Heart to Heart (From the Files of Madison Finn, 11) (14 page)

“S
MILE!” MADISON SAID AS
she aimed the digital camera at Aimee and Fiona. Her
BFF
s wrapped their arms around each other and grinned as Madison snapped the photo. They were standing in front of a giant heart-shaped cutout that the student council had put up next to the entrance to the gym.

“Dan,” Madison said. “Would you take one of all of us?”

“Hey!” Dan protested. “What am I? Wallpaper?”

“She meant all of us
girls,
Dan,” Aimee said, punching him on the shoulder. It was 6:55. Madison’s mom had brought the girls a little early, since she had to chaperone. Dan’s mom, Eileen, had done the same thing.

“Hold it,” Dan said, reaching for the camera.

“Oh, no,” Lindsay said, reddening a little. “I always hate pictures of myself.”

“But you look nice,” Dan said. Lindsay struck a pose and grinned. Madison could tell that Dan’s compliment had really made her happy. She was normally super shy, but in her red velvet dress, Lindsay looked special tonight. The deep red set off her blond hair and made her pale skin glow.

“Everybody say, ‘Cheesy!’” Dan said as he snapped the photo.

“Madison, I just love your little tiara,” Lindsay said.

“Thanks,” Madison said. She’d almost decided not to wear it, but Aimee and Fiona had talked her into it at the last minute. Now she was glad that she had. This was the third compliment she’d gotten tonight.

“Here we are, the fun can start now,” said a voice behind them.

They all turned to see Egg, followed by Drew, Ben, and Chet. When Egg saw Fiona, he stopped in his tracks. Madison giggled. It wasn’t often that she saw Egg speechless. Not that Madison blamed him. Fiona looked great in a hot-pink tank paired with a bright orange skirt. Both were made of raw silk, and shimmered slightly under the lights.

“I didn’t know it was possible for you to look that good,” Chet said to his sister.

“Well it
is
hard, considering that we share the same
DNA
,” Fiona shot back. Then she turned to Egg. “You look very nice, Walter,” she said.

“Thanks,” Egg said. He held his hands out like he wanted to give her a compliment. “You, too.”

“Okay, so now we’re all here,” Aimee said, looking around. “What are we waiting for? Let’s go in.”

The friends headed toward the entrance to the gym, where there was a table set up. Since she was class president and chair of the dance committee, Ivy sat there taking tickets along with representatives from the eighth and ninth grades, too. Two girls checked everyone’s name against a list and handed out the carnations. Madison knew one of them, Monica Jennings, from her English class. She always hung around with the older kids.

“Nice tiara, Madison,” Ivy sneered as she took Madison’s ticket. Ivy was wearing a tiara, too, only it was much larger and had clear pink stones instead of blue.

“Same to you,” Madison said, trying as hard as she could to be polite. “Do you have to sit here all night?”

Ivy rolled her eyes. “Just for half an hour,” she said. “We’re taking turns.”

“Where’s your date?” Madison asked.

Ivy cocked her head to one side and flipped her hair. “Around,” she said.

Madison’s stomach flip-flopped. She couldn’t wait to see him.

“Madison Finn?” Monica asked, reading Madison’s name off the carnation list.

“Yes?” Madison said, turning around.

“Someone sure likes you,” Monica said. She counted out fifteen carnations and handed them to Madison. They made an enormous bouquet.

“For me?” Madison asked eagerly. “From who?”

“No clue,” Monica said with a shrug. “Whoever bought them didn’t include a message.”

Aimee lifted her eyebrows knowingly at Madison, who blushed. The mystery continues, Madison thought.

But it meant Orange Crush was there.

Ivy pretended that she hadn’t seen what happened. “Next!” she cried, looking toward the next seventh graders who were walking into the dance.

As Madison and her friends turned, a pack of ninth-grade boys walked out of the gym, and a blast of music escaped through the open door, then faded as the door swung closed behind them.

“Wow, sounds pretty good in there,” Dan said. “Let’s go!”

It took a moment for Madison’s eyes to adjust to the dim light, but she could see that the gym was already pretty crowded. As she looked around, Madison had to admit that Ivy and the rest of the student council had done a great job decorating the gym. With the lights dimmed and the walls covered in silver and red balloons and streamers, the gym looked … well,
romantic.

They headed over to the bleachers and tossed their coats into a heap. Madison laid her carnations on top of her little purse as she set it down gently on the floor of the bleachers.

