Thanks for Nothing (From the Files of Madison Finn, 5) (3 page)

Just as Madison was about to log offline again, Aimee sent her an Insta-Message.

: hey I tried calling you


: mom is on the line with clients


: how wuz the vet


: sooo many 3:]


: huh


: DOGS


: I get it. Meet me B4 school tomorrow


: xtra credit in SS???


: TOTALLY C U


: woof!


: *poof*


Tomorrow was back to school, but Madison couldn’t get her mind off the animal shelter. She’d rather spend time with dogs than Pilgrims. Maybe she and Aimee could combine the two?

Suddenly she got a silly idea.

Maybe they could do an extra-credit report on dogs that crossed on the
Mayflower?

Dad would have a good laugh at that one.

M
ONDAY MORNING MADISON WENT
to the school lobby to put her canned tomatoes in the large donation box. Egg and Fiona had just done the same thing.

“There must be five cans of yellow waxed beans in there,” Egg said.

Madison laughed. “And a can of pinto beans, too. What are those?”

“It’s like a vegetable graveyard,” Fiona said.

Students and teachers were asked to bring canned food from home just before Thanksgiving. The cans would be given to the homeless and other needy people in the Far Hills community.

“GOOD MORNING, STUDENTS,” a voice suddenly boomed from the loudspeaker, which just happened to be on the wall near Egg’s head. Egg faked a sudden eardrum injury. Madison and Fiona chuckled.

“STUDENT COUNCIL MEETINGS WILL BE HELD THIS AFTERNOON IN THE ASSEMBLY,” Principal Bernard said. “AND YOUR ESTEEMED CLASS PRESIDENTS WILL BE TAKING THE NAMES OF VOLUNTEERS FOR OUR ANNUAL TURKEY TROT AT THESE MEETINGS … AND PLEASE DON’T FORGET THE CAN DROP IN THE LOBBY. …”

November was a busier-than-busy month at school. While the can drive was about helping the homeless, the Turkey Trot was a short running race for students to raise money for the Far Hills Senior Center. Everywhere kids went, someone at school wanted them to give time, give cans, or give thanks.

“Why don’t they just give it a rest?” Egg snapped. “Like we don’t have enough to do.”

“Did Principal Bernard say ‘esteemed’ class president? That’s a joke.” Fiona snickered. “Since Ivy was elected, I don’t think she’s done much of anything.”

Madison just shrugged. Ivy Daly was their enemy number one, appropriately nicknamed Poison Ivy, but Madison wasn’t in the mood to talk about her. Madison had more important things on her mind.

“Hey, Finnster!” a voice called from across the lobby. Madison turned to say hello. She knew it was Hart Jones. He’d nicknamed her Finnster years ago and it stuck. She didn’t like it very much, but somehow the way Hart said it made it seem beautiful. She was crushing on Hart big time, so when she did greet him, Madison did it very carefully.

“Oh … hey …” she said, tossing her head as casually as she could. Whenever she saw Hart’s brown tousled hair and wide smile, Madison could feel her own heart thumping inside her chest.

“What’s going on?” Hart asked.

Madison pretended to look for a book in her orange book bag. “Just going to class. What about you?”

DUH! Madison wanted to run as soon as she had asked that dopey question. Of course he was going to class. Where else would Hart be headed in
school
?

Egg interrupted them with a hard tug on Hart’s shirt. “Hey, man, I gotta show you something. Let’s go.”

“See you later, Finnster,” Hart said, letting himself be dragged away.

Egg and Hart had become fast friends along with Drew and Chet. They liked to travel in a pack.

“I totally love your outfit, Maddie. Did I say that already?” Fiona giggled. Madison was wearing a denim skirt and a purple T-shirt with little flowers embroidered around the neckline.

“Thanks,” Madison replied. “I like your shirt, too.”

“Where’s Aimee?” Fiona asked.

“Probably dancing,” Madison said.

Aimee sometimes took ballet private lessons in the morning before school. She was determined to be a ballerina or some kind of professional dancer when she got older, so she went to private lessons in addition to her afternoon practices for Dance Troupe. Sometimes Aimee would have to get late passes to morning classes if her ballet lessons interfered. She often made dance her number-one priority.

As the first round of bells rang, Madison said good-bye to Fiona and went to Mrs. Wing’s classroom. Egg and Drew weren’t there yet.

