Chapter 13

Wonder

It is now so early in the morning that the sun hasn’t even totally come out yet. I can see it through the window here @ Dad’s place. It’s coming in like slivers of light through the blinds. I keep thinking about the sun and all the planets out there somewhere, so far away, like our moon and the moons of Jupiter. It makes me wonder.

Rude Awakening: This weekend we saw a thousand lights glittering in the planetarium. But somehow, I still feel like I’m in the dark.

There is SO much I don’t know—about all those stars up in the sky, about the test coming up, and even about whether or not Hart Jones really likes me enough to ask me out again.

“Maddie?” a voice croaked from the dark hallway outside Madison’s room. It was Madison’s stepmother, Stephanie. She’d just gotten up to prepare for work. She had an appointment in another county—and a long drive ahead of her that morning. Her hair was pulled up in a barrette and she was wearing only a long T-shirt and her slippers.

“Hey, Stephanie,” Madison said in a low voice. Phinnie was still asleep, on top of Madison’s bed.

“What are you doing up this early?” Stephanie asked. “You’re always on the computer, aren’t you?”

“Not always,” Madison said. “Is Dad up?”

“Not yet. He’s out cold,” Stephanie said. “The alarm will be going off in about a half hour.”

“I couldn’t sleep anymore. And then I saw the sunrise,” Madison explained, pointing to the window.

Stephanie walked into Madison’s room and pulled open one of the blinds. Beautiful morning light poured into the room, and everything was bathed in Madison’s favorite color, orange.

“Mmmm,” Stephanie cooed. “That’s a nice way to greet the day.”

Madison grinned. “I’m glad I slept over,” she said.

“So are we,” Stephanie said. “Your dad, especially. He really misses you when plans change and he can’t do the regular dinners. It was all he talked about on Saturday night.”

“Really?” Madison said.

“Well, I’d better get into the shower,” Stephanie said. She kissed Madison on the top of the head. “There’s fresh OJ in the fridge if you want to pour yourself a glass.”

“Thanks,” Madison said, turning back to her laptop. She realized, after she saved the file in which she had been writing, that she hadn’t checked her e-mailbox since the other night at Aunt Mimi’s apartment. Madison quickly surfed into TweenBlurt.com and opened it up.

FROM          SUBJECT

XMENALOT       Special Offer

GoGramma      Miss You

Bigwheels      RE: What If

Wetwinz        Egg Says…

LuvNstuff      Thank you!!!

HartUR4E       Try This FREE

She couldn’t believe that she’d received so much mail in only a day. The first one was an easy delete. It was clearly spam. The message from Gramma Helen was short and sweet. Madison would write her back later, maybe in the media lab at school, after the dreaded test. Then Madison opened the note from Bigwheels.

From: Bigwheels

To: MadFinn

Subject: RE: What If

Date: Sun 13 Dec 8:10 PM

My brother said a few words today. Not just one--but three--MAMA, DADDO, and ME-ME. We were all amazed. Madison, you don’t know how cool this is for my mom & dad. Mom says I can keep my blog going, BTW, so check back for more news--and more words YEAH!

On top of everything else, I found out that we don’t have to take any more tests @ school this week. I’m sorry you do. You will ACE THEM ALL! I know it. :-l

Write back SOON.

Yours till the hot chocolates (your frozen kind sounds so yummy!)
Vicki aka Bigwheels

Madison hit SAVE so she would remember to write Bigwheels later that day. She clicked on Fiona’s e-mail next, hoping for some good news about the whole Hart situation.

From: Wetwinz

To: MadFinn, BalletGrl, LuvNstuff

Subject: Egg Says…

Date: Mon 1 Dec 12:08 AM

I can’t believe I’m online right now OMG! But earlier tonite Egg called me & I had 2 share w/u. He says that the test is supposed to be super EZ. His sister Mariah took it 2 yrs ago and she didn’t have any probs. Aim--what about yr bros? Did u ask them? We should have thought of that on Friday! Ok so CUL8R.

xoxo
F.

Madison hit DELETE. She had hoped for a different kind of news, but apparently, Hart had not told Egg anything. Or at least, Fiona wasn’t saying.

The next e-mail was from Lindsay. Madison opened it up: the attachment was an E-card from one of those cool free greeting-card sites. It played music and had an animation of a frog leaping across lily pads. A shower of virtual confetti sprinkled across the screen once the card was read. Madison couldn’t believe that Lindsay had sent a thank-you card already.

The last e-mail in Madison’s e-mailbox looked like spam, too. She didn’t recognize the address or the subject matter. But then she looked a little bit closer at the sender’s name.

