Friends till the End

by Laura Dower

  “Oh, yes, Mr. Waters, we get it,” Mr. Danehy sighed. Then he turned to the next pair of students for their outline presentation. All of the kids so far had their assignments in order, and Madison was beginning to wonder if she and Ivy could pull it off, too. She knew that she had done the right research and that she had the factual information to back up her claims, but would she be able to make it seem as though she and Ivy worked together? It wouldn’t be an easy task.

  She shouldn’t have worried. When Mr. Danehy finally turned to Madison and Ivy, it was Ivy who spoke first. That surprised Madison. But what Ivy said shocked Madison even more.

  “Well,” Ivy chirped, in that superior, know-it-all voice that she put on sometimes, “we did a lot of digging to find just the right tests to prove that the sky is, indeed, blue. One experiement, using soap, water, and a flashlight, will show that…”

  Madison glared at Ivy when she started to explain the particulars of the experiment. How could she possibly have done the same research as Madison? How could she possibly have reached such similar conclusions? Since when did Ivy surf the Net as well as Madison?

  “For experiment number two,” Ivy continued, “We’ll talk about light refraction using a safety pin, water, black paper, and nail polish…” She flashed her own polished nails.

  What was going on?

  “We learned in class this year that visible light is the part of the electromagnetic spectrum that our eyes can see…”

  Madison was ready to jump up and shout, “Say what?” Ivy couldn’t have read the chapters on that subject, could she? She hadn’t even been able to pronounce the word “electromagnetic” five minutes ago, and she certainly couldn’t spell it.

  This was fraud, pure and simple. But before Madison could say anything to dispute—or, for that matter, add to—her partner’s contribution, Mr. Danehy spoke right up.

  “My goodness, what a turn of events!” he cried.

  Ivy nodded and grinned. She looked over at Madison with a self-satisfied sneer; only, no one else but Madison could see that from any other angle but her own.

  “I’m astonished, Ms. Daly,” Mr. Danehy went on. “Simply astonished. You’ve certainly done your homework. Ms. Finn, I’d say you have quite a partner here. I’d like to hear about some of your contributions to this fine presentation.”

  Madison started to speak—wanted to speak—but the words wouldn’t come out. They were like molasses on her tongue, thick and stuck.

  “Ms. Finn?” Mr. Danehy asked a second time. He crossed his arms as he always did when he was starting to get impatient.

  “I…I…” Madison stammered. “I have a whole outline here of facts about rays, I mean, Rayleigh scattering…I think…”

  She searched in her notebook for the right notes, but they didn’t turn up right away.

  “I don’t have all day,” Mr. Danehy moaned. “Rayleigh scattering is very good. What else do you have?”

  That was when Ivy began speaking again.

  “Well!” Ivy piped up. “It all has to do with variables in the earth’s atmosphere. Here on Earth, the sun appears yellow, but if you looked at it from space, it would actually appear white…”

  Madison wanted to interrupt with a raised finger just to say, “Okay, so you’re saying all this, Ivy, but what does it mean? As if you know!”

  Ivy continued, eyes twinkling. Madison was this close to throwing up.

  She caught Hart’s eye again. He was frowning, but when Madison made eye contact, he smiled a little bit. It was some comfort, considering the fact that the rest of Madison’s universe was on the verge of collapse.

  Mr. Danehy stood back, arms now uncrossed, still shaking his head in a combination of disbelief and pride.

  “The first steps toward correctly explaining the color of the sky were taken by John Tynder…I mean, Tyndall…” Ivy said, elaborating on another of the points about which Madison had written copious notes in her purple notebook.

  That was when it dawned on Madison: Ivy was saying all the stuff Madison had researched. Ivy was practically reciting from Madison’s notebook.

  Madison’s brain zipped back to the moment an hour before in the library, when Ivy had mysteriously appeared from nowhere in the stacks, saying that she’d been “looking for” Madison. How long had Madison been away from her notes at that point? That had been an ideal opportunity for idea theft. Could Ivy have done it that quickly? It didn’t seem possible. Was she that good a thief?

