Off the Wall

by Laura Dower

  “Oh! Mrs. Wing! Did she bring the baby?” Mom asked. She turned down the volume of her music.

  Madison nodded. “The baby’s name is Phoebe Wing,” she said. “Mom, she’s so beautiful. She has this perfect skin and eyes and hair.”

  “Babies are wonderful,” Mom said. She beckoned for Madison to come over so she could give her daughter a squeeze.

  “What’s that for?” Madison asked as Mom hugged her tight.

  “Oh, I don’t know,” Mom said. “You were my baby, once.”

  It was a perfect moment for Madison to confide in her mom about all the anxiety she had been having during the week, but Madison didn’t know how to bring it up. How could she explain to her mom that she was practically addicted to the gossip page on The Wall?

  Mom and Dad and even Madison’s BFFs had been after Madison to stop visiting that web board for days. But Madison hadn’t tried to stop. Nope. She’d been on the site even more.

  “I have homework,” she said, pulling away a little. “Gotta go.”

  “Homework? On a Friday night?” Mom asked.

  “Oh, yes,” Madison said. “Big science paper, and if I don’t start working on it right away … ”

  “Okay,” Mom conceded. “Then get going! We’ll eat later.”

  Madison left Mom’s office to head for her school-books, but of course, they were the last things she planned on picking up. Instead, she and Phin trotted upstairs to her bedroom, where Madison flung herself across the bed, plugged in her laptop, and logged on.

  She resisted The Wall at first and went into her e-mailbox instead. Madison found a lone message waiting there. But it was from the right person.

  FROM SUBJECT

  Bigwheels Re: Fake Names and Other …

  Madison breathed a sigh of relief.

  From: Bigwheels

  To: MadFinn

  Subject: Re: Fake Names and Other Tragedies

  Date: Fri 10 Nov 11:02 AM

  OMG IOU a big, huge, MEGA apology so to make up 4 it I will now write u the longest email I have ever, ever written to you, LOL.

  Here’s what happened. I got the worst flu bug ever and have been in bed for two days. That is why I have not written so please don’t be mad at me. My dad would kill me if he knew I was on this computer right now, but he’s @ the grocery store so I’m sneaking online. I’m supposed to be sleeping. I hate being sick. I’m way behind in all my classes too, which means next week will be even worse!

  So I looked on The Wall and went to that Friends-n-enemies page and it does look like you wrote those messages—the name at least. Who else would use MF13?!! I’m sooo sorry! Still, don’t ur friends know u would never do something mean on purpose? Even tho I think they’re being wicked unfair, they’re prob. just super mad about what was posted.

  Did you ever think maybe ur enemy Poison Ivy wrote it? I know u didn’t say anything about her, but isn’t she always doing mean stuff 2 u?

  I only had 1 weird time in a chat room when some weirdo asked me if I was “pretty” and the next thing they wanted to do was go “private,” which of course is a big sign that they’re probably a pervert or something. I told my parents and they totally freaked. Not on me, of course. They got all protective and just told me to be careful when I go online. My mom monitors where I go now. BTW, does ur mom or dad know about this person who is pretending to be you? U should tell them!

  I would keep talking 2 ur friends. My friend Zoe says, “Friends are forever, boys are whatever!” LOL. Aimee and Fiona know. Friends always forgive each other.

  Wish me luck this wkend, even tho I’m sick I need to write this English paper. I picked Number the Stars like you suggested. What a good book.

  Yours till the cough drops,

  Bigwheels, aka Vicki

  p.s. 1 more thing I almost forgot about the person who’s posting MF13. I just noticed they always put this weird smiley face @ the end of their posts. Maybe you can ID the person w/that, like if they use a smiley with a different screen name or something. GL!

  Madison logged out of her e-mailbox. Bigwheels was onto something.

  Smiley faces!

  Madison quickly surfed the TweenBlurt.com site to see if she could spot other messages where a user might have used the same symbol—but a different screen name.

  With a little help from her keypal, Madison was closer to figuring out the true identity of MF13.

  Now all she needed to do was to make the phony user name disappear … permanently.

