Save the Date (9 page)

Jimmy made an announcement. “Okay, everyone,” he said. “For the remainder of your time here, I’d like to invite you into our nature center gift shop.”

Madison raised her hand. She was ready to volunteer right now. But Jimmy didn’t see her at first.

“What are you doing?” Aimee asked, pulling Madison’s arm out of the air.

“I think I might become a volunteer here,” Madison said, trying to raise her arm again.

“Maddie,” Lindsay said. “You were just talking this morning on the bus about how busy you are.”

“Yeah,” Aimee said. “You don’t have time to volunteer at the animal shelter
and
here
and
do all your work. What planet are you on?”

“I can find time,” Madison argued. “I know I’m busy. But I really want to do this. It’s a great place.”

“You just want to do it because Jimmy is Mr. Cute,” Lindsay teased.

“Not true,” Madison said. She giggled. “Well, only a little true.”

They trio laughed together as they entered the gift shop.

Standing by the display of stuffed animals, Madison bumped into Ivy—literally. Ivy sneered.

“Walk much?” she said, turning away. Ivy’s drones, who were standing there, sneered, too.

“Who does she think she is?” Joanie asked. “Florence Nightingale or something?”

They all laughed.

“Who is Florence Nightingale?” Aimee whispered to Lindsay. She softly explained that Florence Nightingale had been a nurse who helped soldiers during war.

“I’m actually writing an English paper on her,” Lindsay said. “Ask me anything and I bet I can tell you.”

“Oh, maybe another time,” Aimee said. “Did I tell you guys that I’m writing mine on Isadora Duncan? She was a dancer.”

Madison was reminded that she still hadn’t finished
her
Women’s History Month paper on Eleanor Roosevelt. Maybe her friends were right. Volunteering for the nature center wasn’t a good idea after all. She
did
have homework that was late, other commitments with Mrs. Wing, flute lessons (and she’d hardly even practiced for the next one), and a bunch of other stuff.

She was busier than busy. Her Calendar Girl agenda was booked.

Madison Finn was busy as a bee, in fact.

Inside the gift shop, Madison used her allowance to buy a butterfly puzzle. She was thinking it might be a nice thing to give to Fiona after she recovered from her terrible bee sting. It was also on sale for only five dollars—exactly the amount she had in her bag.

Outside the gift shop, Mr. Danehy rejoined the group with his camera in hand. He wanted the classes to pose together for a field trip photo. Everyone stood next to a cardinal-red whirligig.

“This isn’t the same without Fiona,” Aimee said.

“Or Chet,” Drew said.

But everyone said, “Cheese,” and posed, anyway.

The field guides waved good-bye as the kids headed for the buses back to Far Hills Junior High. Jimmy stopped to pull Madison aside.

“I just wanted to say,” Jimmy told her, “that you were very brave in there. You really helped your friend and all of us. The doctor wanted me to thank you personally. You and your friends.”

Madison blushed like she always did when a guy stood so close.

“Tanks,” she mumbled. “I mean, thanks.”

Jimmy put his hand on her shoulder. “Thank
you.
Take good care of your friend now, okay? You should both come back to see us again.”

Madison nodded like one of those plastic bobbleheads you put in the back window of a car. She was swooning inside, twice as much as she’d been earlier in the day while standing next to Hart. She hurried onto the bus, waving good-bye to Jimmy the entire time.

“What did he say?” Aimee and Lindsay asked as soon as Madison had taken her seat.

“He thanked me,” she said. “He thanked me
personally.
” She said the last part a little louder so Ivy could hear a few rows back. Madison could tell Ivy was eavesdropping, and she wanted to give her something really good to hear.

“He was so cute,” Lindsay said.

“Megacute,” Aimee said.

“And he’s all mine,” Madison said, giggling.

She turned back around to see her friends giggling, too. Unfortunately, she could also see Hart Jones. He wasn’t giggling at all.

Madison stared out the window to avoid his stares, or what she thought were his stares. He could have just been looking in her general direction, right? She wasn’t sure.

