Forget Me Not (From the Files of Madison Finn, 21) (14 page)

At least
it
had time for Madison tonight.

She logged on, searching to see if her keypal was logged on, too. For some reason, her message to Bigwheels came back “undeliverable.”

Madison went into her files.

Working


Rude Awakening:
Mom’s always, ALWAYS working. So how come my relationship with her isn’t?


This is such old news, but for the first time I actually feel jilted. I’ve spent the last week or so stressing about Mom and the video and Julian and her dating and EVERYTHING. And today I finally get it. I get what she’s doing with these movies. I see that maybe Julian isn’t such a bad guy. But when I try to let Mom know that for once I really DO get it, she says she’s too busy to talk and off to her office she goes.


I HATE HATE HATE THAT!!!


Not to mention the fact that Bigwheels is MIA. (Hmmmm. I wonder: is EVERYONE running away from me? First Mom, then Hart, and now my keypal, too? Argh!) Something is always up when Bigwheels doesn’t answer e-mail. I’m so sure she’s off chatting with Melody. :>P


Maybe I need to get my very own class pal. That’ll show Bigwheels that she’s not the only one who


Madison’s computer dinged.

: did u just send me a message??????


Madison let out a little gasp. She curled her feet up underneath her and started typing madly on the keyboard.

<
MadFinn>: OMG you must be psychic I was just thinking that you blew me off again


: WAYTA?


: Well u never wrote back


: when?


: yesterday


: ur crazy I totally wrote back I would never BLOW you off


: oh


: r u ok?


: how’s yr class pal Melody


: oh, we had our last e-mail on Friday this week they have tests in Australia


: so? Yr keypals. can’t she write 2 u n e way??


: NR it’s a classroom e-mail and we didn’t exchange home e-mails u know 4 safety


: really?


: the teachers wanted it to be in the classroom only 4 now


: but u want melody’s home e-mail don’t you?


: I guess but I already have a keypal so it’s no biggie :>)))


: you mean me?


: OC what do u think?


: :>)))


: melody was nice but we talked mostly about school and after school not like us


: whoa I thought melody was like ur new BOFF


: NW! that’s U maddie :>)


: even if I’m not international?


: Wha? u live in New York that’s pretty cool


: yeah, I guess


: so … tell me how’s HART


: Loooooong story


: ok spill it


Madison kept typing, faster and faster, until she started making all sorts of spelling mistakes. There was so much to say, so much to share.

Bigwheels was back.

The wrap party on Tuesday at school wasn’t at all what Madison expected.

For starters, Julian and the rest of the film crew didn’t really mingle with the other students. Principal Bernard had positioned them apart so they could talk to some important official from the mayor’s office that came by to “observe” the festivities and screen the rough cut. A local reporter was there, too, writing a short piece about the documentary’s “message.”

Despite the groups of kids pushing forward and backward, Madison hoped that maybe she’d shove into the pack for her chance to speak to—and thank—Julian. She really needed to apologize for being cranky during the filming. But no matter how hard Madison tried to inch closer to Julian, she felt as if she were standing still.

After about twenty minutes of the students’ talking among themselves, Principal Bernard grabbed a portable mike and got everyone’s attention.

“Attention, students,” Principal Bernard said quickly. “We need to wrap this up. So, if you would please put your hands together and let Mr. Lodge and the others know what a terrific time we’ve had …”

The kids clapped.

Julian leaned into the mike, too, and quickly added, “Let’s not Forget Francine Finn. Without her, this project would not be happening.”

Madison gasped as Mom appeared at a side door, on cue, scarves wrapped around her neck, chunky brown earrings on. She waved hello to the room and then started clapping herself.

Students clapped furiously. Even Egg went “Woo! Woo!” with his fist in the air.

Mom looked pleased with herself. She didn’t look the least bit harried or distracted, the way she’d looked the night before.

Madison wanted to run away. She couldn’t watch this. She couldn’t be here. Mom had complained of having all that work the previous night, too much work to talk to her own daughter; and yet here she was, taking a proper break, available to everyone else.

Hmmm.

“Your mom looks pretty today,” Lindsay whispered in Madison’s ear.

Madison nodded politely, because she was afraid that if she tried to speak she would get emotional. And if she got emotional, then Egg would poke fun at her, and even her friends would laugh, and then everyone else in the school would stare and stare….

“Finnster?”

Madison turned around. Hart was right there, practically touching her arm, his nose just inches away from hers.

“Hey,” Madison mumbled.

“Hey,” Hart said.

“Lame party, right?” Madison asked.

“Maddie? I’m sorry I acted like a jerk.”

“When?” Madison asked coyly.

Hart laughed. “You know what I’m talking about.”

“You mean yesterday?”

Hart nodded.

“Aimee said you were just being jealous,” Madison stated matter-of-factly.

Hart’s eyes bugged out wide. “Um … I don’t think …”

“Are you?” Madison asked.

“M—m—maybe I am, a little bit,” Hart stammered. “Well. Sort of. I mean, we did say that we were kind of … well, I guess we didn’t say what we were exactly, but …”

“It’s okay,” Madison said. “I get it. You don’t have to say any more.”

“Thanks,” Hart said quietly.

“Yeah,” Madison said.

