by Laura Dower
They watched Madison’s favorite love story on cable TV and Aimee said, “Did I tell you that the guy Willem was the best dancer in the entire camp?”
Madison wanted to shout back, “CAMP—SHMAMP!” But she didn’t.
There was one good part about Aimee doing all the talking. The subject of Fiona never came up.
Until the phone rang—and Aimee picked it up.
“Hello, Finn residence,” Aimee answered, laughing as she put on a fake butler voice. “Hello? You want Miss Madison? And WHOOOO may I ask is calling?”
Madison held her breath. She got all tense about Aimee answering the phone, as if Fiona meeting Aimee were Godzilla Meets the Smog Monster.
Madison had a feeling they wouldn’t get along.
“It’s Fiona. For you,” Aimee handed the phone to Madison. “So who’s Fiona, Maddie? Huh?”
Madison’s stomach went flip-flop as it always did under pressure.
“Fiona, hey!” she grabbed the phone. Unfortunately for Madison, Fiona was in a talkative mood too. She couldn’t hang up right away.
Aimee just stared and listened.
“What? Oh, you wanna hang out? … Well I can’t … Well, my friend Aimee … Yeah, she was the one who answered … Well, she’s back from dance camp and I … Well, we’re kind of hanging out together alone right now and … Fiona? Look, I’ll call you later.”
No sooner had Madison hung up the phone than Aimee asked her for a third time, “So are you gonna tell me who Fiona is?”
Madison couldn’t understand why she felt so guilty about Fiona vs. Aimee, but she did. She didn’t understand why she always felt she had to take sides with everyone: with Mom and Dad, with friends, with everyone. It was always about picking sides and picking the people you liked more than other people.
Like now.
“Well, Fiona’s my new friend,” Madison admitted. “I met her when you were at camp.”
Aimee brushed it off. “Oh, okay. Well, is she nice?”
“Yes. Very nice.”
“Oh, that’s cool. I can’t wait to meet her.” Aimee twirled around. “Anyway, you know, Maddie, I think I should probably go home now. Do you wanna get Egg and hang out tomorrow like we always do the night before school starts?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
Madison was dumbfounded. Aimee wasn’t asking any more Fiona questions?
“So, later, ’gator!” Aimee squeezed. Madison good-bye as she made her way to the front door. She yelled out, “GOOD-BYE, MRS. FINN!” and skipped away. She really skipped too, which annoyed Madison a little. Aimee was a dancer.
Madison smiled and shouted out, “I’ll see you tomorrow, then!”
Of course, she realized five minutes too late that she had forgotten to give Aimee her collage card. She stuffed it into her backpack so she wouldn’t forget it tomorrow on the occasion of their pre-school party.
Right before bed, Madison opened up her Aimee File.
Aimee
I thought that I was doing all the changing around here, but Aimee has changed, big-time. She’s not the same and she’s a talking hog all of a sudden and she’s not the same person I remember. I don’t ever remember her being such a blabbermouth. Am I being mean by even thinking that?
Another change I noticed is her boobs! They are getting like really big. I didn’t say that to her face, but I could see them through her T-shirt. I wonder if they hurt? She always said big boobs were like doom for a dancer. I wonder if that’s true?
I hope that Aimee and Fiona can be friends. If we three get along, does that mean we have to leave Egg out? Does that destroy, like, the whole Three Musketeer thing with me, Aimee, and Egg? I had this two-second wish that maybe we four could be best pals, but I don’t know. Maybe I’m being a hog, too. I want things my way all of a sudden.
Sometimes I just want to keep Fiona to myself. Does that make me the friend hog? Or is Fiona just one of those summer friends? I am confused.
Madison realized that was a topic better discussed in her Fiona File, and quickly switched back to the subject of Aimee.
I know that Aimee is my best friend in the universe, and that we did the soul sisters pact thing in fourth grade and it’s stupid to worry about our friendship. Right?
Madison wondered again if maybe she really was still “only the lonely.”
