Picture-Perfect (From the Files of Madison Finn, 8) (6 page)

No sooner had she bid good night to Fiona than Madison’s laptop bleeped. She had new e-mail. Another surprise.

From: Bigwheels


To: MadFinn


Subject: Nikki


Date: Fri 17 May 8:21 PM


I just saw on TV that Nikki is coming to Washington in a few weeks. Isn’t that cool? I think I’m going to try to win tickets on the radio just like you guys did. My little sister says she wants to go but I just laughed. Can you imagine bringing a little sister? What a drag!


Of course I already am thinking about who I’d have as a chaperone. My aunt Meg would be perfect—she dresses so hip. BTW: Did you find someone yet? Did you ask ur friend’s brother like you said?


Yours till the pop stars,


Bigwheels a/k/a Victoria


With a smile across her face, Madison crawled under the covers with her pug, Phin, and scritched his fuzzy head. She was happy to know that she and her friends had found the right chaperone. Plus, this was the quiet time of day Madison liked best, right before sleep, when she could spend time all alone with her favorite dog in the whole world—and just think.

Madison’s bedroom was almost blue with the glow from the moon. It was a full spring moon with a sky so clear that Madison could see different tree shadows dancing on her wallpaper. She’d cracked open the window just a smidge to let in some of the new air. There was a distinct smell in the air of lilacs that were just starting to bloom. The smell reminded Madison of her family the way it used to be. Dad had always clipped bunches of lilacs and put them in a bowl in the kitchen for Mom. Spring nights were also the time when Dad would come in to tuck Madison in—and softly sing doo-wop music in her ear.

Madison missed having Dad at home at times like this. But having Phinnie in bed made her feel safe.

“Rise and shine, honey bear,” Mom bellowed, shaking Madison inside her blanket. “We have to go pick up your friends soon.”

A groggy Madison wiped her eyes. “Huh?” she said.

Mom opened the curtains. Light poured in.

“Say hello to Saturday, Maddie,” Mom said. “Upsy daisy.”

Madison knew Mom had drunk about three cups of coffee already. She only acted this chipper after her daily dose of caffeine.

She rolled over.

“Hey!” Mom said, louder this time. She leaned in and planted a smooch on Madison’s forehead. “We have a big day of preconcert shopping ahead of us. Get your tush out of bed!”

With that, Mom lifted the blanket clear off the bed. It was sunny in the room, but not too warm. Madison jumped up.

“Mom!” she said, rubbing her eyes some more. “Cut it out!”

Mom just laughed and disappeared out of the room. “Get dressed!” she said on her way out the door.

Madison threw on her jeans, a light cotton sweater, and her sneakers. She combed her hair back, because she didn’t feel like washing it this morning. But there, in the mirror, she was horrified to discover that the blemish-in-the-making had gotten bigger. And redder.

“That is so gross,” Madison said to her own reflection. She tried to comb her hair down instead of back, letting it flop in her face a little. That worked. The zit was hidden at least for now.

Whew. Maybe no one would notice.

After a quick breakfast, Madison and Mom drove the few doors down to pick up Aimee and then zipped around the block to Fiona’s house.

“What’s that on your forehead?” Aimee whispered to Madison in the car. “Did you get bit by a bug or something?”

“A zit,” she said quietly. “An evil zit. Don’t remind me.”

Madison tilted her head so her hair would flop over the dreaded blemish even more.

“You guys, I can hardly think about homework or school or anything,” Fiona said. “My mom contacted the radio station again this morning just to confirm that they’ll have four tickets for us, and they said yes!”

Aimee made a face. “I guess it’s cool. I just wish you hadn’t made me ask Roger to come with us.”

“Roger will be great,” Fiona said. “Besides, who’s going to pay attention to him at the concert anyhow? I’ll be staring at Nikki the whole time.”

“Yeah,” Madison agreed.

Aimee crossed her arms and stared out the window. “It’s a little embarrassing, if you ask me.”

Fiona and Madison looked at each other, confused. Aimee didn’t say much for the rest of the ride.

“We’re heeeeere!” Mom announced as they pulled into the parking lot at the Far Hill Shoppes. “Who’s ready to shop?”

Fiona and Madison laughed. “We are!”

Aimee forced a smile. “Me, too.”

