Off the Wall

by Laura Dower

  Mrs. Wing nodded enthusiastically. “I’m sure the other kids will like it, too.”

  “Waaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

  Madison looked into the stroller to see two small, pink hands poking up from the blankets. Phoebe wailed some more.

  “Waaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

  “She’s probably hungry,” Mrs. Wing said, taking out a bottle and lifting Phoebe from the stroller and into her lap. Mrs. Wing started to feed the baby, cooing in her ear at the same time. Madison watched in awe as Phoebe calmed down and started sucking on the bottle.

  “Is it hard?” Madison asked.

  “Is what hard?” Mrs. Wing asked.

  “Being a mom,” Madison said.

  Mrs. Wing laughed. “Oh, it’s tough, sometimes. But it’s so rewarding, too. Someday you’ll know what I mean.”

  Madison couldn’t imagine that far into the future. Right now she could barely imagine how she was going to get through the next month without her orange laptop.

  “Hey, Madison, are you in here?” someone yelled from the doorway. Madison knew who it was. He’d managed to find her there every afternoon that week.

  Lance.

  “Mrs. Wing?!” Lance shouted when he saw their teacher. “Cool! What are you doing here again?”

  “I came to pick up a few papers from Mr. Franks and visit briefly with some other teachers,” she said. “Lance, are you here to help with the school site?”

  “Oh, yeah, sure,” Lance said.

  Madison cringed.

  It definitely gets worse before it gets better.

  Why couldn’t it have been Hart making a guest appearance in the technology lab, instead of Lance? Of course, Madison couldn’t say anything grouchy, to make Lance leave. She didn’t want to be rude in front of Mrs. Wing—and she couldn’t be mean for no good reason.

  Being nasty was how all of Madison’s trouble had started!

  “Well, I have to be taking off,” Mrs. Wing said, putting Phoebe back into the stroller. She grabbed the pile of papers that had been left out for her and took a textbook off the shelf, too. Then she left a sealed envelope for Mr. Franks on the desk.

  “I hope we’ll see lots more of you,” Madison said, wishing they were still alone in the lab. She could feel Lance’s eyes on her.

  “I hope that I’ll come back for visits soon, too, Madison,” Mrs. Wing said, reassuring her. “I want to keep up on all of your progress. And you, too, Lance!”

  Lance giggled. “See you later, Mrs. Wing.”

  Mrs. Wing, with Phoebe, went out the door, jangling. Madison guessed it was Mrs. Wing’s silver bangles that were making all the noise. It was like music to her ears—she missed her regular technology teacher that much.

  Madison leaned down and grabbed her bag. “I’m outta here, too,” she declared, zipping it up.

  “But I just got here,” Lance said.

  “So?” Madison said. “See you in class tomorrow.”

  Before he could stop her, Madison dashed out of the lab and raced to her locker.

  On the way down the hall, Madison spotted someone standing right in front of her locker door.

  Ivy.

  Madison wasn’t surprised.

  “I’m never going to forget, you know,” Ivy growled.

  Madison shrugged. “Elephants never forget,” she said.

  “Who are you calling …”Ivy looked shocked.

  Madison eyed Ivy up and down. Her red hair didn’t look quite as fluffy and perfect as usual. Nothing about Ivy looked perfect today. She looked ugly, Madison decided. Beauty was only skin deep, and all of Ivy’s badness was showing through.

  “Oooooh! You think you’re sooooo smart, don’t you?” Ivy said.

  Madison looked at the notebook in Ivy’s hands. She couldn’t believe what she saw. On the front, doodled all over the notebook cover, were smiley faces.

  Smiley faces!

  Those were the exact same kind of smiley face that Madison had seen online on The Wall. If Ivy hadn’t already, unknowingly, confessed to her mean acts, Madison would have considered those smiles major proof of Ivy’s guilt.

  Now Madison put on her own smiley face.

  “I have to go,” Madison snapped, closing her locker and slinging the orange bag over one shoulder.

  “I know it was you, Maddie,” Ivy said. “I know you wrote those lies about me. You’re going to pay for that. You’re going to pay.”