The bus driver passed another sign on the way out of the nature preserve with its familiar message:

THANKS FOR VISITING

TAKE NOTHING BUT MEMORIES

LEAVE NOTHING BUT FOOTPRINTS

“Let’s get out of here!” some boy yelled from the back of the bus. A few other kids yelled in agreement. Madison could hear most boys in the back getting rambunctious just like they had that morning. Mr. Danehy voiced his loud disapproval.

Not
everyone
was acting dumb, though. Madison heard Drew say something about hoping that Fiona was okay. That was nice, Madison thought—
for a boy.

Egg’s voice could be heard above the rest, as usual. “I got stung by a bee on my foot once!” he said. “I went to the emergency room, and it hurt so bad.”

“Me too!” Hart said. “I actually bumped into a whole beehive once. What happened to me was way worse than what happened today—”

“Who asked
you
?” Ivy Daly said.

Madison felt herself smile when she heard that, even if it was super-obnoxious.

Score another one for Ivy.

Madison’s mind was abuzz. She couldn’t wait to get home and open a new file to record all of today’s adventures. She wanted to make a final plan of how she and her science partner, Ivy, and the rest of the girls could beat
all
the boys in Mr. Danehy’s science class this week.

Sometimes even enemies had to come together and save the day.

“M
OM? MOM!” MADISON YELLED
when she walked in the front door of her house. Phin rushed to the door, fanny wriggling.

“Rowrrooooooo!” he barked, sliding on the wood floors. He chased his tail around in circles and then made a mad dash for the living room. For the next few minutes he sped around the first floor, ears and tail wagging.

“Phinnie!” Madison said. But he didn’t stop. “Mom, are you home?”

She wandered into the kitchen to grab a Capri Sun.

“Madison!” Mom exclaimed as soon as she’d entered the room. “I didn’t hear you come in. I was wondering what was going on with Phinnie running all around the house like a mad dog….”

Madison stood as still as a statue, her mouth open.

Mom was sitting in the kitchen with a stranger.

A man stranger.

“You look as pale as a ghost,” Mom said, standing up to feel Madison’s forehead. “Oh, my goodness, what’s happened?”

“Huh?” Madison said. “Who are
you
?” she added, looking directly at the stranger.

“This is Paul,” Mom said, oozing sweetness. “He’s a friend from work.”

“Oh,” Madison said. She wondered if Mom was telling the truth.

Was this guy from work or was he really from Date-O-Magic?

“Hey, there,” Paul said in a low, low voice. He sounded like a DJ from the radio station Madison liked.

“Hey,” she said, grabbing her juice. “I’m Madison.” She looked right over at Mom. “You would not believe what happened on the field trip, Mom.”

“So tell me,” Mom said. Madison looked over at Paul and shrugged. “Maybe I’ll tell you later.”

Mom wrapped her arm around Madison’s shoulders. “Come on, honey bear. Tell me. I’m sure Paul would love to hear your story.”

“Well, I have homework,” Madison mumbled. “I’ll tell you later. Nice to meet you.” She nodded to Paul and walked out of the kitchen.

“Maddie!” Mom yelled after her. Phin was following, too. “Are you okay? What was all that about?”

“Nothing. Forget it,” Madison said. “I’m going up to my room.”

Madison grabbed her laptop from the den and headed upstairs. She didn’t care about the mess. She didn’t care about the hole in her ceiling. She didn’t even care if Billy the contractor was up there working.

All she cared about was being in
her
space—and calling Fiona’s house to see if her best friend was feeling any better since the bee incident.

Fiona’s telephone line was busy the first, second, and sixth times Madison tried. Figuring that maybe Fiona was online, Madison logged on to TweenBlurt.com. Unfortunately, Fiona wasn’t in any of the chat rooms that were open, and when Madison checked her buddy list, she didn’t find Fiona’s name.

The only name Madison recognized there was Bigwheels.

So she sent her a message.

: hola


: do u take Spanish


: Just barely. Whassup?


: N2M


: well %-6


: huh????


: I am totally brain-dead b/c I just got back fm a field trip and my friend needed to be rushed to the doctor it was like some reality show on TV


: wow


: how r things w/Lainie today?


