Three's a Crowd (From the Files of Madison Finn, 16) (10 page)

“Twelve? But then why did she only have me?” Madison asked. “I never knew she wanted more kids.”

“People change,” Gramma said. “And they change their minds most of all.”

“Mom changed,” Madison said. “Didn’t she?”

Gramma nodded. “Your mother is always changing. But she likes to work hard. I am very proud of her for that.”

“If only she didn’t have to work
so
much….” Madison’s voice trailed off.

“She loves you, Maddie,” Gramma said, shoving the lasagna dish into the preheated oven.

“I know,” Madison admitted. “I know.”

Gramma pulled a deck of cards out of her apron. “Want to play while the lasagna bakes?”

Madison nodded, and they dealt hands for Crazy Eights.

“Speaking of boys …” Gramma said, while Madison was taking her turn. “I forgot to mention earlier that I saw one of your boyfriends in the yard when I walked Phin earlier.”

“Boyfriends? Who?” Madison cried.

“The boy next door. Josh something.”

“You saw him?” Madison asked.

Gramma nodded. “Gosh, I guess it was yesterday. He told me to say hello to you. I can’t believe I forgot. With Mom heading out on her trip I got distracted.”

Madison just sat there, slack-jawed. “What else did he say, Gramma?” she asked eagerly. “You have to tell me. What did he say?”

“Just hello,” Gramma said. “Isn’t that enough sometimes? He was thinking of you.”

Gramma winked. Madison knew her secret about liking Josh was out in the open, right there on the kitchen table. But she also knew her secret was completely safe with her grandmother.

Four Crazy Eights card games later, Madison told Gramma more about liking Josh. Gramma divulged information about some of her long-ago crushes, like Mackie, the butcher’s son, and a boy in her church choir named Gabriel. Madison sopped up the funny details like a sponge. She loved hearing about Gramma’s secret past and wondered how many times Mom had talked with Gramma about those kinds of things.

About a half hour before dinnertime, Gramma went off to take a nap. Madison retreated to her bedroom to boot up her laptop. She was pleasantly surprised to find her BFFs online again, and she sent a message to Fiona and Aimee.

The three met in a new chat room called ACHOO3.

: is everyone feeling better???


: Not exactly did either of u puke?


: that is so gross Aim


: try DOING it I can’t keep any food down


: I bet it was that seaweed in your soup—ick


: But I love kelp!!!


: You need kelp help LOL


: what does the doc say?


: I have 2 stay in bed today & tomorrow and maybe even miss school part of next week


: UR sooo lucky.


: I’m looking 4ward to school


: sure b/c u wanna see HART


: Egg said u saw him today. What did he say???


: nothing what was he supposed 2 say?


: I love u more than n e thing


: More than IVY


: More than hockey


: Stop! Well, I dunno if I like him as much as I used to like him


: What r u talking about? U LOVE HIM


: Aimee! I sort of like someone else now


: Who else is there?


: OMG Fiona Maddie likes ur brother Chet


: Aimee! I do not like


Chet “> (


: TGFT


: then WHOOOOOOO


: well there’s this guy next door I never knew he lived there but I think he just moved in last year and my parents were getting divorced then so I was probably a little spazzy and didn’t notice him I don’t know


: what’s the dude’s name?


: he’s a 9th grader @ FHJH and his name is Josh


: Josh Turner?


: Do you know him?


: He’s only the star of the hockey team, Maddie. Everyone knows Josh Turner.


: I didn’t know him


: I didn’t know he lived in our neighborhood


: So y do u like HIM all of a sudden??


: IDK


: But what about Hart?


: that’s exactly what Egg asked me—do u guys talk about EVERYTHING 2gether??


: maybe


: u know my brother is friends with Josh.


: does the whole world know Josh except for me?


: LOL


: so what about


Hart??????????


: I haven’t forgotten him DW!!


: it would be sooo cool to double-date I know I said that b4


: can’t we triple-date?


: yeah maybe YOU can go out with Chet


“Let’s eat!” Gramma’s voice called out from the kitchen, interrupting Maddie’s chat.

Madison quickly signed off. Normally, she’d have wanted to stay online as long as possible, but tonight she felt more like spending time with her grandmother.

“I notice you haven’t been as tired this afternoon,” Gramma said. “Your spirits seem brighter.”

“I do feel better,” Madison said. “Thanks to you.”

“Well, that’s what Grammas are for.”

“Maybe I can go to school on Monday?” Madison said.

“What about your cough?” Gramma said. “You know my rules.”

Coughcoughcough.

Madison covered her mouth. Then her nose twitched.

Ahhhchooooo!

“How come I was feeling fine until you started talking about feeling fine?” Madison asked aloud. She shook off the sneeze. “Wait! Don’t say it. Murphy’s Law, right?”

“Exactly,” Gramma said with a nod.

They finished dinner and dessert, but it was still early in the evening. Madison wanted to watch a double feature on Pay-Per-View, but Gramma gave that idea a big thumbs-down.

“I want you to go to bed,” Gramma said.

“Bed! No way! Gramma, I understand that you’re worried about me and all that,” Madison said. “But it’s only eight-thirty and I’m twelve, not six. I don’t have a bedtime like I used to.”

Gramma shook her head. “Maddie …”

Without another word, an exasperated Madison and Phin headed upstairs, to make Gramma happy.

