by Laura Dower
“The whole thing is just wicked unfair,” Fiona said. She pushed her lunch tray away. “You have to win that challenge, Maddie.”
Ivy Daly strolled by, followed by her drones, Rose and Joanie.
“Hey, Madison,” Ivy called out.
Madison smiled. “Hey,” she said.
“See you around,” Ivy said, and walked past the group.
“What was that?” Aimee said, faking shock. “Did you just make nice with the enemy?”
“No,” Madison said. “She only said hello because we’re science partners. Enemy status will return to normal after the science project is over. You watch. If it’s boys versus girls, I have to make a truce with Ivy. We’re both girls, so we’re on the same side.”
“No, you’re a girl and she’s …” Lindsay’s voice trailed off. “She’s a weirdo.”
Fiona giggled.
“Maddie, you didn’t even tell me if Mr. Danehy accepted your permission slip today,” Aimee said.
“Yes,” Madison said. “Of course he was a big grouch after what happened, but he said I could go. He didn’t even notice that it had dried gum on it.”
Aimee let out a giant “HA!”
“Hey, how are we all supposed to go on the same trip and have fun when we all have different assignments?” Fiona asked. She had a spaced-out look on her face.
Lindsay agreed. “Does that mean we can’t go around together or be bus partners?”
“Oh-em-gee, I didn’t think of that!” Aimee said. “We have to be bus buddies.”
Fiona laughed. “You sound like you’re in third grade. Aim!”
Madison laughed, too. “Will you be my bus buddy, Aimee?” she teased.
Aimee stood up with her lunch tray. “You guys are cruel,” she said. “I’m SERIOUS! You ARE!”
Within moments, the four friends were laughing and talking at the same time. They would do whatever they could to beat the boys, and be bus buddies.
On the way out of the cafeteria, Madison, Aimee, Fiona, and Lindsay almost plowed into Egg and his pal Drew.
“Hey, you guys,” Drew said.
Egg grunted in their direction, too. “Hey, guys.”
The four girls looked at each other.
Lindsay cracked a smile. “We’re not guys,” she said.
“We’re girls,” Aimee blurted, and took off down the hall.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Egg yelled.
Fiona smiled coyly. “Sorry, Egg,” she said, starting to explain.
Madison grabbed her arm to stop her from saying anything more. “Look, we gotta fly,” Madison said, tugging Fiona away from the boys.
Fiona smiled again. Egg was scratching his head with bewilderment.
“They’re just wacko,” Egg said to Drew.
Drew shrugged. “I guess.”
“Later for them,” Egg added.
Drew nodded.
But when Madison glanced around, she saw Egg watching Fiona all the way down the hall.
Chapter 4
AFTER SCHOOL, MADISON HEADED upstairs to the library media center to do research for an English paper for Women’s History Month. Her English class had devoted the entire month of March to women writers and suffragettes. Some boys in class complained about this, asking why there was no such thing as “Men’s History Month.” Mr. Gibbons didn’t really have an answer for that except to remind everyone when papers were due.
So far Madison had narrowed down her essay choices to Hillary Clinton, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Lady Gaga.
She went online to look for information. Mr. Gibbons had posted a “teacher page” on the school Web site with specifics about what needed to be in the essay. That was where Madison looked first.
There were new, bold graphics on the school’s home page—a long way from when the page was launched. Students loved helping Mrs. Wing with the development of the site. One of Madison’s friends, Drew Maxwell, had recently uploaded digital photos of the school building, faculty, and students.
WELCOME TO FAR HILLS JUNIOR HIGH
1753 Far Hills Avenue
Far Hills, New York
School Principal: Mr. Joe Bernard
Assistant Principal: Ms. Bonnie Goode
Web page designed and created
by FH faculty and students
Madison scanned the list of pages on the site. It was so much longer now! More than half the teachers posted homework and projects for students to access. The lists were divided by classes. Eighth and ninth grade had their own sets of pages.
CLASS SEVEN TEAM
Coordinators: Suresh Dhir, Madison Finn, Dana Newman
Data entry: Ramon Madrigal, Drew Maxwell, Loren Young
Online programs: Walter Diaz, Midori Lo
Student advisor: Mrs. Isabel Wing
Seventh Grade MENU
Schedules
Teacher Assignments
Clubs & Organizations
Sports & Teams
Field Trips (Coming Soon!)
The Far Hills Journal (7)
School Events
Contact Information & Other Links
Madison found Mr. Gibbons’s page, but he didn’t have much there to help her write her paper. Then she went to the TweenBlurt search engine and plugged in the name Hillary Clinton. She found the best resource right away—a Web site devoted entirely to her subject.
After reading many documents and looking at photographs on Hillary Clinton’s personal Web site, Madison returned to her search engine to plug in the name Lady Gaga next. Up on the screen it said: About 428,000,000 results (0.37 seconds).
Madison gulped. Most of them were fan sites, and she didn’t have time to look through 428 million pages!