  Madison wanted to yell out, Oh, yeah? Well, what kind of lies did you write about me? Who should really be the one paying!?

  But instead, she kept smiling and kept walking.

  Madison remembered what Dad had said.

  The way to win with Ivy Daly is NOT playing her game or by her rules. Fighting back gets you nowhere with some people, Maddie.

  So Madison said nothing.

  To her surprise, the silent treatment worked better against her enemy than anything else she’d ever tried. Madison always thought being speechless was a sign of weakness. But now it was a sign of power.

  Poison Ivy didn’t know what hit her. She couldn’t fight against an opponent who didn’t try to fight back.

  And so Madison silently turned away from the enemy and walked down the hall, through the school doors, on to the sidewalk, and all the way home, without looking back once.

  “Can I check my e-mail now, Mom?” Madison called out.

  Mom was on a business call. She came out of her office and placed the laptop on the kitchen table. Madison plugged it in silence.

  She booted up the computer and went onto TweenBlurt.com.

  Two messages were waiting.

  FROM SUBJECT

  BalletGrl Can U Say Puppy?

  Bigwheels I’m in TROUBLE

  She clicked onto Aimee’s message first.

  From: BalletGrl

  To: MadFinn, Wetwinz

  Subject: Can U Say Puppy?

  Date: Wed 15 Nov 3:11 PM

  Today was the really big day! We brought Blossom over to the clinic because she wasn’t eating as much as usual and it turns out that it was just her insides. She’s having puppies—can u believe it? It worked, FINALLY! After all the times trying. Hoorah!!

  So, who wants the first puppy?

  xoxoxox Aim

  Madison was glad for Aimee and the other Gillespies. New puppies would be coming in the new year. Madison couldn’t wait to see them being born. She’d seen stuff like that only on the Discovery Channel. She wondered if Dan had been at the clinic when they had brought Blossom in.

  After Aimee’s message, Madison saw the second message from her keypal. She was super curious about the subject line and clicked on it.

  From: Bigwheels

  To: MadFinn

  Subject: I’m in TROUBLE

  Date: Wed 15 Nov 3:47 PM

  Ready 4 this? I am grounded. Yeah—ME! Have u ever been grounded? You don’t want to be. I can’t leave my room all week except 4 school. And I’m breaking the rules by writing this e-mail 2 u right now. Okay so here’s what happened. @ my sister’s b-day party the other day, I was with this group of little kids and I told them a scary story. I don’t know why I scared them—I just felt like it. They were being so annoying and it seemed funny at the time. Well one of the mothers complained to my mom that I was a bad example and my mom TOTALLY overreacted. So now I’m stuck. And the worst part is that my little sister is gloating about how she’s so sweet and I’m the “bad” one. Could things get any worse?

  Madison laughed to herself when she read that. She wanted to tell Bigwheels what she’d learned only days before, about how things sometimes did get worse—but about how they got better, too.

  She kept reading.

  N e way, sorry 2 be so depresso, but I hate being stuck inside. And the week after I had all those tests, too! It’s not that warm out, but I would rather be outside after school. I guess I could go online or something, but I’m bored w/The Wall. It was funny @ first but I dunno, now it seems dumb. How r u doing?

 
I was thinking maybe we should start our own bulletin board online for keypals like us. We could call it Keypal Palace or something like that. Every room in the palace would be like a different chat room. A girl in my class @ school told me she has a keypal like you.

  Her keypal is in Europe. How cool is that?

  Well, write back soon. Until then, I remain a prisoner! LOL.

  Yours till the trouble makers,

  Bigwheels, aka Vicki

  Madison hit REPLY.

  She couldn’t wait to tell Bigwheels about her own troublemaking week. She didn’t want to brag or anything; getting into the trouble she’d gotten into wasn’t much to brag about. In fact, it was just plain embarrassing.

  But maybe Bigwheels would find it comforting to know that she wasn’t the only one whose mom had turned into a prison warden overnight.

  Madison realized that she had spent a lot of time over the past weeks worrying about being out of the loop. But maybe she wasn’t really so far out of it after all.