What would Bigwheels do at a time like this? She looked at her empty mailbox and felt extra lonely.
Chapter 9
IT WAS 1 A.M.
Mom was fast asleep.
Phin was fast asleep.
But Madison was wide awake. Madison couldn’t remember being up this late since the year Mom and Dad let her stay up for New Year’s Eve when Mom was on the road making Documentary of a Documentary, or something like that.
My mind is racingracingracing, Madison thought to herself. It was super-hot, too. Mom had turned down the air-conditioning because she claimed it was supposed to rain. The bedroom fan wasn’t working properly. Madison felt sweaty and way too conscious. She’d much rather be dreaming than facing this reality: it was the early morning before the night before the start of seventh grade.
SEVENTH GRADE.
It was all Madison could think about. Her insides were jumping beans. Her head thumped. She swore she could smell smells stronger than before. It was like the whole world was changing.
SEVENTH GRADE.
Wasn’t that enough to keep anyone awake?
Madison had spent the last part of the summer worrying about her parents, her friends, and her slow death from boredom, and just now—with twenty-four hours to go—she realized that the thing she was probably most worried about all along was junior high.
Around 5 A.M., Madison finally did fall asleep. At long last she was wiped out by all her thinking. She slept for almost six hours, too, but then Mom finally woke her up.
The first thing sleepy Madison did was check her e-mailbox. To her surprise, she discovered a bunch of messages from a bunch of people she hadn’t expected to hear from.
FROM
SUBJECT
Shnazzy’s
Super Savings—PLUS!
jefffinn
I’M HOME!
wetwinz
is this you???
Bigwheels
sorry
The message from ShnaZZy’s had an even bigger discount promise on their latest sale. Madison was psyched, until she deleted the message by mistake—and then emptied her recycling folder to boot.
JeffFinn, a.k.a. Dad, sent news from his Far Hills apartment. He was home at last and he wanted to take Madison to dinner the first night of school on Tuesday. It would be special in honor of his junior high school girl. Sometimes Daddy said the sappiest things. Madison couldn’t wait to see him. It had been a month, after all. She missed his hamburgers almost as much as his hugs.
The next message was from Wetwinz. Fiona had sent mail—finally! Fiona and Chet both had screen names that were variations on the words “we twins.” Chet’s screen identity ended in s and Fiona’s ended in z.
From: Wetwinz
To: MadFinn
Subject: is this you???
Date: Mon,4 Sept 9:31 AM
Happy day before school, Maddie.
Can I call you that now that we’re friends?
I have a lot to do w/mom and Chet before school but I’ll see you tomorrow at Far Hills okay? I am so SCARED for everything that’s new but I am also so excited. Do you know what I mean? I am more excited because we are friends now, too. Have fun with Aimee and Egg tonight. You said you guys always celebrate together on the night before school, right? Sorry I can’t be there with you!
Bye, Maddie!!!
Love, Fiona
Madison wished Fiona could be here, even if that meant breaking tradition a little bit. She wondered how Egg and Aimee would react if Fiona turned their threesome into a foursome. It wouldn’t be fair, of course. Egg had wanted his pal Drew officially included in a lot of things, too, but Drew usually g
ot left out. The three best friends wanted to hang on to their trio for as long as possible with no strangers included or invited.
Was seventh grade going to change all that?
Madison’s last message was from Bigwheels.
From: Bigwheels
To: MadFinn
Subject: school
Date: Mon, 4 Sept 10:32 AM
I think maybe you sent me a message too last week and it got zapped. Sorry. Lemme know. And resend it if you still have it.
BTW I start school government next week so I may actually be a little busy so please don’t mind if I can’t e-m right away. I promise will write ASAP. Bye!
p.s. pls. Are you angry about something? Why is your screen name MAD? Bye!
p.p.s. Oh, did I tell you that I like to write poems? Ok, here is one for you for the first day of school. I’m always scared about new things. RU?
