Save the Date (12 page)

“No way!” a boy in the front of the class yelled.

“So we should continue to have presentations with boys versus girls tomorrow?” Mr. Danehy asked as if he were holding a democratic vote.

Everyone agreed.

Ivy leaned over to Madison again. In light of the classroom competition, she didn’t look like an enemy today. She was an ally—an ally against an even greater enemy: BOYS.

After science, Madison was so preoccupied with the upcoming showdown that she almost forgot her after-school trip to Mrs. Wing’s computer laboratory. She’d promised to help out again with the school Web site, even if it also meant dealing with Egg and Drew.

Busy as a bee.

Drew brought his digital camera to Mrs. Wing’s lab. He had taken dozens of photos at the seventh-grade field trip. Madison looked through them, laughing. She wrote captions for the photos he printed out and put into a pile called
MAYBE.
The pile next to that was
REJECTS.

Madison laughed hardest when she came to a photograph of Ranger Lester looking official in his safari gear. He was leaning on a tree.

She marked that caption
THE RANGER GETS LOST IN THE FOREST.
Mrs. Wing made her change it later on to
MEET RANGER LESTER.

There were candid photos, too, of classmates. Drew had snapped one picture on the bus ride over to the field trip. As it would happen, it was a shot of Madison and Ivy. They almost looked like friends in the photo.

“Hey,” Drew said. “We should put that one up.”

“Very funny, Drewfus,” Madison said. She used a silly nickname Chet always used. Drew didn’t like it one bit,

Drew ignored her and showed Madison more photos: a chrysalis in the butterfly sanctuary, Jimmy the field guide (looking as cute as ever), a group of boys standing around while the doctor dealt with Fiona’s bee sting. He had lots of photographs of the stinging incident. It had been the highlight of the trip, after all.

After helping write more captions, Madison, Drew, and Mrs. Wing downloaded a whole new Field Trip page onto the school site.

“You both did a fabulous job,” Mrs. Wing said. She waved her arms into the air with a “Hoorah,” and her charm bracelet jangled. Madison noticed littler-than-little charms of computers and computer mice on the bracelet. It was the ultimate accessory for a computer teacher. Madison smiled. She had one just like it.

After leaving Drew in the computer lab, Madison headed back to her locker to grab her stuff. It was almost four o’clock. She looked around for Aimee and Fiona, but they were still doing after-school dance and soccer, as usual. Madison decided to hang out and wait for them, at least for a little while.

She strolled down the hall. A few stragglers were at lockers, retrieving books and bags. School was so quiet at this time of the afternoon. Madison could hear everything.

Choral practice.

A geography-club meeting.

Teachers in the teachers’ lounge.

As she headed around one corner, Madison heard two boys talking. She recognized the voices: Hart and Chet. They were talking about science class.

She was tempted to pounce on them the way Phinnie might—take the enemy by surprise—but instead she lingered at the corner and eavesdropped on their conversation. It was hard to hear everything, but Madison was able to make out the basics of what they were saying.

Madison couldn’t believe her ears.

At home that night, she couldn’t wait to go online.

From: MadFinn


To: BalletGrl, Wetwinz


Subject: YOU WON’T BELIEVE THIS


Date: Mon 2 April 5:34 PM


I missed u guys at school. Waited for like a half hour but u weren’t back from soccer or wherever. Where were u?


N e way, I heard Chet and Hart talking in the hallway today and I have to tell you what they said.


1. Egg likes you, Fiona. I mean, I know you know that, but those guys were making fun of him for it. Isn’t that crazy? Are you glad? I don’t think it’s so weird anymore.


2. They think that they know everything there is to know about that science trip. But they DON’T! I heard them say that they didn’t go see the duck pond part of the trip. That means we can totally beat them at our presentation. Isn’t that cool?


3. Hart Jones is SOOOOOO full of himself. I actually heard him say that some girl in our class really, really likes him. Who do you think it is?


Madison stopped typing.

When she reread number 3, she realized something she hadn’t thought of before. She’d originally heard him and thought it must be some other girl. But what if
she
was the one he was talking about? Did he know how she really felt?

Madison deleted number 3. She was about to sign off and send the e-mail when she realized something else she hadn’t thought of before.

Why would Aimee or Fiona care about her science class?

Most of what she was sending in this e-mail was for the wrong people. Aimee and Fiona weren’t in her science class. Madison needed to send the secret information about Chet to a girl who would understand
exactly
what she was feeling right now.

Only Ivy Daly fit that description. Ivy and her drones, anyway.

She rewrote and readdressed the e-mail to Ivy, which was odder than odd since she’d never,
ever
sent her enemy a personal e-mail message. Of course, Madison left out the e-mail parts about Hart (what if
Ivy
was the mystery girl?) and Egg (Ivy would just use that information as an excuse to make fun of Fiona).

She changed the address.

To: Flowr99


Less than a minute after she had hit SEND, Madison’s computer bleeped.

Someone had sent her mail.

It was from Fiona! But something about the note looked suspicious. Madison wasn’t sure what at first.

From: Wetwins


To: MadFinn


Subject: Science Notes


Date: Mon 2 April 6:00 PM


Hi there! Do you have notes from scienc trip? It turns out my teacher wants us to do a papr on it. Can I borow yours please? I need info on the duck pond.


First, Madison noticed all the misspellings. Fiona never made mistakes like that. She was a good speller.

