Back Online (2 page)
Authors: Laura Dower
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Hart just hadn't written back.
Madison slurped down the rest of her smoothie and headed downstairs. Mom told her to clean out the part of the basement where they stored all their fall decorations, like the plastic light-up pumpkins, leafy wreaths, standing scarecrow for the front porch,
Boo!
sign for the door, and other Halloweenie stuff. The spookiest holiday of all would be here soon.
After cleaning for what seemed like hours, Madison headed upstairs with all the decorations. As usual, there was so much homework to be doneâshe always left it until late on Sunday. Eighth grade was one book report, lab, and test after the next. Her friend Egg's mom, Señora DÃaz, was now teaching eighth-grade Spanish, and even she was tougher than tough. It was not necessarily a good thing to have your friend's mom be your teacher.
Madison went online to work, but an instant message popped up from her long-distance keypal.
Of course Madison relied on her BFFs from school, girls like Aimee and Fiona. But having a friend who was completely unrelated to her daily life was coolâeven if that friend lived too far away to hang out with offline. There was no “Hey, I'm coming over!” or “Let's meet at the library!” Sometimes it almost felt like Bigwheels was an
imaginary
friend. They'd never played Barbie dolls. They'd never been to the movies or the mall together. They'd never sat and eaten an entire bag of nacho chips with root beersâMadison's favorite of all time. But that didn't stop Bigwheels, aka Victoria, from knowing all Madison's secrets and vice versa.
Madison wondered: What makes a friend
real
?
After Madison said good-bye to Bigwheels, she knew she had to study but instead, she scooted into her inbox just for a moment. As she settled into her chair, Phin reappeared and curled up close to Madison's feet, snorting and breathing kind of heavy. His paws moved forward in fits and starts like he was swimming or running somewhere. Was he having one of his awesome doggy dreams about some made-up doggy paradise?
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“
Roooooowf
.” Phin was moving and
talking
. He sounded upset, making all these little “
rrrroooo
” growls. Madison leaned in to pet his head and rub his belly.
“
Shhhhhh
, puppy dog,” Madison whispered as he twitched around.
Madison scrolled through some emails.
Bigwheels sent an email apology for cutting out of the IM chat earlier. Her little sister, nicknamed “the tornado” had knocked over a terrarium on a bookshelfâwhich just happened to house two live frogs! Apparently, the entire thing dumped onto the floor and Bigwheels's wheelchair. It was quite a disaster. Madison had to laugh when she read what had happened.
BalletGrl, aka Aimee, had sent an email to all the “girls” (Madison, Fiona, Lindsay, and Madhur) about a PJ mani-pedi party she wanted to have at her house in honor of the reality-TV show that might be coming to Far Hills. (Key word was
might
because chances were not so good.) Still, Aimee wanted her fifteen minutes of fameâor more.
How had it all happened?
When Aimee and some other girls from Madame Elaine's Dance Studio appeared in a traveling recital over the summer, they were “discovered” by a casting agent in search of a crew of young dancers. Ever since the major smash hit
Dance Kids
, TV networks had been prowling around for more shows to bring in a big audience. The show featured kids from dance schools all over the USAâand Madame Elaine's was on the list of possible locations. Producers decided that they didn't just want dancing footage either. There was a chance Aimee's actual house might be on the show, too! It was a slim chance, but
still
.
SomedayâMadison was sure of itâAimee Gillespie would skip over all the
maybes
and just get famous. She had the looks and personality and that “it” factor that makes reality-Âshow judges push buzzers. Madison imagined how cool it would be one day to open a magazine and see Aimee en pointe, arms and back arched in perfect ballerina style, hair in a beautiful dancer's knot.
But what would Madison Francesca Finn be famous for? Besides FREAKING OUT about Hart Jones?
TOTALLY
was Madison's one-word reply to Aimee's party invite. Then Madison opened Fiona's email. It had been forwarded, so there were a bunch of old emails attached at the bottom. As Madison read, her chest thumped.
From: Wetwinz
To: MadFinn
Subject: Fw: Fw: COMING TO FAR HILLS!!!!!
Date: Sun 8 Oct 11:06 AM
Chet sent me this. Whaaaaaaa?!!!! MORONS! And I mean Chet and Hart. What IS this???? Call me NOW.
From: Wetwins
To: Wetwinz
Subject: Fw: COMING TO FAR HILLS!!!!!
Date: Sat 7 Oct 11:46 PM
Yo hart is coming for a visit next week lets convince mom to throw a dinner party or something
From: Sk8ingboy
To: Wetwins
Subject: COMING TO FAR HILLS!!!!!
Date: Wed 4 Oct 9:11 PM
Hey man whats going on!? OMG my school is so hard this year. My teachers are ok. I think I'm finally getting used to everything here but really I still miss far hills so much. How are things? Say hi to Dan and Egg. I miss Dan's giant mansion LOL. I want to see everyone when I come to town. My mom and dad and I will be there next week I think I don't know the time yet. Can we hang out? Tell your sister. I'll message Maddie.
Bye for now, dude.
Hart
Madison read it again. And again. She wasn't sure how to feel.
Hart wrote to Chet? It didn't make sense. He wrote to Chet
first
? Where had Hart been for the past six weeks? He sent NO EMAIL AT ALL in the month of September.
And then, like some sort of weirdâno,
insane
âsign from the universe, Madison's computer pinged with an IM.
No way. NO WAY.
Madison gasped out loud even though she was alone in her room.
It pinged again.
Just like that, as if summoned from the virtual world and a whole lot of worrying, Hart Jones, known online as Sk8ingboy, appeared.
Madison took a deep breath and started to type back.
She wished she could play it frosty cool, but after weeks of obsessing, that was impossible.