  Chapter 12

  FRIDAY NIGHT WAS UNLUCKY.

  Madison hadn’t located any smiley-face messages anywhere.

  But she hadn’t given up.

  On Saturday morning, Madison woke up more determined than ever. The more she thought about the nasty messages that had been sent to Lindsay, Fiona, and Aimee, the more convinced Madison was that Ivy was behind the whole charade. While eating her morning bowl of Fruity-Os, Madison got her big, BIG idea.

  Revenge.

  Of course revenge wasn’t something Madison normally thought about. Gramma Helen, Mom, and Dad all had taught her that revenge was just plain b-a-d.

  “Two wrongs don’t make a right,” Gramma Helen had always said.

  But Madison considered the events on The Wall an exception to the normal rule about revenge. She needed to brainstorm a master plan. The one way she could get back at Ivy was to give the enemy a taste of her own medicine. She needed to embarrass Ivy way more than Ivy had embarrassed Madison and her friends.

  And she knew exactly how to do that.

  As Madison’s fingertips clicked on the keyboard keys, she remembered Poison Ivy after science class. She could hear Mr. Danehy’s words echoing inside her head.

  Miss Daly, I need to know how you plan to address your failing grade in this class.

  That was all Madison needed to know to launch her plan.

  She zipped on to the Wall home page. Once she selected the “Friends-n-enemies” topic, she hit the button that read “New Post.”

  A blank form popped up.

  Madison read the rules in small type that accompanied the form. There were some additional rules that were different than those for the home page for the site.

  BY POSTING MESSAGES ON THE WALL, YOU AGREE TO ABIDE BY THE WALL CODE OF HONOR. YOUR POST INCLUDES A SCREEN NAME OF YOUR CHOOSING, THE DATE, AND A BRIEF MESSAGE. PLEASE USE GOOD JUDGMENT WHEN SELECTING YOUR NAME TO POST AND WHEN COMPOSING ANY MESSAGES TO BE VIEWED BY ANOTHER MEMBER. WHAT YOU WRITE WILL BE DISPLAYED PERMANENTLY AND CANNOT BE RETRIEVED OR EDITED ONCE YOU HIT SEND. THE WALL WILL REMOVE POSTINGS IN SOME SITUATIONS. CONTACT YOUR WEBMASTER FOR FURTHER DETAILS.

  Without hesitation, Madison started to fill in her blank form. The first step: to use Ivy’s own “fake” screen name for Madison against her.

  Posted by: MF13

  Date: 11 Nov

  After posting the name and date, Madison’s fingers tap-tap-tapped faster than usual. She didn’t censor herself.

  To get back at Ivy, she needed to think like Ivy.

  Message: More big newz @ FHJH this time its I.D. in trouble wow is she ever. The WITCH is failing science.

  Madison couldn’t believe what she was typing. It was what she felt—but should she be writing all of this down?

  Still, she continued.

  Yeah I.D. begged Mr. D. to pass her but he said no way so now the school is planning to EXPEL her … it is soooo bad

  Now she was making up facts, but Madison kept writing—faster than before.

  Not only that but I heard that NO other school in the district wants to accept her b/c she has no real friends n e way LOL in fact there r no guys who will even look @ her b/c she dresses

  “Rowwoooo!”

  Madison jumped, startled.

  Phin was scratching at her foot as though he wanted to go out. She looked down at his impatient little pug face.

  “What is it, Phinnie? Can you wait just a sec, please?” Madison pleaded with him. But by now,
Phinnie was dancing on his paws.

  “Rowwrorororoooo!” he wailed, louder this time. In dogspeak, that meant, “No, I can’t wait. Now, get off the computer. And hurry!”

  Exasperated, Madison turned back to The Wall to survey the message she’d written.

  Madison was surprised by what she read. She knew she’d gotten a little carried away, but upon rereading her words, she realized that they weren’t just mean, they were meaner than mean. Even if the posting had been meant to disrespect her greatest enemy in the entire world … it didn’t feel good once Madison saw those cruel words staring back at her in black and white (well, in blue and orange, actually) on the computer screen.