“Madison!” Mrs. Wing said, smiling from ear to ear. “My husband told me you’ll be volunteering at the Far Hills clinic. I think that’s terrific.”

Madison felt herself blush a little bit. “He told you? But he wasn’t even there when I visited.”

“He goes in late on Sundays to prepare for the coming week. He saw your name on the sign-up sheets.” Mrs. Wing leaned down closer to Madison. “That’s a very fine thing you’re doing, you know. The animals need so much attention. Good for you!”

Madison blushed a little bit more at the compliments.

Brrrrrrrring.

As the second round of bells clanged, Egg and Drew appeared suddenly at the classroom door and scurried over to two empty seats near Madison.

Egg leaned over to Drew and whispered, “Whoa. Mrs. Wing looks pretty today.”

Madison couldn’t believe Egg had developed a crush on Mrs. Wing when seventh grade began—and that it still hadn’t fizzled. He couldn’t get the goofy stare off his face whenever he was inside her classroom.

“Today we’ll be learning the basics of PowerPoint presentations,” Mrs. Wing said. “Who has played with PowerPoint before?”

The class was noisy, so she clapped to get everyone’s attention. The satin scarf over Mrs. Wing’s shoulders made a soft swoosh with each clap. The painted scarf, with autumn leaves in brown, orange, and yellow, sounded like a rustle of
real
leaves.

Egg was right, Madison thought, staring at the scarf. Mrs. Wing was so pretty. She even had a cool husband. She had a perfect life.
Perfect.

Madison wished her family were close to perfect like that.

By the time social studies rolled around in the afternoon, Madison was ready with a tentative outline for her extra assignment with Aimee. They had planned it out during lunch, and they were both really excited.

Unfortunately, Mrs. Belden, their social studies teacher, wasn’t as enthusiastic. She had a cough and a cold and was crankier than cranky.

Rat-a-tat-a-tat-a-tat

Mrs. Belden tapped the edge of her desk with a plastic ruler to get everyone’s attention.

“As you know, I’m proposing extra-credit projects with a holiday theme.”

A wave of whispers flooded the room as Mrs. Belden pulled down a map of the original thirteen colonies and pointed to Massachusetts.

“This is Plimoth,” she said. “P-l-i-m-o-t-h, as they spelled it back then.”

Egg and Drew were chattering. Madison felt certain they’d agreed in advance to be partners.

Fiona was across the room talking to her soccer buddy, Daisy. The circle of friends had agreed ahead of time that if Madison and Aimee partnered, Fiona and Daisy would do the same. That way no one would feel left out.

Madison glanced around the room, to see who else might pair off together. She guessed that Ivy and one of her drones would be partners. Rose Thorn and Phony Joanie were always right by Ivy’s side.

Mrs. Belden kept talking over all the distractions and noise. “Class! Now listen up. I want you to do these projects in pairs. I think that if we can work together better as a group, we may begin to have a little more discipline about our work. You all have loads of great ideas, so it should be fun working together.”

Hart raised his hand. “So can we pick our extra-credit partners?” he asked.

Aimee and Madison looked at each other with a smile, and then Mrs. Belden shook her head no.

Madison’s stomach did a 180-degree flip-flop. Aimee’s hand shot into the air.

Mrs. Belden kept right on talking.

“Actually, Hart, the topic of your project will be up to you, but pairs working together will be chosen by me. This isn’t really a voluntary thing, either. I’ve decided everyone must do the extra credit. And yes, that includes you, Ben.”

Ben Buckley, the smartest kid in the room and probably in the entire school, didn’t look happy with that news.

Madison’s jaw dropped. She scribbled in the margin of her notebook: MAYBE U WILL STILL BE MY PARTNER?

Aimee wrote in the margin of her notebook: HOPE SO.

Mrs. Belden read from a list of names and pointed to different student pairs-to-be. Fiona and Daisy were matched up first. Madison felt more hopeful that Aimee would be her partner.

Next Ivy was matched up with Drew. Everyone giggled out loud. The thought of a boy-and-girl pair—especially
that
pair—was so funny. Drew looked especially embarrassed. Poison Ivy looked … well, disgusted. Then again, Madison always thought she looked that way.

“Hart Jones and Dan Ginsburg.” Mrs. Belden read the next pair off her list. The two boys smiled and high-fived on the other side of the room.