  Madison glared at Ivy, trying to make her squirm. But Ivy was unflappable. Then Madison spotted a clue to Ivy’s sudden genius. Under the lab table. Ivy clutched a white page—a copied page? Wait! The handwriting on the page was Madison’s…

  “You rat,” Madison muttered under her breath.

  Ivy turned and sneered again. “Squeak, squeak,” she said, flaunting the copied page, at Madison alone.

  “I can’t wait for your project,” Mr. Danehy pronounced to both girls. “And now, let’s move along to our next pair of scientists.”

  Madison’s head throbbed. All that work she’d done was ruined. And even worse, this was only the preproject presentation. How could she expose the enemy before or during the real presentation? There was no way to do it without looking vengeful and angry; Mr. Danehy hated tattlers. But he hated cheaters more, didn’t he? Mr. Danehy had been on Ivy’s case all year long, and now she was lying her way through Science.

  What a mess.

  If only Bigwheels were there right now to give Madison a dose of clever keypal wisdom.

  Or maybe Gramma Helen. She always had something wise to say.

  Then Madison remembered something very important: in just one hour, she’d be off to the airport with Mom to pick Gramma Helen up.

  Gramma was coming! She’d know what to do. After all, she always did.

  Brrrinnnggg!

  The class bell rang, and Mr. Danehy threw his hands up in the air. Students who hadn’t had a chance to present would have to do it during Mr. Danehy’s study period that afternoon, or on the following day.

  Ivy had a smug look on her face as she and Madison gathered up their books and headed for the classroom door. Madison joined Hart and Chet so that she wouldn’t have to be around Ivy for another minute.

  “You didn’t tell me that Ivy actually studied,” Hart blurted out as they walked into the hall.

  “Ha!” Madison said. “As if. She stole all my work and passed it off as her own.”

  “No way,” Chet said. Then he started to laugh. “Man, she’s good.”

  “Chet,” Hart groaned, “shut up.”

  Madison smiled when Hart rushed to her defense like that. In that moment, she let go of her paranoia about her feelings for Hart. Everything would be fine, Madison told herself.

  I just have to believe in myself, she thought.

  “Know what? You should tell the teacher what Ivy did,” Chet said. “Don’t let her get away with all that”

  “Yeah,” Hart agreed. “Mr. Danehy won’t tolerate cheaters. In fact, didn’t he say those exact words once?”

  “I don’t know,” Madison shrugged. “There has to be a better way to give Ivy a taste of her own medicine. Can’t I expose her without looking like a tattler?”

  “You mean silent revenge?” Hart asked. “No way. You’re too nice to do something mean.”

  “Not anymore!” Madison cried.

  “Look out, Ivy,” Chet said. “Madison Finn is out for blood!”

  Hart chuckled, and the two boys walked a little bit ahead of Madison, trading a few more of their own jokes. Within moments, Madison had lost sight of both of them.

  That was okay. She had other places to go. Namely, she had to meet the enemy so that they could review their final presentation strategy for Wednesday.

  As another bell rang, Madison glanced at the digital readout on her cell phone to check the time. Oh, no! Madison had less than an hour before she had to meet Mom, who would probably be chomping at the bit to get to LaGuardia Ai
rport to meet Gramma’s plane.

  Strangely, Ivy came on time to their designated meeting spot, looking as sly as ever. They were rendezvousing in a study hall on the first floor of the school. The room was practically empty, except for a few die-hard students.

  “I can’t believe you dared to show up!” Madison declared right off the bat when she saw Ivy. “You’re such a snake.”

  “Yeah, boo and hiss and all that,” Ivy sneered. “Let’s just figure out how we’ll do the final presentation.”

  “Well, I think you should do it all,” Madison said. “Since you were such a show-off today…with my notes.”

  “Don’t be such a crybaby,” Ivy said. “After all, we’re both getting the same grade, aren’t we? It’s not like Mr. Danehy will give me an A and you a lower grade for the same project. Or maybe he will…” Ivy started to snicker.

  Madison pulled out her purple notebook and slammed it on the desk. “Let’s just divide the topics. How about we open with a question like ‘What is light?’”

  “Fine,” Ivy grunted. “You can do that. I’ll do the nail polish experiment.”