  Madison couldn’t send the message.

  She quickly clicked on the DELETE key to make the words disappear.

  The screen buzzed. Nothing moved.

  Hmmm, Madison thought, scanning the entry for another way to delete the words she’d written. She hit SELECT ALL and then DELETE again.

  But still, nothing changed. The screen kept buzzing. The cruel words remained.

  A moment later, Madison clapped her hands together. Success! The screen finally flashed blue, and she breathed a sigh of relief. The mean message about Ivy had finally vanished for good.

  Madison was glad. She didn’t really want to get revenge that way.

  But a moment later, her relief turned to anxiety.

  A new, blinking message on Madison’s screen flashed: “Posting Complete.”

  “Huh?” Madison said out loud. “What does that mean?” She frantically looked down at Phin, her eyes darting around the computer screen. “Posting complete? What am I supposed to do NOW?! It went through?”

  “Rowwrorororoooo!” Phin howled again. He still had to go out, but now he sat down and just panted.

  Madison punched a few more keys, hoping the message would return, so that she could eliminate it for good. But nothing returned except the home page for The Wall. Madison gulped.

  She had no choice but to check the “Friends-n-enemies” page to see if her posting had landed there.

  There it was.

  A new posting from MF13—word for mean word.

  This one really was from Madison.

  Madison fanned at her face with a blank piece of paper from her desk. What could she do? She stood up but then quickly sat back down again. Madison needed a plan and she needed one now. How could she have sent the message when she didn’t mean to post it? What was she supposed to do to get it back when the rules clearly stated that it was impossible to retrieve a message once it had been sent?

  She scanned the room as if looking for ideas. Madison’s eyes fell upon a photo of her and Dad taken the previous summer at the beach.

  Dad!

  Of course! Dad would have the answer. She would call him now. He’d make everything better again. Dad was a computer genius.

  She dialed his number and heard him pick up.

  “Dad?” Madison spoke very softly into the phone receiver so her mom wouldn’t hear. “Are you there? It’s Maddie.”

  “I know it’s you, silly,” Dad said. “Why are you whispering?”

  Madison sighed. “Dad, I need your help. In a big way. Right now.”

  “My help?”

  Madison quickly tried to explain about The Wall and the postings and the fake screen names, but Dad sounded very confused. She wasn’t making a lot of sense.

  “So tell me again. Who’s MF13?” he asked, for the third time.

  Madison wanted to cry. “I don’t know who MF13 is, Dad, that’s the point. I need to find out the poster’s real identity.”

  “Maddie, honey, can you wait and tell me about this when we meet for dinner tonight?” Dad asked. “It all sounds pretty complicated, if you ask me. And I was just in the middle of an important—”

  “I can’t wait!” Madison said in a much louder whisper. “Dad, I have to see you right now.”

  “Maddie, we were going to meet at five. I’m right in the middle of programming something. I have a big presentation next week. … ”

  “I know, I know you’re busy,” Madison said. “But can’t you do your presentation a little bit later? Can’t you pick me up a little bit early? Please?”

  Dad paused on the other end. “Does your mother know about this strange posting on the web?” he asked sternly. Madison recognized that serious voice again. She didn’t like it.

  “No, no. Mom doesn’t know. Not yet,” Madison said. “I didn’t want to tell her before I tried to fix it. … Please don’t tell her, Dad. … ”

  “Maddie!” Dad said. “We will have to tell your mother, understand?”

  Madison said, “Of course,” without hesitation. “Can you come get me?” she added. “Right now?”

  “Okay, you win. Pack up your laptop,” Dad said. “We’ll solve this website thing together tonight. I’ll be right over.”

  Madison let out a huge sigh. “Thanks, Dad.”

  “Maddie, be ready in twenty minutes, all right? I just have to drop off a package at the post office first. Oh, and Phin is coming with you, so don’t forget to bring his chew toys. I don’t want him chewing on my rugs this time.”

  Madison laughed, relieved. Dad could fix anything. She’d be out of this mess before dinnertime.

