All Shook Up (From the Files of Madison Finn, 22) (10 page)

“Just tired,” Madison said.

“Come on,” Mom insisted. She pushed the hair behind Madison’s left ear and leaned in close. “I can tell when you’re feeling down. You’ve been acting strangely for the past day or so. Talk to me.”

“Really, it’s just nerves,” Madison said.

“Uh-huh. And …”

Madison could tell Mom didn’t believe her. She’d better fess up.

“It’s just …” Madison started to say. “Hart.”

“Hart
Jones
?” Mom asked.

Madison nodded. “What other Hart is there, Mom?”

“I thought everything was good with Hart. After so much time spent worrying, the two of you finally decided to be friends. Well, you know what I mean….” Mom said with a smile. “He is a good boy.”

“Yeah, Mom. But then there’s Madhur,” Madison said. She tried keeping the words in, but as soon as she took a deep breath, everything came out in a rush. “Madhur told me she likes Hart, Mom. My Hart. And I just stood there like a bump on a log. I know I should have told her that I liked him, too. But I didn’t. And now things are all mixed up. And I’m worried that Hart actually
will
like her more than me. And what if that happens? Then will I lose my crush and my new friend at the same time? And meanwhile, my other friends already think I’m acting weird because I’ve been blowing them off. Not a lot, but in little ways. And Aimee’s worried because she isn’t a part of our group like she used to be and … and …”

Madison sniffled loudly. Then the dam burst. She began to sob and threw herself onto the bed next to Mom.

Mom stroked the top of Madison’s head.

“Oh, Maddie,” she said comfortingly. “I knew something was up, but I had no idea you were
this
upset. Is this really about Hart?”

“Of course,” Madison sniffled.

“I know he’s a part of it. But what else is going on?”

Madison sighed and closed her eyes.

Was there more to it?

“I don’t understand friends sometimes, Mom,” Madison said with some relief. “What’s happening with mine? People seem to change, and I feel like I just don’t know why….”

“Shhh,” Mom said in a soothing, low voice. “Just take it slow. Okay? Now inhale and exhale a few times. That’s good. Relax.”

Madison felt her heart pound; she had gotten that worked up inside. But having Mom this close made things better. Mom wasn’t around a lot of the time, and she didn’t cook murgh tikka or anything fancy, but she knew how to make Madison feel better than anyone else could.

Mom always understood.

Madison rolled over onto her back. Looking up, she could see Mom’s soft face. There were slight smudges of eyeliner at the corners of Mom’s eyes and traces of plum-colored lipstick on her lips.

“Roowwwwooof!”

With just one
woof
as a warning, Phinnie jumped onto the bed and then onto Madison’s chest. He licked her face in excitement and then tried to wrap his paws around her head.

“Phinnie!” Madison cried, trying hard not to laugh. “You’re licking away all my tears.”

“Rooooowoowowowoo!”

“Honey bear,” Mom said, “Things will work themselves out.”

“Please don’t sound like a self-help show on TV, Mom,” Madison said.

“Maddie, I don’t like to see you feeling blue.”

“Why does it matter so much what other people—or at least what my friends—think?” Madison asked.

“I know,” Mom said, stroking Madison’s head with her fingertips again. “You care so much. That’s a very admirable quality, you know. I admire that about you.”

“Thanks,” Madison said. “But it doesn’t help.”

Mom glanced over at the clock in Madison’s room. “It’s nearly five. What time is Madhur supposed to show up?”

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrring.

“Wow! That’s good timing,” Madison said.

Phin let out another of his echoing howls, scooted down the stairs, and slid across the hallway to the door. Madison followed. When she opened the door, Mr. Singh was standing there with Madhur by his side.

“Hello,” Madison said. Mom came over, too. “Won’t you come in?” Mom offered.

“Namaste,”
said Mr. Singh. “I have heard so many lovely things about you, and we had the great pleasure of having Madison at our home this weekend.
Dhanyavaad.
”

“No,” Mom insisted.
“Dhanyavaad.”

Madison wished she knew what they were saying. Because of traveling all over the world for her job at Budge Films, Mom had a basic understanding of many languages, including Hindi. Madison guessed that that was what Mr. Singh must be speaking right now.

