Double Dare

by Laura Dower

  I don’t have any brilliant ideas about ur webpage, but if I come across anything that looks interesting, I’ll totally share. But don’t worry! Ur so good with computers—I know u and Fiona will do great.

  Yours till the cyber spaces,

  Bigwheels a/k/a Victoria

  Madison smiled and reached down to pet Phin. He was lying on his back, wiggling, making happy snuffling noises as Madison rubbed his belly. “Are you going to help me, Phinnie?” Madison asked.

  “Rowrroooo!” Phin howled. He scooted around on his back, legs pumping the air. He looked so silly.

  Madison felt the same way. But she remembered what her Gramma Helen always said: “The best way to get help is to ask for it.” She had Fiona, Dad, and Bigwheels to ask. Madison could get all the help she needed—and make sure that her webpage would rate A+++ … right?

  Bah-ling!

  Madison’s computer chirped and flashed.

  Another new e-mail?

  The newest message downloaded, and Madison read the address: Waters@TweenBlurt.com. Her heart skipped a beat. Was this from Chet—telling her that he knew she was the one who hung up on him? Madison clicked the message icon to find out.

  From: Waters

  To: MadFinn, Balletgrl

  Subject: Fiona and Chet Birthday

  Date: Thurs 21 Sept 9:17 PM

  Hello, Madison and Aimee.

  Fiona and Chet have a birthday coming up, and I was hoping you would help me! I want to plan a surprise party for them. Usually I have a special dinner just for family, but I thought that it might be fun to include some of Chet’s and Fiona’s friends this year. Would you help me make up a guest list and send out an invitation?

  Many thanks in advance! I will send you another e-mail soon. Write me back at this address.

  Emily Waters (Fiona’s mom!)

  “Five more minutes, Maddie,” Dad called from the other room.

  “Okay,” Madison replied, her eyes still glued to the screen. Madison couldn’t believe it—Mrs. Waters wanted help planning a surprise party for Fiona? Of course Madison was in! She hit REPLY and wrote to Mrs. Waters, letting her know that she could definitely count on Madison’s help. Then she forwarded the message to Aimee with a note saying, “Did you see this? Meet me before school—we need to chat!”

  Unfortunately, Madison was so busy writing to Bigwheels and getting in touch with Aimee that she never had the chance to write to Fiona about what she’d found on the Internet for their webpage project. She’d have to wait ten more hours until school started to tell Fiona the big news.

  Phin jumped up on her leg so Madison could rub his ears.

  “Good doggie,” she cooed, shutting down her laptop. Madison and Phin disappeared into her room at Dad’s apartment to get ready for bed.

  Tomorrow was a big day and Madison needed her ZZZZs.

  Chapter 4

  AIMEE WAS WAITING BY the school lobby when Dad dropped off Madison. As soon as Madison got out of Dad’s car, Aimee rushed over, talking faster than fast.

  “Oh-em-gee—OH-EM-GEE—I have been up all night! Can you believe that Mrs. Waters actually wants us to help plan a surprise party for Fiona? Isn’t that the best?” Aimee ranted breathlessly. “How exciting is this? I just love being part of a secret, especially when it’s a cool one. What should the invitation look like? What should I wear? Do you think we should—”

  “Whoa, whoa,” Madison giggled. Her BFF could talk a mile a minute when she got going. “Slow down. I think the first thing we need to do is figure out who to invite.”

  “The guest list!” Aimee did a quick pirouette—something she did often when she was excited. “Okay—who do we want to come, besides you and me?”

  “And Fiona,” Madison said, yanking open her lock.

  “Right,” Aimee agreed.

  “I don’t know,” Madison said as she pulled her books from her orange backpack and dumped them into her locker. “I mean, the party is for Chet, too. Do you think we should just invite the whole grade?”

  Aimee’s blue eyes grew wide. “Ugh—no way! I hate huge parties. Let’s just stick to our friends.”

  “Well …” Madison hesitated. Even though Fiona was new at school, Madison knew that she was friendly with a lot of people in their grade. And Chet was pretty popular, too. Madison and Aimee had promised to come up with a good guest list for the twins’ party, not just a list of people they liked.