  Phinnie, on the other hand, wasn’t so relieved. He had been sitting patiently on the carpet while Madison talked on the phone. Now that she had hung up, he was in motion again, scratching at her legs to go for a walk. Madison clipped on his leash and headed outside.

  Phin took forever walking around the block. He wanted to sniff everything. Madison practically choked him on the way back home. There was no time for sniffing. She needed to get home. Dad would be waiting.

  Mom was so busy inside her office working on the business report that she didn’t even question the reason Madison was leaving early for Dad’s apartment.

  “Have fun, honey bear,” Mom said. “Are you two going shopping or something?”

  Madison lied. “Oh, yeah, shopping. At the computer store.”

  “Good,” Mom said. “Call me tonight.”

  Madison leaned over to give Mom a good-bye kiss. She felt guilty for stretching the truth. She felt sneaky for keeping Mom in the dark about the web problems. Madison vowed never to consider revenge again.

  A horn honked in the driveway and Madison heard Dad call out, “Let’s go, kiddo!”

  Madison grabbed Phinnie and her bag and headed for the car.

  She threw her arms around her dad’s neck after climbing into the front seat. “You don’t know what a great dad you are,” Madison gushed.

  Dad winked. “Sure, I do,” he said.

  Moments later, he pulled into the parking lot at the Stop and Save supermarket.

  “Dad! What are you doing? We have no time for this!” Madison cried.

  Dad ignored her pleas, however. He needed to buy food for dinner. It only took a few minutes. Soon enough, they were back in his car, speeding off to his apartment in the center of Far Hills.

  As soon as they’d emptied the grocery bags, Madison dragged Dad over to the computer. She logged on to The Wall.

  “What is this?” Dad asked, looking over the Wall home page. “Isn’t this that website you showed me earlier this week?” His eyebrows wrinkled together into one.

  Madison leaned back in her chair as Dad stood in front of her. His face turned deep pink with sudden anger.

  “Oh, Maddie … this is the webpage you have trouble with? I knew this webpage was trouble. Didn’t I tell you to stay away from it?” Dad asked.

  Madison didn’t answer. She just shrugged.

  Dad’s voice got even louder. “Madison, answer me,” he boomed.

  Madison played dumb. “I don’t remember, Dad,” she lied, for the second time in a half hour.

  She hated talking to Dad when he was angry. It wasn’t as hard as talking to Mom, but it was close.

  Dad read the incriminating post from “MF13” aloud twice, shaki
ng his head both times. Madison was embarrassed to hear her words read aloud. “Do you have to say it over and over?” she asked. “I know it was wrong, and I said I was sorry. … ”

  “I’m just so disappointed in you, young lady,” Dad scolded. “What about the website’s code of honor?” he asked. “Did you read that part?”

  Madison shrugged. “I guess,” she mumbled. “Look, Dad, I never meant for it to be posted. It was an accident. … ”

  “Maddie,” Dad said. “Why would you write those things in the first place?”

  Madison had no response. Why had she written them?

  She quickly surfed around the site to show Dad some of the other negative posts that carried the “MF13” signature, as if showing him the ones that Ivy had written would somehow make things better for her. But Dad wasn’t listening anymore. He was too busy trying to find a way to delete the post.

  All Madison could do was watch.

  Chapter 13

  AFTER A HALF HOUR of punching keys and surfing the site, Dad finally sent a long note to The Wall’s Webmaster. It was a last resort, but it was one Dad thought would work best.

  “Well, now the site should delete the post,” Dad said. “If you’re lucky.”

  Madison breathed deeply. “I knew you’d help, Dad,” she said. “I’m really sorry. … ”

  “Well, let’s wait and see what happens,” Dad said. “I just don’t know what to think about all this, Maddie.”

  Shaking his head some more, Dad disappeared into the kitchen to start preparations for dinner. He was making a small roasted chicken with baby vegetables, a recipe he’d spotted on some fancy-food channel on cable. Dad was always working on his gourmet cooking skills.

  Watching the clock always makes time go slower, Madison said to herself as she watched the second hand on Dad’s copper clock tick off the time. She checked her e-mailbox every five minutes, searching for some response from the Webmaster. Why was it taking so long?