Picture-Perfect (From the Files of Madison Finn, 8) (5 page)

A little pug was nestled in a cage in the corner, whimpering. Madison couldn’t take her eyes off him.

“It’s mini-Phin!” she exclaimed. “He must be new here.” She read his chart:
SMOOCH, LIKES CARROTS.

Fiona giggled. “His name is Smooch?”

“People who volunteer at the clinic get to name all the pets when they come in,” Madison explained.

“Yeah, but who thought Smooch was a good name?” Fiona asked.

Madison made a kissy-face. “Someone who likes kissing!!”

They laughed.

All at once the radio on the overhead loudspeaker got louder, and everything suddenly stopped, including the dogs’ barking.

“Do you hear that?” Madison asked.

Fiona giggled again. “I can’t believe it.”

Nikki
was on the radio singing “Sugar-Sweet (Like You).”

And all the animals had suddenly gotten quieter than quiet.

Feeding and cleaning was much easier after that. Madison and Fiona fed the dogs and repapered most of the cages in only an hour. Work got done faster when the two of them were working together.

On the way out of the clinic, Fiona gave her mom a call to confirm if she’d be picking all three of them up at Aimee’s dance studio. Mrs. Waters said she’d meet them there. Then Madison called home to tell
her
mom which parent was doing the chauffeuring from the studio; and when she’d be home later that evening. They waved good-bye to Eileen and the pets in the waiting room.

“See you two gorgeous gals around!” Eileen said as they walked away.

“Gorgeous?” Madison laughed.

Fiona laughed too. “Not as gorgeous as
moi.
” She ran down the block toward the dance studio.

The neon sign outside Aimee’s dance studio flashed
MADAME ELAINE DANCE STUDIO
in burnt orange. Aimee was on the fourth floor and the elevator was broken, so Madison and Fiona walked the flights up toward the classrooms. They’d never been there before now.

In the stairwell, they passed other ballet dancers with long, thin bodies. Madison noticed you could almost see everyone’s ribs through their leotards. They were all so graceful, all arms and legs. The entryway into the dance studio was covered with taped-up flyers of the upcoming dance revue. Aimee’s name was listed near the top of the flyer, which was impressive. She really was a superstar in this class. The rest of the notice board had pictures of famous dancers from American Ballet Theater. There was a photo of last year’s class in costumes for
The Nutcracker,
too.

“You made it!” Aimee said, breathless, greeting her friends as soon as she saw them reach the top of the stairs at the fourth floor. “Come in, it’s getting late! I want to introduce you to my teacher. Hurry!”

Aimee was one of the girls whose ribs were showing, too. Only for some reason she didn’t look as graceful as the other dancers. She looked a little pale.

Madison and Fiona followed behind her, unsure of where to go.

“You guys!” Aimee nagged. She grabbed Madison’s sleeve. “Come on!”

Madame Elaine was seated on a wooden chair at the corner of the room. A few other dancers were lined up around her and they were talking about plies and pirouettes.

“Elaine,” Aimee said, nudging one of the other girls to the side. “These are my friends. Is it okay if they watch?”

Madison shifted from one foot to the other. She felt so out of place in the studio, with her blue jeans and sweatshirt. Fiona twirled a braid in between her fingers and the beads clinked.

What were they doing here?

“Sit,” Elaine instructed Madison and Fiona. She pointed a long, skinny finger toward a bench at the side of the room. Another mother and a little boy were seated there already.

“We’re just doing a run-through,” Aimee said. “You guys don’t mind waiting awhile, do you?”

As Aimee walked away with her toes turned out to the sides, Fiona turned to Madison and whispered, “Do you think Madame Elaine is nice?”

Madison laughed. “She’s mean looking.”

“What’s up with Aimee?” Fiona asked.

Madison shrugged. Something was distinctly different about her BFF’s demeanor. Aimee wasn’t really smiling. Her shoulders seemed to droop.

“Why is she in such a bad mood?” Fiona asked.

Madison shrugged again. “Maybe she has her period,” she whispered, so no one could hear except Fiona.

“Oh,” Fiona said. “I didn’t think of that.”

Neither Madison nor Fiona had gotten their periods yet. They’d talked about it a few times, but no one ever went into much detail. Who would want to go into detail about that? Every girl Madison knew was nervous that she’d get her period for the first time in the middle of gym class or right in front of some boy she really liked. Aimee had gotten hers the year before, but she never talked about it much. Madison wondered what things would shift once they all had their periods and they all got bigger chests. Would everything change when their bodies changed?

“Look at Aimee,” Fiona said as the music started. “She looks so thin.”

Madison nodded. She looked thinner than thin. You could actually see Aimee’s hipbones in the leotard she was wearing. Usually, Aimee wore sweaters and layers, so neither Madison nor Fiona ever noticed her bones so much. Standing in the studio in her leotard and tights, Aimee looked too skinny, even for a ballerina.

“She looks sick,” Madison said aloud, still looking at her BFF across the room. Aimee leaped into the air toward them, hands up in the air.

“Should we say something?” Fiona asked.

Madison shook her head. “She’ll just get weird on us. She’ll get all defensive. I think if she wants to look that way, she should.”

“And she was so worried the other day about having one stupid cookie,” Fiona remembered.

Madison sighed. Being superthin wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. As the music stopped, Aimee wobbled over to her friends.

“I have to run through that one more time,” Aimee said, losing her balance. She grabbed the barre.

“Are you okay?” Madison asked, reaching out for her.

“Of course,” Aimee said, straightening up. “What are you so worried about?” Her voice snapped like a rubber band. Something was definitely different. Madison didn’t know what to say next.

“We’ll wait for you here,” Fiona said.

