by Laura Dower
Now, Lainie and I have been bestest friends since kindergarten. How could I not know she was so upset?
We promised—that everything we think and feel should be said out loud. Just like us keypals. So there are NO secrets ever.
And now, writing to you, I feel the same. Did I ever tell you that my real name is Victoria? I know we’re not supposed to say our real names online, and everything, but I want to know your first name, too. Is that okay? I am guessing maybe it’s Madeline, but I don’t know. Tell me if you can. But I understand if your mom doesn’t want you to tell.
So here I am at the beginning of the week and Lainie and I are real friends again. And you are a real friend, too. I wish you lived near me. We could ALL be pals.
Yours till the duck quacks,
Victoria
(aka Bigwheels)
P.S. Good luck in ur science presentation tomorrow.
Madison took a deep breath. She was so relieved that Bigwheels and Lainie had made up. After all the worrying and all the misunderstandings, everything worked out.
Even more exciting, Madison now knew Bigwheels’s real name.
“Excuse me!” Mom called out from the doorway to the den. She looked at her watch as if to say, “Do you know how late it is?”
Madison stopped midthought and closed her laptop as if she’d shut it down. Of course, she didn’t turn it off. Not yet.
“Have you been on the computer all this time?” Mom asked, talking over herself. “Don’t you have some homework to do?”
Mom was right, as usual. Madison had math problems to finish. Madison got up off the den sofa and pulled her orange bag to over by the computer.
“And no television while you study, either,” Mom said. “I want lights out tonight at a reasonable hour. You spend too much time typing away on that computer, Maddie.”
Madison frowned. “But I love it, Mom,” she said.
“Well, I don’t like it when you’re always so busy, busy, busy,” Mom said.
“Look at you!” Madison blurted. “You’re always working.”
“That isn’t true,” Mom said.
“And you haven’t even told me about your date with that Paul guy.”
Mom scratched her head. “Not much to tell.”
“Where did you go?” Madison asked.
“French restaurant,” Mom replied. “And then we went for a walk.”
“A walk?” Madison asked. “What for?”
Mom just grinned.
“No way!” Madison squealed. She thought about movies where people walked hand in hand into dark, undiscovered spots. There they’d lock lips.
And Mom was wearing Plum Perfection….
“You have some imagination, honey bear,” Mom said. “We just went for a walk—and talked.”
“What did you talk about?” Madison asked.
“Work, mostly,” Mom said. She thought about Madison’s earlier comment. “Maybe you’re right. I do work all the time, even when I’m not at work.”
“So are you going out again? Did he ask you again?” Madison asked.
Mom shook her head. “He said he’d call me.”
“Is that good or bad?” Madison asked.
“I think we’ll go out again, if that’s what you’re asking me. He said something about grabbing a cup of coffee tomorrow.”
“TOMORROW?” Madison said. Phinnie must have heard her, because he leaped onto the sofa with a burst of excitement. “That’s so soon.”
“I know.” Mom smiled. “Tomorrow is a big day, I guess.”
As Mom walked out of the room to leave Madison alone with her math problems and her laptop, the words really sank in.
Tomorrow is a big day.
She opened the computer again and proceeded with the plan A that she and Ivy devised. Madison went back to Chet’s original “fake” e-mail and clicked REPLY. Then she whipped up a fantastic, exaggerated, funny e-Mail in response. Not only did she embellish the duck-pond story, but Madison invented another important tale, too, just for fun. She was practically giggling by the time she hit SEND.
Would Chet fall for it or not?
From: MadFinn
To: Wetwins
Subject: Re: Science Notes
Date: Mon 2 April 6:57 PM
Fiona—I’m sending along a page from my science notes. I hope it’s the one you needed. It tells everything we saw and heard at the duck pond.
Also wanted to tell you something else I heard. Major gossip. I heard that Joan Kenyon in our class has the HUGEST crush on your brother, Chet. She was saying that she’d give anything if he would just talk to her more in school. I wonder if he will.
Bye! Maddie
<
Madison wished she could see the look on Chet and Hart’s faces when they read notes about alligators and piranhas. She was ashamed to admit how much fun she was having through all the conspiring—with the enemy and without. Their science class showdown had finally arrived, and she was readier than ready.
Madison had been saving this date for a super-payback.
And it was finally here.
Chapter 14
“ARE WE READY TO make our presentations now?” Mr. Danehy asked.
Madison squirmed in her chair.
The moment of truth.
Ivy scribbled a note in the margin of her notebook and shoved it onto Madison’s desk.
This is gonna be fun. Did you see Hart looking over here?
I am psyched to see what they do.
Chet and Hart, ever confident, volunteered to go first with their presentation. Two other boys joined them. Madison recognized them as the boys who’d whipped the Frisbee at her shoulder.