Usually, Aimee would have been the first person to hop out of the car and charge the mall. But today, she hung back. Madison grabbed one sleeve and Fiona grabbed the other.

“Let’s go!” they said, pulling Aimee along. The three of them followed Madison’s mom into the entryway at one of the larger clothing outlets.

“So girls,” Mom said. “I imagine you three want to wander around and check out the stores. I have some errands to run. Why don’t we meet back in an hour by the food court. We could grab some lunch there.”

“I want tacos!” Fiona announced.

Madison smiled. “Sounds good, Mom. What if I want to buy something?”

“Well, Maddie,” Mom said, “You have the money I gave you this morning, and if there’s more I can go back to the store and look with you after we eat. How’s that?”

During this exchange, Aimee wandered off a few yards to look in a shop window. It was a beauty salon with photos of hairdos and runway models. Aimee couldn’t stop staring.

“What do you guys think of her?” Aimee said, calling her friends over. Fiona and Madison waved good-bye to Mom and joined Aimee at the window.

Aimee pointed to one of the models. “She doesn’t look like a model, does she?”

“Why?” Madison asked.

“Well, she’s too big to be a model,” Aimee said. “And her hair is weird.”

“Aimee,” Fiona said gently. “Let’s go look at clothes. Isn’t that why we’re here?”

Across from where they were standing, the girls noticed a huge display of video monitors along one wall at Spin Town, the music store where everyone shopped for electronics and instruments. A banner hung over a big display of brand new Nikki CDs.

NIKKI IN CONCERT!

SUGAR-SWEETIE

COMES TO FAR HILLS!!

Nikki’s songs were being piped into the area outside the record store. Fiona read another poster on the store window.

WIN TICKETS! MEET WKBM INSIDE SATURDAY FROM 12 TO 3!

“You guys, look!” Fiona said. “We have to check it out.”

The music got a little louder, as if someone had turned it up.

I could be sugar-sweet like you

Sugar, sugar-sweet

Madison laughed. A few girls around her were singing along. All of Far Hills was heating up with the news about the concert.

“And
we
already have tickets,” Fiona bragged. “How lucky are we?”

“I think I’m getting sick of this song,” Aimee said. “I mean it’s playing everywhere every five minutes.”

“But it’s such a good song!” Madison said. “I’ll never get sick of it.”

“Me neither,” Fiona added. “Come on, Aim, let’s go in.”

They followed a group of girls into the packed store. They each had ear-buds in their ears, and were probably listening to Nikki.

Everyone was lined up to win a chance for more free Nikki tickets, courtesy of WKBM. In addition to free tickets, the radio station was giving out free t-shirts and posters, too.

“This is my kind of store,” Fiona said. “I like free stuff.”

“Nikki looks so cool in that poster,” Madison said as they passed by a display. In the photo, Nikki was wearing a tight-fitting sweater-dress and little boots. Her hair was teased out, and she had on pink sunglasses.

“She is beautiful,” Aimee said wistfully. “I wish I looked more like her.”

Madison noticed that when Aimee said that, Fiona walked away in the opposite direction.

“What’s
her
problem?” Aimee asked aloud.

“Nothing,” Madison said. “She’s just going to look over there.”

“Whatever,” Aimee said in some kind of huff. She walked in the exact opposite direction, leaving Madison by herself.

Aimee needed to cool off. Madison chased after Fiona.

The store had listening stations where people could “sample” CDs before buying them. Madison found Fiona standing in one. They swapped headphones back and forth, listening together for a long time—at least fifteen minutes—until finally Aimee came back and tapped them on the shoulders.

“It’s almost time to meet your mom,” Aimee said. She was the only one who’d checked her watch. “Shouldn’t we go to the clothing store now?”

Quickly, the trio pushed their way back out of the store and into the bustle of the main causeway. Then they hurried over to Chez Moi, a favorite casual boutique at the mall. There was so much to do and no time to do it!

In the window at Chez Moi, there was a different gigantic Nikki display with posters and outfits set up on mannequins. The store was selling clothes that looked just like what Nikki was wearing in all of her photographs.

The trio rushed inside.

On the left side of the store was an entire rack of T-shirts with the cutest designs. One had a miniature kitty-cat wearing a space suit. Another one said “Super Girly.” A third had a tie-dye flower in the center. There were a few shirts with Nikki’s face on them, too.