  “Fiona and Chet have a lot of friends, you know,” Madison said aloud.

  “Yeah, but there’s a short list. Fiona is best friends with you and me,” Aimee said, doing a quick dance step. “And Chet is best friends with Drew and Egg. End of story.”

  “Huh?” Madison bit her lip. “Chet is also friends with Dan. And sometimes he hangs out with other guys … you know … like, um, Hart.”

  Madison said Hart’s name as coolly as she could, but she could feel her face burning.

  “And Fiona is friends with Lindsay….” Madison added quickly.

  Aimee shrugged. “True,” she admitted. “Okay, this is going to take some thought, and we only have two minutes till first bell. Why don’t you and I meet this weekend to discuss the party?”

  “What party?” someone said. Madison jumped.

  “Fiona!” Aimee squealed. “Hi! How’s it going? Is that a new shirt? You look so great in green!”

  Fiona started to laugh. “Thanks, Aim. Did you drink coffee or something?”

  Madison put a hand on her chest as though to keep her heart from racing too fast as she came face-to-face with Fiona. Her mouth was a little dry. How much had she heard?

  “H-h-hey,” Madison stammered.

  “You really do look great in green—don’tcha think, Maddie? I mean great!” Aimee said. She was babbling now.

  “Aim, I’ve worn this shirt a thousand times,” Fiona said. “But thanks, anyway. So—where’s the party?”

  Madison gaped at Aimee, silently pleading for help. She was no good at fibbing under pressure. How could they get out of this one?

  Aimee kept right on talking. “Did you say ‘party’? We were just talking about the VTV Ultimate Party Video countdown on Saturday. Do you want to come over and watch it with us?”

  Fiona shook her head. “Sorry—I think I’ve got some family birthday stuff that night.”

  “Oh, right, Saturday’s your birthday,” Aimee said, pretending that Fiona’s birthday had completely slipped her mind. Aimee nudged Madison with her elbow as if to say, “See how easy that was?”

  “It’s your birthday?” Madison croaked.

  Fiona made a weird face. “Of course! I just told you about it the other day,” she said. “I swear, Maddie, sometimes you can be such a space case!”

  Brrriiiiing!

  “Oh! There’s the bell. I have to run to my locker,” Fiona said. “See you guys later, okay?”

  “See you!” Aimee called out. She turned to Madison. “Whew!” she said in a low voice. “That was close. Remind me never to let you work for the CIA.”

  “ME?” Madison said. “I don’t even think the VTV Video countdown exists.”

  “Well, she bought it, didn’t she?” Aimee said.

  Madison pulled a red notebook from her locker and shut it with a bang. “And Fiona thinks I’m a space case!”

  “I can’t wait to tell Mrs. Wing all about our ideas,” Fiona said as she and Madison walked down the hall toward the technology lab during their free period. Madison filled her friend in on everything Dad had said and what she had discovered while surfing the Internet the night before.

  “She’ll be able to help us pull it all together,” Madison said.

  But when Madison pulled open the heavy door to the computer lab, she got a shock. The room was packed! Was everyone in the seventh grade inside?

  Mrs. Wing stood in the far corner, behind Ben Buckley. When she saw Madison and Fiona, she waved them over.

  “Girls!” Mrs. Wing called. “Come take a look!”

&
nbsp; Ben had the school website up on his screen.

  “It’s looking fantastic, Madison,” Mrs. Wing said enthusiastically. “All of your hard work has paid off so far. Ben’s just adding some finishing touches … see?”

  Ben clicked on a link that listed homework assignments. “Even I think it looks pretty good,” he said.

  Madison rolled her eyes. Ben was one of the smartest guys in school, but he could be a royal pain.

  “I just wanted to show you, and to say thank you for all your help,” Mrs. Wing went on. “I know it’s only been a few weeks, but I never expected we’d have this much done.”

  “You’re welcome,” Madison said happily. Helping Mrs. Wing with the website was fun. Madison loved to feel that she was helping to do something important for the school.

  “Are you two here to work on your webpage?” Mrs. Wing asked.

  “Yes,” Fiona said. “Madison had some great ideas about linking to other websites.”

