Caught in the Web (14 page)

Madison stood up so Aimee would see where they were sitting.

“Hiya, everyone!” Aimee said, sitting down on the edge of the bleachers. “I am so wiped out. We had a guest at our ballet lesson this morning. We had to do these exercises over and over—”

“Yeah, Aimee, like we care about your ballet lesson,” Egg cracked.

“Egg!” Madison cracked back. “And like we care about anything you have to say, either.”

“Thanks, Maddie.” Aimee smiled.

“That’s cool that you take private lessons,” Chet said. Drew agreed.

Aimee smiled back at them. She sneered at Egg.

“May I have your attention, please!”
someone yelled from the soccer field. It was one of the referees speaking into a portable loudspeaker system.
“Your attention, please!”

“Go, Cobras!” someone on the other side of the bleachers screeched.

“Welcome to the Far Hills district championship.”

Madison scanned the playing field for Fiona. She was jogging in place, chatting with teammates, eating an orange. She was getting set to win. Madison knew that this would be a special day in the history of the seventh grade.

“Say cheese!” Mrs. Waters said, pointing a camera up toward the bleachers. She snapped a photo of Egg, Chet, Drew, Dan, Madison, Aimee, Mariah, Karl, and whoever else could squeeze into the photo.

“Now, let us introduce our teams!”

“Rangers
rule!”
a group of girls yelled out a few rows behind Madison and her friends. Everyone cheered.

When Fiona came out onto the field, the applause soared. Madison clapped as hard as she possibly could. Aimee was screaming at the top of her lungs. Chet, Drew, and Egg were yelling, “Woo woo,” like dogs.

“Rangers rock! Rangers shake! Go, Fiona! No more snake!” Madison and Aimee had planned a special cheer in Fiona’s honor.

“That’s pretty good, Maddie,” Egg said.

Madison grinned.

“And don’t forget we want everyone to play fair!”
the loudspeaker voice boomed. A coach recited rules from the junior high school soccer bible. Strict rules about sportsmanship needed to be followed down on the field. While the rules were being read, Fiona stuck her arm up and waved to everyone in the stands. Mrs. Waters snapped more pictures.

“Go, Fiona!” Aimee and Madison yelled at the same time. They cheered so much throughout the game. They were hoarse at the end.

With two minutes left in the game, the score was tied 3-3. A halfback kicked the ball over to Fiona at the right wing position. She took off down the field.

“Go! Go! Go!”

It sounded like everyone in the stands was cheering at the same time, even Karl.

No one was following her down the field. The goalie appeared panicked, jumping from foot to foot, side to side.

“She’s gonna make a goal, I know it!” Aimee screeched.

“Go, Fiona!” Chet called out.

Fiona got within yards of the goal, and it looked like she was going to make a kick in, when all of a sudden she surprised everyone.

She kicked the ball to the side. She passed it to one of her teammates, Daisy Espinoza

And Daisy kicked it right in.

“Score!”

The Cobra goalie didn’t know what happened until it was too late.

“We won!” Aimee yelled right in Madison’s ear. They were jumping up and down and the bleachers were shaking. Aimee threw her arms around Madison.

Down on the field, Fiona and Daisy ran over to each other, arms in the air. They embraced. Madison felt a surge of excitement. The rest of the team ran up, too, and slapped Fiona on the back.

“My sister rocks!” Chet said. He dropped his cool exterior for two seconds to bask in Fiona’s soccer skills. The fact that Fiona was a star on the team only made everything else that much sweeter for Madison and her friends.

Madison smiled to herself. The only ghosts in Far Hills now were fading memories of elementary school.

Seventh grade had many more treats in store. Madison could feel it in her Halloween bones.

I’ve been getting weird e-mails from people I don’t know. Egg and Drew told me that sometimes strangers send viruses and gross stuff over the Internet. You could download something bad onto your computer and not even realize it.
Never download files from unknown senders.
Even if I’m really, really curious, I always ask my parents first or I just delete it.

Visit Madison at the author’s web site:
www.lauradower.com

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

“N
OOOOOOO!” MADISON COVERED HER
face with her hands and peeked through her fingers.

This e-mail was bad news.

From: GoGramma


To: MadFinn


Subject: Thanksgiving


Date: Sat 11 Nov 7:56 AM


I am so very sorry, Maddie, but I won’t be coming to your house for Thanksgiving. My hip problem is back, and I’m not traveling anywhere. Your aunt Angie is spending the holiday with your uncle Bob’s family, so our traditional visit is on hold until next year. Don’t be sad. I will miss you and Phin very much. At least we can talk online now. I finally have the hang of this e-mail.


How did your report card go? How is your friend Aimee? Write me another letter.


Love, Gramma


Madison groaned as she reread the message for the third time. When Gramma Helen didn’t like something, she would say, “Maddie, that is for the birds.” That was exactly how Madison felt right now. Only this Thanksgiving was going to be “for the turkeys.”

How could Gramma not come to Far Hills? Madison deleted the yucky message.

For the past twelve years, Madison’s parents had hosted a major feast every Thanksgiving. Mom’s mom, Gramma Helen, and Mom’s sister, Aunt Angie, and her husband, Uncle Bob, would travel on the plane from Chicago to New York. Dad’s brother, Uncle Rick, would even come from Canada with his wife, Violet, even though Canadians celebrate their Thanksgiving in October.

The Finn house had been the epicenter of everyone’s Thanksgiving universe for as long as Madison could remember.

Mom always decorated the house with paper turkeys and gourds and pumpkins and spice candles. All of the town guests slept on sleeper sofas around the house—except for Gramma. Madison gave up her bedroom for Gramma. But she didn’t mind. Madison loved having the house full of people … and so did Phin, Madison’s pug. He loved all the extra attention.

