Picture-Perfect (From the Files of Madison Finn, 8) (10 page)

“We have the tickets and we can’t go! Why are we being punished like this?” Aimee cried, grabbing the tickets. “We’re in the
front row,
and this is so unfair!”

Madison tried again to convince Fiona that maybe Mrs. Waters would be their best hope for a chaperone, but Fiona still wouldn’t hear of it. After all the arguing they’d been through, Fiona was fearful that her mom might ruin everything.

“I know I’m being stupid about it,” Fiona explained. “But I just can’t go with my mom. I can’t. I hope you guys can understand.”

Madison wasn’t sure she could, but Aimee wrapped her arm around Fiona’s shoulder. “It’s okay,” she said. “We’ll find someone else.”

Even though Madison didn’t really believe Aimee, it was nice to have the old, nongrumpy part of her personality back. She was looking, feeling, and acting better since Monday’s accident.

The three of them mingled by the lockers before the first and second bells rang for homeroom, puzzling over any remaining chaperone candidates.

Mr. Gillespie? Had to run the bookstore.

Madison’s mom? Date with Paul and his family.

Madison’s dad? Out of town.

“Why don’t you ask Mrs. Wing?” Fiona suggested to Madison. “Aren’t you, like, the teacher’s pet?”

“I am not!” Madison said.

“It’s not a bad idea,” Aimee said. “Mrs. Wing is pretty cool.”

“Ask my computer teacher to take us to a concert?” Madison said. “Are you kidding me?”

Mrs. Wing
was
a cooler-than-cool teacher. And her husband ran the animal clinic where Madison volunteered. But that didn’t mean Madison wanted them to go with her to a Nikki concert.

How embarrassing.

Just then, Hart and Egg walked past and waved.

Madison turned away a little bit. She was still mad at Hart for liking Carmen.

Following right behind the boys, Poison Ivy Daly appeared from out of a cluster of kids. She was drone-less, carrying her binder and notebooks down the hall toward homeroom. Madison could see that one of the books was plastered with sparkle bumper sticker that read
I
<3
NIKKI.

“Hello, Maddie,” Ivy grunted as she approached Madison and her friends.

“Oh look,” Aimee said. “Our wonderful class president.”

Ivy smirked. “Yeah, I am. Got a problem?”

Ivy had been elected class leader at the beginning of the school year in a closer-than-close election. No one was sure how she had won, but she had, and she liked to gloat about it whenever she had the chance. Aimee, of course, liked giving her enemy a hard time about the whole thing whenever she had a chance.

As if Ivy cared. She was already onto the next subject.

“So did I tell you guys that I’m going the Nikki concert tomorrow?” Ivy said.

“Yessss,” Aimee hissed.

Madison nudged Fiona as a reminder not to show Ivy the tickets they had for the same concert. Madison still wanted their appearance at the concert to take Ivy by surprise. Catching Ivy off guard was the only way to make her sweat.

“Yeah, you told us about the concert,” Madison said.

“Like a hundred times,” Aimee added.

“Oh, well, did I mention that I have a pass to meet her? Isn’t that cool?” Ivy bragged. “My sister and I do. Janet is taking me.”

Madison always wondered how Ivy and Janet could possibly be related. Ivy was a big meanie, while Janet, a senior at Far Hills High School, was nicer than nice. Janet was pretty, too. All the boys wanted to date her.

“Janet says we’re like VIP concertgoers,” Ivy added for emphasis.

“Yeah, you told us
that
a hundred times, too. No one cares!” Aimee barked.

Fiona giggled.

“What’s your problem, Aimee? Hmmm … fainted lately?” Ivy said, rolling her eyes.

Aimee didn’t respond. Ivy’s cruel comment had taken her by surprise. She was still sensitive and embarrassed about not eating and fainting in front of the entire class.

Ivy turned away in a huff and walked down the hall.

Fiona turned to Aimee. “Ivy is a cow,” she said. “Mooooo!”

Aimee couldn’t help but laugh at that, partly because it sounded funny and partly because Fiona rarely said harsh words about anyone.

