Picture-Perfect

by Laura Dower

  “So girls,” Mom said. “I imagine you three want to wander around and check out the stores. I have some errands to run. Why don’t we meet back in an hour by the food court. We could grab some lunch there.”

  “I want tacos!” Fiona announced.

  Madison smiled. “Sounds good, Mom. What if I want to buy something?”

  “Well, Maddie,” Mom said, “You have the money I gave you this morning, and if there’s more I can go back to the store and look with you after we eat. How’s that?”

  During this exchange, Aimee wandered off a few yards to look in a shop window. It was a beauty salon with photos of hairdos and runway models. Aimee couldn’t stop staring.

  “What do you guys think of her?” Aimee said, calling her friends over. Fiona and Madison waved good-bye to Mom and joined Aimee at the window.

  Aimee pointed to one of the models. “She doesn’t look like a model, does she?”

  “Why?” Madison asked.

  “Well, she’s too big to be a model,” Aimee said. “And her hair is weird.”

  “Aimee,” Fiona said gently. “Let’s go look at clothes. Isn’t that why we’re here?”

  Across from where they were standing, the girls noticed a huge display of video monitors along one wall at Spin Town, the music store where everyone shopped for electronics and instruments. A banner hung over a big display of brand new Nikki CDs.

  NIKKI IN CONCERT!

  SUGAR-SWEETIE

  COMES TO FAR HILLS!!

  Nikki’s songs were being piped into the area outside the record store. Fiona read another poster on the store window.

  WIN TICKETS! MEET WKBM INSIDE SATURDAY FROM 12 TO 3!

  “You guys, look!” Fiona said. “We have to check it out.”

  The music got a little louder, as if someone had turned it up.

  I could be sugar-sweet like you

  Sugar, sugar-sweet

  Madison laughed. A few girls around her were singing along. All of Far Hills was heating up with the news about the concert.

  “And we already have tickets,” Fiona bragged. “How lucky are we?”

  “I think I’m getting sick of this song,” Aimee said. “I mean it’s playing everywhere every five minutes.”

  “But it’s such a good song!” Madison said. “I’ll never get sick of it.”

  “Me neither,” Fiona added. “Come on, Aim, let’s go in.”

  They followed a group of girls into the packed store. They each had ear-buds in their ears, and were probably listening to Nikki.

  Everyone was lined up to win a chance for more free Nikki tickets, courtesy of WKBM. In addition to free tickets, the radio station was giving out free t-shirts and posters, too.

  “This is my kind of store,” Fiona said. “I like free stuff.”

  “Nikki looks so cool in that poster,” Madison said as they passed by a display. In the photo, Nikki was wearing a tight-fitting sweater-dress and little boots. Her hair was teased out, and she had on pink sunglasses.

  “She is beautiful,” Aimee said wistfully. “I wish I looked more like her.”

  Madison noticed that when Aimee said that, Fiona walked away in the opposite direction.

  “What’s her problem?” Aimee asked aloud.

  “Nothing,” Madison said. “She’s just going to look over there.”

  “Whatever,” Aimee said in some kind of huff. She walked in the exact opposite direction, leaving Madison by herself.

  Aimee needed to cool off. Madison chased after Fiona.

  The store had listening stations where people could “sample” CDs before buying them. Madison found Fiona standing in one. They swapped headphones back and forth, listening together for a long time—at least fifteen minutes—until finally Aimee came back and tapped them on the shoulders.

  “It’s almost time to meet your mom,” Aimee said. She was the only one who’d checked her watch. “Shouldn’t we go to the clothing store now?”

  Quickly, the trio pushed their way back out of the store and into the bustle of the main causeway. Then they hurried over to Chez Moi, a favorite casual boutique at the mall. There was so much to do and no time to do it!

  In the window at Chez Moi, there was a different gigantic Nikki display with posters and outfits set up on mannequins. The store was selling clothes that looked just like what Nikki was wearing in all of her photographs.

  The trio rushed inside.