Madison kept up hope that she and Aimee would be paired.

“Madison Finn.” Mrs. Belden read her name off the list, and Madison took a huge breath. “Your partner will be …”

Madison listened closer than close.

“… Walter Diaz,” Mrs. Belden said.

Madison gulped.
Egg
? She’d been matched up with her closest guy friend? Was that a bad thing or a good thing? She couldn’t decide.

Aimee punched Madison on the shoulder. “You’re soooo lucky,” Aimee whispered. “Now who am I gonna get?”

The answer came a moment later.

“Aimee Gillespie, I’d like you to work with Ben Buckley.”

Aimee tried not to look appalled. Madison knew she was. Ben was
way
obnoxious. With his super-snobby attitude, he would have been a much better partner for Poison Ivy.

“I’m so bummed,” Madison moaned as soon as class had ended. She and Fiona and Aimee went to their lockers. “I’m bummed that we won’t be partners. Aim.”

“Well, Ben may be superstrange, but at least he’s supersmart, too,” Aimee said. “That’ll make up for his personality, won’t it?”

“All that really and truly matters is that we didn’t get the Princess of Evil,” Madison whispered, motioning to Ivy, who just happened to be walking past at that very moment. The three friends stared.

“Uh, can I help you?” Ivy snarled, nose in the air. She made a face and walked on by with Rose Thorn and Phony Joanie.

“Maddie!” Egg yelled. He ran up to the girls. “How cool is this? We got matched. I have a great idea already. You are gonna be so glad you got me.”

Madison wasn’t surprised that Egg acted a little full of himself. She knew he would want to be the one in charge. “I have things totally under control,” he said.

“You do?” Madison asked. “But we haven’t even decided what we’re doing.”

Aimee rolled her eyes. “You’re like … a total turkey. Egg.”

“But turkey’s okay, since it is Thanksgiving,” Madison said, grinning.

Egg laughed. “Very funny, Maddie. Just hilarious,” he said.

As they packed up their bags to head home, Madison tried to adjust her outlook on the entire situation. “I think we’ll be great,” Madison said.

Egg pushed her shoulder. “Hey, I’ll e-mail you later, okay?” He ran off to find Chet.

Madison noticed Fiona staring at Egg when he disappeared around the corner. Everyone knew Fiona had a mega-crush on him. Madison wondered if maybe Egg liked Fiona more than he admitted, too.

Later that afternoon, Madison went online to find ideas for her extra-credit project with Egg. She checked her e-mailbox and was surprised to find it full of messages.

Boop-Dee-Doop announced 10 percent off all merchandise, which was great news, since Madison was saving up her allowance for a pair of flared jeans with a low waist and patches on the back.

TweenBlurt.com was announcing the results of their Sandwich Day poll. They always celebrated obscure holidays that no one ever really heard of. Sandwich Day was November 3. The yummiest sandwich according to the TweenBlurt.com poll takers was peanut butter and jelly. Hamburgers came in a close second.

Next Madison read the e-mail from JeffFinn, aka Dad. Madison knew that he would probably send her at least one joke a day until Thanksgiving.

From: JeffFinn


To: MadFinn


Subject: ANOTHER JOKE!!


Date: Mon 13 Nov 4:23 PM


If April showers bring May flowers, what do May flowers bring?


Guess this and I’ll take you to dinner.


I love you.


Dad


Madison groaned. Didn’t Dad realize he’d been telling her that same joke since she was four years old? The answer was “Pilgrims,” of course.

Duh!

She was about to click DELETE but stopped herself. Dad hadn’t mentioned anything in his note about Thanksgiving dinner. She reread it.

Madison secretly wished that Dad would protest all the divorce rules so they could all have a big old turkey dinner together. But Dad never protested much of anything.

The only e-mail remaining took Madison by surprise. The Far Hills Clinic (FHC) had sent Madison a welcome letter.

From: FHC


To: MadFinn


Subject: Welcome!


Date: Mon 13 Nov 4:08 PM


Woof! We’re so happy to welcome you, Madison Finn, to our Far Hills family of volunteers. Thanks to people like you, we can provide care and help for animals in our community. That’s something to bark about! We look forward to seeing you on your first day. If you have not signed up yet, please call Eileen Ginsburg at the clinic—she’ll be pleased to put you on our schedule.


Thank you.


Dr. Bryan Wing


and all the animals at FHC