  “That’s good!” Mrs. Wing said, smiling so her dark eyes crinkled at the corners. “As long as you follow the rules. Linked sites have to be useful and functional.”

  “Of course,” Madison said. Fiona nodded, too.

  “It’s always best to play by the rules,” Mrs. Wing said. “When it comes to contests, anyway.”

  “We were hoping that we could get on a computer and start working this afternoon,” Madison said as she looked around the crowded room.

  “As you can see, you aren’t the only ones who hatched that plan.” Mrs. Wing gave them another smile. “But it looks like there are two seats in the corner, next to Daisy and Heather. I’m making my way around the room to help everyone. Holler if you need me.”

  “Thanks, Mrs. Wing,” Madison said. She skipped over to the computer in the corner and hit the power button.

  “Hey, Daisy,” Fiona said as she slid into a seat in between Madison and Daisy Espinoza, who played right wing on Fiona’s soccer team.

  “Hi, guys,” Daisy replied. “Are you working on your webpage? Take a look at ours. Heather is so good at this.”

  “Mm-hmm,” Madison said as she took a quick look at their computer screen. Daisy and her partner, a quiet girl named Heather Benyon, had already built a good portion of their page with a few short articles, including one on sports from around the world—for gym class, of course! It wasn’t fancy, but it was farther along than Madison and Fiona’s page.

  Way farther along.

  Another student, Montrell Morris, leaned back to peer at Daisy’s screen, too. “Your page is okay,” he said, pretending to yawn. “If you’re into homework.”

  Madison cocked an eyebrow. “I thought that was what we were supposed to be doing,” she said, “making a useful educational page.”

  Montrell gestured to his computer screen. “Oh, I’m making something useful, all right,” he said. “Mine has a program that randomly generates excuses for not doing your homework.”

  Madison laughed. Montrell was a real crack-up. She wasn’t sure that the judges would love his idea, but at least he had a shot at the Most Original category—if there was one.

  Madison and Fiona sat down in front of their own terminal and logged online. Fiona found a few new sites that Madison hadn’t seen the night before. Working quickly, they captured the links and coded them for their webpage. Fiona even found a website that had free clip art.

  “This is easy,” Madison said as she downloaded an image of a wizard in a tall pointed hat. “He can be our homework magician.” She typed in a line for their science page.

  Finding science facts is a simple trick—just point to the magician and double-click!

  Fiona giggled. “I have one,” she said, leaning over to reach the keyboard. She quickly downloaded a cartoon of a cockroach and typed:

  Don’t let social studies be a pest—click the bug for help that’s best!

  Fiona and Madison were working so intently that they didn’t hear footsteps sneaking up behind them.

  “Whatcha doin’?”

  Fiona let out a little shriek. Madison whipped around. Chet was standing right there … with Egg.

  “You doofus!” Fiona yelled at her brother. “Don’t you know better than to sneak up on people?”

  Chet sneered. “What are you talking about?” he asked. “It’s a free classroom. I can sneak wherever I want.”

  Fiona moved her body to block his view of the computer screen. “Quit trying to look at our webpage.”

  “Oh, puh-leeez,” Chet said, rolling his eyes. “Like we want to see your lame Jimmie J Fan Club page.”

  “And what have you done for your page?” Fiona shot back. “Let me guess … nothing?”

  Chet folded his arms across his chest. “As if I’m going to tell you.”

  “Right,” Fiona said, “because there’s nothing to tell.”

  Madison looked over at Egg, who gave her a half-smile and shrugged. There was no point in trying to jump in when Chet and Fiona got into their sparring matches. You just had to wait until it blew over.

  “So …” Egg said weakly. “How’s it going, Maddie?”

  “Okay, I guess,” she said.

  “Chet!” Fiona kept arguing, “Not only does your page stink, but so do your feet.”

  “Oh, good one, Fiona. Well, my feet don’t stink as much as—”

  “Don’t even say it,” Fiona wailed.

  Madison turned away, trying not to listen.

  “So how are you, Egg?” Madison said. She felt so awkward. Egg was supposed to be her best guy friend—but she could barely think of anything to say to him. She’d felt this way ever since he hadn’t picked her as his contest partner.

