Double Dare (From the Files of Madison Finn, 14) (15 page)

Madison, Aimee, and Fiona all cracked up.

Mr. Bernard walked up to the podium and tapped the microphone. A small shriek of feedback silenced the room.

“Good morning,” Mr. Bernard said into the microphone. “As you may already know, the student council has spent a great deal of time reworking the fire-drill system. Here to explain the new procedures is seventh-grade president, Ivy Daly.”

There was a smattering of applause as Ivy looked out at the crowd and waved.

Egg looked at Madison and waved too, pretending that he was the queen of England. Madison’s shoulders shook with silent laughter. Luckily, the drones were not nearby.

“But before we do that,” Mr. Bernard went on, “I’d like to make a couple of announcements. It has come to my attention that several of our students have entered a national computer webpage design contest.” He said the word
webpage
carefully, as though pronouncing something in a foreign language. “And we have just been informed that the results were tabulated over the weekend.”

A murmur of surprise rippled through the auditorium, and Madison looked over at Fiona with raised eyebrows. Fiona shrugged in an “I had no idea” gesture. How had they gotten through all the entries so quickly?

“Although none of our students will be competing for the grand prize,” Mr. Bernard said, “we did have two entries that took honorable mentions, one for functionality, and one for design.” Mr. Bernard looked down at his notes. “Would Fiona Waters, Madison Finn, Chet Waters, and Walter Diaz please stand up and be recognized?”

A huge cheer went up from the crowd, and Chet practically jumped out of his chair, dragging Fiona with him. “Yeah!” Chet shouted, pumping his fist in the air.

Fiona looked over at Madison, giggling. “Stand up!” she whispered, gesturing wildly. “Don’t leave me up here alone!”

“No way!” Madison sunk down into her seat, laughing. She was proud and embarrassed at the same time. Even though she was glad to have won an honorable mention, no way did she want to stand up and wave to everyone like Poison Ivy.

Mr. Bernard blinked out into the audience. “Er—are you standing?” he asked.

“Come on, Maddie,” Egg whispered. “You have to get up.”

Madison shook her head, blushing. “Forget it.”

“Go on, Maddie!” Aimee urged, clapping. “Stand up!”

“I dare you,” Egg said with a wicked grin. “I double-dare you.”

“You double-dare me?” Madison asked with a laugh. “Then, fine!”

“On the count of three. One, two—”

“Three!” Madison popped up next to Egg and then they both immediately sat back down again, cracking up.

“You sat down first!” Madison insisted.

“You are such a total chicken,” Egg countered.

Fiona slid into her seat as the applause died down. But Chet continued to smile and wave.

“Thank you, my fans!” he called. “I’ll never forget all of you little people—”

Fiona yanked her brother back into his seat. “Stop embarrassing me,” she hissed.

“But they love me!” Chet insisted.

Egg looked over at Madison, rolling his eyes. She giggled and put her palms to her cheeks—which were burning!

Even if she was slightly mortified, Madison was proud to have been able to stand up with her friends—especially Egg. She and Fiona had worked hard, and she hadn’t given up, even when things got tough.

This week, Madison was a winner.

She couldn’t wait to tell Dad and Bigwheels all about it.

1-)                        Tee hee

(:-D           Blabbermouth

X-S            Completely confused

NE1          Anyone

007           Top Secret

IHNI          I have no idea

NYP          Not your problem

SB             Supposed to be

NM           Never mind

DLTBBB    Don’t Let the Bed Bugs Bite

YOYO        You’re on Your Own

I couldn’t believe it when Mrs. Waters asked Aimee and me to help her plan the surprise party for Fiona and Chet. Mostly, I was glad because it gave us a chance to write our first e-mail invitation.
Sometimes e-mail can be the most creative way to say hello—or even invite someone to a party!
I think that sending electronic invitations—e-vites—is cool, because everyone gets theirs at the same time—and can send an RSVP right away.

Visit Madison online at the author’s page,
www.lauradower.com
.

