On the Case (From the Files of Madison Finn, 17) (16 page)

“I was not flirting,” Madison said.

“You’re such a liar!” Fiona and Aimee both cried at the same time.

“I’m not lying,” Madison said. “Can’t I change my mind? It’s winter break, right? Maybe it’s time I took a break from him. Maybe I should find a new crush.”

“Are you feeling okay?” Aimee asked, a little more seriously. She actually sounded concerned. “I thought you really,
really
liked Hart. Don’t you?”

“I guess I like him,” Madison replied. “When he isn’t acting like a boy.”

The trio burst into laughter.

“Well, Maddie,” Fiona said, “If you really don’t like Hart anymore, then you’d better be careful, because he might go out with Ivy after all…”

“Bite your tongue!” Madison said.

“Maybe it’s a good thing,” Aimee continued. “It’s spring break. Maddie can find some new guys to crush on.”

“In Far Hills?” Madison said, sounding not very enthusiastic about her prospects.

They lay back on the floor and flipped through some of the books and magazines around the room, talking more about crushes and boys and about how slow everything felt in the middle of winter. Aimee showed off her new, all-natural makeup set, and they took turns putting eye shadow and eyeliner on one another. The all-natural stuff didn’t come in any shades other than brown and browner (no hot pinks or neon oranges in this set), but it was still fun to do makeovers. It always was.

After it got dark outside, Mrs. Gillespie came up to Aimee’s room and asked the girls to stay for dinner. But Fiona and Madison both decided to head home instead. Fiona had to get home to pack for her cross-country trip, and Madison wanted to spend a little time with her mom and her pug, Phinnie.

On the short walk up Blueberry Street to her house, Madison thought more about her crush on Hart. She realized that it wasn’t exactly
fading,
but it was getting a little stuck. Neither she nor Hart seemed willing to put themselves out there and really find out whether the other person was “in like.” Through friends they had learned some key information. They’d discovered that they had some things in common. They had even shared a bucket of popcorn at a group movie date. But that was it.

Wasn’t there something more? Was this how it worked with all boys?

Dinner was already on the table when Madison walked through the door. Her mom had made spaghetti with vegetarian nonmeatballs and some special marinara sauce that Gramma Helen had sent to them. Gramma always cooked and knit during the winter and sent Madison and Mom care packages.

As Madison helped set the table, Phinnie rubbed up against her ankles.

“There he goes again,” Mom said. “Looking for a pug hug!”

Madison loved the way her dog always let her know what he needed. Why couldn’t boys be the same?

After dinner, Madison carried Phin upstairs. She booted up her laptop and headed for her favorite website, TweenBlurt.com. She was hoping to chat with Fiona or Aimee, but neither of her friends was online. In fact, no one from Madison’s buddy list, not even her cross-country keypal, Bigwheels, was online.

The next destination was Madison’s files.

Crushes


News flash: My friends think I am bonkers, but I’ve decided to rethink the whole Hart thing. It breaks my heart (Hart?) to do this, because he is hands down the cutest guy (I think) in seventh grade. But I wonder if maybe it wasn’t really meant to be between him and me. That would be my bad luck, wouldn’t it?


My hugest crush was (and is) Jimmie J, the lead singer of my fave band, but there’s no chance he’ll ever even know who I am, unless I suddenly became a rock star and meet him on the red carpet somewhere. Hey, that could happen! 8:-P


There’s that guy Toby next door. I wish he didn’t have a gf. Then again, he’s too old for me.


And then there’s Mark. He wasn’t really a crush. He was something else, something real (:>) But I totally BLEW IT with Mark. I never even e-mailed him after I got back from Gramma’s house--and after I’d kissed him! On the lips! Actually, he never e-mailed me, either. At first I was super happy about knowing him because Mark is so nice and it was summer when we met and the fireworks were so romantic. So why did I wimp out? Maybe I was scared? I mean, he’s the only boy I’ve ever kissed. That’s a HUGE deal.