  On the left side of the store was an entire rack of T-shirts with the cutest designs. One had a miniature kitty-cat wearing a space suit. Another one said “Super Girly.” A third had a tie-dye flower in the center. There were a few shirts with Nikki’s face on them, too.

  A sign on the rack said BUY TWO GET ONE FREE.

  “Why don’t we get T-shirts,” Fiona suggested. “We can buy two and then the third one—”

  “I can read the sign,” Aimee said.

  “Fine! Why are you being such a grouch?” Fiona snapped back.

  “I’m not a grouch,” Aimee said.

  “Hey, you two,” Madison interrupted. “Why don’t we look around some more before buying anything? The T-shirts will still be here in a few minutes if we leave and come back, right?”

  They walked around the shop, examining every rack and table they saw. When Aimee picked out a tank top with blue sparkles, Madison and Fiona were thrilled with the thought that their BFF was finally getting into the shopping mood.

  Until she tried on the sparkly top.

  “My arms look so flabby,” she said, posing sideways in the mirror. “I can’t wear this.”

  Madison frowned. “You have stick arms, Aim. It looks awesome.”

  “Yeah, seriously. Quit joking around and buy the top,” Fiona agreed.

  Aimee looked at her watch. “Maybe later. We have to go meet your mom now, Madison.”

  They made tracks over to the food court and found Madison’s mom by the taco stand. Fiona was grinning as she ordered her taco with a side order of guacamole.

  “I’ll have a quesadilla,” Madison said to the man behind the counter. “Cheese, please.”

  Mom ordered a bowl of super-hot chili.

  “Aimee?” Mom asked last. “What do you want?”

  Aimee shrugged and ordered a small taco salad, which ended up being a huge waste, since she only ate about three bites.

  Across the food court, kids filed in and out with their parents or with their cliques of friends. Fiona got embarrassed when she looked up to see Egg and Drew standing way on the other side of the court. She got a case of instant shyness and refused to wave, walk over, or anything. Aimee got up and went over to say hello to the boys on her own.

  Madison glanced around to see who else she could spot who went to Far Hills Junior High. As luck would have it, no cute boys seemed to be around, not even Hart Jones. Poison Ivy Daly wasn’t around either.

  But then Madison saw a familiar face, standing a little distance away.

  It was Carmen, from science and art classes. She was at the mall with a bunch of other girls, some of them older like her mother and aunts.

  She seemed picture-perfect, even from far away.

  By the time Madison, Aimee, and Fiona left for home, the mall crowd was thinning out. Half the parking lot was cleared out, too. Madison knew some of this was due to the deadline at the WKBM booth. Everyone had departed after getting their free ticket chance and buying a signed CD or poster.

  The girls carted huge bags of stuff back into Mom’s car. Madison had gotten a T-shirt, and Fiona had gotten a glitter jewel belt for her jeans. Aimee had bought a pair of pink pants that were too baggy.

  After dropping off Fiona and then Aimee, Mom asked Madison if Aimee was feeling okay. “She doesn’t look well,” Mom said. “She looks tired.”

  “Yeah,” Madison replied. “She’s been practicing dance like three times a day. She has a recital coming up next month.”

  “I think maybe I’ll call her mother and see what’s going on,” Mom said.
>
  They pulled the car into the driveway, and Mom went to take Phin for his late afternoon walk.

  Madison went upstairs to her bedroom. Saturday evenings were usually busier than busy inside TweenBlurt.com so she logged onto her computer to see who was online from her buddy list.

  While waiting for the site to come up, she went into her files to write.

  Nikki

  I have decided that Nikki is the best superstar despite what Aimee says. She always looks perfect in pictures, she has a great voice, she wears perfect clothes AND everyone loves her. What else is there left to be?

  I wish I could be in her platform shoes for just one day. Sometimes I stand in front of the mirror in the bathroom and dream that I’m on some talk show being interviewed. The host wants to know all my secrets, and everyone is applauding very loudly. Nikki must have so many friends and boyfriends too. She’s been on every awards show and every talk show in like 100 countries. What would it feel like to have everyone looking at you all the time? Meeting Nikki will be the most exciting time of my life so far.