Turn the page to continue reading from Laura Dower’s From the Files of Madison Finn series

T
HE CURSOR ON MADISON’S
classroom computer blinked slowly, and Madison kicked her foot against the bottom of her chair. Sometimes school computers could be really annoying. Her laptop from home worked much faster, with its alternating starburst and rolling arrow cursors.

Unfortunately, Mrs. Wing didn’t allow personal laptops in tech lab. So, even though Madison liked to bring her laptop to school, she didn’t take it out during class. Madison couldn’t very well argue with her favorite teacher in the whole school.

The tech room filled up quickly. Everyone made a beeline for the usual seats. Walter “Egg” Diaz and Drew Maxwell, two of Madison’s closest guy friends, shuffled in and sat down at computer terminals on either side of Madison. The three always sat near one another in tech lab—mostly so they could gossip and exchange goofy glances in the middle of class.

Today Egg and Drew chatted about Splat, a new video game from their joint collection. The game was part paint ball and part action-adventure, but it sounded dumb to Madison. She’d much rather have spent time writing or chatting online than hurling virtual paint balls at imaginary bull’s-eyes. Bored, she turned away from their conversation, moving her chair to face the desk behind her. She was shocked to discover Lance, another kid in class, power-picking his nose.

Ewww. Gross.

Madison’s stomach heaved. Sometimes guys in her class could be so disgusting. And the whole experience was made worse by the fact that Madison had sneaking suspicions that maybe Lance liked her—in
that
way. Lately, he always seemed to show up when she was waiting at the lockers. And he would always wind up in a seat close to hers.

“Howdy,” Lance chirped. He obviously didn’t know he’d been caught picking.

“Howdy,” Madison said, not looking directly at him. He had a piece of toast stuck in his teeth, too. That was what he should have been picking, Madison thought.
Poor Lance.

The truth was that Madison didn’t like Lance in
that
way, because he didn’t make her heart go
pa-ping.
Not like Hart Jones, the crush she’d had all year long. Hart was her dreamiest of dream guys. He could pick his nose and Madison wouldn’t even mind.

The bell to announce the start of class went off, and everyone settled into his or her seat. But after two minutes, Mrs. Wing still hadn’t arrived.

“I wonder where she is,” Madison said.

“She’s never late, is she?” Egg replied.

“Maybe she got stuck in traffic,” Lance said.

“Traffic? What—like in the hallway?” Drew said, raising his eyebrows.

Madison giggled. “Come on, you, Mrs. Wing’s probably talking to someone, and she’s lost track of time.”

But Madison wondered if that really could be true. She gazed up at the clock. A full five minutes had passed. Mrs. Wing
was
never late.

“Holy cow!” a voice boomed.

Madison jumped as a tall, thin guy wearing thick, red-rimmed glasses bounded into the classroom. “It took me a century to find you cats,” he said.

“You
cats
?” Egg whispered, rolling his eyes.

Drew snorted.

Madison felt like giggling, but she was too confused. Who was this strange man—and what had he done with Mrs. Wing?

“I’m Freddy Franks,” the guy said, introducing himself. He went around the room asking everyone else to volunteer their names. Mr. Franks said he had a picture-perfect, photographic memory. He proved it by reciting back to the class the full name of everyone seated inside the tech lab.

Egg and Drew looked super-impressed. But Madison wasn’t. She didn’t have time for mind tricks. Not when Mrs. Wing was missing. Wasn’t anyone else the least bit curious about her whereabouts?

Madison raised her hand high into the air.

“Um … yes, Miss Madison Finn,” Mr. Franks said, getting her name right on the first try.

“Where is our teacher?” Madison asked. “I mean, is she out sick?”

Mr. Franks lifted his hands. “Haven’t a clue,” he said. “I just know she’s out today and probably for the rest of next week.”

“Is she on vacation?” Madison asked.

“As I said, I just don’t know,” Mr. Franks said. “Sorry.”

