side, still unsure about whether she felt like getting into the water. She watched as Aimee and Fiona made their way to the docks, yelling for her to follow.
“Nah,” Madison yelled back. “I’m just going to hang out here for a little while first.”
Lindsay Frost came over, still wearing her T-shirt, too. Madison smiled.
“I hate getting sunburned,” Lindsay said, plopping onto a towel and pulling her T-shirt way down over her knees.
Madison sat down beside her. “Me, too,” she said, glad that someone else in the group was as self-conscious as she was.
They watched as the kids in the water dove off docks and splashed around, laughing. It did look like fun. Lindsay wasn’t budging, but Madison eventually stood up and wandered over to the water’s edge.
“COME IN!” Aimee screamed from a dock before leaping into the air and crashing into the water.
Madison saw Chet run up behind his twin sister, Fiona, like he was about to push her in the water, but a lifeguard blew a whistle.
“No running!” the guard called out. “And no pushing, or I’ll have to ask you to leave the beach.”
Dripping wet, Aimee rushed up to Madison on the shore and grabbed her arm. “You have to come in,” she pleaded. “Or at least come sit on the dock. It’s so much fun!”
Madison shrugged and waded into the water, still wearing her blue T-shirt. She climbed onto one long dock and followed Aimee over toward the group that was leaping and diving. She kept looking behind her to make sure that Egg and Chet wouldn’t push her into the water unexpectedly.
“Hooray!” Fiona squealed. “You’re here! Watch this!” She did a perfect swan dive into Lake Dora.
Egg, standing on another dock, clapped for Fiona’s dive. No one else seemed to notice except Madison. She was beginning to think that Egg really did like Fiona back.
Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. SPLASH!
Someone else came running down the dock out of nowhere and jumped into the water right by where Madison was sitting.
Her T-shirt was soaked instantly.
“Good one!” Drew yelled from where he was bobbing in the water.
Hart Jones popped his head up out of the lake.
“Hey, Finnster!” Hart said, treading water.
Madison felt her stomach flip-flop and her cheeks turn a little pink, but luckily she could blame that on the sun.
“Hello, Hart,” she replied sheepishly. She couldn’t be mad at him right at first for getting her all wet.
Hart kicked his feet and water sprayed around in every direction, especially at Madison. She tried to laugh like he was doing something funny, but she really wasn’t very happy about it.
“Could you splash over there?” Madison asked.
Hart just laughed. “Okay, sure.” Then he turned around and kicked his feet out again toward Madison. A spray of water came flying her way and she squealed.
“HART!” Madison said.
She stood up, exasperated, and reclipped her soaked hair onto the top of her head, her blue T-shirt now heavy with water. It sucked against her body with the worst pucker and cling ever.
“Sorry!” Hart said, laughing.
Chet gave him a high five.
“It was just a joke, Maddie!” Chet yelled.
Aimee, who’d been watching the splashing, swam over and got revenge on behalf of her BFF. She soaked Hart from where she was treading water.
Splash!
Aimee climbed up onto the dock. “Are you okay?” she asked Madison.
“Yeah, are you okay?” Fiona yelled, swimming over to the other side of the same dock. She treaded water.
Madison nodded. “I’m okay. Just wet.”
“Take off your shirt and dive in,” Fiona said. “We can get my brother back. I know how.”
Madison shook her head and leaned backward, dangling her feet into the lake and wringing the water from her shirt. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that Hart was swimming over. Chet was right behind him. Playfully they pretended to splash each other—and then they splashed Madison again instead.
“You guys!” Madison said. “I said, quit it!”
“Quit what, Finnster?” Hart laughed.
“Quit THIS!”
And with one great kick, Madison sent a wave of water cascading over Hart’s head. All the other kids on the docks roared with laughter.
“HA! HA! She got you good,” Chet said, chuckling.
The lifeguard blew a whistle. “STOP THAT NOW!” he commanded, coming over to the area where they were swimming. He planted himself on the dock there so everyone would stop acting up once and for all.
Madison smirked and smoothed out her wet hair. The splash fight was over, and she was gladder than glad. Unfortunately, something was missing. Madison’s hair was loose. With all the splashing, her tortoiseshell clip had flown off into Lake Dora.
Frantically she bent over to see if the clip was floating anywhere nearby, but didn’t see it. Hart swam over to see what was wrong, but she barked at him.
“Get away!” Madison cried. “I lost something!” She looked everywhere for the hair clip. It was gone.