  Tomorrow I have to try working on that stupid self-portrait for art class. I wish I could look in the mirror and see someone like Nikki looking back at me instead of my plain old boring face—especially with this weird zit that gets bigger every day.

  I wonder if Nikki ever gets zits?

  Probably not.

  If she did, she’d probably write a chart-topping hit about it though—which would make zits cooler than cool.

  Pop stars are good at that kind of thing.

  Chapter 7

  SUNDAY MORNING STARTED WITH a thud.

  Phin jumped up on Madison’s bed and knocked her alarm clock off the nightstand.

  “Rowrooooo!” he wailed, pug tail wagging. “Rowroooooooo!”

  Madison bolted up in bed and headed for the bathroom, ignoring the clock pieces on the floor.

  The zit was still there this morning, Madison noticed, grimacing. It was getting one of those little volcano tops to it, as if it would explode at any moment.

  She wanted to pop it, but didn’t. Having a hole in her face would be a far worse fate than having a volcano zit.

  “At least no one has to see me today,” Madison told her bathroom-mirror reflection.

  That was some consolation.

  If Sundays weren’t reserved for baseball games or shopping, Madison would often spend them with Mom cleaning up around the house and doing other chores. Every since the Big D (divorce), the two of them had teamed up to keep the big house straightened up. Sometimes Mom would get a cleaning service in to steam the carpets and do the windows, but mostly she and Madison scrubbed and shined together. Now that spring was really here, there was a lot of cleaning to be done.

  For housework, Madison wore her scrubbiest clothes: an old bandanna wrapped around her hair (which hadn’t been washed now in two days), a goofy T-shirt with a rip in it, rainbow socks she’d had since fifth grade, and sweatpants that were two sizes too big and drooped down on her hips.

  She was comfortable, that was what mattered. Or at least that’s what she told herself.

  “Hey, Mom,” Madison asked as she went into the kitchen looking for some cereal and orange juice. “Can you tell I have a zit on my head?”

  Mom peered up close into Madison’s face. “You mean the one up there? Yes, it’s a zit. But it’s almost gone. And it’s very small, actually.”

  “Quit lying to make me feel better,” Madison said. “It’s twice as big as a pea, isn’t it? It’s huge. How can I go to the concert looking like this?”

  “Maddie, stop,” Mom said. “What are you worrying about that for? Aren’t you supposed to be all excited today? The concert is coming up in only a few days, you have a new outfit—”

  “I know! I am excited!” Madison blurted. “But this!”

  “Just quit this obsession with the zit, honey bear. You’re a beautiful girl….”

  Ding-dong.

  “Okay,” Madison said as she shuffled into the living room. “I’ll quit obsessing. I’m a beautiful girl. See?”

  Madison posed and pranced her way over to the front door. Smiling, she turned the lock without even thinking.

  “Maddie?” the boy behind the door said as she flung it open.

  Madison almost keeled over.

  Hart Jones was standing there. Egg and Drew were right behind him.

  She reached for the drawstring on her sweatpants and grabbed for the bandanna that was wrapped on her head.

  “Hart?” she whispered. “Wha-wha-what are you doing here?”

  Hart smiled wide. “Well, we just came by to see if you—”

  “Nice outfit, Maddie!” Egg blurted. He burst into laughter.

  Then Drew snorted.

  Hart couldn’t help but chuckle, too.

  Madison felt her face, neck, and chest get hot. Her heart started to pound like a hammer. A drop of sweat traced its way down her back.

  “I … um … look … I have to …” Madison stammered.

  “Hey, Maddie, just chill out,” Egg said.

  “Yeah, Maddie,” Drew said, echoing his friend.

  “Look,” Egg continued, pushing in front of Hart. “We’re meeting Fiona and Chet over by the baseball field later for a game. Aim has dance practice, I guess. She didn’t want to come. So we came by to get you.”

  “Baseball?” Madison said. “Today?”

  “Yeah,” Hart said, smiling. “Do you want to come with us?”

  Madison’s heart was still beating fast. She wanted to run, but her feet were glued to the hall floor.

  “I can’t play baseball—” she blurted.

