Keep It Real

  Keep It Real

  From the Files of Madison Finn, Vol. 19

  Laura Dower

  To Rich, Myles, and Olivia

  for keeping me real all the time

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Mad Chat Words

  Madison’s Computer Tip

  Preview: All That Glitters

  About the Author

  Chapter 1

  Journaling

  Rude Awakening: For once, homework isn’t going to be a piece of cake—it’s going to be the WHOLE cake.

  Just when I think I’m getting behind in my school work, I get a killer assignment that just about GUARANTEES me an A (or maybe an A+, fingers so crossed) in Mr. Gibbons’s English class. It’s like someone just handed me the golden ticket in Willy Wonka.

  We started “journaling,” which is basically keeping track of feelings and observations and all that…which is what I do every day on this computer anyway! I think it’s great that everyone else in school is going to discover just how great it can be to keep files like I do. In journaling we have to write in a composition notebook. That’s the only difference.

  Apparently, we have some assessment tests coming up later this year, so Mr. Gibbons says we all need to get more comfortable—and more skilled—with our writing. All the English sections in the seventh grade are doing this, so Fiona, Aimee, Lindsay, and I are already planning times when we can write together, like afternoons at Aimee’s dad’s Cyber Cafe. Mom says it sounds like we want to do what people did a long time ago in sewing circles. Talk about a time warp. Imagine us a hundred or two hundred years ago sitting around making a quilt?

  Madison fingered the pages of the brand-new black-and-white composition notebook sitting on top of the desk in her room. She and Mom had picked it up at the stationery store after school that day. She eyed a pink sheet of paper tacked up on her bulletin board. The first journaling assignment was due in the morning, and she hardly knew where to begin. She read over the handout Mr. Gibbons had given the class.

  Journaling #1

  Mode: Narrative

  Planning: Make a list of events you plan to use in your story. Events are usually told in chronological order.

  Focus: Start a story with a quote or action. Get the reader’s attention right away.

  Topic: Write a story about yourself that details a moment at school. It can be a moment of success or an embarrassing moment.

  Madison gnawed on the end of her fat purple pencil and leaned over her favorite doodle pad (the one with the picture of a pug just like her dog, Phin). Naturally, she wanted to write a story about success. Who would ever choose to write about an embarrassing moment?

  Madison scoured her memory bank. In third grade, she had been elected president of her class in a landslide vote. Did that moment of success count? It seemed like such a long time ago—long before she had had a falling out with her classmate (and now mortal enemy) Ivy Daly, otherwise known as “Poison Ivy”; before Hart Jones (her übercrush) had left school for the first time; and before her newest BFF, Fiona Waters, had moved to Far Hills from California.

  Should she write the story of winning the election? Or should she write about helping Mrs. Wing design the school webpage? Or participating in a sold-out fifth-grade concert as the principal flute player? Which one sounded the best? Madison wanted to pick something that seemed impressive. After all, while no one read her files, someone else would be reading these stories.

  Phin arched his back and let out a little squeal, the noise he always made whenever he stretched and yawned at the same time. Madison turned away from her desk to pick him up. He needed a bath, Madison thought as she nuzzled his ears. He also needed her to clean out his little pug nose with Q-tips and baby oil. Lately Mom had been on Madison’s case about pitching in more around the house, especially when it came to taking care of the dog.

  The two went into the bathroom. Madison opened the medicine chest and grabbed the necessary supplies. Then she carried Phin downstairs to clean him up and take him for a walk.

  When she got to the foot of the stairs, however, the doorbell rang. Phin let out a howl, jumped out of her arms, and raced to the door, ready to see who was waiting on the porch. Madison followed behind him. Through the peephole Madison spied Fiona, wearing a wide grin. She opened the door with a loud “Ta-da!”

  But Fiona wasn’t alone.

  Although Madison didn’t see them standing there at first, Fiona’s twin brother, Chet; her sort-of boyfriend (who was also Madison’s best guy friend), Walter “Egg” Diaz; Drew Maxwell; and Hart were also standing there. Everyone rubbed their hands together to beat away the outdoor chill.

  Phin jumped up and down frantically when he saw the crowd of kids. Then he made a beeline for Chet’s leg.

  “Incoming!” Egg teased.

  Drew snorted with laughter.

  Chet backed up and nearly tumbled off the top porch step.

  Phin barked again and the boys started to play with him, pretending to grab his tail and tossing him a chewed-up rubber ball that had been sitting on the porch.

  “What are you doing here?” Madison asked.