Thanksgiving morning meant sleeping in, watching the Macy’s parade on TV, and eating way too much good food. Dad wore an extra-large poofy white hat and called himself the house superchef. Madison was his unofficial chef-ette. She got up at five in the morning to help him make the best cornbread stuffing on the planet.

But not this year.

This year Dad wouldn’t be in the Finn kitchen, thanks to the big D—D for divorce. And thanks to Gramma’s bad hip and Aunt Angie and Uncle Bob’s changed plans, there would be no out-of-town visitors. There wouldn’t even be turkey on Madison’s dinner table. Unfortunately, Mom was a vegetarian who wanted to save the turkeys, not baste them.

Madison had visions of eating a Thanksgiving bean burrito and tofu stuffing with cranberry sauce this year.

Phin was curled up in a ball on the floor, snoring, oblivious to the change in holiday plans. Would he miss the Thanksgiving attention even more than Madison would? He’d surely miss turkey scraps tossed under the table.

“Maddie, did you call me? Do you need something?” Mom rushed upstairs and found Madison curled up on her plastic purple chair in the center of her room. “I heard you scream and … hey! What’s that look on your face?”

Madison pouted. “Gramma can’t come to Thanksgiving.” She leaned over to pet Phin’s ears. He made a snuffling noise.

“She e-mailed you, huh?” Mom frowned. “She said she would.”

Madison could tell from Mom’s tone of voice that she knew about the change in plans already.

“I’m sorry, honey bear,” Mom added. “Gramma wanted to tell you herself. I know how disappointed you must—”

“Thanksgiving STINKS.” Madison crossed her arms. “Can’t we go to Chicago to see everyone?”

“I told you I have work commitments that week. I’m so sorry, Maddie. Really I am. Next year we can—”

“Next year?” Madison said. “What about this year?”

“This year will be just the two of us. Is that so bad?” Mom chuckled, trying to make light of the situation. But Madison wasn’t laughing back.

“I knew everything would be ruined when I saw a black cat yesterday,” Madison moaned. She believed that it was terrible luck for a person to walk under ladders or cross a black cat’s path. Bad Thanksgiving luck had definitely found her.

“But we’ll have fun together!” Mom said with a big smile. “Won’t we?”

“I guess.” Madison shrugged.

Mom took a deep breath.

“What’s Aimee doing for Thanksgiving?”

“Having a normal day. Her family isn’t divorced,” Madison snapped.

The moment she’d said the words, Madison knew how hurtful they sounded. She reached for Mom’s arm.

“I didn’t mean that.” Madison gulped. “I am so sorry. Mom.”

Mom threw her arms around Madison’s shoulders and squeezed. “I’m sorry, too. I know our new arrangements take some getting used to. But Angie and Bob will come next year. So will Gramma.”

As Mom hugged, Madison felt all her feelings swell up inside like she would burst. But she held back from crying.

“Let’s just make the best of it, okay, Maddie?” Mom said, gently smoothing the top of Madison’s head.

Madison nodded. She didn’t really have a choice. Whether she liked it or not, certain rules about holidays had been set up in the Finns’ divorce arrangements. The judge had ruled that Mom and Dad swap Madison from holiday to holiday. This year, Mom got Thanksgiving. Next year, Dad would.

The back-and-forth between Mom and Dad made Madison dizzier than dizzy on a regular basis. Holidays, however, were proving to be the worst. In this family tug-of-war, Madison Finn was
definitely
all pulled out.

The doorbell zinged. Madison leaped up and dashed downstairs to get the door.

Aimee was standing on the back porch, arms waving in the air, her dog Blossom’s tail thwacking against the sliding doors. From inside, Phin started panting, he was so happy to see his doggy girlfriend through the glass.

“What are you doing here, Aim? I was just gonna call you!” Madison said as she opened the doors. Blossom dashed inside and ran off with Phin.

Aimee struck a pose with her hands up in the air. She was wearing a brand-new yellow winter parka.

“Whaddya think?” she asked. “I ordered it online from Boop-Dee-Doop. Well, my mother did. We ordered it on her credit card. My first Internet purchase ever.”

Madison shook her head. “Cool color.”

“It’s called Lemon Drop,” Aimee said.

“It’s nice. But in case you hadn’t noticed, Aimee, it’s like fifty degrees outside.”

Aimee pulled the jacket off. “I know. I know. But I just couldn’t wait to show you. That’s why I came over.”

Madison decided to make it a special occasion. She took out the blender to make yellow fruit smoothies in honor of the jacket. Making smoothies was one of Madison’s favorite things to do.

“Put extra banana in mine,” Aimee requested.

They watched the blender go.

“I just found out my gramma isn’t coming for Thanksgiving,” Madison said, adding ice into the machine.

“Bummer.” Aimee sighed.

“Yeah.” Madison sighed back. She poured the smoothie into a glass. “So what’s happening at your house for the holiday?”

Aimee shrugged and took a big slurp. “Mom is making some kind of health food dinner, as usual. My brothers begged for turkey, so we’re having one of those, too. You know the drill.”

“Uh-huh. The drill.”

Aimee looked at Madison sideways. “Is something wrong, Maddie?”

“I wish that I had the usual drill for Thanksgiving.”

“Yeah, you have to spend Thanksgiving without your dad,” Aimee said. “That’s stinky.”

“Without my dad. Without my gramma,” Madison said. “Without everyone. It’s just gonna be Mom and me. And two people can’t have a real Thanksgiving alone together.”