The truth is that inside I was a little sad. No matter what, I think I wanted HART to be the first everything, not some stranger named Mark.


Maybe I still do want Hart to be everything. Ugh. That sounds so sappy.


Madison glanced away from the laptop screen. It was hard to think that one of her biggest dreams—to be part of a couple with Hart—just couldn’t seem to work. Madison hit the backspace key to erase the last part of her file entry. She had to stop writing about and start forgetting Hart.

Aimee was right. Right?

Winter break was a good time to crush on some new boys? Right?

“Maddie!” A voice yelled from downstairs. “Maddie! Pick up the phone! It’s your dad!”

Madison jumped up from where she’d been sitting on her bed, stubbing her toe in the process. She limped to Mom’s room and grabbed the phone.

“Dad?” Madison said. She heard Mom hang up the extension.

“Maddie,” Dad wheezed. “I just got the best news, and I wanted to call you right away!” he said.

“Were you just running?” Madison asked. “You sound breathless.”

“No, no!” Dad chuckled. “Maddie, I’m just excited! I am calling you about winter break. You still don’t have any major plans, do you?”

“No…” Madison was intrigued.

“Well, pack your bags!” Dad exclaimed. “We’re heading to Big Mountain!”

Madison’s head started to spin as Dad explained.

He’d gotten last-minute time off from work, and one of his clients had given him an incredible gift: a weeklong reservation for Treetops Lodge, one of the most exclusive lodges up on Big Mountain, which was a ski resort in the Adirondack Mountains. Stephanie, Dad’s new wife, was taking time off from work, too; and they wanted Madison to join them. It meant packing and leaving for the trip at the crack of dawn on Saturday morning.

“Wow,” Madison was speechless.

“That’s not even the best part!” Dad cried. “Stephanie and I want you to bring Phin. This lodge has babysitting
and
dog-sitting.”

“Really?” Madison said, still dumbfounded.

“And that’s not all!” Dad said, sounding like a game-show host who was announcing the big-prize package. “We want you to bring a friend.”

“A friend?” Madison squealed. “Really?”

Now her head was spinning. She’d only gone skiing once, and she’d never gone on vacation with a friend. This could be a lot of fun.

Without warning, Madison’s winter break was beginning to morph into a very real escape—at one of the ritziest ski lodges around.

And Madison knew
exactly
whom she would invite.

O
N FRIDAY MORNING, MADISON
couldn’t finish her cereal. Already her mind was up at the Big Mountain ski resort and Treetops Lodge.

There she was, sipping cocoa next to her own personal lodge fireplace, skating figure eights around a packed ice rink, snow-tubing with her BFF, and skiing down the slopes at breakneck speed.

And there was Phinnie, skiing on little doggy skis.

Madison chuckled to herself.

“What’s so funny?” Mom asked, rubbing sleep out of her eyes. She’d been up half the night working on a deadline for her latest project with Budge Films.

“I was just thinking…” Madison said dreamily.

The doorbell rang.

“Aimee!” Madison screamed, and she dashed for the door.

When she opened it, Aimee stood there, biting her lip.

“Well, well…” Madison said. “What did your dad say? Can you come?”

Aimee kicked at the welcome mat. Then she looked Madison right in the eye.

“I can come!” she said, her mouth curling into a huge watermelon slice of a grin. “I can come!”

Madison and Aimee began jumping up and down quickly. Phin, who’d come to the front door to say hello, backed away from all the excitement.

Mom came out of the kitchen. “Off to school, you two,” she said. “You need to face one more day of reality before the fun starts.”

Madison kissed Mom on the cheek, grabbed her orange bag with her left hand and Aimee’s hand with her right.

“We’re going on a ski trip together!” Madison said over and over again, as if she were repeating some kind of mantra. “See you later, Far Hills!”

Aimee was talking so much she could hardly catch her breath. She said that the moment she had hung up the phone after Madison had called the night before to invite her, she had started packing.