A sign on the rack said
BUY TWO GET ONE FREE.

“Why don’t we get T-shirts,” Fiona suggested. “We can buy two and then the third one—”

“I can read the sign,” Aimee said.

“Fine! Why are you being such a grouch?” Fiona snapped back.

“I’m
not
a grouch,” Aimee said.

“Hey, you two,” Madison interrupted. “Why don’t we look around some more before buying anything? The T-shirts will still be here in a few minutes if we leave and come back, right?”

They walked around the shop, examining every rack and table they saw. When Aimee picked out a tank top with blue sparkles, Madison and Fiona were thrilled with the thought that their BFF was finally getting into the shopping mood.

Until she tried on the sparkly top.

“My arms look so flabby,” she said, posing sideways in the mirror. “I can’t wear this.”

Madison frowned. “You have stick arms, Aim. It looks awesome.”

“Yeah, seriously. Quit joking around and buy the top,” Fiona agreed.

Aimee looked at her watch. “Maybe later. We have to go meet your mom now, Madison.”

They made tracks over to the food court and found Madison’s mom by the taco stand. Fiona was grinning as she ordered her taco with a side order of guacamole.

“I’ll have a quesadilla,” Madison said to the man behind the counter. “Cheese, please.”

Mom ordered a bowl of super-hot chili.

“Aimee?” Mom asked last. “What do you want?”

Aimee shrugged and ordered a small taco salad, which ended up being a huge waste, since she only ate about three bites.

Across the food court, kids filed in and out with their parents or with their cliques of friends. Fiona got embarrassed when she looked up to see Egg and Drew standing way on the other side of the court. She got a case of instant shyness and refused to wave, walk over, or anything. Aimee got up and went over to say hello to the boys on her own.

Madison glanced around to see who else she could spot who went to Far Hills Junior High. As luck would have it, no cute boys seemed to be around, not even Hart Jones. Poison Ivy Daly wasn’t around either.

But then Madison saw a familiar face, standing a little distance away.

It was Carmen, from science and art classes. She was at the mall with a bunch of other girls, some of them older like her mother and aunts.

She seemed picture-perfect, even from far away.

By the time Madison, Aimee, and Fiona left for home, the mall crowd was thinning out. Half the parking lot was cleared out, too. Madison knew some of this was due to the deadline at the WKBM booth. Everyone had departed after getting their free ticket chance and buying a signed CD or poster.

The girls carted huge bags of stuff back into Mom’s car. Madison had gotten a T-shirt, and Fiona had gotten a glitter jewel belt for her jeans. Aimee had bought a pair of pink pants that were too baggy.

After dropping off Fiona and then Aimee, Mom asked Madison if Aimee was feeling okay. “She doesn’t look well,” Mom said. “She looks tired.”

“Yeah,” Madison replied. “She’s been practicing dance like three times a day. She has a recital coming up next month.”

“I think maybe I’ll call her mother and see what’s going on,” Mom said.

They pulled the car into the driveway, and Mom went to take Phin for his late afternoon walk.

Madison went upstairs to her bedroom. Saturday evenings were usually busier than busy inside TweenBlurt.com so she logged onto her computer to see who was online from her buddy list.

While waiting for the site to come up, she went into her files to write.

Nikki


I have decided that Nikki is the best superstar despite what Aimee says. She always looks perfect in pictures, she has a great voice, she wears perfect clothes AND everyone loves her. What else is there left to be?


I wish I could be in her platform shoes for just one day. Sometimes I stand in front of the mirror in the bathroom and dream that I’m on some talk show being interviewed. The host wants to know all my secrets, and everyone is applauding very loudly. Nikki must have so many friends and boyfriends too. She’s been on every awards show and every talk show in like 100 countries. What would it feel like to have everyone looking at you all the time? Meeting Nikki will be the most exciting time of my life so far.


Tomorrow I have to try working on that stupid self-portrait for art class. I wish I could look in the mirror and see someone like Nikki looking back at me instead of my plain old boring face—especially with this weird zit that gets bigger every day.


I wonder if Nikki ever gets zits?


Probably not.


If she did, she’d probably write a chart-topping hit about it though—which would make zits cooler than cool.


Pop stars are good at that kind of thing.