  She had her own loop right in front of her: Aimee, Fiona, Lindsay, and, of course, Bigwheels. With friends like those, it didn’t matter so much when things got a little off the wall.

  That special circle of friends would be there through everything—online and off.

  Mad Chat Words:

  8>O Uh-oh!

  >=] Sneaky grin

  WAY? What about you?

  GOOH Get out of here!

  m8 Mate

  CML Call me later

  NY Not yet

  I’m soooo angry

  O&O Over and out

  GOIA Get over it already

  *G* Giggle

  ldaful Wonderful

  Madison’s Computer Tip

  After my experience on The Wall, I’ve sworn off online bulletin boards. Boy, did I learn my lesson. Beware of online gossip. It can be anonymous—and dangerous. Plus, you never know who’s posting with a fake screen name. Before you know it, you could even be the next target. I don’t regret the fact that Ivy got a taste of her own medicine, but I do regret how it happened. I’m going to be a lot more careful when surfing on sites like The Wall in the future. And I won’t ever post nasty messages about anyone else—ever.

  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

  AS MADISON FINN GLARED at the writing on the blackboard in Mr. Gibbons’s classroom, the words blurred together. Her eyes watered, so she reached into her orange bag for a tissue.

  Today’s Mental Floss

  If an international airliner crashed exactly on the U.S.—Mexican border, where would authorities be required to bury the survivors?

  Madison blinked. The answer didn’t come easily. And now her nose was leaking. Why wasn’t the cold pill Mom had given her that morning at breakfast working? Forget the cold pill. Why wasn’t her brain working?

  “Mr. Gibbons always asks such random stuff,” Egg Diaz whispered to Madison. Egg was one of Madison’s best guy friends. He was a whiz at video games, computers, and complaining.

  “Like my brain isn’t tired enough,” sniffed Fiona Waters, one of Madison’s best girlfriends. Her nose was running, too. “Mental floss sounds painful.”

  “Shhhhh!” Madison said. She didn’t want Mr. Gibbons to catch them talking when they should all have been working out the answer.

  Unbeknownst to her pals, Madison secretly loved all the brain twisters and obscure homework assignments Mr. Gibbons offered in his class. They made her think differently. She liked that. Unfortunately, that day’s “floss” had all three friends super stumped. They would have to wait until the end of class for an answer. The three pulled out their copies of The Outsiders for class discussion.

  “Before we get started, I have a special assignment for you,” Mr. Gibbons announced to the room with a wink. “It’s a creative research project that the entire seventh grade will be working on….”

  “Oh, no,” a boy in the back of the room groaned. “Isn’t it early in the year for a research project?”

  Mr. Gibbons chuckled. “Quite the contrary, Mark,” he said, shuffling the stack. “Early on is a perfect time to get serious about your work. Don’t you all think so?”

  Now everyone in the room groaned.

  Row by row, Mr. Gibbons passed out sets of stapled yellow pages. On the top page, Madison read the bold, blue headline, “Cross-Curricular Seventh Grade Webpage Project.” She glanced over at Egg with a half grin. Together, she, Egg, and their other friend Drew Maxwell, worked on the school website together. Maybe this assignment wouldn’t be so awful after all. …

  “As you can see,” Mr. Gibbons continued. “This isn’t really an English assignment. It covers all subjects. The twist is that you’ll be doing your paper online and with a team of students. Your other seventh grade teachers will be discussing more with you today.”

  Madison’s eyes scanned the page.

  Suggested Webpage Topics:

  Egyptians and the pyramids

  UFO sightings: real or hoax?

  Sinking of the Titanic

  The origins of baseball and how the game has changed

  Saving the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge

  Magic and optical illusions

  Ben Franklin’s inventions

  Be creative. But think smart. No web essays on extreme sports, serial killers, video games, or biographies of current celebrities, rap stars, or sports stars. All topics must be approved first.

  Although it seemed like an interesting project, Madison found herself staring into space, or at least into the space on the linoleum floor between the two desks in front of her. It was getting harder and harder to think about work—or anything else—when her ears felt this hot.