“So, are you guys ready to dance, or what?” Fiona asked.

“I could dance,” Egg said. Madison couldn’t help smiling when she looked at him. This was the first time she had
ever
seen Egg in a tie. He looked sort of uncomfortable in it—but he looked nice, too. The tie had smiley faces on it, and some of them were sticking out their tongues. “Anyone else want to?” Egg asked.

“Not yet,” Ben said. “I think I want to get some punch. Want some, Aimee?”

“Sure thing,” Aimee said, beaming. She’d worn her favorite pink slip dress and shimmery stockings. Her hair was braided and piled on top of her head. Her “date” seemed to like it.

Ben, Chet, and Drew went to check out the snack table. Madison looked over and waved at Mom, who was working as a chaperone and manning the soda bar with Señora Diaz. Mom waved back, smiling. The snack zone was set up near the rear entrance to the gym. Students weren’t supposed to take plates and cups out of the zone, but when Madison looked around, she saw that the rule wasn’t being enforced. Half of the kids on the dance floor had a cup in their hand.

“Would you like to dance, Lindsay?” Dan asked.

Moments before, Lindsay had looked sadder than sad when she discovered she was the only one of the girls who hadn’t gotten a carnation. But now she brightened up. “Dance? That would be great!” she said.

She and Dan followed Egg and Fiona onto the dance floor.

“Dan’s a cool guy,” Aimee said as she watched him dance with Lindsay.

“Definitely,” Madison agreed. “He and Lindsay make a cute couple.”

“Check out Egg and Fiona,” Aimee grunted.

Madison laughed. A slow song was playing, and Egg and Fiona had their arms around one another as they swayed slowly to the music. Fiona was a little taller than Egg, and she was resting her cheek against the top of his head. Her eyes were closed and she looked really happy.

“They look like they’re in love,” Aimee said.

Love? For a moment, Madison was about to tell Aimee not to talk crazy. But when she looked at Egg and Fiona again, she had to admit that it did look that way, like in a movie.

Ben came over and sat down next to Aimee.

“No drink?” Aimee asked.

“They’re out of ice,” Ben said. “Drew and Chet are waiting for it, but I figured I’d just go back later.” He leaned back and looked at Aimee. “So—are you ready to show off some of your ballerina moves?” he asked.

“Why, did you bring your toe shoes?” Aimee shot back.

Ben stood up, gave a deep bow, and said, “May I have this dance?”

“Well, I guess so,” Aimee said. “I did get all dressed up—”

Ben headed toward the dance floor, and Aimee turned to Madison. “Do you mind if I go dance for a little while?” Aimee whispered. “Will you be okay?”

Her friend looked so eager, Madison had to smile. She knew Aimee really wanted to dance, but Madison was grateful that her friend cared enough to make sure that she was okay. “Don’t worry about me,” Madison said. “Besides, Drew and Chet are coming back soon. No big.”

“Thanks,” Aimee said, giving Madison a little hug. Then she joined Ben, who was waiting for her at the edge of the dance floor.

Madison watched Aimee dance with Ben. The music had changed to a quicker beat, and Aimee twirled around more and more as she got into the music. Little blond wisps of her hair fell down and framed her face as she bobbed her head to the beat. She looked pretty.

Madison took her Dad’s camera out of her purse. She walked around the dance floor, snapping photos here and there. She tried to get pictures of everyone. It was strange to be snapping photos of eighth and ninth graders who she didn’t know, but everyone grinned at Madison when she pointed to the camera and shouted “
FAR HILLS
!” over the music.

Once Madison had been around the dance floor once, she went back to her seat on the bleachers. There were two half-empty soda cups there, so she guessed that Drew and Chet had finally bought their drinks and then wandered away again. She crossed her legs and looked around.

The DJ had a fog machine that was just starting to release a cloud of fragrant gray smoke over the crowd. Madison noticed that most of the people were dancing in big groups now, not in couples. Dan and Lindsay had been joined by a group of girls from the volleyball team, and they had all made a huge circle. Lindsay was smiling and clapping her hands. Madison was tempted to join them.

“Hey, Finnster.”

Madison looked up at Hart. His eyes looked even deeper green than usual and he looked handsomer than handsome in a black button-down shirt and a red tie. Madison caught her breath as he sat down next to her on the bleachers.