“Dad said he could really use me at the store,” Aimee said. “But then he winked and said he couldn’t let me pass up a trip like this. He says Treetops is like one of those places where people go to be seen. And now
we
can see them! Wahoo! I packed my parka, my favorite jeans, my blue sweater—you know the one with the little snowman on it?”

“So you’re cool about missing dance practice next week?” Madison asked. Aimee never changed her plans to dance—not ever. This would be a first.

“I can dance in the ski lodge,” Aimee answered. “Can’t I?”

They gave each other a big hug and headed toward school.

As they entered the school building, Madison and Aimee felt as if they had slammed into a force field. They had been happily bouncing down the street, but once inside FHJH the vibe was grouchy. The plague that everyone had caught was the winter blahs. Fortunately, most of the teachers understood that no one wanted to be in real classes, so they had the students play classroom games like bingo or charades. Others showed movies over two or three class periods. Gradually, as the morning progressed, people’s moods lifted.

Just before the lunch break, Madison spoke to Aimee outside the girls’ bathroom on the third floor. As they stood there, Hart sauntered by. Madison gushed about the spontaneous ski trip. Hart was impressed.

“Wow, I didn’t know you skied!” Hart said. “My family went up to Big Mountain once. It’s really nice there. You’re lucky.”

“Did you hear that?” Aimee squealed. “We’re lucky!”

“Lucky us! Lucky us!” Madison chanted.

Hart squinted and glanced around the hallway to see who was looking their way. He obviously didn’t want to be seen next to a pair of screaming girls.

“Um… could you guys… um… keep it down?” Hart said.

“What’s
your
prob?” Aimee shouted. “I’m not keeping anything down! I’m going skiing, I’m going skiing! Wahoo! Maybe there’ll be some cute boys on the slopes.”

Now Hart looked utterly embarrassed.

Madison gulped. Had he heard Aimee’s “cute boys on the slopes” comment?

“Hart,” Madison blurted out, not really knowing what to say next.

“Yeah?” Hart said, looking right back at her.

“Hart, you’d better… um…” Madison was stuck.

“I’d better go?” Hart said, raising his eyebrows. “I know. I heard what Aimee said.”

Madison’s chest heaved. Although she had made up her mind the night before to go on a Hart boycott, this wasn’t how she had wanted to do it.

But she didn’t have a chance to make things right, because Egg showed up. And then Drew Maxwell, Egg’s friend, appeared, too. Fiona and Chet soon followed. Now it wasn’t just a few friends standing there—it was a whole cluster.

The moment between Madison and Hart was gone, and Madison didn’t get to finish what she had meant to say. She looked over at Hart, who had moved away from her.

“So, you’re going skiing,” Drew said to Madison.

Madison shrugged. “Yup. Me and Aimee.”

“Maddie, I am totally jealous of you both,” Fiona said. “I wish I didn’t have to go to California. Skiing sounds so much cooler than surfing.”

“It does?” Madison asked.

“Well, duh,” Egg said. “Of course it’s cooler. There’s snow involved.”

Drew snorted. He laughed at almost everything Egg said.

“I know! Maddie, Fiona, and I will e-mail each other the whole time we’re on the trip,” Aimee said. She’d already figured everything out: how they’d keep in touch; what she was going to wear; what they were going to do; and whom they were going to see.

“You have to take lots of pictures, too!” Fiona said.

Madison nodded. She looked over at Hart again. He was staring back at her. There was no doubt about it. Maybe he wanted to say something more, like: “Don’t go!” or “I’ll miss you.”

But neither Madison nor Hart spoke a single word more to each other.

Madison took another deep breath.

The bell sounded in the hall, and everyone scrambled to head for their classes. Fiona pulled Madison and Aimee over to the side before they could walk away.

“Look what I brought!” Fiona said to her friends. She pulled out a ministack of yellow letters. “I made copies of Aim’s chain letter on my dad’s scanner,” she said. “And he had some extra yellow paper in his home office—just like the original letter.”

“No way!” Aimee said, trying to keep her voice low and shield the pages from any roaming eyes in the hallway.