Finally, she plugged in Eleanor Roosevelt to see where that led her.
Success! By searching only a few pages on a few different sites, Madison learned all she needed to write a good paper. She learned that Eleanor Roosevelt had been the First Lady of our country and an activist for human rights—and someone who inspired Hillary Clinton to become a lawyer and politician! Roosevelt helped to organize a group that granted money to young girls who wanted to study science and sociology. Madison scribbled down the word sociology because she wasn’t sure exactly what it meant.
It’s like everyone is somehow connected, Madison thought. Even famous people from history.
“Hey, study head!” Someone crept up behind Madison. “Surprise!”
“I thought you had soccer practice,” Madison said.
Fiona chuckled. “I did, silly. Like an hour ago. It’s after four o’clock.”
Madison looked up at the wall clock in the library and gasped. “How did it get to be so late?” she said. She’d lost complete track of the time.
The month before, the media center had acquired three new library computers for student use. This meant that sign-ups for computers weren’t as restricted as before. It also meant that it was way easier to lose track of time.
Madison saved the search information on Hillary, Eleanor, and Lady Gaga onto her flash drive.
“Are you getting ready for that science assignment?” Fiona asked.
Madison shook her head. “English paper.”
“Why do you have so much more homework than me?” Fiona said.
“Lucky, I guess.” Madison moaned, packing up her orange bag. “I always have too much to do.”
As they walked across the library, Fiona turned around and looked back into a reading room. She glanced over at the other computer terminals, too, looking for someone.
Madison knew who she was looking for.
Egg.
On the way out, the girls passed by Lindsay, who was curled up in a chair, reading a book about field habitats.
“Maddie!” Lindsay whispered loudly.
Madison turned around. “Hey, Lindsay,” she said.
Fiona smiled. “Look, I have to run down to my gym locker for a sec. Forgot my sweater. I’ll meet you out front, okay?”
As Fiona dashed off, Hart Jones appeared. He appeared from nowhere.
Lindsay kept tossing her hair to one side even though it wasn’t that long. Madison could tell that Lindsay thought Hart was cute, too. Madison, on the other hand, couldn’t get the morning’s science class out of her mind. All she saw when she looked at Hart was him laughing in a sea of annoying boys in the middle of Mr. Danehy’s class.
“Hey, Finnster, what are you doing here?” Hart asked. He was trying to be nice, but the nicer he tried to be, the more Madison’s skin itched.
It itched like she wanted to be anywhere but here.
“So you’re getting ready for science, huh?” Hart asked.
“We both are,” Lindsay spoke up. “We have so much to do before that field trip, you know? And I haven’t even—”
“Doesn’t anyone else have other homework besides me?” Madison asked. “I have science, English, and social studies reading. An essay. A math pop quiz coming up …”
Hart laughed. Madison wanted to sock him.
“Yeah, I have other work, too.” He groaned. “Oh, well. I guess I’ll get it done sometime.”
Abruptly Madison turned on her heel. “I have to go, Lindsay. See you later, all right?”
Lindsay blinked. “Sure. Yeah. Okay.”
Hart started to say, “Hey, Finnster, where are you—?” But before he could finish, Madison was out the door and down the stairs.
Fiona was waiting by the front lobby, and they walked home together.
Mom wasn’t home when Madison arrived. Phin came scrambling to the front door with his tail wagging like a windup toy. He had to go out—fast.
Today was a lazy dog-walking day. It had to be. Madison had to do her homework, clean up her wet room, and check on her keypal Bigwheels. Even more important, she had to push thoughts of Hart Jones out of her head completely. She walked Phin into the backyard and around the house.
“Hey, down there!” a voice called from the roof.
Madison looked up to see Billy the contractor, perched up on a ladder by the chimney.
She waved. “Uh … hello.”
“Your mom said you’d be home soon. She just ran to the store. We’ve found the leak up here!” he said cheerily, waving his hammer. “Your room will be back to normal soon.”
Madison shrugged. “Okay. Whatever.”
Phin was rolling around in the grass, scratching his back. Madison pulled on his leash. She wanted to go back inside. She needed to check on her stuff.
“See you around!” Billy called out. He started hammering again.
When she got back inside the house, Madison immediately grabbed her book bag from the kitchen and climbed the stairs to her room. Although the window was open and Billy had been inside the room, he hadn’t fixed anything inside yet. Madison’s entire bedroom still smelled like wet, woolly sheep. She wondered if the smell would ever come out.
Since her room and printer were still “under the weather” (literally), Madison decided to print out her Women’s History Month project research on Mom’s printer downstairs. So she went into Mom’s office, booted up Mom’s desktop, and popped in the drive. It blinked as the files opened.
Madison decided she’d check her e-mail before doing any homework.
There were oodles of messages!