And it wasn’t torture altogether, because, once her bedroom door was closed, Madison didn’t sleep. Once again she powered up her computer. After she plugged in her super-secret password, two special e-mails appeared in her mailbox.

From: ff_budgefilms


To: MadFinn


Subject: NONE


Date: Sat 27 Sept 4:20 PM


I miss you, honey bear. I feel terrible leaving when you are sick. I’ll hurry home.


Love, Mom


Madison sighed. She missed Mom, too. Mom never made her go to bed that early. The next e-mail was from her keypal.

From: Bigwheels


To: MadFinn


Subject: You Won’t Believe This BUT


Date: Sat 27 Sept 5:14 PM


E-mails R contagious. I think that maybe I caught your flu. Isn’t that what u have? I almost fainted yesterday so my dad took me to the doctor. My fever was 102 degrees. That is the highest fever I have ever had. What’s the highest fever you’ve ever had? I had to come home and take a cold bath and get into bed. Today I don’t have a fever anymore but I still feel weird because I threw up this morning. Ugh. I hate being sick so much. I don’t think I’ll have to go to school Monday though and THAT is a good thing.


Have u seen that boy next door again? I like his name. One of my friends at school is named Joshua. That’s close. U still didn’t tell me what happened 2 Hart? Is he still around? Write back soon. I have to go take a nap now.


Yours till the bath tubs,


Vicki aka Bigwheels


Madison wanted to write a response to Bigwheels right away. She needed to wish her a speedy recovery and tell her that she was sorry about Bigwheels’s being sick, too.

But Madison stopped herself from hitting
REPLY.

She couldn’t write back yet. She didn’t have an answer to a question that Bigwheels had been asking for a couple of days.

What
had
happened to Hart?

And what was Madison going to do about her
change
of heart?

Sickest


It’s very, very, VERY early on a Monday and I am already up and dressed for school. I got so much sleep when I was sick (my brilliant theory) that I am wide awake (and feeling better) now. Meanwhile, Gramma is down in the kitchen and doesn’t know I’m up here writing in a file. Sometimes it’s fun being sneaky.


Fiona got sick again yesterday because her brother Chet came down with a fever, too. Bummer. But Aim is better and so am I (according to what the thermometer says which is 98.9 and my lack of cough). Thankfully I never had the throw-ups.


I am, however, not completely well. I still feel a little sick about boys. In fact, this may be the SICKEST I’ve been about one particular boy in a looooong time.


All I can think about is Josh Turner.


What will I REALLY do when I see him in person in the halls or in the lunchroom @ FHJH? Will he say hello and be nice or blow me off like I’m some puny, insignificant seventh grader? That could happen, right? I mean, I am just a seventh grader.


Wow. I hope not.


The right outfit is essential, as Aimee would say. Right now I am wearing a patchwork skirt and sweater top. The skirt is from the Boop-Dee-Doop outlet store that just opened. Stephanie got it for me. She said it makes me look taller. Josh is tall. And the sweater is purple so my eyes sparkle a little. At least I think they sparkle. I wonder if Josh will get close enough to see my eyes—or if he’ll even care.


What do boys like him care about anyway?


Madison glanced at the clock and realized she needed to hurry. Aimee would be arriving to walk to school with her in a few minutes. But they’d be a twosome today—not a threesome. Since Fiona had had a relapse, she was staying home.

Madison was excited to get back to a normal school—and life—schedule. So was Aimee. When she knocked on the door of the Finn house, Aimee couldn’t stop yammering.

“I was thinking a lot about our optical illusions project, and I think we should have a home page that is like an illusion. You know, if you select one part of it, a page pops up, and if you select another part of it, another page pops up, and then there are different illusions on different pages, and the illusions can rotate and fly across the screen….”

“Slow down, Aim,” Madison said, “who’s going to program all that?”

“I don’t know,” Aimee responded. “You?”

“Ha!” Madison let out a fake laugh. “I don’t know how to make stuff fly across the screen. Anyway, didn’t Lindsay say we have an extension on the project?”

“Yes,” Aimee said. “So you don’t want to talk about the project now. Is that it?”

“I just have my mind on other stuff. You know….” Madison’s voice drifted.

“On other stuff … but not Hart, though, right?” Aimee said.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Madison asked.

“Ever since you told me about that other guy at school …” Aimee rolled her eyes. “I just think that it’s really weird that you could like Hart soooo much and then, all of a sudden, you don’t like him—”

“I never said that I didn’t like him anymore,” Madison replied.

“Well, you’re totally blowing him off,” Aimee said.

“I am not!” Madison frowned. “Whose side are you on? Hart’s or mine?” she asked.

Madison had a thing about taking sides. She liked to have as many people in her corner as possible. Just then, however, she felt like the cheese in Farmer in the Dell. She stood alone.

“Maddie, I’m on
your
side. Duh. Of course,” Aimee said.

Madison smiled. They were at the front door of their school by then. “Thanks,” she said.

“Let’s meet up after third period,” Aimee said, hugging Madison before they went their separate ways.

“Sure thing,” Madison said. She slung her book bag over her shoulder and walked in the opposite direction, toward her science classroom.

Mr. Danehy’s class was packed, even though the second bell had not yet rung. Madison scanned the room.

Poison Ivy sat on a stool by the lab table where she and Madison always sat. Despite their differences, they somehow managed to coexist as science partners in class.