by Laura Dower
As if Ivy cared. She was already onto the next subject.
“So did I tell you guys that I’m going the Nikki concert tomorrow?” Ivy said.
“Yessss,” Aimee hissed.
Madison nudged Fiona as a reminder not to show Ivy the tickets they had for the same concert. Madison still wanted their appearance at the concert to take Ivy by surprise. Catching Ivy off guard was the only way to make her sweat.
“Yeah, you told us about the concert,” Madison said.
“Like a hundred times,” Aimee added.
“Oh, well, did I mention that I have a pass to meet her? Isn’t that cool?” Ivy bragged. “My sister and I do. Janet is taking me.”
Madison always wondered how Ivy and Janet could possibly be related. Ivy was a big meanie, while Janet, a senior at Far Hills High School, was nicer than nice. Janet was pretty, too. All the boys wanted to date her.
“Janet says we’re like VIP concertgoers,” Ivy added for emphasis.
“Yeah, you told us that a hundred times, too. No one cares!” Aimee barked.
Fiona giggled.
“What’s your problem, Aimee? Hmmm … fainted lately?” Ivy said, rolling her eyes.
Aimee didn’t respond. Ivy’s cruel comment had taken her by surprise. She was still sensitive and embarrassed about not eating and fainting in front of the entire class.
Ivy turned away in a huff and walked down the hall.
Fiona turned to Aimee. “Ivy is a cow,” she said. “Mooooo!”
Aimee couldn’t help but laugh at that, partly because it sounded funny and partly because Fiona rarely said harsh words about anyone.
“Thanks,” Aimee mumbled. “You didn’t have to say that.”
Madison looked directly at Aimee and Fiona with a beaming look of inspiration on her face.
“What?” Aimee said. She could tell Madison had something very important to say.
“We are so stupid!” Madison said.
“Gee, thanks, Maddie,” Aimee said. “That makes me feel so much better.”
“No!” Madison said. “I mean we’re so stupid about the concert. Our chaperone has been obvious, and we totally missed it.”
“What are you talking about, Maddie?” Fiona asked.
“Dean!” Madison said loudly. “Dean is our chaperone. He’s perfect!”
“My brother, Dean?” Aimee asked.
“It’s sooooo obvious,” Madison said.
“Really?” Fiona said.
“What are you talking about, Maddie? My brother Dean is a total loser! Why would we want him to go with us?” Aimee said.
Brrrring-brrrring.
The homeroom bells echoed through the hall.
Madison grinned. “I have a plan. Meet me after school. You have to trust me. This will work!”
She dashed off to the fourth floor, leaving Fiona and Aimee standing there, scratching their heads.
A block into their walk home that Thursday afternoon, Madison still had not said anything more about Dean.
Aimee was ready to explode.
“Maddie, are you going to tell us why Dean is the perfect chaperone or what?” Aimee yelled. “Quit playing!”
Madison’s grin grew. “I can’t believe you guys haven’t guessed why he’s the one,” she said.
Aimee stopped walking. “I am not moving another inch until you tell me.”
“Think about Ivy,” Madison said. “She’s going with her sister Janet … who’s in high school….”
“Yeah,” Aimee said. “So?”
“Aim!” Fiona said. “I get it! Someone from high school can take us.”
“So?” Aimee asked.
“Aim,” Madison said seriously. “Janet and Dean are the same age. Duh.”
Aimee gasped, “I know. But Dean is such a …”
“Such a good choice?” Madison grinned.
“Aw, Maddie. He probably won’t even go, I swear,” Aimee said, hurrying off toward Blueberry Street with her friends. “He’s such a pain.”
“But he’s our last chance!” Fiona said, running ahead of her friends.
Madison and Aimee laughed.
When they arrived at the Gillespie house, the threesome was lucky enough to find Dean sitting in the living room like a lump, watching TV. They cornered him immediately.
“What do you three want?” Dean grunted.
“Dean,” Aimee said in her sweetest voice ever, “we were wondering …”
“ … since Roger can’t take us to the Nikki concert anymore …” Madison continued.
“Will you take us? Please?” Aimee finished.
“I’m not going to your idiot concert, Aim,” Dean said. “Leave me alone.”
The three sighed. This would take some serious begging. Aimee tried to offer him her allowance money, but he said no. She also offered to do all his house chores for a month, but he said no to that, too.
“Nikki stinks,” Dean said, turning up the volume on the TV. “She has a cute belly button, but I hate her music. She can’t sing.”
Madison sat next to Dean and re-explained the seriousness of the situation—how they had won the tickets, how it was the opportunity of a lifetime, and how they absolutely had to go to the concert because their enemy Poison Ivy Daly was going to be there with her sister Janet.
“You’d be saving us,” Madison said.
Aimee sat on the couch wringing her hands. “Dean, will you just please do this … Please?”