  I knew it.

  Madison sighed. “We need to make a poster or something that shows the color spectrum. I was thinking we could make a collage of different pieces of sky and clouds on a blue background…”

  “That sounds good. Why don’t you do that, since you know what to do,” Ivy suggested.

  “Why don’t I just do everything?” Madison cried.

  “Fine with me,” Ivy said. “Like I said, it’s not like we’re getting a different grade or anything. That’s the fun of being partners, right?”

  Madison felt as though her head would explode. “Fine,” she snapped. “I’ll make the poster. I’m more creative than you anyhow.”

  “I wouldn’t go that far,” Ivy said. “You probably still use those Magic Markers that smell like fruit flavors.”

  “You know, Mr. Danehy will know you didn’t really do the work,” Madison said, ignoring Ivy’s comment. “And if he doesn’t figure it out, I’ll tell him.”

  “Whatever,” Ivy said. “Go ahead.”

  Madison couldn’t believe that after everything that had happened between Ivy and her, it came down to this: a showdown between old friends-turned-enemies. Did Ivy know that Madison wouldn’t tattle on her enemy?

  “Why can’t you just help and be nice…for once?” Madison pleaded.

  Ivy smiled. “Why should I?”

  Someone else in the study hall whispered a very loud Shhhhh, and so Madison and Ivy lowered their voices. It had become painfully clear to Madison that Ivy was not going to contribute in any significant way. Ivy probably knew that Madison wouldn’t let the project dissolve, no matter who did what. She knew Madison would make the best collage and find the best examples to discuss. She knew she could ride Madison’s hard work all the way to a better report card. It was what she’d been doing during Science all year.

  Some things will never, ever change, Madison thought, whether they happen in third grade or seventh grade or any grade. Ivy will always be poisonous, as much as I want to give her a second (and third and fourth and so on) chance to be different.

  Madison did convince Ivy to stay in the study hall with her for another twenty minutes, just to make sure they were clear about who would do the talking at what points in the presentation. But then, as soon as they’d worked their way down the list of information, Ivy grabbed her stuff and dashed off. Madison restuffed her orange bag and went out as well. Mom was probably waiting.

  Sure enough, Mom’s car was one of a few lingering parent vehicles lined up outside school. She stood outside the driver’s-side door of the car, waiting for Madison to hop in.

  Unfortunately, Madison and Mom hit all the traffic lights and stalled vehicles imaginable on the way to the airport. They couldn’t catch a break at the toll lines either, where they waited for at least ten minutes to get through a cash lane. Mom had forgotten her E-ZPass.

  “When your grandma gets here,” Mom warned Madison as they drove on, “I want you to be on your best behavior.”

  “Aren’t I always?” Madison asked.

  Mom shot her a look. “Yeah,” she said, smiling. “Usually.”

  “So what are you worried about?”

  “Oh, I guess I’m thinking about Gramma being here, and then all of your dad’s family being around the house, and I just don’t want anyone to feel uncomfortable, and there’s so much to do…”

  “This whole thing was your idea, Mom,” Madison said. “Are you thinking about canceling it?”

  “Cancel? Are you kidding?” Mom cried.

  “Yeah, I guess we can’t cancel. And since we can’t, you should try to relax,” Madison suggested.

  “I know, I know,” Mom said. “Oh, honey bear, I just hope this wasn’t a bad idea.”

  “Mo-o-o-o-o-om!” Madison crooned. “It was a good idea. I’ll help you get through the whole party, I swear. It’ll be like old times.”

  “But things are so different now. Your dad has a whole new life. And your uncle Rick and your aunt Violet…I haven’t seen them in over a year now.”

  Mom pulled off the main highway and followed the signs for United Airlines arrivals. Once the car was parked in short-term parking, Mom and Madison raced inside, up the escalator, and through a maze of concessions and shops toward the gates.

  “Howdy-dooooo!” There was Gramma Helen, straw hat on her head, flowered scarf around her waist, standing with her rolling luggage in front of the security area. She waved as if she were flapping her wings.

  “Gramma!” Madison howled when she saw her. She ran over and threw her arms out wide.

