All Shook Up (From the Files of Madison Finn, 22) (9 page)

After classes ended on Monday, Madison and the other conference participants met in the auditorium. This was the day everyone had to submit their final topics of discussion. As the students walked into the room, Mrs. Wing handed out a more detailed conference agenda.

Dare to Be Aware!

Junior World Leaders Conference

Saturday, October 3

Far Hills Junior High

11
A.M.
Registration and Welcome

12
P.M.
World Nations Luncheon

1
P.M.
7th Graders: My View of the World

2
P.M.
8th Graders: Assigned Country Discussion

3
P.M.
9th Graders: International Debate

4
P.M.
Guest Speaker

5
P.M.
Closing Remarks and Awards

Madison’s friends clustered together for the start of the meeting, taking seats in various rows on the left side of the room. As usual, Fiona and Chet caused a minor scene, fighting about something stupid. It wasn’t too loud, but they kept poking one another and calling each other names, attracting the attention of at least one teacher. None of that would have mattered much if Madison and Madhur hadn’t been sitting smack-dab between the two of them.

“You guys,” Madison whispered to Chet and then Fiona, “I can’t hear what Mrs. Wing is saying. And you’re going to get us all in trouble.”

By then, a few kids had turned around to see what all the noise was, and they weren’t staring at Fiona or Chet. For some reason, they were staring at
Madison
. Not only that, but Hart was at least five seats (miles, really) away from her when she needed him most. And Madison needed him—or someone—to rescue her.

Madison felt frustration brew inside her like water in a kettle that was about to go
shrieeeeeeeek
, so when Chet flicked his pen at Fiona’s leg and hit Madison’s knee instead, she stood right up with her arms in the air as if she were surrendering to the chaos.

The room went silent.

“Madison?” Mrs. Wing said.

Papers rustled as half the people in the room turned around in their seats.

“Gee,” Mrs. Wing said to Mr. Gibbons and Mrs. Goode. “I’ve heard of enthusiastic volunteers, but this really takes the cake. Good for you, Madison.”

“Volunteers?” Madison gulped. “I don’t under—”

Before Madison could finish her thought, Mrs. Wing put her hands together and clapped. Other kids clapped, too, including Madhur, Hart, and Madison’s other friends.

“What does she mean, ‘volunteers’?” Madison whispered to Madhur. Her eyes darted from Madhur to Mrs. Wing and back to Madhur. “What did I just say … er … do?”

Madhur bit her lip. “Mrs. Wing asked who would help read the code of ethics at the start and end of the meeting.”

“And I raised my hand?” Madison asked.

Madhur nodded.

Oh, no.

Throughout all of the back-and-forth between Chet and Fiona, somehow Madison had missed Mrs. Wing’s request for volunteers from the class. So when Madison stood up all of a sudden …

“Speak to me after the meeting ends, will you, Madison? It’s really not a lot of text to read. But it’s an important job,” Mrs. Wing said proudly. She was beaming. There was no way out of this one.

Madison leaned back in her chair and picked at a loose thread on the sleeve of her sweater. If she weren’t careful, the whole sleeve would unravel. Of course, unraveling was a familiar feeling these days, Madison thought. She kept right on picking.

If Madison hated anything,
anything
, it was speaking in front of large groups. And now, this coming weekend, she would have to do it not once but twice? Her stomach flipped. And then it flopped.

It’s the end of the world as we know it….

“Are you okay?” Madhur asked softly. Madison hadn’t spoken for a few moments. “Did you actually mean to volunteer? Because you didn’t seem too happy, and you look a little clammy. Um … maybe you should tell Mrs. Wing that you made a mistake.”

Madison nodded. “I know I
should
. But I can’t.”

“Why?”

“Because. You know. It would be too embarrassing to back out.”

“Yeah,” Madhur said. “I understand.”

“You do?”

“You want to look good in front of everyone.”

“As long as I don’t throw up,” Madison said.

“It won’t be a big deal,” Madhur said. “Really. You’ll probably be great being an announcer. It’s a very important job, and you’re a very important person.”

Madison moaned. “Yeah, that’s me. Very important. With a very big mouth. Yikes.”

Fiona caught Madison’s eye from a few seats away. She made googly eyes, which got Madison laughing.

Then, Mr. Gibbons and a few other faculty members took over the meeting. They asked the students making presentations to pair up and practice. Mr. Gibbons and the other faculty advisers would be walking around the room to check on the kids’ topics and outlines.

Madison turned to Madhur. “Oh, no!” she cried. “As if this meeting wasn’t already enough like a pressure cooker! I thought we could just talk vaguely about our topic. But now …”

“Stay cool,” Madhur said. “I have some notes we can use.”

“Notes?” Madison said. “You know Mr. Gibbons. He always wants details. That’s how he is.”

“I guess you’re right. We can fake it.”

“You mean
you
can fake it,” Madison said.

“Yes. Leave it to me,” Madhur replied confidently.

A few seats away, Fiona, Chet, Hart, Drew, Dan, and Egg all conferred with their own partners. It seemed to Madison that everyone was more prepared than she and Madhur. Why had they wasted all that time together gabbing and playing around—when they should have been studying? If they hadn’t spent all that time eating tandoori and looking at photos, would they have been more prepared right now?

“So, here’s what we should do,” Madhur explained, pulling out a fat file folder of printouts. Madison gawked at the paper stack. She couldn’t believe Madhur had done so much research—with so much backup material. All Madison had was a single page of barely legible notes.

“You did all this by yourself?” Madison asked with continued disbelief. “When?”

“I surfed the Internet last night for a few hours. You know, after we saw each other. I didn’t want to be unprepared. I found some good stuff on poverty. Really good.”

Madison glanced at the top page of the pile. She squinted to read all of the fine print. This
was
good stuff. It was super-smart stuff. Mrs. Wing would be very impressed.