Aimee wiped her forehead. “Fine. Wait then. I’ll be done in like a few minutes.”

When the next run-through was complete, Aimee took Fiona and Madison into the changing room. She went into the bathroom stall to take off her leotard and tights while her BFFs waited outside.

“My stupid dance outfit is still too tight,” Aimee said when she reappeared.

Madison and Fiona looked at each other with disbelief.

“Too tight?” Madison repeated.

Aimee threw her hands into the air. “Oh well, I’ll fit into it eventually.”

The three friends said a few good-byes to some of the other ballet students and then walked out of the studio. Mrs. Waters was there, waiting in her car by the curb.

“Hop in, girls,” she said, giving Fiona a kiss hello.

Aimee and Madison crawled into the back seat together. Mrs. Waters headed toward the Book Web, Mr. Gillespie’s bookstore. Despite all the distractions of puppies and dancing, they still had one clear mission this Friday afternoon: think of the perfect chaperone for the concert.

Of course, no one brought up the subject of the concert in the car.

Not with Mrs. Waters there.

The three friends were positive that Mrs. Waters would raise some loud objection, as she had been doing since they had won the tickets on the radio. She would start listing the reasons why they couldn’t go, not ever, not under
any
circumstances. Fiona had warned Madison and Aimee that her mother was willing to talk about their attending the Nikki concert with an adult, but she was still uncomfortable with the whole idea of their being in such a huge arena with so many people. She was worried for her daughter’s safety.

No one mentioned Nikki, the concert, or the tickets.

Fiona babbled about her soccer schedule instead.

As they drove on, Madison looked over and saw that Aimee had zoned out, staring through the car window. Usually Aimee was the chatterbox, but today she was the quiet one. And she looked very tired.

“Are you okay, Aim?” Madison asked.

“Huh?” Aimee said. “Yeah, I’m fine. Why?”

Madison didn’t have a chance to ask anything else. They arrived at the bookstore a moment later.

Mr. Gillespie was decorating the front window as they walked inside. Behind him, Aimee’s oldest brother, Roger, was working the register.

“Hey, girls,” he called out when they walked inside. The door jingled.

Madison turned to Fiona. “I still think Roger should be our chaperone. I mean, he is way cooler than having one of our parents go, don’t you think?

“Cooler than my mom, anyway,” Fiona said. Her mom was still standing at the front entrance gabbing with Mr. Gillespie. “I still think she’s going to figure out a way to stop us from going.”

“No,” Madison said. “My mom will make sure that doesn’t happen. I promise.”

“You guys,” Aimee said, walking over toward her friends. “I have to help Roger with the cash-wrap area.”

Madison knew that meant getting behind the front register. Aimee was good at wrapping books in the special Book Web wrapping paper.

“What about the concert?” Fiona asked. “We were supposed to talk about chaperones and figure out a plan.”

Aimee shrugged. “Yeah, well I just can’t right now.”

“Are you okay, Aim?” Madison asked.

“Why do you keep asking me that?” Aimee replied. “I said I am
fine.
I’ll call you guys later, okay?”

Fiona glanced over at Roger. “Maddie thinks Roger would make the best chaperone, Aim,” she said.

Aimee groaned. “Okay, okay, I’ll ask him. Will you guys please stop asking me?”

“Why don’t we
all
just ask him,” Madison suggested. “Right now.”

The three BFFs looked at each other. Aimee groaned again, louder this time. “No, I said I would ask him,” she said.

“I know, but—” Madison said.

“Fine!” Aimee said, thrusting her hip to the side. She was acting unusual. “I’ll do it now.”

They marched up to the counter and stood there, three across, staring at Roger Gillespie.

“What’s up?” he asked. Madison thought she saw a twinkle in his eye. She really did have a teeny-tiny crush on him.

Aimee cocked her head. “This wasn’t
my
idea,” she said to her brother.

“What wasn’t your idea?” Roger asked.

Fiona and Madison squeaked a little as they waited for Aimee to just spit out her question.

It felt like forever.

Good Things


Rude Awakening:
Good things come to those who wait, especially when it’s your BFF’s older brother that you’re waiting for.


Drumroll, please …


Roger said YES! ! ! He said it when Aimee asked him if HE would be our chaperone for the concert. And not only did he say yes, but he also said, “I’d be more than glad to go.” MORE THAN GLAD! I thought Aimee was going to drop down right there on the floor she was sooooo surprised. He did say he might have a conflict or something with some meeting, but I know he’ll come through for us!


Rude Awakening:
Good things also come in threes. (Gramma Helen always says that, and now I know it’s true.)


1. Roger said yes.


2. Mrs. Waters changed her mind. Here’s how that happened: After Aimee picked herself up off the floor, Fiona and I had to go home. We left Aimee there, and the whole way back to Fiona’s house in the van, we talked about the concert and what we wanted to wear. Mrs. Waters was laughing at us. She actually said SHE was glad that we’d be going to the concert. What made her change her mind? ROGER!


3. We made a plan to go to the mall tomorrow on Saturday which is cooler than cool. That is the nicest surprise of all.


Madison closed the “Good Things” file. Before logging off her computer, she got a surprise, late-night message.

: Maddie?


: What r u doing up Fiona?


: I am so excited I can’t sleep


: NIKKI RULES We are gonna have soooo much fun @ the concert


: Did Aim call u tonite?


: Nope, Y?


: She called me and she was acting wacky


: ???


: said stuff about her dance recital again


: like what?


: she thinks she’s fat or something, I dunno


: She is SO not fat what’s up w/that?


: well n e way, I was just wondering


: what time r we meeting tomorrow?


: Aim said ur Mom picks us up @ 10


: ok well see ya


: WWBY


: <:>))


: LOL


: *poof*