Madison imagined Mrs. Wing sitting at home, sicker than sick, sneezing and coughing and unable even to move a computer mouse. Something bad must have happened for Mrs. Wing to desert her class like this. Madison’s imagination took a flying leap.

She pictured Mrs. Wing alone in a dark trench coat, on a crowded plane, wearing big sunglasses, running from something. …

She envisioned Mrs. Wing captured by strange little aliens who came in through the computer. …

“Ohhhhh,
Mad
-i-son!” Mr. Franks’s singsong voice interrupted Madison’s daydream. She looked around and saw her classmates staring back at her.

Egg and Drew cracked up. The rest of the class followed. Soon everyone was laughing heartily—at Madison’s expense. She turned purple, like Charlie Brown in a Peanuts cartoon.

“Madison, could you help walk the class through the school website?” Mr. Franks asked. “I have notes from your teacher, Mrs. Wing. She says
you’re
the expert around here.”

Madison felt her cheeks, hot and still blushing.

Steadily, she braced herself and opened the Far Hills Junior High home page on her computer screen. As her classmates and their substitute teacher gathered around Madison’s monitor, she slowly explained how she updated the website. The class worked together to download photos from the recent bake and book sale. They also posted midseason sports team schedules on the site.

By the time the end-of-class bell rang, Madison’s blush had finally faded, and the rest of the class seemed to have forgotten her mega-embarrassment.

Of course, she hadn’t.

Madison wanted out of that room right away! She headed straight for the door, bypassing Egg, Drew, and Lance on her way.

“Wait! Hey! Aren’t you going to lunch, Maddie?” Drew yelled out after her.

“Yeah,” Egg teased. “You’re an expert at that, too.”

Madison sighed.
Couldn’t the boys just let her make a clean getaway?

She playfully put up her fists. “Wanna take this outside?” she joked.

“Get out of here,” Egg cracked. “I would whomp you.”

Madison giggled. Egg would tease her forever. It was useless to fight it. So she and the boys headed for the lunchroom together. As per the usual routine, their group would meet up with other friends at the big orange table at the back of the cafeteria.

Once inside the lunchroom, Madison grabbed a hot, just-washed tray and tossed a banana and a carton of chocolate milk onto it. Gilda Z, the lunch lady, served her an overflowing cup of “Amazing Orzo Soup.” It didn’t look so amazing, though. It had little red and green things floating on top.

“Hey, Maddie!” Aimee Gillespie cried from the front of the lunch line. She hustled toward Madison with an apple in one hand and a pear in the other. Aimee, dancer extraordinaire and Madison’s BFF, always ate fruit or granola or something equally healthful for her lunch.

Walking behind Aimee was Fiona Waters, Madison’s other BFF in seventh grade. Fiona, unlike Aimee,
rarely
ate health food. Her lunch tray was piled high with lasagna, vegetables, two packages of pretzels, a slice of chocolate cake, a yogurt cup, and a bottle of water.

“Hey, Maddie,” Fiona said.

“You won’t believe what happened in technology lab!” Madison cried. “Mrs. Wing blew off class. She never showed up.”

“Whoa,” Fiona said. “So you got a free period?”

Aimee made a face. “That’s impossible. We never get to miss class around here. I bet you had some dorky substitute. Right, Maddie?”

“We did! And the sub said Mrs. Wing would be gone
all next week.
Something is wrong, I know it,” Madison said.

“HEY, SIS!” Chet Waters pounced on Fiona and shoulder-checked her, nearly knocking the food off her tray.

“Hey, yourself!” Fiona growled. “Now, back off, before I dump this on your head.”

Madison and Aimee loved watching battles between the Waters twins. Fiona and Chet were always arguing about something.

Egg, Drew, and Hart stood in line after Chet, grumbling about the hot-lunch selection. Within minutes, the group had all gotten their food and were seated together at the back of the room, picking at their lunches and whispering about other classmates. Madison was convinced that boys liked to gossip even more than girls did. Egg certainly liked to.