HartUR4E      Try This FREE

She couldn’t believe the coincidence. How had Hart’s name—of all names—ended up in her e-mailbox? She thought back to something Aunt Mimi had said that weekend, about not believing in coincidences. Aunt Mimi believed in destiny. Madison wanted to believe in destiny, too—as in, her destiny with Hart. So she didn’t open the message, just in case there was a virus contained in it, but she also didn’t delete it, just in case it meant something.

Morale at school that morning was low. Signs were posted all over FHJH telling students about the times and locations of their particular standardized-test practices. Most of them took place in people’s first-period classes. Madison couldn’t believe that. Her first period today was Science. That meant she had to take the test with her enemy, Poison Ivy.

Before heading off to class, Madison, Aimee, Fiona, and Lindsay met up by the lockers for a good-luck hug. They agreed that everyone would get together later in the cafeteria to exchange thoughts about what had happened during the test. Aimee made Lindsay promise them all that she would not freak out in the middle of the test if she didn’t know an answer.

Mr. Danehy stood at the front of Madison’s science classroom with a sour look on his face, waiting for the bell to ring.

Madison slid into her seat. Ivy wasn’t there! She couldn’t believe her luck. No enemy, no problem. Another reason she was glad that Ivy was missing was that she wouldn’t have to deal with any more obscure accusations concerning missing (or stolen) notebooks. That morning Madison had not found Ivy’s notebook in her locker.

“Please put your bags under your chairs.” Mr. Danehy started his speech about test rules. The class had heard a version of these rules at least a hundred times before.

Madison stared across the room while Mr. Danehy was speaking. Her eyes landed on something familiar. Well, someone familiar.

Hart was looking back at her. He smiled.

Madison smiled, too. Her entire body warmed up when she did that. It was a strange sensation. Normally, Hart made her nervous, but for some reason, looking at him right now, before the big practice test, she relaxed.

Everyone got settled in their seats with sharpened pencils. A few moments after the class bell rang, Mr. Danehy formally began the test with a smack of his palm on his desk. “Go!” he cried.

Most of the kids laughed nervously. Madison just stared straight down at the page. She wanted to get this over with as fast as possible.

There weren’t too many questions on computer technology, which was a bummer, but there were questions on the Age of Enlightenment and the Age of Reason. Thanks to a study trick that Lindsay had shared on the train, Madison got both questions right. Or at least, she was pretty sure she did. She zipped through most of the math section, too. Egg’s sister, Mariah, had given good advice. This was a lot easier than it seemed.

At lunchtime, Madison couldn’t wait to catch up with Aimee, Fiona, Lindsay, and the others to exchange reactions. Since it was just a practice test, the results didn’t really matter, except that it meant something among friends. Even if the grades didn’t count on people’s report cards, they counted when being compared with those of other kids in the class.

Madison didn’t usually feel so competitive about that kind of thing, but even she found herself wanting an excellent score so she would have bragging rights. She hoped that Lindsay, however, got the best score of all. Lindsay needed bragging rights more than anyone. Of all her friends, Lindsay was the one who counted on the A-pluses. Of course, minus signs next to grade letters were unacceptable. And after a stressful (although very fun!) birthday weekend, Madison knew that a perfect (or nearly perfect) test score would be a most excellent bonus birthday present.

The friends met up with lunch trays and headed for the orange table at the back of the cafeteria. The girls sat together, but as it worked out, Hart Jones ended up sitting directly across from Madison.

“How did you do?” Madison asked him.

Hart shrugged. He’d smiled before in the classroom, but now he was grunting, not even saying real words, and playing with the food on his lunch tray.

Madison stared as he ate three bites of his turkey sandwich. Still, Hart said nothing.

Aimee leaned over to Madison. “Gee, he’s real talkative today,” she murmured.

Madison nodded. “I know,” she said.

Fiona and Chet started bickering about one of the test questions. Chet thought he had chosen the right answer, but his sister told him that he was wrong. Fiona loved telling Chet he was wrong.

“Hart,” Drew said. “You want to check with Coach about hockey this weekend?” He stood up holding his backpack. Hart stood up, too.

“See you later, gator,” Egg said. He touched Fiona’s shoulder and gave Drew a high five. Madison noticed that, and it gave her a little twinge in the pit of her stomach. Egg and Fiona were sitting there like a couple while Madison’s crush was walking away.

“So long,” Hart said to everyone at the table. “You too, Finnster,” he said softly.

Madison sat up a little bit straighter. “Oh…bye,” she said, still wondering why Hart was acting so strange.

Now the only kids left at the orange table were Chet, Egg, and the four girlfriends.

Aimee picked at the rest of her lunch. Lindsay swiped a carrot stick from Fiona’s tray and took a bite.

From out of nowhere, Dan Ginsburg appeared. “Where are the other guys?” he asked as he pulled up the bench and slid his lunch tray onto the table.

Madison, Aimee, and Fiona quickly turned at the exact same time and stared right at Lindsay.