Hart tried to help her look, but he gave up after a little while. Madison gave up, too. By now, her blue T-shirt was weighted down and stretched out by the water it had absorbed. It was hanging way down below her bottom. She walked quickly back over to Lindsay on the beach and dug around in her bag for a loose rubber band to pull her hair back up.
“What happened?” Lindsay asked, rubbing some sunblock on her shins. “I saw you guys were splashing each other…”
“Boys are just idiots,” Madison said, squeezing some more water out of her shirt. “And I lost my favorite hair clip.”
Aimee and Fiona came rushing over from the lake and collapsed onto their own towels.
“You missed it, Maddie!” Aimee said. “When that lifeguard turned his back, Fiona finally splashed Hart and Chet back—and good! They got water up their noses and everything.”
Fiona laughed. “That was so much fun! My brother and I always get each other like that. You have to be very strategic.”
“Yeah, my brothers and I splash a lot, too,” Aimee said.
Madison wondered if she hated splashing so much because she didn’t have a brother.
“Hart Jones is an awesome swimmer,” Aimee said. “Did you see that flip he did in the water?”
Fiona nodded. “Yeah, too bad FHJH doesn’t have a swim team. He’ll definitely be on the team in high school.”
Madison listened as her friends talked about Hart like he was something special. She couldn’t understand why, for the first time, she didn’t feel the same way. Because of him, she’d lost her favorite clip.
“Who wants a snow cone?” Aimee said all of a sudden.
Madison felt hot and damp and didn’t really want a snac
k, but she went for the walk. Fiona and Lindsay decided to stay behind and talk about soccer camp.
“Don’t let me forget, I have to put lemon juice in my hair,” Aimee said as they walked to the snow cone stand.
“Uh-huh,” Madison said, half listening. She closed her eyes and let the sun warm her face. The blue T-shirt was drying quickly now. She didn’t feel quite as self-conscious as before—even without her favorite clip.
“Mmmmmm,” Aimee said when she got her treat. “It’s grape. Want a bite?”
Madison shook her head and giggled because Aimee’s lips and tongue were turning purple with every lick. But Aimee didn’t seem to care.
Fiona and Lindsay had disappeared by the time they came back to the towels, so Aimee and Madison just sat down to relax for a while. Madison saw Hart sitting a few yards away, and she was pretty sure he was waving, trying to get her attention.
But she ignored him and waved to Drew instead, who was passing by at that exact moment. He came over and sat near the girls.
“This is cool, being here at the beach with everyone, right?” he said. Drew was the one who’d organized the Lake Dora outing in the first place. He was always planning events like pool parties and minigolf games at his parents’ house and other places in Far Hills.
Aimee licked her snow cone and nodded.
Madison raised an eyebrow. “I guess so,” she said. “Like when I’m not getting splash attacked.”
Drew chuckled. “Oh yeah, I saw that.”
“Yeah,” Madison said. “Very funny.”
“Either of you guys going to camp this year?” Drew asked.
Aimee spoke up immediately about ballet camp starting in only a few weeks. Drew then told them how he was headed to archery camp this summer. It was a toss-up between that and computer camp, and he’d picked archery.
Madison didn’t have any camp plans, so she didn’t have much to contribute to the conversation. As Drew kept talking, her thoughts drifted off and she started to make a minicastle out of the sand on her right side. A piece of paper blew over where she was digging.
Drew snatched it.
“‘July Fourth Extravaganza!’” he read aloud from the flyer. “Oh, man, this is going to be the biggest blast ever, don’t you think?” He turned the paper around to show it off to Madison and Aimee. “Aren’t you psyched, Maddie?”
Madison frowned.
After all, she wasn’t going to the blast. She was going to Gramma’s.
Not even a beautiful sunny day at the lake could change that.
Buy Just Visiting Now!
About the Author
Author Laura Dower has a lot in common with Madison Finn: They’re both only children and they both love dogs, the color orange, and books! Laura has written more than ninety kids’ books to date, including twenty-five in the series From the Files of Madison Finn. Her other books include the new Palace Puppies series and For Girls Only, a guide to girl stuff. When she’s not writing, Laura loves to garden, sing (loudly), and volunteer as a scout leader for her daughter and two sons. She and her family live in New York. Want to be keypals? Drop her a note at www.lauradower.com.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Text copyright © 2002 by Laura Dower
Cover design by Connie Gabbert
978-1-4804-2259-9
This edition published in 2013 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
345 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014
www.openroadmedia.com
FROM THE FILES OF
MADISON FINN
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