Mr. Singh and Mom never did step inside. They chatted politely on the porch steps. Madison led Madhur upstairs to her bedroom. Her orange laptop lay open on the bed. The cursor flashed where she’d ceased writing in one of her files.

“Holy cow,” Madhur exclaimed when she saw the room. “This is amazing. Your room is, like, ten times the size of my room.”

“Yeah, but it’s not painted a cool color like your room,” Madison joked.

Madhur walked around surveying the objects tacked onto Madison’s bulletin board and spread out across the top of her dresser.

“This is such a great photo,” Madhur said, admiring a picture of Aimee, Madison, Fiona, and Lindsay that had been taken in New York City. “I know I’ve said it a zillion times, but you have the nicest friends.”

“I know,” Madison said. “I’m lucky.”

Madhur poked her nose into Madison’s closet.

“All these outfits are yours?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Madison said. “But it’s not so many, really. You should see Aimee’s closet. She prides herself on her fashion sense—and her whopping collection of shoes.”

“Aimee always looks just so,” Madhur said. “I wish I had blond hair.”

Madison grinned. “Mom ordered dinner. It should be here in a little while. You wanna talk about the presentation until it comes?”

“Good idea,” Madhur said, flopping down onto the bed, nearly knocking the computer off the side.

“I was thinking about what Mrs. Wing said. About narrowing our topic,” Madison said.

“Uh-huh,” Madhur nodded.

“Maybe we should
change
our topic,” Madison suggested.

“Change? Why?” Madhur asked.

“Well, when I read through the materials from the meeting, it said seventh graders are supposed to talk about something
personal
. The materials you got were more like a bunch of facts.”

“A bunch of facts?” Madhur repeated. She seemed taken off guard, as if Madison had criticized her.

“I mean it in a good way. I mean, it’s so impressive, all the detail. But I just wonder if …”

Madison felt something building inside. Unlike what she had felt earlier in the day, it wasn’t fizzy or uncomfortable. She wasn’t about to explode. Confidence was building inside of her—at last.

In her head, she heard Bigwheels’s advice:
tell her the truth
.

“Madhur,” Madison said. “I need to say something.”

Madison felt her chest tighten a teeny bit with that sentence. She nervously tugged at the front of her shirt.
Could she bring up Hart at a time like this? Would there be another time?

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrring.

Madison jumped. The doorbell? It must be the Thai food, Madison thought. Then Mom called from downstairs.

“Maddie!” Mom cried. “Someone is here for you!”

Madhur looked askance at Madison. “Your secret admirer?” she joked.

Madison put her hands up to her cheeks and pretended to blush. “Me? Highly doubtful.”

The two Maddies bounded down the stairs to the front hallway. When they arrived, the pair came face to face with three surprise visitors: Fiona, Chet, and Hart.

“Hey!” Fiona cheered when she saw Madison.

Madison noticed Chet’s face light up when he saw Madhur there, too.

“What’s up?” Madison asked.

“We were in the neighborhood,” Hart said.

“Well, I was over at Chet’s, and then Fiona said maybe we should come over.”

“I figured we could play Trivial Pursuit or charades or something,” Fiona said. “You finished all your homework on the project, right?”

“Not exactly,” Madison said, shooting a look at Madhur.

Madison was momentarily distressed to see her new friend staring back—at Hart! Something had to be done.

“We’re busy, right, Madhur?” Madison asked. When she got no reply, she turned to Fiona. “Um … where’s Egg?” she asked.

“Home, I guess,” Fiona said, her voice sounding unusually cool.

“They broke up,” Chet said.

“Huh?” Madison asked. “You
did
?”

“We did
not
break anything,” Fiona said. “Egg’s just at home tonight.” She flicked Chet in the back of the ear, and he winced.

That got Madhur’s attention. She laughed. Madison saw that Chet was very embarrassed to be picked on by Fiona in front of a girl he liked.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrring.

“Food delivery,” Madison said. She stepped around Hart and the others to open the door.

“Hang on,” Madison told the delivery man. “I need to get money.”

For a brief moment, everyone just stood in the hallway exchanging odd stares. Madison felt the tension.
Was Madhur still staring at Hart?
Chet was staring at Madhur. Who was Hart staring at?

“So, are you staying for dinner, too?” Madhur asked the group.

“Are we invited?” Chet quickly spoke up.