  “Good, I guess,” Egg grunted. He shifted from one foot to the other.

  Madison sighed. Fiona and Chet were still going at it.

  “If that’s the way you feel about it, then FINE!” Chet said. “Egg and I will work on the other side of the room.”

  “Great,” Fiona shot back. “It’ll be easier to concentrate if I don’t have to look at your ugly face, anyway.”

  “Come on, Egg.” Chet started walking away.

  “Bye, you guys … I mean girls,” Egg said.

  As the boys walked away, Fiona sighed. “Why in the world does Walter hang out with a grade-A nerd like my brother?” she grumbled. Fiona almost always used Egg’s real first name.

  “Egg can be a nerd, too, sometimes,” Madison replied. “Believe me.”

  “No way,” Fiona whispered, smiling a little. “He’s a nice guy.”

  Madison stared straight ahead. Nice guy? Of course, Fiona would say that. Madison knew that Fiona had a serious crush on Egg and wouldn’t say anything bad about him.

  The webpage contest was getting more complicated by the minute.

  As the bell rang and free period ended, kids filed out of the computer lab.

  “Coming to soccer practice today?” Daisy asked Fiona as she packed up her book bag.

  “Yeah—I’ll walk with you,” Fiona said. “Just a sec.” She turned to Madison. “Maddie, can we get together over the weekend and do some more work?”

  “Sure,” Madison agreed. “Call me—or e-mail me.” As Fiona walked away, Madison made a mental note to invite Daisy to the birthday party. And Egg. He belonged on the A-list, too.

  Even if he was a traitor.

  “Mom!” Madison called as she walked in the front door of her house.

  There was a slight jingle as Phin bounced into the room and jumped up onto Madison’s legs.

  “I see Dad brought you home this morning,” Madison said as she leaned down to pet him on the head. He wheezed hello.

  “Maddie?” Mom said as she walked out of her office. The minute she saw Madison, her eyes lit up with a bright smile and she held out her arms. “Hey, honey bear. I missed you!”

  Madison rushed into them and gave Mom an enormous squeeze. “I’m so glad you’re home!” she said.

  “Me, too,” Mom said. “Paris was nice, but I missed yo
u so much. Did you have fun at Aimee’s and with Dad?”

  “Tons,” Madison said. “Mrs. Gillespie was super nice, as always. And Dad helped me with the webpage Fiona and I are building.”

  “Oh, Fiona’s your partner?” Mom said. “See? I’m glad that worked out.” Madison had filled her in on all the details the night before.

  “Yeah,” Madison agreed. “And guess what? Next weekend is Fiona’s birthday, and Mrs. Waters asked me and Aimee to help her plan the party.”

  “I know!” Mom said. “Fiona’s mom just called. Have you and Aimee made up the guest list yet? She wanted to know. The invitations need to go out as soon as possible.”

  “We started,” Madison said. “We’re going to finish working on it this weekend.”

  “What ideas do you have for the invitations?” Mom asked. “I bet you two could do some really neat things on the computer—you could scan in photos of the twins, or maybe cut some pictures out of magazines and make a collage. That’s your specialty.”

  Madison’s eyes got wide. “I have an even better idea!” she said. “We’ll send an e-vite! We can make a virtual collage!”

  Mom smiled. “Now, that’s a great idea.”

  “I just wish we could figure out who to ask,” Madison said. “Aimee wants to keep it small—just us, Drew, and Egg. But I think we should invite a few more people.”

  “Just remember that it’s a party for Fiona and Chet—not for you and Aimee. You should be inviting their friends, not just yours.”

  Madison sighed. “You’re right, Mom,” she said. “I’ll talk to Aimee about it.”

  Mom kissed the top of Madison’s head and disappeared back into her office. She came out with a take-out menu from Little China.

  “I would love to order in tonight,” Mom said. “Is that okay with you?”

  Madison smiled. “Cold noodles with sesame sauce, please,” she said. They tasted just like peanut butter, one of Madison’s favorite treats.

  “Chinese food it is!” Mom said, heading to the phone to call in the order.

  Madison sat herself down at the table and picked up a pen. She scribbled around the edges of the Chinese menu.