FROM
SUBJECT
TheEggMan
New scrn name
Dantheman
Re: New scrn name
1234Gotcha
XXX RATED
Boop-Dee-Doop
Crazy Clearance
JeffFinn
Love you
Egg was first. He had sent e-mail because he had changed his screen name and he wanted everyone to know. Dan Ginsburg, another friend of Madison’s from school and the animal shelter, wrote back a funny response. He copied everyone on his reply.
From: Dantheman
To: TheEggMan
Cc: MadFinn, BalletGrl, W_Wonka7, Wetwinz, Wetwins, Sk8ingboy, Dantheman, ArtsyOO
Subject: Re: New scrn. name
Date: Mon 26 Mar 3:11 PM
Yo! whassup with our scrn names now they are like the same! Why don’t u call yourself EggDrop or maybe Egghead instead LOL. Call me l8r g8r.
From: TheEggMan
To: MadFinn, BalletGrl, W_Wonka7, Wetwinz, Wetwins, Sk8ingboy, Dantheman, ArtsyOO
Subject: New scrn name
Date: Mon 26 Mar 3:01 PM
my old name Eggaway stinx so frm now on change ur mailbx to TheEggMan. C u bye
Boys could act so dorky sometimes, Madison thought as she read their messages. Online, in school, and no matter where else she went, Madison’s friends who were boys had been acting like Weirdos (with a capital W) lately.
Maybe Mr. Danehy’s challenge to match boys versus girls for the science field trip wasn’t such a bad idea after all.
Next in line, Madison came face-to-face with an e-mail that never should have been there. Who was 1234Gotcha? The subject “XXX RATED” was like a flashing neon light that said, “You Shouldn’t Open Me.” Sometimes Madison was curious about e-mails that she knew she shouldn’t open. But she resisted. As Gramma Helen always said, “Curiosity killed the cat.”
Madison didn’t want any dead cats.
Delete.
Next she saw that Boop-Dee-Doop, the online clothing store, had sent a ten-dollars-off coupon for any upcoming purchase. The only trouble with that offer was that Mom had decided not to buy any new clothes for a while. Madison knew she wouldn’t be using it before the expiration date.
Delete.
Finally Madison read a quick e-mail from Dad. He’d actually just sent it while she’d been online.
From: JeffFinn
To: MadFinn
Subject: Love You
Date: Mon 26 Mar 2:49 PM
How are you? Work has been off the wall. Staying in Boston again for a long weekend, and I sure do miss my little girl. Taking the train home tomorrow.
I’m having Stephanie over for dinner, too. It’ll be fun with the three of us!
Love, Dad
P.S. Why did the doughnut maker stop working? Because he was fed up with the hole business! LOL.
Madison could never get used to Dad’s lame jokes, but she had gotten used to the fact that Stephanie seemed to go everywhere Dad went these days. They’d been dating so long now that Dad didn’t even ask for Madison’s permission to invite his “girlfriend” over when Madison was coming over, too.
Thankfully, Mom wasn’t dating anyone.
Madison’s computer bleeped. She had a message.
Madison was so surprised to hear from her keypal in the middle of the school day. It was earlier in the day where Bigwheels lived, in Washington, all the way across the country.
Madison glanced over at the clock and panicked a little. Mom could walk in any moment! She needed to print out her research pages now so Mom could get on the computer when she came back home. Usually Mom worked in the evenings before and after dinner.
Madison signed off TweenBlurt.com, but she stayed online. Then she plugged in her flash drive from the school media center and reread what she’d typed up earlier. She was very glad that she’d ended up choosing Eleanor Roosevelt as her paper’s topic.
While the research pages were printing, Madison skipped around to some other search engines. The English paper wasn’t the only project weighing on her mind. She still needed to look for information for her science trip.
Up in the corner of the screen, Madison noticed the familiar Favorites icon. That gave her a great idea. Mom sur
fed the Web a lot—and she always saved all the important science and educational Web sites for easy access.
Madison clicked Mom’s Favorites icon, and a shorthand list of handy-dandy Web site names appeared.
Movies R Us
Science Playground
Teacher Plans/Lessons
PBS
Into the Wild
Date-O-Magic
Film Center USA
Madison stopped and scrolled backward.
Date-O-Magic?
She clicked the link for that site and watched slowly, surprised, as a home page she never expected to see came up on the screen. A banner scrolling across the top said, “Meet the Man of Your DREAMS….”
Date-O-Magic wasn’t about science or education.
This was an online dating service.
Madison’s stomach did a major flip-flop.
She hit the power key and watched the screen turn black with a sizzle.
Chapter 5
TUESDAY AFTERNOON FIONA HAD soccer practice and Aimee had a private dance lesson, so Madison came home alone after school. Mom wasn’t home again, but Billy was back working on the roof and chimney. Madison ignored him.
After a quick snack, Madison logged on to TweenBlurt.com. She was very surprised to find Bigwheels online again in the middle of the day.
Madison Finn blinked at the flashing computer screen. Bigwheels was slow in responding. Was her online keypal having a BFF mini-meltdown?