Scared
When toes curl
When hands sweat
When eyes twitch
When you’re not set
Scared of people making fun
Scared of summer being done
Scared of new
Scared of old
Scared of always being told
What to do and who to see
Do you agree?
Are you scared like me?
Madison couldn’t believe that other people out there in the middle of the world were as freaked out about starting junior high as she was.
Was Far Hills Junior High just a bunch of scaredy-cats like her?
She closed the window on her computer. She couldn’t think about being scared now. She was sure Aimee and Egg weren’t scared! She made a mental note to send Bigwheels an e-mail later on. She wanted to thank her for the poem.
Ever since they had gotten out of kindergarten, Madison, Aimee, and Egg had been celebrating together on the night right before school and here it was all over again. Their moms were the ones who had really started the tradition and the three friends had picked it up a few years back.
One year they went roller-skating. Another time they camped out in a tent in the backyard. After such a long tradition, they had gotten superstitious about the whole thing. And there was no wrestling TV allowed.
Egg got to the Finn house first tonight. The dog jumped him.
“Phin you are a bad, bad doggy! Get back!” Egg joked, but then he tickled the spot behind Phin’s sensitive ears and Phin turned to Jell-O.
Egg definitely had a love-hate-love relationship with Phinnie.
“Hello there, Walter Diaz!” Madison greeted Egg at the door with a smack on the back.
“Hello there, Madison Finn.”
Egg was about to smack back, even harder, when Aimee rushed up and threw her arms around him instead.
“Get off me!” Egg screamed. Of course, he was happy to see her, he just wasn’t into any kind of squeezing or hugging. “You’re sick,” he added.
Aimee laughed and hugged Madison instead. Then she twirled around, waving her arms down toward the ground. She was wearing her pointe shoes.
Madison gasped. “That’s them?”
“Aren’t they magic?” Aimee got up on pointe and showed off her balance on one toe. She was good at showing off even in the strangest places.
Egg made a face at Aimee’s feet. “That’s just messed. How do you get up on your toenails like that? Gross me.”
Aimee and Madison laughed and threw their arms around each other again.
It had been three months since they had last hung out. Madison, Aimee, and Egg were back together again at last. For a split second Madison considered whether she really should have gotten Fiona to join them, but Fiona had said she had other plans and Madison left it at that. This was no time to feel guilty.
Outside, it was a perfect summer night, so the trio parked their butts on the Finn patio as Mom lit a few citronella candles, and passed out popcorn and root beer.
Madison made Phin do a few stupid pet tricks like fetching the hose, rolling over in the grass, and sitting on the command “park it.” Basically Phin did whatever Madison wanted him too. It was entertaining.
“So what are you guys most nervous about this year?” Aimee asked all of a sudden.
Silence. The bug zapper zapped, but no one seemed to have an answer for Aimee’s question.
“Nothing, nada, not a thing,” Egg finally replied. “What’s to be nervous about? Bunch of losers mixed in with another bunch of geeks. I’m not different from the rest of the crowd, right?”
Madison chuckled. “Except that you’re King Geek, remember?”
“Oh yeah. Where’s my crown, Miss Loser? Did you borrow it again?”
“You guys are out of control,” Aimee said, interrupting. “I was talking about school stuff like classes and, you know, teachers, and I have heard some scary stories about the amount of homework—like we thought sixth grade was bad but I have a feeling seventh grade is just worse. My brothers say that it’s evil.”
Aimee had four older brothers: Roger, Billy, Dean, and Doug. They had all been through seventh grade and survived just fine, so Madison imagined they were exaggerating for Aimee’s benefit.
“What’s their definition of evil, Aimee?” Madison inquired.
Egg spoke up, “Uh, I do believe that next to the word evil in the dictionary you will find a picture of Aimee herself, yeah.”
Aimee faked being mad for a minute and then she hauled off and gave Egg a knuckle noogie.
“Owwwwwwch!” Egg screamed, kicking her in the shin.
“Boys and girls, please stop this fighting,” Madison announced like a flight attendant. “In case of emergency, your seat cushions can be used as flotation devices.”