Since they were standing in the middle of the crowded school cafeteria, Madison couldn’t hold his hand. So she just stared at it.

Hart’s long fingers drummed against his thigh. He looked up at the ceiling.

And then he looked right at Madison’s face, into her eyes.

The clapping continued around them. Mom was making a little speech now. But Madison wasn’t listening to or watching anyone but Hart.

In the history of moments between them, this surely was one Madison would never forget.

From: MadFinn


To: Bigwheels


Subject: PALS


Date: Wed 2 Feb 3:58 PM


1st: I haven’t been a VG keypal l8ly. Sorry 4 that.


2nd: I miss you.


3rd: You’re always asking about Hart and now I can finally say that HJ is gr8er than gr8! Yesterday we were standing together in the lunchroom @ school and it felt like those five minutes of nice time with him wiped out the entire drama of the last week or so.


Thanks 4 saying all that stuff u said about being my keypal b4 u were n e one else’s. I have to admit that I was a little jealous I guess b/c I wished u were writing me every day and not her. But I C now how class pals and keypals are way different. I checked out those links to those other cool websites, esp. the one that talks about Pet Pals. I really had no idea that there were so many different kinds of online friends. I couldn’t believe there were people who wrote e-mails back and forth about things like collecting stamps or baking cakes.


Well, I have 2 go finish a problem set now.


Yours till the cell phones,


MadFinn


The laptop snapped shut as Madison opened her math textbook and sprawled across her bed. She’d already started to work on the problem set in study hall but hadn’t gotten very far.

Madison tried to collect her thoughts.

Inside the house, the boiler hummed loudly. Off in the distance outside her window, she heard the faint trill of small birds, probably searching for the sunflower seeds Mom had loaded into the bird feeder near the porch. And somewhere in the background, she heard a low thump, probably coming from someone’s souped-up car stereo as the person drove around with the volume at full blast.

Then Madison heard footsteps.

Within moments, Mom was at the door. Phin trailed behind her, his little pug nose sniffing the carpet.

Madison expected some kind of confrontation. All week long, it had seemed as though every time Mom came to collect her daughter from the upstairs bedroom, Madison had locked the door to keep Mom out.

But today was different. Today, the door remained open.

So what was on Mom’s mind? She stood with her back to the door, arms crossed in front of her.

“Mom?” Madison asked. Usually when Mom stood that way it meant that she was upset. “Um … are you okay?” Mom wiped her nose. She bent and lifted Phin into her arms.

“Come with me,” Mom said, turning back to the staircase.

Madison followed her downstairs.

“Mom, what is this? Is something wrong?” Madison asked. Her imagination buzzed. Had something happened between Mom and Julian? Had they broken up? Was Julian downstairs right now?

Once downstairs, Madison realized that no one else was there. It was just the three of them, as usual.

Mom solemnly led Madison into her office.

“Sit down,” Mom said.

“Okay, Mom, you’re freaking me out a little bit,” Madison said. “I mean … can’t you tell me what this is. Are you mad? I know I’ve been a pain this week, but I thought we talked about that and …”

“Shhhh,” Mom said gently. She turned on one of her monitors.

The image of Julian Lodge filled the screen.

Madison sighed.

This was about Julian.

But Mom lurched forward and hit the fast-forward button. “Hold on,” she said, pausing the machine after only a few seconds. “I want you to see this.”

Madison’s stomach was in knots by now. She could only imagine what video clip Mom had unearthed from the hours of footage from the previous week. Was it the interview with Ivy admitting how much she missed Maddie? Was it mystery footage of Hart admitting how much he liked Maddie? It was fun to think about all the possibilities.

Mom clicked
PLAY
, and started to roll footage of someone else entirely.

On the screen now was Madison, sitting in a blue chair, in the middle of the media lab, talking to the camera while someone in the background asked her questions.

Madison cringed.

Her skin looked a little orange. She should have listened when Ivy had suggested that she put on a little lip gloss.

“Junior high is only hard sometimes, like when I can’t do a science project because my partner is … well, I don’t want to say anything bad about anyone on video.”

The interviewer laughed.

“What are the hardest challenges facing you in junior high?”
he asked.

On the screen, Madison looked up, then to the side, then straight at the camera.

“Well, let’s see. We’re being really honest, right? Okay, here it goes. My parents … they got divorced last year and … well, my mom has this real important job. But … um … I think everyone here knows her, actually … Where was I? Yes, well … Sometimes I think she decided that she needed to work twice as hard when she and my dad split up. He does the same thing … and that usually means …”

Madison scrunched down into the chair in Mom’s office as she watched the video clip. She’d forgotten all about saying those things.

“A lot of my friends have the same problem. Junior high is like this weird time because you don’t really want to be around your parents at all. But then … like with Mom … when my parents aren’t around … it’s hard. I have to admit that I miss them. And I just wish … well … I just wish Mom didn’t have to work so much….”

Madison looked away from the video toward Mom.

But Mom’s eyes remained locked on the video.

“I think now that parents have to work so hard, they figure their kids won’t mind if they aren’t around. But sometimes the opposite is true. At least for me it is. And this year that’s been the hardest. Well, that and dealing with my enemies and pop quizzes and not exactly being in the popular crowd. The usual drama, you know …”

Mom grabbed the arm of her chair and shot Madison a long look.