: still not so great


: what happened on ur hiking trip


: I don’t wanna talk about it right now


: I can’t be a real keypal unless u tell me the truth. Remember we said—no secrets.


: I know


: so?


: GTG—school


: what?


: *poof*


Madison couldn’t believe it. She tried to message Bigwheels a second time, but her keypal had already logged off.

Was Bigwheels writing from school and that was why she couldn’t say much more?

Madison was a little worried. She opened a new e-mail and addressed it. She had some advice for her keypal after all.

From: MadFinn


To: Bigwheels


Subject: You Got Offline So Fast


Date: Fri 30 Mar 4:21 PM


I was bummed when you got off the computer w/o telling me what was REALLY bothering you. You don’t sound ok at all. I know this thing w/Lainie is stinky, but it won’t last 4ever. I have friend fights 2 and they always, ALWAYS work out. Well, mostly they do. Except for Poison Ivy LOL.


Today’s trip was a little weird 4 me 2. We were @ this nature center and my friend Fiona got stung by bees. Or maybe one ginormous bee. It must have been huge because her arm all swelled up like an inflatable raft.


I think u should call Lainie right now and ask her what’s up. Maybe if u talk 1 on 1 she will be nicer? Maybe she has a good reason for not telling u something. Maybe she’s embarrassed or too scared. You should try.


I hope u write back sooner than soon. I will be waiting.


Yours till the bees wax,


MadFinn


P.S. At the field trip, we also saw these incredibly beautiful butterflies. This is the symbol for a pretty little butterfly: {(i)}


“What are you doing up here?” Mom said. She’d been standing in the doorway to Madison’s water-damaged bedroom.

“I’m online,” Madison said. “Where’s
Paul
?”

Mom walked over and sat on the edge of Madison’s bed, even though it was covered with a plastic cover. “He left.”

“Oh,” Madison said.

“Is that what’s bugging you? Paul?” Mom asked. “You really have a bee in your bonnet today.”

Madison stared at Mom. “Why do you say
that
?”

“First of all, you come storming into the house like it’s on fire. You growl at me in the kitchen. Now you’re up here in the half dark working at a messy desk in a room that needs to be cleaned and repaired—”

“So?” Madison said.

“Honey bear, what is going on? You have me a little worried,” Mom said. She reached over and wrapped her arms around Madison.

Madison’s eyes filled up. Then her bottom lip started to quiver. Within moments, she was bawling.

“Oh, Maddie,” Mom said. “What is it?”

“Fiona got stung by a bee today,” Madison said. “At the nature center. And everyone was helping her, but I thought she was going to die or something—”

“Shhhhhh,” Mom said. “Hush. She’s fine.”

“How do you know?” Madison said through her tears.

“She called a little earlier and left a message. She wanted you to know she was at home and feeling better.”

Madison sighed. “She called?”

Mom reached around and wiped off some of Madison’s tears with her sleeve. She touched her cheek very softly. They sat there together in silence for a few moments.

“You know, it really smells up here,” Madison blurted.

“What?” Mom cried.

“It smells like wet, damp, icky room,” Madison said. “Can we go downstairs now?”

She was still sniffling as they headed down to the first floor.

“I’m sorry, Mom. I’m sorry I was so mean.”

Mom just smiled. “You weren’t mean,” she said. “You were just upset.”

When they got down in the kitchen, Mom made Madison a cup of hot chocolate. It was getting past the winter and into full-time spring, so the “cocoa days” were numbered. Madison only liked drinking it when she was feeling cold or feeling blue. That usually meant only in winters—or times like right now.

Mom stood over by the kitchen sink while Madison explained everything that had happened that day on the field trip. Mom couldn’t believe all the mishaps, especially the bruise on Madison’s shoulder from where the Frisbee hit.

“What a day!” she said.

“Mom …” Madison said her name very slowly. “Who was that Paul guy?”

“Someone I know from work. A film editor, actually,” Mom said. “He’s very funny. Well, you didn’t really get a chance to talk to him, but he is. I know you would like him.”

“Are you guys dating or what?” Madison asked.