Madison paid a little closer attention to the e-mail sender’s name. It wasn’t from Fiona, whose screen name was Wetwinz! It was from Chet! His screen name had the
s
on the end.

Madison read it over and sighed. How could he think she wouldn’t notice? He was trying to get information so the boys wouldn’t lose the science challenge. Madison couldn’t believe it.

Ping, ping.

Someone was sending Madison a message.

: hi


: hi


: got ur email & those guys r total creeps


: I know


: I can’t believe u heard them say that


Madison wasn’t sure she liked discovering how much she and Ivy seemed to have in common over the past few days.

: so what should we do?


: lemme think


: we could just tell Mr. D that they didn’t go to the duck pond


: nah too e-z & I don’t wanna be a rat


: we could ask them lots of questions about the duck pond during their presentation


: wait that’s good


: ask them questions?


: NO! we can make up some fake story and tell it to them like we’re helping them out and then that’s what they’ll say at the presentation and they will be WRONG and they’ll get a bad grade or something


: GIWIST


: so let’s think of really stupid things so THEY’ LL look stupid


: we could say someone fell in the water


: that’s dumb what about alligators


: don’t forget the duck poop


: I wanna forget THAT thanks very much


: what else?


: what about piranhas


: in a DUCK pond? No one would fall for that


: they would!!! WF look I gotta go


: bye


: *poof*


Ivy’s sneaky side had shown itself, and Madison was basking in its sneakiness. She was readier than ready to make up a doozy of a story and convince Hart, Chet, and the others that it had really happened. Once they retold that story in front of Mr. Danehy, he would laugh them right out of the presentation—leaving the girls as winners.

The only question remaining was: How would she get the boys in Mr. Danehy’s class to believe such a story?

“H
OW DID I GET
so many e-mails in five minutes? This is crazy!” Madison told herself. She looked down at Phinnie, napping on the floor, as if he’d have the magic answer.

He just snored.

There hadn’t been any messages in the mailbox when Madison had checked there ten minutes before. She figured the Web server must have been saving all the messages up to deliver them at the same time. She was busy these days, but her e-mail-box was even busier. This proved it.

FROM	SUBJECT
Flowr99	Re: YOU WON’T BELIEVE THIS
JeffFinn	Bowling Queen
Bigwheels	The Story

She wanted to save Bigwheels’s long e-mail for last so she could give it her undivided attention. Then Madison read the rest.

Ivy sent back a shorter-than-short message.

From: Flowr99


To: MadFinn


Subject: Re: YOU WON’T BELIEVE THIS


Date: Mon 2 April 6:15 PM


Tell me what you decide to write Chet at lunch tomorrow. Those boys are goners.


Madison smiled with glee at the idea of their plan.

But then she wondered what Aimee and Fiona would say if they knew Madison was e-mailing and planning secret rendezvous with Poison Ivy. She knew the moment the boys-versus-girls experiment was over, things would go right back to normal with Ivy, which meant no speaking except to say, “Hey, you, get out of my way,” or something like that.

But now, all rules had changed—at least for one more science class.

Madison clicked onto her next e-mail, from Dad. He had left a message explaining how much he loved dinner and bowling and falling asleep with Phinnie. He called Madison “the Bowling Queen of the Galaxy.”

Madison e-mailed back with a short message, too:

From: MadFinn


To: JeffFinn


Subject: Re: Bowling Queen


Date: Mon 2 April 6:30 PM


Love you Dad. I know how you feel. I miss you at home, too, especially when the roof leaks.


Madison scrolled down to the latest e-mail from Bigwheels.

It was a long one.

From: Bigwheels


To: MadFinn


Subject: The Whole Story


Date: Mon 2 April 6:30 PM


I know it has been a really long time since I wrote, and I am sorry.


And I also know I have been feeling down in the dumps.


Thanks for the {(i)}. I don’t think you know this, but butterflies are my favorite creatures. I have a poster on the wall in my bedroom with an alphabet on butterfly wings.


So here is what REALLY happened with Lainie last week. After a week of her ignoring me at lunch and us fighting in the halls at school and generally not agreeing on anything, we finally sat down to talk. Actually, we were on a bus trip home Friday. I think she did that because on the bus I was stuck and had nowhere to go if she said something that bothered me. But it didn’t turn out so bad.


Lainie told me that she thought I was the one who was different. Those were her exact words. Can you believe she said that? She thought I was the one who seemed distant, and that upset her, so she really was hanging with those other girls because she was so sad that maybe I didn’t want to be friends anymore.


Now, Lainie and I have been bestest friends since kindergarten. How could I not know she was so upset?


We promised—that everything we think and feel should be said out loud. Just like us keypals. So there are NO secrets ever.


And now, writing to you, I feel the same. Did I ever tell you that my real name is Victoria? I know we’re not supposed to say our real names online, and everything, but I want to know your first name, too. Is that okay? I am guessing maybe it’s Madeline, but I don’t know. Tell me if you can. But I understand if your mom doesn’t want you to tell.


So here I am at the beginning of the week and Lainie and I are real friends again. And you are a real friend, too. I wish you lived near me. We could ALL be pals.


Yours till the duck quacks,


Victoria


(aka Bigwheels)


P.S. Good luck in ur science presentation tomorrow.


Madison took a deep breath. She was so relieved that Bigwheels and Lainie had made up. After all the worrying and all the misunderstandings, everything worked out.

Even more exciting, Madison now knew Bigwheels’s
real
name.