Play It Again (14 page)

“Okay, Egg, pick a card,” he was saying. “Any card.”

Egg cracked, “What is that, a fixed deck or something?”

“Just pick a card, man,” Chet said.

Egg pulled a card out of the deck and looked at it. He put it back again. After shuffling the deck, Hart went through each card until he reached the jack of diamonds. He looked up at Egg.

“No WAY! How did you know that?” Egg said.

Everyone laughed.

Madison watched as Hart did the trick again for Egg’s sister, Mariah. Once again, he identified the right card.

“He’s like a real wizard,” Fiona said. Hart had put on his purple cape with the stars again as a joke.

Madison wished she had the nerve to go over and do the trick with Hart, but she didn’t. She just watched as he flashed the cards to the rest of the group.

“Hey, Madison.” Lindsay came up to her, smiling.

“Hey.” Madison grinned. “I’m glad you came to the party, Lindsay.”

“I was leaving the building and Mr. Gibbons saw me walking away. He said he wouldn’t let me go home alone, so he gave me a ride over. He’s so nice.”

Madison nodded. “It’s a fun party. Are you glad you’re here?”

“I’m really here because of you,” Lindsay said softly. “You were right about everything. So thanks for that. Thanks for being a real friend.”

Madison couldn’t help but smile.

Ivy was perched on a chair across the room. She announced, “Sundaes in the kitchen! Does anyone want ice cream?”

Everyone hustled in. No one would turn down homemade sundaes. Mrs. Daly had hot fudge and whipped cream and a whole lineup of toppings, on the counter. Ivy was waving an ice-cream scoop around like it was a magic wand.

As fate would have it, Madison ended up in the ice cream line next to Hart.

Magic.

“Cool tricks you were doing in there,” she said.

“Thanks, Finnster,” he said. “My dad got me magic lessons for my birthday last year. I know a pretty cool rope trick, too. I’ll show you sometime.”

“Hello, Hart.” Ivy appeared with a bowl of ice cream. She handed it to him. “If you want toppings, they’re all over there.”

He grabbed the bowl and walked away. “See ya, Finnster.”

Ivy looked at Madison and tilted her head to one side. “Having fun yet?” she said. “Everyone says my party is great.”

Madison didn’t want to be rude. “Everything’s great, Ivy.”

Ivy shrugged. “I know.” She walked away.

Aimee was standing away from the ice cream and sauces. Madison went over to talk to her.

“No ice cream, Aim?” she asked.

Aimee shook her head. “Nope. I have to watch what I eat. I don’t want to get all bloated.”

Aimee was always worrying about her body. She said she needed to be careful because of dance. She wanted to look good in her leotard. Madison thought she looked just fine.

Fiona wasn’t worried about anything, however. She had piled ice cream, caramel sauce, and nuts in a bowl and was headed across the room toward Egg. She’d probably be back for seconds, too.

“Look at that,” Madison said to Aimee when she saw where Fiona was headed. “Look who Fiona is sitting with.”

“Oh my God!” Aimee said. “What do you think they’re talking about?”

“I dunno.”

Now it was Aimee and Madison’s turn to giggle.

“Pssst! Look at that guy over
there,”
Aimee said. She nodded in the direction of a tall kid with a crew cut. He looked like he had an earring. He’d been one of the techies who’d helped to rig Emerald City and some of the other set pieces, including the oversized trees Mom helped get.

“He’s in ninth grade, isn’t he?” Madison asked.

Aimee raised her eyebrows. “So?”

Madison pushed her friend. “Aimee, I can’t believe you.”

“I’m gonna go talk to him,” she said.

Madison watched as Aimee approached the nameless ninth grader. She didn’t stop smiling once. Aimee sure knew how to get a guy’s attention. Madison wondered what magic was involved in that.

The party kept up until almost nine-thirty. Madison didn’t see Lindsay again, so she figured she must have left.

Fiona was hanging out with Chet, Egg, and Drew on a sofa, talking about computer games. Fiona was sitting right next to Egg. Madison wondered if they
would
start dating. She pushed that out of her thoughts real quick.

“Guess what?” Aimee suddenly reappeared with a giant smile. She said that her brother Roger would be coming to pick them up in a few minutes.

“What happened to that ninth grader?”

“He was nice,” Aimee said, not revealing much detail.

“So what are you gonna do?” Madison asked.

Aimee shrugged. She had no idea what she would do. It was just fun to flirt.

“You know what?” Aimee asked all of a sudden. “You’re a great friend!”

Madison was surprised. “Why are you saying that, Aimee?”

“Because. You’re so nice. To me. To Lindsay….” Aimee’s voice trailed off. “Seventh grade just stresses me out and I’m not so good at being nice. I know that.”

“You’re great, too,” Madison said, wrapping her arm around Aimee’s shoulder. “You’re my best, best friend.”

Aimee had a big grin on her face. “We made it to junior high, Maddie. We used to talk about this. Parties. Boys. All of it. And now …”

Madison sighed. “We’re really here.”

With arms locked, they glanced around the room. Madison had come this far and now she wished she could just go a little more. If only she could flirt better! Madison hadn’t spoken more than five words to Hart since the party started. And even when she did speak, Ivy always showed up in the middle of it.