Everything about the boys’ presentation went very well at first. Mr. Danehy went over all the questions from the list on the sheet he’d passed out. Hart answered everything correctly. Chet made jokes. Everyone was laughing.
Then they reached the part of the presentation about the duck pond.
“So, what did you see at the pond?” Mr. Danehy asked.
Chet grinned a giant grin. He looked over to Hart and nodded.
“Well,” Hart started to explain. “I know it’s weird, but there was a big fish tank set up near the pond.”
“Oh, really?” Mr. Danehy said, perking up.
A girl in the back row started to say, “Hey, Mr. Danehy, there was NO—” but Ivy coughed and cut her off.
“Well,” Hart continued, glancing around the room. “It’s totally true. Ranger Lester showed us this special fish tank that was set up near the pond. And they keep these fish in there….”
“Yes, well, what kind of fish?” Mr. Danehy asked.
“Um … piranhas?” Hart replied.
Ivy stifled a giggle.
Hart looked over in her direction and cleared his throat. “That’s what it said.”
“Um … didn’t you see the tank, Mr. Danehy?” Chet interrupted. “I saw it, I swear.”
“Well, you can swear all you want, Chet, but I do not remember seeing any flesh-eating fish at the nature preserve,” Mr. Danehy said. “I certainly hope that the girls have recorded their observations a little more carefully.” He asked Hart, Chet, and the other presenters to sit back down again.
“Excuse me.” Chet raised his hand and spoke up again. “Is there a problem with our observations?” He nervously glanced over at Madison.
He knew.
In the battle of girls versus boys, victory was now clear. The girls had duped the boys, fair and square. Chet was seething.
Now it was time for Madison, Ivy, the drones, and a few other girls to present their answers to the questions. But when it came to sharing what they had seen at the duck pond, the girls were very clear: ducks, ducks, and more ducks. That was it.
Mr. Danehy, who rarely smiled, cracked a sliver of a grin when they finished speaking.
“Well, girls, that’s more like it. I definitely do remember lots of ducks at the duck po
nd,” Mr. Danehy said. “Makes sense. Doesn’t it, boys?”
“And duck poop, of course,” Madison joked.
The boys weren’t laughing, but Mr. Danehy was. The rest of the girls laughed, too. Ivy even gave Madison a high five, which took Madison by surprise. They hadn’t bonded over anything since third grade, and here they were clapping hands in the middle of class.
Madison knew there was something strange about connecting with Ivy now. She wasn’t sure she liked playing tricks on the boys. Not like this. Was it really worth it to conspire and make Hart and Chet look silly in front of everyone? Was it really worth embarrassing her friends?
“That was classic,” Ivy cackled. “I love watching people look dumb.”
“I—I guess …” Madison stammered.
Mr. Danehy pronounced the girls winners in the science-class challenge. They were excused from homework and quizzes for a week.
“Now, that’s a gyp,” Ivy whispered to Madison. “We deserve more than that for what we did.”
“I—I guess …” Madison said again as they left the classroom.
On the way out, a girl from the back row passed by and whispered to Madison and Ivy, “That wasn’t very nice, you know.” She had her nose up in the air.
“Whatever,” Ivy said, rolling her eyes. “Who cares what you think?”
Madison turned her eyes to the floor.
Hart came out with Chet and some other guys, but they walked right past her and Ivy and headed into the hall.
For the first time in a week, Madison was sad to see her crush walk in the opposite direction. She wanted to hear a friendly, “Hey, Finnster!” She wanted to stand right next to him the way she had at the nature center.
“I have to go,” Ivy said all of a sudden. “Later.”
Madison walked off in the opposite direction to meet up with Aimee and Fiona. They’d want a full report on who had won the science competition.
“SO?” they said in unison when Madison found them.
“Girls won,” Madison said, a little dejectedly.
“Cool!” Fiona said. “Chet is going to be soooo mad.”
“You can say that again,” Madison said. “More than you know.”
“Not like I have a problem with him getting mad,” Fiona joked.
Madison wanted to smile, but she didn’t feel up to it.
“I have to go,” Aimee said. “I have a dance lesson. Are you ready to walk home?”
As the three BFFs passed through the main part of the school yard, Madison glanced at every group of guys she saw, hoping to catch a glimpse of Hart. She wanted to apologize. But the only boys she saw were Egg and Drew, sitting over by one of the benches, talking to Dan Ginsburg.
No Hart.
Ivy Daly and her drones were standing on the other side by the parking lot, waiting for someone’s mom or dad to pick them up. Madison raised her arm to wave, but Ivy didn’t look over.
“Who are you waving at?” Aimee asked as they hurried along.
“No one,” Madison said, still looking over at Ivy. “No one at all.”
After dinner that night, Madison logged online. She owed Bigwheels a big e-mail—and she had plenty to report.