“No, dummy,” Fiona said, flicking him even harder on the ear than the first time.

“Quit that,” Chet snapped.

The twins bickered as Madison paid the delivery man and started to go into the kitchen with the food. Meanwhile, Madhur worked her way over to Hart. What were they talking about now?

Mom met up with Madison in the kitchen.

“I didn’t know we were having a party,” Mom said.

“It’s not a party, Mom, it’s a nightmare,” Madison said.

“Now, Maddie,” Mom reassured her, “it’s not as dramatic as all that, is it?”

“I have to get back out there,” Madison said in a whisper, “to check on Hart. He needs me.”

Madison returned to the hallway. Hart, Fiona, and Chet stood there alone.

“Where’s Madhur?” Madison asked.

“She just ran upstairs,” Fiona said. “It was so weird. She said something about going home early. She forgot someone or something. I didn’t really understand.”

“Going
home
?” Madison asked, incredulous. She went to the stairs and called up. “Madhur?”

Just then, Madhur came down with her hair pinned up in a clip on top of her head. “I’m sorry, Maddie,” Madhur said. “I don’t feel well; I mean, I forgot; I mean, I need to go home right now….”

“What happened? What’s the matter?” Madison asked.

“I’ll see you guys at school,” Madhur mumbled, pulling on her jacket and heading for the door.

“At school? Do you have to go?” Chet pleaded.

“Yes, I have to go, now,” Madhur insisted.

“See you around,” Hart said.

Madhur didn’t look him in the eye. “Bye,” she muttered.

Something was up.

“You can’t leave. We still have dinner—and all this work to do …” Madison said. “What about our project?”

Madhur seemed distracted. She asked to use the phone. Everyone stood there, not saying anything as Madhur dialed.

“My dad will be here in ten minutes,” Madhur said, when she had hung up. “I really am sorry, Maddie, to rush off like this. We can talk in school … maybe.”

“Maybe?” Madison replied, confused.

In exactly six minutes, Mr. Singh arrived. He seemed bewildered by the scene, too, but politely said his hellos and good-byes. Madhur left without another word.

Madison watched as her new friend got into the car. “Did we just enter the twilight zone?” she asked.

Chet shrugged.

“Weird,” Hart said.

Madison turned to Fiona. “I need to talk to you,” she said, grabbing Fiona’s sleeve. They went into the adjoining room.

“What just
happened
?” Madison asked.

“Nothing,” Fiona said. “I just was standing there, and she said something about Hart and I said something like, ‘Yeah, don’t Hart and Madison make a cute couple?’”

“You said that?”

Madison hung her head. Madhur had learned the truth. But unfortunately, the truth had come hard—hard like a rock.

And there wasn’t anything anyone could do now to soften the blow.

A
LL DAY ON TUESDAY
, Madison worried about Madhur. She searched for her during lunchtime, but Chet said Madhur had not come to school that day. Of course, Chet would have noticed that. It wasn’t as if he were a stalker or anything, but he already seemed to know her whereabouts. He was crushing hard.

Madison sent Madhur an e-mail, hoping that maybe
that
would be a good way to get in touch. It was easier sometimes to talk online than in person. But she had no luck finding Madhur in the real or the virtual world.
When was she coming back?

That was when worry over the conference presentation set in. The conference was three days away, and neither Madison nor Madhur had
a)
provided Mrs. Wing or any other faculty member with a proper outline, or
b)
planned the outline based on their “new” idea of writing a more personal story.

During Tuesday’s technology class, a worried Madison began scribbling notes to herself. She hoped these would transform themselves into some kind of brilliant speech. In the margins of her notes, Madison absentmindedly doodled, too, as she often did: hearts, flowers, and names.

Madison Francesca & Hart 4-Ever

M&H= ((Heart))

Madison Jones

“Whatcha writing?” Egg asked, interrupting her as he always did—just to be annoying. Drew stood beside him, snorting at Egg’s lousy jokes.

“I’m writing something
private
,” Madison barked, emphasizing the last word with a loud grunt. “Back off.”

Egg reached for Madison’s notebook, and Madison pushed him away.

“Hey!” Egg cried. “Mrs. Wing, Mrs. Wing …”

Madison buried her head in her hands.
Why was Egg doing this to her—today of all days?

“Is there a problem, Walter?”