“Some party, huh?” Hart said.

“Y-y-yeah,” Madison stammered. Hart must have been wearing some kind of cologne, because he smelled warm and spicy.

“Good DJ,” Hart remarked. He turned to face Madison. As he grinned, his dimples deepened in his face. “Have you been out on the dance floor yet?”

Madison couldn’t speak. Was Hart going to ask her to dance?

Hart’s smile widened. “Well, do you—”

“Hey, I’m glad we found you guys,” Chet said as he raced over to them. Drew was right behind him. “You’re not going to believe what’s happening!”

Madison felt her stomach flip-flop.

Why were Chet and Drew here
now?
She was certain that Hart was about to ask her to dance! Why did boys have to have such lousy timing?

“What’s going on?” Hart asked.

“A seventh grader was found in Mr. Danehy’s lab,” Drew whispered. “She got caught by a hall chaperone.”

“Yeah, and the best part,” Chet said, “is that she was making out with a ninth grader.”

“No way,” Madison gasped. “In the science lab?”

“It’s totally true,” Drew said. “Some lab experiment, huh?” he said, cracking a bad joke.

“Wow,” Hart said, “Who was the seventh grader?”

“I haven’t heard yet,” Chet said. “But I’m going to see who knows.” He rushed out onto the dance floor and tapped Dan on the shoulder.

Madison, Drew, and Hart scanned the dance floor to see if they could figure out who the troublemakers were. Madison didn’t see Ivy anywhere. Was it
her?
She imagined how great it would be if Poison Ivy Daly got busted at the dance that she herself had planned.

The news of the science lab soon reached everyone in the room. Everyone on the dance floor was gossiping instead of dancing. Except for Fiona and Egg. They were still swaying to the music, lost in goo-goo land.

“What’s this about a seventh grader getting caught with a ninth grader?” Aimee asked as she hurried over.

“You know as much as we do,” Madison said.

“I heard that the guy had his shirt off,” Ben put in.

“Okay, you know
more
than we do,” Madison said. “What were they doing?”

“Kissing,” Ben said. “I heard that the girl’s hair was all messed up.”

“That doesn’t sound like such a big deal,” Hart said.

Fiona and Egg came over. Madison noticed that they were holding hands now. “Hi,” Fiona said, dreamily. Egg just grinned.

“Wow, those kids are going to be in so much trouble,” Madison said.

“Who?” Egg asked.

“Where have you
been?”
Chet said. “The seventh grader and the ninth grader who got caught making out!”

“They could get suspended for this,” Madison said.

“Definitely,” Hart agreed. “Principal Bernard is going to freak, especially after he made up that huge list of rules for us to sign.”

“Okay, I found out who it was,” Chet said as he ran up to them. He was panting a little, and had to take a couple of deep breaths. “It was Zeke Christian and Monica Jennings.”

“Monica?” Aimee said. “You mean Carnation Girl?”

“Isn’t Zeke that guy who hangs out on the ninth grade corner, sometimes?” Madison asked. The ninth grade corner was where the coolest ninth graders liked to hang out before and after school. At least,
they
thought they were the coolest.

“That’s him,” Drew said.

“Unbelievable,” Madison said. Personally, Madison would never have thought that Monica would go for a greasy guy like Zeke. But it was no surprise that she was with someone older.

“I’m glad I don’t have to explain that one to my parents,” Aimee whispered in Madison’s ear. “But don’t you think Zeke is kind of cute?”

“Tell me you’re kidding,” Madison said.

Suddenly, the music stopped. But the whole room was buzzing with the sound of junior-high schoolers trading gossip.

Principal Bernard walked up to the DJ table and took the microphone. “Everyone, may I have your attention?” he said. Everyone covered their ears as the microphone let out a small shriek of feedback. “Uh—sorry about that,” the principal said as he held the mic a bit further from his mouth. “I just wanted to let everyone know that there was a ‘situation’ earlier, but it has been resolved, with many thanks to our parent chaperone, Josselyn Kenyon.”

“Phony Joanie’s mom,” Aimee whispered to Madison, who shook her head and giggled.

“Oh, man. I’m so glad
my
mom didn’t bust them,” Madison said. “She would have been on my case for days.”

“I also wanted to let everyone know that our school has already raised almost three thousand five hundred dollars for the International Heart Society,” Principal Bernard continued. “So, please give yourselves and the members of the student council a round of applause.”