“Thanks,” Aimee mumbled. “You didn’t have to say that.”

Madison looked directly at Aimee and Fiona with a beaming look of inspiration on her face.

“What?” Aimee said. She could tell Madison had something very important to say.

“We are so stupid!” Madison said.

“Gee, thanks, Maddie,” Aimee said. “That makes me feel so much better.”

“No!” Madison said. “I mean we’re so stupid about the concert. Our chaperone has been obvious, and we totally missed it.”

“What are you talking about, Maddie?” Fiona asked.

“Dean!” Madison said loudly. “Dean is our chaperone. He’s perfect!”

“My
brother,
Dean?” Aimee asked.

“It’s sooooo obvious,” Madison said.

“Really?” Fiona said.

“What are you talking about, Maddie? My brother Dean is a total loser! Why would we want
him
to go with us?” Aimee said.

Brrrring-brrrring.

The homeroom bells echoed through the hall.

Madison grinned. “I have a plan. Meet me after school. You have to trust me. This will work!”

She dashed off to the fourth floor, leaving Fiona and Aimee standing there, scratching their heads.

A block into their walk home that Thursday afternoon, Madison still had not said anything more about Dean.

Aimee was ready to explode.

“Maddie, are you going to tell us why Dean is the perfect chaperone or what?” Aimee yelled. “Quit playing!”

Madison’s grin grew. “I can’t believe you guys haven’t guessed why he’s the one,” she said.

Aimee stopped walking. “I am not moving another inch until you tell me.”

“Think about Ivy,” Madison said. “She’s going with her sister Janet … who’s in high school….”

“Yeah,” Aimee said. “So?”

“Aim!” Fiona said. “I get it! Someone from high school can take us.”

“So?” Aimee asked.

“Aim,” Madison said seriously. “Janet and Dean are the same age. Duh.”

Aimee gasped, “I know. But Dean is such a …”

“Such a good choice?” Madison grinned.

“Aw, Maddie. He probably won’t even go, I swear,” Aimee said, hurrying off toward Blueberry Street with her friends. “He’s such a pain.”

“But he’s our last chance!” Fiona said, running ahead of her friends.

Madison and Aimee laughed.

When they arrived at the Gillespie house, the threesome was lucky enough to find Dean sitting in the living room like a lump, watching TV. They cornered him immediately.

“What do you three want?” Dean grunted.

“Dean,” Aimee said in her sweetest voice ever, “we were wondering …”

“ … since Roger can’t take us to the Nikki concert anymore …” Madison continued.

“Will you take us? Please?” Aimee finished.

“I’m not going to your idiot concert, Aim,” Dean said. “Leave me alone.”

The three sighed. This would take some serious begging. Aimee tried to offer him her allowance money, but he said no. She also offered to do all his house chores for a month, but he said no to that, too.

“Nikki stinks,” Dean said, turning up the volume on the TV. “She has a cute belly button, but I hate her music. She can’t sing.”

Madison sat next to Dean and re-explained the seriousness of the situation—how they had won the tickets, how it was the opportunity of a lifetime, and how they absolutely had to go to the concert because their enemy Poison Ivy Daly was going to be there with her sister Janet.

“You’d be saving us,” Madison said.

Aimee sat on the couch wringing her hands. “Dean, will you just please do this …
Please
?”

Dean gave his sister a blank stare, as usual. Then he turned to Madison and said, “Wait a minute. Did you say Janet
Daly
?”

“Yes,” Madison said.

He smiled. “Are you saying that if I took you guys to the concert I could hang with Janet Daly?”

“Totally,” Madison said quickly without thinking.

Fiona shot her a look. “Maddie …”

“Who cares about Janet Daly?” Aimee asked.

“If we can hang with Janet, then I’ll go,” Dean said, without another pause. “I’ve been trying to get a date with Janet Daly all year.”

“A date?” Madison said.

Fiona gulped.

Aimee’s jaw dropped.

Yes, they’d be able to go to the concert, but Madison couldn’t help but wonder if she’d made a terrible mistake. Dean was practically drooling at the idea of hanging out with Janet Daly, which was gross enough. But hanging with Janet meant they’d be hanging out with Poison Ivy, too.