Drew came strolling over to Madison. “I just wanted to say good-bye,” he said. “So, good-bye.” Just like that, he walked away, before Madison had a chance to say anything. He and Egg and a bunch of other guys left, too.

Where was Hart?

Madison, Fiona, and Aimee grabbed their coats and bags and walked toward the front door. Just when she thought she’d missed seeing her crush, Madison spotted him. He was standing in the living room—and she saw him but knew he hadn’t seen her yet because he didn’t yell, “Finnster!”

There was another reason he didn’t say anything.

Ivy Daly.

She was hunched over, leaning on a desk right next to him. She was scribbling something on a pad of paper.

Was Ivy giving Hart her number?

Madison turned right around and ran straight through the front door, scuttling out of the Daly house so fast that Aimee and Fiona could barely catch her.

Once they were inside Roger’s van, Madison didn’t say one word about what she’d seen, even though Aimee and Fiona suspected that something had suddenly gone very wrong.

Madison wouldn’t tell. It was a
secret
secret—next to the files, next to Bigwheels.

How could Ivy have given Hart her number?

Madison asked herself that question at least ten times. She wondered why she liked the real-life Wizard so much that it made her sides ache. She couldn’t list reasons. It wasn’t about lists. She just FELT it.

That’s what
The Wiz
was all about, anyway, wasn’t it? You had to hold on to your dreams. Especially the dreamy ones like Hart.

Madison gave Mom an enormous hug when she walked in the door at home. Mom and Phin had been up watching TV and waiting for Madison’s return. Phinnie waddled over, half asleep, too. He yawned.

“Well?” Mom asked curiously. “Talk! How was the party? How’s that cute boy?” She wanted the whole scoop—and nothing but the scoop.

Madison filled Mom in on the food stations, the magic tricks, and the rest. Then she yawned, just like Phinnie had. No talk about cute boys tonight, Madison explained.

“I have to go to bed, Mom.”

Phin followed Madison up to her messy room. He made himself comfortable on her bed pillows as she opened her laptop. Madison hoped that maybe this was one of those late nights when Bigwheels would be online when she wasn’t supposed to be. She logged on to TweenBlurt.com.

It was a busy Friday online.

Even Bigwheels was there!

: You’re here!!!!


: what a surprise how cool


: (((Bigwheels)))


: thx whassup?


: FIRST how r ur parents


: :-Z LOL


: No! I mean with splitting up


: kewl


: still together?


: sort of


: I’m not so worried


: @—)—(—


: is that a flower???


: yup


: thanks for advice it helped sooo much


: really?


: totally


: I had our cast party tonite


: and? What happened with your crush?


: CUL8R


: what?


: he’s seeing someone else I think


: bummer


: me and boys are 100% hopeless I swear!


: that is SO not true


: what about u?


: hopeless LOL


: how is school 4 you?


: I have a HUGE english essay due and I’m writing on The Lost Princess of Oz. You inspired me.


: I did?


: GTG


: are your parents watching?


: Mom just found me on the computer


: whoops


: guess they weren’t sleeping


: bye


: WB


: *poof*


Before she closed down her computer, Madison had to get into her files. So much had happened tonight, and she couldn’t risk forgetting any of it.

The Wiz


So it’s over. The sky didn’t fall in on my head, the stage didn’t collapse, and no lives were lost during the making of this show. I would say the only thing that
was
lost during
The Wiz
was my nervousness.


Rude Awakening:
Just when you feel like you’re on a yellow brick road to nowhere … something great happens.


I’m not quite sure what I expected from Oz. Sometimes I do things because everyone else is, or I like people (or DON’T like people) because everyone else does. I want to be liked, too. But meeting Lindsay changed my feelings. I don’t even know if I will stay friends with Lindsay after this, but I will try.


I think that I am a combo of every character in the play right now. I’ve gotten smarter, I felt more stuff in my heart, and I also got braver. I hate to admit that parents are right, but they are—sometimes. Dad would be glad to know that I learned all these things from doing the play. His pep talks worked lots. So did Mom’s.


The characters in
The Wiz
couldn’t get through Oz without friends and the same is totally true for me. My list includes old friends like Aimee, new friends like Fiona, and even friends that I didn’t expect like Lindsay Frost. And online friends. I can’t forget Bigwheels!


Madison signed off and shut down her computer. If she didn’t get some sleep soon, she’d be destroyed tomorrow. She wanted to be in good spirits for dinner with Dad and Stephanie and for hanging out with her friends. Plus, she had so much homework to catch up on. Luckily, Mr. Danehy had agreed to move the big science test a week later.

Phin was just as pooped as Madison. He jumped up into bed with her.

“I can’t go through Oz without my friends,” Madison cooed into her pug’s ear. “Not even my animal friends, right, Phinnie?”

He snuzzled close, looked up at her with his wet brown eyes, and snorted.

It was a doggie “yes.”

Madison closed her own eyes.

Dorothy was right when she said there was no place like home. There was no place like Madison’s house right now.

Especially under the covers—the safest place in the whole world.