by Laura Dower
Madison shrunk into her seat. Running was not an option. Fiona tried to get her to stand up, but she would not budge. It felt like an eternity between the moment Mrs. Wing said her name and the moment the applause and laughter ceased. In that moment Madison Finn realized that maybe—no, definitely—she didn’t like the spotlight.
Principal Bernard took back the microphone. “So now students will be dismissed in small groups to vote. You will go to Mrs. Wing’s class and vote at the computer stations. Do I need to ask this again? Vote nicely—”
Sqweeeeeeeeee.
“And that’s all folks!” He pounded the lectern with a happy fist.
Everyone stood up now, waiting for their turn to vote. It was after 2:45 by the time Madison shoved her way out the door of the assembly hall with Fiona. Egg and Drew were walking down the hall in the opposite direction.
“Who are you gonna vote for, Maddie?” Egg teased as he walked by with Drew.
“Uh … that’s a hard one, Egg,” Madison faked. “I just don’t know!”
“The site looks good,” Egg said. “I admit it.”
“Thanks,” Madison said.
Fiona smiled at Egg. “Hey, Walter, I mean … Egg.”
For the first time ever. Egg smiled right back. “Hey, Fiona. Whassup?” He walked away with Drew following closely behind, as usual.
Mrs. Wing’s classroom was chaos. People were everywhere.
Some groups of kids were sitting at terminals to punch in their votes while other groups were shuffling around the classroom floor in lines that stretched in a circle.
“Everyone is voting really quickly,” Fiona said. “Is that a good sign or a bad sign?”
Madison didn’t know. She crossed her fingers inside her pockets just to make sure she was doing everything possible to secure an Aimee victory.
Mrs. Wing saw Madison inside the lab and rushed over to thank her in person. “Well, Madison Finn, we did it. And the voting program seems to be tallying everything up in fine order.”
“I’m so glad,” Madison mumbled. She was overwhelmed.
Mrs. Wing touched her shoulder. “I am very proud of how hard you worked and how you handled the Web problems, too.”
Madison’s shoulder drooped into an “Aw, shucks!” pose. She was embarrassed by Mrs. Wing’s compliments.
“So, you are staying after school today to help with vote tallies, aren’t you?”
Madison nodded.
She would be the first person at Far Hills to know whether or not the election winner would be her worst enemy or her best friend.
What kind of Rude Awakening was in store?
Chapter 14
“IT IS NOT POSSIBLE!” Madison said as she scrolled down the page of election results. They weren’t good.
9/21 VOTE TABULATION
Class Seven: 312 students
Ivy Daly
114
Aimee Gillespie
87
Montrell Morris
111
Thomas Kwong
N/A
Not only had Aimee lost to Ivy Daly, but she had come in third place after a second-place Montrell Morris.
Ivy had run away with this election. Madison wanted to run away from its results.
The computer automatically did a third vote count to make sure the results were right. It came up the same. Winner: Ivy Daly.
“Mrs. Wing?” Madison asked nicely as could be. “Could I be the one to tell Aimee the bad news about losing?”
Mrs. Wing decided it would be fine on one simple condition. “You can share the news with her tonight, but let’s keep the rest of the school in suspense until morning announcements, okay?”
Madison agreed.
The next morning Principal Bernard would get on the announcement speaker to announce all class presidents in grades seven through nine, as well as names of all the vice presidents, class treasurers, and class reps. Madison wanted Aimee to know before she heard that announcement.
Aimee had dance practice that day, so Madison didn’t get a chance to talk to her alone until after dinnertime. Mrs. Gillespie had made hamburgers, real meat ones, in honor of Madison’s last night dining and sleeping at their place. It was a full house tonight, with Roger, Billy, Dean, and Doug all home for good eats and good talk about their sister.
“Here’s to the next president of Far Hills Junior High.” Aimee’s dad raised his water glass.
Everyone cheered except for Madison, who gulped her water down and barely spoke.
“Maddie, you’re so quiet, what’s the problem?” Aimee asked her when they were waiting for Mrs. Gillespie to bring out dessert.
“Tell ya later,” Madison said. She could feel her knee jumping. She was trying to figure out the right time to talk.
It took a few minutes of after-dinner playing with Phin before Madison finally told Aimee.
Aimee grabbed a pillow and screamed into it when she heard the news.
“Aimee?” Madison didn’t move. “Aim? Are you okay?”