From: MadFinn
To: Bigwheels
Subject: Re: The Whole Story
Date: Tues 3 April 7:30 PM
Thanks for what you wrote. I am glad to know ur friendship with Lainie is still cool. Like I said, ur situation was NOTHING like me and my enemy number one, Ivy. You and Lainie are BFFs and that means something.
I want you to open the picture on this e-mail that I am attaching just for you. Did you know that the butterfly is a symbol of life and friendship? (I read that somewhere.) Of course you probably know that already because you are sooo smart. You can pass it on to Lainie if you want. Maybe she’ll like it 2.
Hope you are feeling MUCH better.
Yours till the spring rolls,
Madison
P.S. That’s my real name, BTW, not Madeline. And ur name is so pretty—I meant to tell you that. I’ve never known anyone named Victoria.
<
While she was online, Madison’s computer screen pinged. A message appeared from Egg. Madison feared the worst.
Would Egg launch a counterattack to avenge what had happened to his friends earlier in the day? It seemed like something he might do—just to be extra annoying.
Madison smiled to herself. Egg tried to be so tough sometimes, as if he didn’t care about Fiona or about being Madison’s best guy friend. But in the end he did care about all of it. He was her friend in spite of his constant teasing, taunting, and overall snickering.
And she was his friend, too—even if he was a boy.
Madison opened up a new file.
Boys—NEW
Rude Awakening: How come stupid stuff feels so smart when you’re in the middle of doing it?
The worst thing about science class today is that I feel like I dissed Hart. Even though Egg said it was funny, I have to think of a way to make it up to Hart. I STILL HAVE THE HUGEST CRUSH ON HIM! I am SO sure that now that the science project is over, Ivy will be back to her old tricks. She’ll be after him again, too, I bet.
Starting tomorrow, I will be nice to him—and all boys.
As Madison was saving her document, she heard voices downstairs and the sound of a door shutting. Someone was in the living room with Mom, and he had a deeper-than-deep voice.
Madison rushed over to the den to see who was there.
“Madison!” Mom cried when she saw her daughter appear in the doorway. “You remember Paul, don’t you?”
Madison nodded. “Sorta.”
Paul extended his hand to shake Madison’s. She shook back but let go real fast.
“Well,” Paul said. “Your mom has been telling me so much about you. She says you’ve been super-busy.”
Madison nodded again. “Uh-huh.”
“What are you working on today?” Paul asked.
“Nothing,” Madison said, still restricting her responses to two syllables.
Mom didn’t like the way Madison was behaving, but she didn’t say anything embarrassing. Actually, she didn’t say much of anything. She was just smiling.
It was the same look Madison noticed after Mom’s first date with Paul.
Rat-a-tat-tat.
There was a knock on the glass sliding doors in the kitchen, and Billy the contractor appeared—gap-toothed grin and all. He’d been out in the backyard, repairing shingles on the side of the house. Mom decided to hire him for a few smaller jobs after he finished fixing the leaky chimney and roof.
“Well, hello,” Billy said to Madison when he came into the kitchen. He was looking for a glass of water.
Madison shrugged. “Hi,” she said.
Ring, ring.
No sooner had Billy appeared than the telephone rang. Mom was still busy talking to Paul, so Madison answered it.
“Hey, Dad,” she said into the receiver. He was talking quickly from inside his car.
“On my way—over—no Stephanie—dinner—want to go—bowling again?” Dad asked. His voice kept getting cut off from the cell-phone static.
“Sure,” Madison said. “See you in a little while.”
“Who was that?” Mom asked after Madison hung up the phone.
“Dad’s on his way,” Madison replied.
“It’s early,” Mom said. “Gee, that’s a switch. Your father is early! I like that.” She smiled.
Madison smiled back.
As she glanced around the room, Madison saw Paul shuffling through papers at the kitchen table. Next to the kitchen sink, Billy poured himself a second glass of water. Meanwhile Dad was somewhere in Far Hills racing through traffic to get to the house.
Like swarms of bees, the guys in Madison’s and her mom’s life were buzzing around tonight. But the date, the fix-it guy, the big D—none of it stung the way it had last week. Things were different now, although Madison wasn’t exactly sure why or how they’d gotten that way.
The only thing she knew for sure was that she’d be saving this date in her memory banks for a long time to come.
Today, for the first time, Madison didn’t feel scared about Dad liking Stephanie or Mom dating—even if that meant her dating Paul.
Today, for the first time, Madison didn’t feel worried about being on the same side as Ivy—even if it meant being a superstar in class. She knew who her real friends were, and they mattered way more than a stupid science contest.
And today, for the very first time, Madison just didn’t feel like checking in with some online calendar—or any kind of schedule. She’d let herself be surprised about the next thing that might happen.
And maybe—just maybe—the surprise would involve a certain someone whose named started with H.
Mad Chat Words:
=8–0 Shocked
%-6 Brain-dead