  “Maddie?” Fiona sniffled again. “You don’t look so good.”

  “Huh?” Madison grunted, turning around to face her friend. She coughed. “Yeah. I don’t feel so good.”

  “Did you see Aimee this morning?” Fiona asked. “She isn’t feeling so good, either.”

  Aimee Gillespie was Madison’s and Fiona’s other best friend.

  “Ladies?” Mr. Gibbons said as he came and stood between them. “Can I help you with something? Do you have questions about the handout?”

  Fiona let out a loud cough. “Um … not exactly.”

  “Gee, that cough doesn’t sound too good,” Mr. Gibbons commented.

  “I’m sort of sick,” Fiona admitted.

  “There are a lot of sick kids in school today,” Mr. Gibbons mused.

  “I know. Madison is sick, too,” Fiona added.

  Right on cue, Madison wiped her eyes and nose with wadded-up tissue.

  “Oh, I get it,” Mr. Gibbons said with a smile. He scratched his head and pointed to the classroom door. “Maybe you two should take a walk … to the nurse.”

  Fiona let out a satisfied squeak as Mr. Gibbons walked back to his desk to fill out a hall pass.

  “You’re good, Fiona,” Madison said under her breath. She reached down for her orange bag with another loud sniffle.

  “You always get to escape,” Egg said. “Typical.”

  “Oh, Egg,” Fiona said, holding back more sniffles. She cocked her head to the side and laughed a little. Even sick, Fiona found ways to flirt with Egg. They’d been “dating” since seventh grade started. Of course their dates mostly consisted of group trips to Freeze Palace, the movies, and the library, but they were still happy to be called a couple.

  No one in class seemed to pay much attention to Fiona or Madison as they headed for the door. Everyone else was too busy reading and talking about the new webpage project.

  “Look over that work sheet, you hear?” Mr. Gibbons told Fiona and Madison as he handed them the hall pass. “And read chapters eight and nine in The Outsiders. I hope you’re back in class tomorrow.”

  “Um … Mr. Gibbons?
” Madison asked before walking out. “What was today’s floss?” Normally, Mr. Gibbons gave kids the answer at the end of class. Madison couldn’t leave without finding out.

  “Ahhh. The floss! Today’s was a really tricky question,” he said quietly, so that no one else in the room would hear. “Read it carefully again, Madison. Think. Why would anyone bury survivors!”?

  “Duh!” Madison said groggily. “That’s a good one.

  “How do you think this stuff up?” Fiona asked with a cough.

  Mr. Gibbons shook his head. “Get thyselves to the nurse’s office, young ladies, before we all catch your bugs, okay?”

  Madison slung her bag over her shoulder and followed Fiona to the staircase. Together they headed to Nurse Shim’s office, otherwise known as The Dungeon, because it was located in the basement at school. Sometimes kids called Nurse Shim the Dungeon Keeper. Entering her dark office was like entering a prison with checkpoints and sign-up sheets and NO TALKING signs posted everywhere. She was the ogress of Far Hills Junior High, and everyone knew better than to cross her.

  “Hall passes, pah-lease!” Nurse Shim cried as soon as Fiona and Madison entered the office.

  At the front of the office sat a very large desk, chairs, and a giant, fluorescent floor lamp with a lampshade like a turban. In the back were a few musty-smelling cots. Along the side walls stood cabinets half filled with bandages, tissues, cotton balls, and other first-aid items. The school had used to store aspirin and other medicines, but then the rules had changed. Medication was no longer distributed on the premises.

  Madison and Fiona quickly produced their passes and sat down in a couple of the metal chairs in front of Nurse Shim’s desk. Since they both complained of fever and chills, each girl was given a thermometer to check her temperature.

  “One hundred and one degrees,” Nurse Shim said as she read Fiona’s thermometer. Madison’s was close to 102. “I guess we’re sending you gals home.”

  Nurse Shim picked up her telephone. “What’s your mom’s number?” She asked Fiona first. Fiona wheezed a little as she repeated the number and watched Nurse Shim dial.