Dean gave his sister a blank stare, as usual. Then he turned to Madison and said, “Wait a minute. Did you say Janet Daly?”
“Yes,” Madison said.
He smiled. “Are you saying that if I took you guys to the concert I could hang with Janet Daly?”
“Totally,” Madison said quickly without thinking.
Fiona shot her a look. “Maddie …”
“Who cares about Janet Daly?” Aimee asked.
“If we can hang with Janet, then I’ll go,” Dean said, without another pause. “I’ve been trying to get a date with Janet Daly all year.”
“A date?” Madison said.
Fiona gulped.
Aimee’s jaw dropped.
Yes, they’d be able to go to the concert, but Madison couldn’t help but wonder if she’d made a terrible mistake. Dean was practically drooling at the idea of hanging out with Janet Daly, which was gross enough. But hanging with Janet meant they’d be hanging out with Poison Ivy, too.
And that was grosser than gross.
Chapter 11
NIKKI
Rude Awakening: Now that it’s time to face the music, it’s time to face the enemy, too.
HELP!
How could I have said all those dumber-than-dumb things to Dean? I wanted to go to this concert so badly that I completely spaced out on the reality of what I was saying. Spend the whole night with Ivy? HELP! Even Fiona realized what was happening. Aimee wanted to kick me. She still does.
Tonight we will be standing at the concert for real. Will it be awful standing near HER? Fiona says that at least Ivy’s in the fifth row and we’re up front. She’ll be jealous of US for a change, right?
I will try not to obsess about this. The most important thing is that we’re going-after everything that has happened—we are going to our very first concert! Seeing Nikki is a dream come true for all of us.
Only twelve more hours until we’re there.
Madison closed her laptop file. She’d woken up Friday morning thinking about a lot of different things: her self-portrait for art class (which was due today), an English vocabulary quiz she was doomed to flunk (she hadn’t studied), and, of course, Nikki.
Nikki, Nikki, Nikki.
Could Madison survive just one more day of school before the concert?
Aimee had her dance lesson that morning—the first one since she’d fainted earlier in the week—so Madison walked to school alone. When she arrived by the lockers, Madison couldn’t find Fiona or anyone else to talk to. A bunch of other seventh graders
passed by wearing Nikki buttons. Madison kept her eyes open for Ivy, the one person she absolutely did not want to see.
In her rush to get her books and dash down the hall, however, she nearly collided with the one other person she dreaded seeing.
Carmen.
“Hey, Madison,” Carmen said, acting friendly for the first time that Madison could remember. “Is that your picture for Mr. Duane?” she asked.
Madison toted a rolled-up piece of art wrapped with a rubber band. She looked down at the scroll and then up at Carmen.
“Yeah,” Madison mumbled. “I’m bringing it to Hart class.”
Carmen giggled. “You’re what?”
Madison felt her cheeks get hot. Hart class? “I mean art class,” Madison said.
Carmen nodded with a smile. “I know what you mean.”
The desire to run surged through Madison’s body, but she couldn’t move. She stared blankly at Carmen and cursed her lead feet.
“Did you like our self-portrait assignment?” Carmen asked.
Why was she still standing there? Madison couldn’t believe Carmen wanted to talk more. She couldn’t carry on a conversation now! Not this morning!
Carmen kept talking, though. “I thought it was hard. I don’t really like staring at myself in the mirror, you know? It’s so vain.”
“Yeah,” Madison said. She didn’t say much more.
“Well, I have to go,” Carmen said, taking off in the opposite direction. “Maybe I’ll see you later.”
Madison heaved a sigh of relief when Carmen walked away, but her embarrassment only increased the more Madison thought about the exchange.
Hart class?
Between Dean yesterday and Carmen this morning, Madison was beginning to wonder why the censor between her brain and her mouth had quit working. And now, to make matters worse, Carmen had to suspect Madison’s true feelings for Hart Jones, right? Why else would she have said something as stupid as Hart class?
Madison wandered off to her English section, head swimming with thoughts of Nikki, Hart, and a vocabulary list she could barely recall.
So far, the day of the concert was not turning out the way she’d hoped.
When the last class bell of the day rang out in the halls of Far Hills Junior High, Madison nearly screamed aloud. Her pulse raced. Her chest pounded. She even felt a little dizzy.
Only five more hours until THE CONCERT.
Luckily, Madison didn’t have to look very far to find her BFFs. Aimee and Fiona were waiting in the hall by the lockers, bubbling over with just as much nervous energy and excitement as she was.
“Oh-em-gee!” Aimee squealed. “I can’t believe it’s here!”
“Me neither,” Fiona giggled. “What are you guys going to wear?”
“I am definitely wearing my moonstone earrings,” Madison said. Dad had given them to her, and they always brought good luck. Madison wanted to make sure that everything about this concert-going experience was good and lucky.