Poverty is the state of being without the necessities of daily living, often associated with need, hardship, and lack of resources across a wide range of circumstances.

—Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

As the two Maddies pored over the pages together and talked back and forth about the ideas they liked the most, Mrs. Wing poked her head into their “think” space.

“And how are you girls doing?” she asked gently.

Madison was tongue-tied. Madhur, however, knew exactly what to say.

“Doing fine, Mrs. Wing,” she explained. “We have a lot of research on our topic.”

“Care to share?” Mrs. Wing asked. She reached for the pile of material and quickly flipped through it. “Okay, this is a good start. But where is your outline?” she asked.

“Um … outline … yes, of course …” Madhur was close to stammering. Madison had never heard her new friend sound unsure … “Um … we … I mean, I …”

“I left the outline in
my
locker,” Madison said. “Madhur has all of the backup material, but the specific outline isn’t here….”

“It’s in your locker?” Mrs. Wing asked. Someone called to her from across the room. “Well, that’s good. Just make sure you show it to me before the end of the week so I can review and comment before the conference, okay? And girls, from what I see of all this backup material, you may want to narrow your topic. You only have four minutes to present. Don’t forget. Keep it streamlined.”

“Of course,” Madison said quickly. “We already took care of that. We have a really short and succinct speech. I swear.”

“Absolutely,” Madhur said, smiling.

“Yup,” Madison added. She couldn’t think of anything else to say. Luckily, Mrs. Wing nodded and walked away, distracted.

Madhur turned to Madison and let out a deep exhalation of relief. “You are my hero,” she said.

Madison smiled. It was true. She had saved the day—at least partly. But this was no time to rest on her laurels.

“Hey, Finnster,” Hart was there, squatting down in the row behind them. “Did Mrs. Wing like your outline?”

Before Madison could respond (to the question that was, in fact, addressed to
her
), Madhur started to reply. She talked about the close call with Mrs. Wing; and she talked about the reams of material she’d gathered on their topic (of course, presenting visual aids meant to impress Hart). Hart slid into a seat to listen. Madison watched helplessly, as if she were watching Ping-Pong. Madhur wouldn’t shut up. She talked on and on and … why was she asking Hart about his topic—for the
tenth
time?

By now, the faculty advisers had made the rounds of the auditorium. The room was dismissed. Hart and Madhur kept right on talking. They even laughed a little bit.

“What’s so funny?” Madison asked, grabbing her orange bag from the floor.

Hart turned. “Maddie’s funny,” he said, pointing to Madhur.

Madison bristled when Hart referred to Madhur as “Maddie.” He never called Madison that. No, she was stuck with “Finnster.”

Madison was about to lose it when, at that exact moment, reinforcements arrived.

Whew.

Fiona slid into the seat next to Madison. And then Lindsay slid into a seat in front of them. Madison felt better. Now all she needed was a crowbar to pry Madhur away from Hart. Either that or she’d have to stand up on an auditorium chair and scream, “Hands off, he’s mine!”

But she didn’t do anything like that. Instead, Madison continued to watch silently as Hart and Madhur finished their conversation. Hart walked off in one direction; Madhur went the other way.

“Are you walking home?” Fiona asked Madison as they finally shuffled out of the room.

Madison shrugged. “Yeah, can we go together?”

“Of course. We do
everything
together,” Fiona said with a smile, throwing her arm around Madison’s shoulder. “BFFs, remember?”

:
HELLOOOOO


: OMG I’m so glad ur online r u @ school?


: I’m in my after school media lab on Tuesdays and u?


: home after school


: so WTBD?


: I feel soooo much bettr when we talk


: me 2 SO TALK


: remember that new friend I told u about


: the one fm India


: :>)


: so?


: she likes Hart


: whaddya mean she LIKES him u mean LIKE LIKES him???


: :>0000


: NO WAY wait she knows u guys r 2gether and she is liking him that is so lame SO SO LAME


: hold up that’s not it exactly


: ?


: she doesn’t know about him & me


: how is that possible? Didn’t u tell her?


: not exactly


: how can u be MAD then?


: because my name is Madison that’s how I can be MAD LOLOLOLOLOL


: seriously Maddie u can’t be mad @ her if she doesn’t know


: she should be able to figure it out doncha think??? I mean Hart and I are always 2gether


: not really maddie b/c I’m a dork when it comes to that stuff I never notice who likes who maybe she just thinks ur friends


: I guess ur right


: you have 2 tell her when r u gonna tell her?


: 2day she’s coming over for dinner so we can work on our presentation 4 the conference


: when is that?


: Sat.


: r u nervous


: about the conf or telling Madhur?


: BOTH


: BOTH :>0000


: wait stop. stop freaking out its ok


: NO what am I supposed 2 say 2 her?


: tell her the truth


: that sounds like something Mom would say


: yeah but it’s tru


: ok ok ur right as usual


: :>) she’ll understand


: IDK


: she’ll probably be a little embarrassed that’s all


Madison stopped typing for a moment. She tried to imagine how she would feel if she were in Madhur’s shoes.

She wouldn’t be a little embarrassed. She’d be drop-dead mortified.

Madison and Bigwheels talked a little bit more about music and movies and stuff but eventually signed off. Mom walked into Madison’s bedroom to say it was getting late. Madhur would be coming over for supper soon.

Madison felt her cheeks flush pink. Panic started to set in. How could she possibly do this?

“I ordered some Thai food from that new place down the street,” Mom said. “Your friend should like that, right?”

“Yeah,” Madison mumbled. She wished Mom could cook up a big meal the way Mrs. Singh had done, instead of ordering takeout.

Mom sat down on the edge of Madison’s bed. “Are you okay, honey bear? You look a little flushed.”