Slowly, Aimee rolled over to one side. She looked more mad than sad. “Ugh!” she cried out. “She always wins. I can’t STAND it!”
“I’m sorry you lost, Aimee, I really am,” Madison continued. “And I didn’t want to ruin tonight. I just didn’t want you to find out at school tomorrow. I wanted to tell you now so you wouldn’t be—”
“I know, Maddie,” Aimee groaned. “Hey, I tried, right?”
“Yeah,” Madison said. “But you deserve it so much more. You really, really, really did.”
“Did Ivy really win by that many votes?”
Madison nodded.
“The popular girl always wins, doesn’t she?” Aimee grumbled.
Madison thought about that for a moment. She agreed that Ivy seemed to get her way most of the time.
“I think people voted for Ivy because they think they’ll be cool or something if she wins.”
“Like they’ll become a part of her little club or something,” Aimee added. “You know, it just makes me so mad!
“I’m gonna go talk to Roger,” Aimee sniffled. “Maybe one of my brothers can cheer me up. I am so bummed out. Those guys are always good with this kinda stuff, ya know?”
Madison knew firsthand. Roger gave great advice.
As soon as Aimee walked out, Madison started up her orange laptop immediately, hoping to catch Bigwheels online. She needed a big-time mood booster.
The TweenBlurt.com server was a little slow. Too many other people were online at once. When she finally did get on, Madison scrolled down the alphabetical list of people who were in the “fishtank.”
2good2be2
654aqua
7thheavn4
A+student
Abadabadoo
allurluv
Bethiscool
Bhurley
Bigphat88
Bigwheels
She was there! Bigwheels was online! Aimee had lost at school, but here was a smaller victory. Madison felt her stomach flip-flop—but in a good way.
She waited for only a split second before her answer popped right up.
Madison was so excited she kept hitting the return key before her message was typed, but she finally got through.
Chatting in private was the next-best thing to being right next to someone—and MadFinn and Bigwheels hadn’t chatted in a whole week.
“Ask the Blowfish” was a special area on the site where you could go to ask advice on matters of the heart and head. It only answered yes and no questions, but Madison swore it was always right.
Madison was about to turn off her computer when she noticed that her mailbox had mail in it.
Fm: Wetwinz
To: MadFinn
Subject: THE ELECTION!
Date: Thurs, 21 Sept., 8:44 PM
“Maddie! Chet just told me the worst thing ever I am sooo sad. He says Aimee lost the election. I guess Drew told Egg and Egg told Chet who let the news slip when we had dinner. Oh no what does Aimee think? Please please tell her I am soooo bummed out. I sent an e-m just in case she doesn’t know and also I can’t get thru on the phone which I can’t. I’ve been trying since 8.
I wanted her to win sooo much. WoW.
Anyway bye.
Madison deleted Fiona’s e-mail. She couldn’t believe all that had happened in the past week.
Bigwheels had been right about boys. They were so annoying. How could Drew confide in Egg, who had the hugest mouth in all of Far Hills? If Chet knew, that meant that Egg had probably told the rest of the class. Even Ivy probably knew. She would be gloating about her victory before Friday announcements even happened.
But Friday wasn’t the drama Madison anticipated. No big surprise that Ivy was her winning self, poisonous as ever.
There was one very important thing that made Friday very nice, however, in spite of the election results. Mom had flown in from France that morning, so Madison was going home to her real home after school. At last.
Madison smelled cloves when she walked through the door. Mom was boiling potpourri and airing out the living room.
“Hello?” Madison said, dumping her orange bag in the front hall. “Are you here, Mom?” She kicked off her sneakers and slid across the wood floor.
Phinnie came running. The Gillespies had dropped him off already that day, along with all of Madison’s overnight bags.
“Rowrooo!” he howled, happy to be back home where he belonged, too.
Mom appeared from behind the kitchen’s swinging door, arms outstretched. “Honey bear!” she cried.
Madison squeezed. It felt good to be called that name in person rather than just in e-mail. Mom wrapped her arms around Maddie’s middle.
“I missed you!” she said. Madison hugged her even tighter.
Phinnie wanted in on the clinch, too. He jumped up and tried to get Madison’s attention as if to say, “Stop holding that human and start hugging ME.”
Madison saw a wrapped package on the dining room table with a card: Je t’aime Madison.
“That’s for you.” Mom smiled.