And
that
was grosser than gross.

NIKKI


Rude Awakening:
Now that it’s time to face the music, it’s time to face the enemy, too.


HELP!


How could I have said all those dumber-than-dumb things to Dean? I wanted to go to this concert so badly that I completely spaced out on the reality of what I was saying. Spend the whole night with Ivy? HELP! Even Fiona realized what was happening. Aimee wanted to kick me. She still does.


Tonight we will be standing at the concert for real. Will it be awful standing near HER? Fiona says that at least Ivy’s in the fifth row and we’re up front. She’ll be jealous of US for a change, right?


I will try not to obsess about this. The most important thing is that we’re going-after everything that has happened—we are going to our very first concert! Seeing Nikki is a dream come true for all of us.


Only twelve more hours until we’re there.


Madison closed her laptop file. She’d woken up Friday morning thinking about a lot of different things: her self-portrait for art class (which was due today), an English vocabulary quiz she was doomed to flunk (she hadn’t studied), and, of course, Nikki.

Nikki, Nikki, Nikki.

Could Madison survive just one more day of school before the concert?

Aimee had her dance lesson that morning—the first one since she’d fainted earlier in the week—so Madison walked to school alone. When she arrived by the lockers, Madison couldn’t find Fiona or anyone else to talk to. A bunch of other seventh graders passed by wearing Nikki buttons. Madison kept her eyes open for Ivy, the one person she absolutely did not want to see.

In her rush to get her books and dash down the hall, however, she nearly collided with the one other person she dreaded seeing.

Carmen.

“Hey, Madison,” Carmen said, acting friendly for the first time that Madison could remember. “Is that your picture for Mr. Duane?” she asked.

Madison toted a rolled-up piece of art wrapped with a rubber band. She looked down at the scroll and then up at Carmen.

“Yeah,” Madison mumbled. “I’m bringing it to Hart class.”

Carmen giggled. “You’re what?”

Madison felt her cheeks get hot.
Hart
class? “I mean
art
class,” Madison said.

Carmen nodded with a smile. “I know what you mean.”

The desire to run surged through Madison’s body, but she couldn’t move. She stared blankly at Carmen and cursed her lead feet.

“Did you like our self-portrait assignment?” Carmen asked.

Why was she still standing there? Madison couldn’t believe Carmen wanted to talk more. She couldn’t carry on a conversation now! Not this morning!

Carmen kept talking, though. “I thought it was hard. I don’t really like staring at myself in the mirror, you know? It’s so vain.”

“Yeah,” Madison said. She didn’t say much more.

“Well, I have to go,” Carmen said, taking off in the opposite direction. “Maybe I’ll see you later.”

Madison heaved a sigh of relief when Carmen walked away, but her embarrassment only increased the more Madison thought about the exchange.

Hart
class?

Between Dean yesterday and Carmen this morning, Madison was beginning to wonder why the censor between her brain and her mouth had quit working. And now, to make matters worse, Carmen had to suspect Madison’s true feelings for Hart Jones, right? Why else would she have said something as stupid as
Hart class?

Madison wandered off to her English section, head swimming with thoughts of Nikki, Hart, and a vocabulary list she could barely recall.

So far, the day of the concert was not turning out the way she’d hoped.

When the last class bell of the day rang out in the halls of Far Hills Junior High, Madison nearly screamed aloud. Her pulse raced. Her chest pounded. She even felt a little dizzy.

Only five more hours until THE CONCERT.

Luckily, Madison didn’t have to look very far to find her BFFs. Aimee and Fiona were waiting in the hall by the lockers, bubbling over with just as much nervous energy and excitement as she was.

“Oh-em-gee!” Aimee squealed. “I can’t believe it’s here!”

“Me neither,” Fiona giggled. “What are you guys going to wear?”

“I am definitely wearing my moonstone earrings,” Madison said. Dad had given them to her, and they always brought good luck. Madison wanted to make sure that everything about this concert-going experience was good
and
lucky.