  Gramma pretended to be winded by the hug. “Mercy!” she cried. “That’s some kind of greeting! You’ll squash me!”

  “Hello, Mother,” Mom said, leaning in for a kiss. They exchanged pleasant hellos and other small talk. Mom apologized for the traffic.

  “I figured I’d wait right here at the X-ray station,” Gramma said with a wink. “They won’t let anyone through these metal detectors now. It’s a shame you can’t meet family right at the gate anymore.”

  “I have so much to tell you!” Madison said, jumping into the conversation.

  “Well, I’m all ears—and I’m all yours,” Gramma chuckled.

  Gramma took Madison’s hand in her own soft one, and they followed Mom back down the escalator to the parking lot.

  Chapter 14

  ON TUESDAY MORNING, PHIN moped around the house.

  Company wasn’t the problem. He seemed thrilled that Gramma Helen was there. Since her arrival, he’d gotten one of her hand-knit sweaters (although it was really too hot to wear), a huge number of liver snaps and rawhide chews, and more kisses and back-scratches than he could have dreamed of.

  What Phin wasn’t too happy about was being left home alone while Madison, Mom, and Gramma Helen headed into New York City for a girl’s day out: no dogs allowed.

  Mom had written a special note to get Madison out of classes for that day. Although it meant Madison would miss a revue rehearsal and a possible pop quiz, she didn’t mind. How could she? Days when she could bond with moms and grandmas didn’t come along very often. Besides, she felt she could use a break from school and the craziness of the week before.

  Mom decided it would be better to take the train in rather than risk the annoyance of rush-hour city traffic. The three of them had a quick cereal-and-OJ breakfast before heading down to the train station.

  Sometimes things got tenser when Gramma Helen visited. Gramma and Mom would argue incessantly about household chores or politics or even Madison. Past visits had led to some feuds that had taken a day or more to get over. Madison typically felt trapped, forced to take sides. It was like the way Madison felt about the Big D between Mom and Dad, and the way she felt when her BFFs split ranks. Madison often ended up in the middle of things.

  But today was different. Mom and Gramma were on their very best behavior, a
nd Madison wasn’t in the middle in a bad way at all. All morning long, Mom and Gramma both crowed about how proud they were to see Madison get through seventh grade with such good grades and good friends. And all that crowing gave Mom and Gramma a common bond. No arguing necessary.

  The primary reason for the special day out in the big city was to purchase a new outfit for Moving Up Day. Mom had agreed to let Madison pick out a cool, new dress—if Mom came along on the shopping adventure. It seemed like a good plan to Madison. She got to spend quality time with Mom and get a groovy dress in the process. And having Gramma Helen along for the excursion made it that much better.

  Boarding a morning train for New York during the workweek made Madison feel like some kind of executive, as if she were heading in for an important meeting or a business brunch. All around them she saw suit jackets and leather briefcases and people poking at their high-tech personal organizers. It was a world away from her FHJH homeroom.

  The train ride to Grand Central terminal took only forty minutes. Madison loved the cool rush of the passengers moving out through the train doors, up the metal stairwells, and into the vast terminal. She, Mom, and Gramma quickly exited out onto Forty-second Street to grab a taxi. Mom wanted to show Gramma the new offices of Budge Films. They had just moved into a new space in Soho, in downtown Manhattan near Canal Street.

  “We can check out the office and then head to Chinatown for lunch,” Mom suggested.

  “Oooh! Dim sum! Yum,” Gramma cooed.

  Madison laughed. “Fried rice and dumplings, please,” she added. “I’m hungry already.”

  “I think there are some adorable boutiques near the new office,” Mom said. “Maybe we’ll find a sweet dress there. Otherwise, we can head back uptown to one of the department stores or maybe Madison Avenue.”

  “Madison Avenue!” Gramma said. “Now, that’s the best name for a street!”

  Madison grinned, because of course she’d shopped there before, with Lindsay and all of her friends. Lindsay’s aunt Mimi had taken them on a shopping spree for Lindsay’s thirteenth-birthday party. And Madison had always thought there was something too good to be true about shopping on an avenue named after her.