They all cracked up.
“Hey, has anyone seen Ivy Daly this summer?” Egg asked out of the blue.
“Oh, puke me!” Madison yelped. “Are you kidding me?”
“I hung out with Ivy’s BFF for a week,” Aimee said. “Roseanne can’t jeté or pirouette to save her life!”
Madison faked a scream. “POISON Ivy? Aahhh!”
“I don’t know how it’s possible but I almost forgot about her,” Madison said. “She is the one whose picture is in the dictionary next to evil, Egg.”
“Madison vs. Poison. Sounds like a good wrestling match.” Egg snickered.
Hating Ivy officially had started in fourth grade, a year after Ivy moved to town and moved into their elementary school. As third graders, she and Madison had totally bonded. They spent every afternoon together doing homework and playing at the park and all the things that new friends do.
Then things changed.
Egg pulled on Ivy’s braids one day in recess and she tripped him in the corridor and then he beaned her in kickball and things got way out of hand. Madison tried to stick up for her new friend, but no one listened. And that was when Ivy spread an awful rumor that Madison had cheated on a math test and soon everyone in the fourth grade was whispering and after that the principal got involved…
Any mortal enemy of Madison’s automatically became a mortal enemy of Aimee’s and Egg’s, too.
The worst backstabbing kicked in the year before when Madison went so far as to nickname Ivy “Poison.” Of course she never said that to her face.
“I never thought about this before but Poison Ivy just might ruin seventh grade,” Madison complained. “She and her stupid sidekicks Rose Thorn and Phony Joanie.”
“Ivy won’t ruin anything if we have anything to say about it,” Aimee said. “I mean I know I’ll whup her and Roseanne in dance troupe tryouts. And you’re way smarter than they are, Maddie. That’s something to be glad for, right?”
“Yeah, Ivy’s hot but she’s a major math moron, too,” Egg said.
Madison and Aimee said at the same time, “EGG!”
“She is a hottie! I may be against her politically speaking, but I’m not blind!” Egg argued. “She’s good-looking.”
Aimee jumped all over him.
“Those three witches are off-limits for friendship and crushes. Egg, you don’t mingle with the enemy no matter what, got it? I mean it, Egg. You are totally not allowed to crush on any of them.”
Why was Aimee being so bossy toward Egg? Madison wondered. Egg didn’t seem to mind, so she laughed it off, too. Still, it seemed that Aimee really had changed a little. And here, on the night before seventh grade, she was changing a little bit more.
“So what homeroom are you in anyway, Maddie?” Aimee asked.
“2A.” Madison said.
Egg piped up, “Hey, I’m in 2A too.”
Aimee was bummed out. “Then why did they put me in 2B?”
The very logical Egg answered her. “Alphabet, Aimee. A through F is in Room A. Then G through O or something is Room B, and the rest are in Room C. Something like that. They do it all on the computer.”
“How do you guys know?” Aimee asked.
Madison joked, “Hey, I think they stuck you in 2B just to torture you, Aimee.”
“They finally figured out how to separate you two!” Egg added.
“That isn’t funny. Egg. I don’t want to be in a different homeroom than you guys. That isn’t fair.”
“We’ll live, Aimee,” Egg said. “We’ll probably have all our other classes together. Besides, you should feel lucky you’re not in Room A. The lovely Poison Ivy is in there!”
Madison put her hand on Aimee’s shoulder. “We’ll have every other class together, I bet we will.”
“I guess,” Aimee agreed halfheartedly. She seemed dejected.
Everyone was a smidge more worried than they wanted to admit.
“You’re not really upset, Aimee, are you?” Madison asked.
“Yeah, I am. I’m bummed.”
Madison wanted to make Aimee feel better. That’s what BFFs were for, after all. She remembered Aimee’s collage card, the one she’d been making for most of the month of August. It was still in her backpack.
“You made this?” Aimee whimpered. “You made this for me?”
Madison nodded and Aimee sniffled. She was almost crying.