“I am wearing those pink jeans I bought at the mall last week, my Nikki T-shirt, and …” Aimee said, taking a deep breath, “this brand-new jean jacket with this big heart patch on it.”
Aimee pulled the jacket out of her locker. “My mom gave it to me before dance this morning. Isn’t it awesome?”
“Hey,” Fiona said. “You’re so … coordinated.”
“You’re always coordinated, Aim,” Madison said.
“I know,” Aimee said, smiling. She was back to her old self again.
The three friends packed up their bags and headed home. They made arrangements to meet up at six o’clock. Dean was going to pick up Madison and Fiona after they ate dinner at home and had a chance to get dressed up for Nikki. The concert arena was located only a short drive from downtown Far Hills. They could get there early enough to buy souvenirs and grab their seats.
Madison bounced inside when she got home. Phinnie knew something was up—he could always tell when Madison was energized about something. Phin would get energized, too. He jumped up onto her lap as soon as she sat down, licking her face all over.
“Phin! Stop! STOP!” Madison pleaded. “I’m going to have doggy slobber all over me.”
Mom, who was working in her home office, came into the hall to say hello.
“Well, someone’s excited,” she said, grabbing Phin’s collar so Madison could get away from his drool.
“Yeah,” Madison sputtered. “Gross me.”
“How are you doing?” Mom asked.
Madison mumbled “Fine” as she wiped her mouth.
“I’m making soup and sandwiches for supper,” Mom said. “So we’ll eat around five-thirty, okay?”
Madison slung her orange bag over her shoulder and headed toward the stairs. “Okay,” she said.
“Hey! What’s going on? Aren’t you excited?” Mom called out. “You’ve only been looking forward to this concert for two weeks now. You’ve barely said two words to me since you walked in the front door.”
“Of course, I’m excited!” Madison said, turning around on the stairs. “Oh, Mom, I just don’t know what to wear, as usual. And I want tonight to be greater than great. I can’t believe I’m actually going to meet Nikki.”
Mom shook her head. “I know, honey bear. It’s a big deal.”
“I’ll be in my room,” Madison said, bounding up the stairs. She didn’t have time to chat with Mom now. There were far more important tasks to accomplish.
Like checking in with her keypal, Bigwheels.
Madison always went to her for advice about school and friends, and now she needed help with fashion.
What would Bigwheels wear to the most important concert of her life?
Unfortunately, it was only four o’clock, and Bigwheels was all the way across the country, which meant that sending a message probably wouldn’t work right now. Bigwheels was still in classes or at lunch, not home on the computer, like Madison.
Madison opened a new file.
Picture-Perfect
Rude Awakening: Looks are definitely not everything.
What’s the point of fashion crazes when all they do is make me CRAZY! Every time I try to dress cool … I look lukewarm. Where’s Aimee when I need her? Where’s Bigwheels?
I have to look picture-perfect at this concert.
Everyone else will. I don’t want to be left out.
Madison stopped typing and stared into her closet. She still didn’t have a solution to her fashion angst by the time she was through ranting. She still didn’t know what to wear!
Before logging off, she checked her buddy list one last time just to make sure her keypal hadn’t sneaked online since before.
Of course, she hadn’t.
But thankfully, someone else had.
I was gonna call u
ine down BYE!
Madison had to dig through all her drawers and closet before she located the orange kitty shirt. It had shrunk since it was last washed, so it rode up a little on her stomach, but Madison didn’t mind. She could just wear a white tank underneath. That would look good with her patchwork jeans. Fiona had been right. Plus, the moonstone earrings matched perfectly.
Once dressed, Madison stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror for more than ten minutes before deciding on the perfect ’do. She wore her hair back in little kitty clips that Gramma Helen had bought her last year. Just like Aimee, Madison was (at last!) super-coordinated—or at least she hoped so.
She glanced at the clock.
It was flashing a digital blue 5:12.
Only three more hours until THE CONCERT.
“Maddie,” Mom yelled from downstairs. “I want you to come and eat now. Aren’t your friends coming to get you in half an hour?”
Madison patted body glitter powder onto her arms and neck and cheeks and grabbed her tub of strawberry-kiwi lip gloss. She’d reapply more gloss after eating. Then she shoved those things, tissues, her wallet, and an extra kitty clip into her small purse. The purse was sewn from Indian fabric that shimmered with teeny mirrors all over. She’d only used it once, but never for a special occasion like this. Madison zipped it shut and looked at her reflection in the mirror one last time.
Standing there, Madison realized that she saw something very different in that mirror—different than what she had seen the other night while working on her art class assignment. The “self-portrait” in front of her right now wasn’t as awful as she’d thought before. She even felt a little pretty, shimmering with the glitter powder, her hair framing her face.
And the evil zit had practically disappeared.
She wasn’t sure why, but feeling good made her look good.
Happiness was what was pretty.