Lindsay looked down at her tray. She didn’t know what to say. All the attention had somehow shifted her way, and she became self-conscious.

So did Dan.

“Um…what’s up, Egg?” Dan asked.

Egg grunted. “Not much, man. Lunch today is gross. Don’t eat that lasagna. It was moving. I swear.”

Madison looked over at Lindsay again.

Dan shifted in his own seat. “What’s going on?” he asked, confused by all the furtive glances and the silences. “Who died?”

Chet threw a piece of corn at Dan’s head. Dan laughed, sounding relieved, and then tossed back a roll. Then Egg joined in with a grape. Soon all three boys broke into a mini-food fight. Luckily there were no lunch monitors in the area.

“I think I’d better go,” Madison said, standing up amid the mess.

“I’ll come with you,” Lindsay said.

Fiona decided to stay with Egg and the others. Aimee was staying, too.

“See you after classes,” they said to Madison and Lindsay.

“I was ready to throw food at you!” Lindsay whispered as she walked away from the table with Madison. “Am I blushing? I have never been so embarrassed—never!”

“I couldn’t help it,” Madison said with a giggle. “I’m sorry, Lindsay, but you told us that stuff about Dan the other day, and then he walked up to the table, and…well, we all lost our cool. Sorry. Really. Sorry.”

“Oh, I don’t really care,” Lindsay said. “It just felt weird, that’s all. Do you think he knows how I feel?”

Madison shook her head. “No way,” she said quickly, unsure if that was the right response. “But I bet once he knows, he’ll be happy about it,” she added.

Lindsay seemed pleased with that answer.

As they walked out of the cafeteria, Madison noticed that neither Ivy nor the drones seemed to be at school. They weren’t sitting at their usual lunch table and they hadn’t been in morning classes, either. Madison figured they had probably decided to play hooky to avoid the test. She wondered who was smarter: Lindsay, for studying for the practice test—or Ivy, Rose, and Joan, for not even showing up.

Madison and Lindsay made their way down the corridor toward the lockers. Madison opened hers and pulled out a math textbook for an afternoon class.

Lindsay stood at her locker a few feet away. “Oh, my gosh!” she cried out. “I can’t believe I forgot to show you this at lunch.”

Madison had to smile. Lindsay showed her a printout of one of Aunt Mimi’s digital photos from the party weekend. It was the shot of all four friends standing under the sign that read MADISON AVENUE.

“It’s for you,” Lindsay said. “I have copies for everyone.”

Madison gave Lindsay a hug. “I’m sticking it up on my locker right now,” she said. She reached into her orange bag. “Wait, I know I have tape somewhere inside here. Maybe at the bottom…somewhere…”

She reached around inside the bottom of the bag but didn’t find the tape right away.

“Paper clip…quarter…pencil—ouch! I just sharpened it…let’s see…here’s the tape. It’s stuck under one of my books…”

With one pull, Madison produced the tape. Along with it, however, some other things slipped out.

“What a mess. I need to clean my bag,” Madison said. “I have so much stuff.”

One of the items that flew out was the copy of Lindsay’s birthday invitation. The pink-glitter envelope shimmered under the neon lights in the hallway. A few kids ran by on their way to their own lockers.

“What’s this?” Lindsay asked. She handed Madison another envelope. This one was blue.

“I don’t know,” Madison said. “I didn’t see that before.”

On the front of the envelope was one word. Madison’s stomach flip-flopped when she saw it.

Finnster.

“Open it! Open it!” Lindsay cried.

Madison wanted to tear it open, but her fingers didn’t seem to work.

“You open it,” she told Lindsay.

“Me? But…” Lindsay paused. “Maddie, this could be it.”

“What?”

“It. You know.”

“Open it, please,” Madison begged.

Lindsay gently ripped one corner of the envelope. Out slid a note. It was a short one, Madison could tell.

“Give it to me!” Madison shouted, grabbing the note from Lindsay.

Lindsay burst into laughter. “Okay, okay. Here.”

Madison felt her knees go weak. She slid down the locker bank to the floor, landing with a dull thud. Lindsay sat down next to her.

“Breathe, Maddie, breathe.”

Madison peeled open the note.

Hey, I don’t have hockey in a few weekends from now. My dad says he can take us to the movies. You wanna go then?

Hart

P.S.: Sorry about last week.

Madison’s skin felt hot. Her eyes watered.

Lindsay looked into her BFF’s face. “Maddie? Are you okay? What does the note say?”

“Everything,” Madison said. She leaned into Lindsay and stared back at the note. “Everything.”

Even though Hart had written on paper that was plain compared to Lindsay’s pink-glitter invitation, it didn’t matter.

Nothing mattered except for one thing.

Hart Jones had asked.

Madison was ready to say yes.

And Aimee was so right about what she had said after they went to the planetarium. They definitely were not alone in the galaxy—not anymore.