Madison opened the wrapping and saw a wooden box covered with decoupage animals varnished on the surface. She’d never seen anything so beautiful. Inside that box was another surprise: a shiny silver ring with a moonstone top. The band of the ring was little daisies linked together.
“Mom!” Madison burst into happy tears. “I love it. I love it SO much!”
“I thought since your Dad gave you the earrings, this would be a nice match. I picked it up on the Place de la Concorde.”
Madison’s smile turned downward. “Uh, can we not talk about Dad?”
“Maddie, what is it?” Mom pulled out a kitchen chair. “Is something wrong with your father?”
“No,” Madison replied. “Forget it.”
“Do you want to talk? Tell me,” Mom said. “What is it? Are you upset about Dad’s girlfriend?”
Madison didn’t answer. Her parents both had a sneaky way of needing to talk and then making it seem like she was the one who had something to say.
“You know, I did a lot of thinking while I was away,” Mom said, trying to get Madison to talk, too. “I did a lot of thinking about my work and you and—”
Madison stared at the ceiling. She wanted to run, but she stayed put.
“Okay, I get it. You want to talk about this another time.” Mom sensed Madison’s discomfort and changed the subject. “Are you hungry? Wanna order pizza for dinner?”
“Pizza is perfect!” Madison cheered.
No more sand or soggy vegetable burritos or tofu meatballs.
“Ggggrrrrowrrooooo!” Phin growled. Even the dog was ready to chow down some real food. Mom called in for an extra large pie with extra-cheese.
During dinner. Mom stayed away from the topic of Dad, as requested. But then she started asking other questions Madison liked even less.
“Why are you asking if I like any boys at school?” Madison said.
“Just curious,” Mom replied. “I have been gone a while, honey bear. I don’t want to miss anything. Now that you’re in seventh grade.”
“I don’t like anyone, Mom,” Maddie said firmly.
“Okay.” Mom kissed the top of Madison’s head. “Okay. I get it. That subject is off-limits too.” She went off to clean the dinner dishes.
Of course, Madison did like someone. She just didn’t want to say his name out loud, not even to Mom, because once it was out there in the universe her chances of getting crushed increased. And she had been crushed enough this week with elections, the Web site and Dad’s new girlfriend. Plus, if she said her crush’s name out loud, then people would know. Madison wasn’t ready for that—or the Hart ache. Boy, oh boy.
Mad Chat Words:
[ :> (
Serious Frown
:o
Shocked
:>&
Tongue-tied
FTBOMBH
From the Bottom of My Broken Heart
TAL
Thanks a lot
12345
Talk about school
GAL
Get a Life
LMSO
Laughing my socks off
>5
High Five
s>
What’s Up?
88
Love and kisses
POAHF
Put on a happy face
JK
Just kidding
404
I have no clue
Madison’s Computer Tip
If you’re reading e-mail or surfing the Web and you see something weird, speak up. Always tell an adult if you see anything online that makes you uncomfortable. Don’t be afraid to tell parents or teachers, even if you’re embarrassed by it. I had to tell Mrs. Wing, my computer teacher, about the problems with the school site and I was mortified. Safety comes first!
Visit Madison online at the author’s page: www.lauradower.com
Turn the page to continue reading from Laura Dower’s From the Files of Madison Finn series
Chapter 1
“I WANT A DANCE SOLO,” Aimee Gillespie announced at lunch. “What about you, Maddie? What part do you wanna get?”
Madison Finn shrugged and took a sip of her chocolate milk.
The Far Hills Junior High administration had decided to organize a special cabaret in honor of the school’s assistant principal, Mrs. B. Goode’s, twenty years of distinguished service. They were planning three separate nights of entertainment—one for each class in the school. Everyone in the seventh grade was expected to try out for selected scenes and songs from The Wiz.
But Madison didn’t want to. She couldn’t.
Madison couldn’t get up on stage to sing some lame rendition of “Happy Birthday” in the key of C.
She couldn’t face having other classmates with their eyes fixed on her every onstage move.
And she absolutely couldn’t dance.
Just the thought of auditioning made Madison woozier than woozy.
Even worse, Madison couldn’t tell her friends that she didn’t want to audition, especially her best friend, Aimee. Being afraid is one thing, but having to admit that to other people is another thing.
“Maybe I’ll just be one of those creepy trees that talks,” Madison finally told Aimee, trying to change the subject. “You know, like on the way to Oz.”