  “Why not?” Egg asked. “Just put on some sneakers and let’s go.”

  Madison glanced down at her rainbow sock toes and her T-shirt, which just happened to have a splotch of breakfast cereal right on the front. She could feel her zit growing as she stood in the doorway. She could feel her dirty hair.

  Help.

  “I have to … have to help my mom with some work,” Madison said, making up a quick excuse. “She’s working on this really big film project and she needs my help. Sorry.”

  “Are you sure you can’t come with us?” Hart asked. “I think it’s going to be fun. Haven’t seen you around much in school these days …” His voice trailed off.

  “Nope, can’t do it,” Madison said. “Gotta run.” She started to push the door shut, right in the boys’ faces.

  Egg pushed back. “If you change your mind, we’ll be down at the far fields, okay? Maddie?”

  “Yeah, sure,” she said. “Okay. See ya.”

  “Bye!” Hart said, even after the door had been shut.

  Madison peeped through the peephole. She should have looked through that first so she could have avoided the whole confrontation in the first place.

  Egg, Drew, and Hart walked away slowly, tossing the baseball. Hart turned back once to look at the door. Madison wondered what he was thinking when he did that. Did he forget to say something? Was he still thinking about her ugly outfit? Was he deciding right there that he would never, ever speak to Madison Francesca Finn again?

  Madison’s entire body was covered in sweat by now. She felt embarrassment wrapped around her like a winter coat that she wanted off … NOW! Madison ran into the downstairs bathroom and collapsed onto the side of the tub.

  That’s when the tears came. Floods of them.

  “Maddie?” Mom said, knocking at the door a few moments later. “Who was that? What happened? Honey bear, are you okay?”

  Sniffling, Madison got up and opened the bathroom door. Her kerchief was askew, her sweatpants were falling down, and her face was blotchier than blotchy from crying.

  “Maddie!” Mom said, alarmed. “What on earth happened—” She ran cool water and dabbed Madison’s face with a cloth.

  “Hart … Egg … Baseball … Door …” Madison choked on the words.

  “Honey!” Mom said in her softest voice. “Let’s go sit down
. What’s going on?”

  “Why is my life falling apart?” Madison asked her mom.

  “Wait a minute,” Mom said. “Last week we were all concerned about this Nikki concert. Now you’re going, and you’re sitting in the front row. That’s like a dream come true. Why the tears?”

  “Boys, Mom,” Madison said. “I don’t understand them. I’m not pretty enough.”

  “Where is all this coming from?” Mom asked.

  Madison sniffled some more. “Aimee is acting so strange, too. I don’t know why, but things just don’t feel right. Not even with front-row seats.”

  “I spoke with Aimee’s Mom about her schedule—and not eating yesterday at the food court. She said that we shouldn’t worry. Aimee’s just nervous about performing. Aimee was never a big eater, anyway.”

  “Mom, it’s more than that,” Madison said, wiping her nose. “Ask Fiona. It’s like Aimee isn’t herself these days. I can’t explain it. She has this weird faroff look. Didn’t you see it?”

  Mom thought for a moment. “Yes, I did. Maybe you should talk to her.”

  “I can’t,” Madison said. “She doesn’t like talking. She gets all angry at me.”

  “That’s not like Aimee,” Mom said.

  “Maybe it’ll all go away when the concert comes,” Madison said. “And we’ll be three happy BFFs again. I just don’t understand what’s wrong. Maybe it was something I said or did?”

  “I’m sure you’re not responsible,” Mom said, rubbing Madison’s back. “You’ll think of something to say. I know you will. You and Aimee have been friends for too long to let a few bad moods get in the way of your friendship.”

  “I guess,” Madison said, readjusting her bandanna and blowing her nose.

  “You know, I can give you some cover-up for that blemish,” Mom said. “That way you won’t have to worry about it when you have dinner with Dad tonight.”

  Madison grinned. “That would be great,” she said.

  “Hello, WKBM fans! Today we’re playing all Nikki all the time! And now, let’s hear her number-one hit single, ‘Sugar-Sweet, Like You.’”