  “Egg wants to download Disaster Zone, some stupid game,” Fiona declared. “He said you wouldn’t mind if we came over to play it here since my Dad’s computer is busted.”

  “It’s been broken for two weeks,” Chet growled.

  “So everyone was over at your place just now…and you all migrated over here?” Madison asked.

  “Ha! Migrated, like geese! Yeah,” Fiona nodded. “All the guys were at our place after school. And I was trying to work on my journal project, but I can’t get anything done with them around.”

  “I was just working on my journal, too,” Madison said.

  “Have you talked to Aim?” Fiona asked. She was referring to Aimee Gillespie, their other best friend.

  “Aimee’s at ballet class,” Madison said. “Or maybe she’s at her dad’s store. I can’t remember. I only know she left school right at the bell.”

  “Maddie, can we come inside, or what?” Egg asked as he scooped Phin into his arms. “Is your mom home? Can we use the computer in her office, or should we use your laptop instead?”

  “Seriously? Make yourself at home, dude.” Madison shrugged and laughed. Sometimes, when he needed something, Egg acted as though he lived at her house. But Madison and Egg had been friends for forever, so she didn’t mind. Neither did Mom.

  “Well, well,” Mom said, emerging from the kitchen with a look of surprise on her face when she saw everyone. “So the troops have arrived. What is it this time, boys?”

  Hart and Drew, who hadn’t said much up until that point, sheepishly said their polite hellos to Madison’s mom. Everyone piled into the living room and took seats on every available couch and chair. Phin loved all the attention, especially when the kids played with the back of his neck, his favorite place to be scratched.

  “Mrs. Finn, how was your day?” Fiona chirped, flipping her braids.

  “It was good until now,” Mom replied, grinning. “Now it’s great! Hello Fiona, Chet, Drew, Hart, Egg…” Mom went on. Even though Egg’s name was Walter, Mom used his nickname. Fiona and Egg’s parents were the only people who used his proper name.

  Madison didn’t know what to say now. This was painfully awkward, wasn’t it? She clung to the corner of the couch, the only remaining seat. Hart was on her left.

/>   “I’ve never been in your house before,” Hart mumbled.

  “Yeah, you have,” Drew corrected his cousin. “Haven’t you?”

  Fiona raised her eyebrows and smiled at Madison with an all-knowing BFF look that said, You WISH Hart had been in your house before…

  Madison lifted one hand up to test the temperature of her cheek. Was she blushing? Any mention of her and Hart usually gave her a momentary fever.

  “I don’t think Hart’s ever been here before,” Madison said. “Except maybe on the front porch. I mean, we usually hang out at Aimee’s or Fiona’s or Drew’s or somewhere else. Don’t we?”

  “Well, you have a nice house,” Hart said, loud enough that Madison’s mom could hear.

  Mom smiled and bowed her head. “Thank you, Hart.” She straightened a pile of magazines on the coffee table and picked up a few bags of DVDs packed in large yellow envelopes that were leaning up against one wall. She was in the middle of a publicity mailing for Budge Films. Her offices were too busy to handle it that week, she explained, so she had decided to send out copies of her latest documentary to friends and partners in the business by herself. Madison had helped her seal envelopes and apply the labels earlier that weekend.

  Egg picked up a small glass penguin from a side table. Madison leaped out of her seat to grab it from him.

  “Careful! My mom got that in the Antarctic,” Madison said.

  Mom looked out from behind an armful of stuffed envelopes and laughed. “Maddie, honey bear, I got that in Iceland. And that’s a long way off from the South Pole…”

  Everyone laughed—even Madison.

  “Whoopsie,” she said, giggling. “Guess I’m about ready to flunk my next geography test, right?”

  “You and me both,” Hart said, smiling.

  Madison smiled right back, and from across the room Fiona raised her eyebrows again.

  Mom got a bowl of pita chips from the kitchen and passed out cans of root beer to everyone in the room except Chet, who said root beer made him sick to his stomach. As everyone dug into the snack, Egg, with a flourish, produced a Disaster Zone Game Guide.

  “This was the last copy at the store in the mall,” Egg announced. “Mi mami got it for me. She rocks.”

  Egg’s mother, Señora Diaz, was always up on the latest trends and games. She also happened to be a Spanish teacher at Far Hills Junior High.

  “This guide has all the cheats and the tricks. Let’s go into your mom’s office and I’ll show you,” Egg said.

  “Actually, I think my mom’s working,” Madison said softly. “But we can go up to my room and play the game there on my laptop.”

  “Why don’t you bring the chips and drinks upstairs, too?” Mom said, poking her head out of the office. “But be careful. I just cleaned up there.”

  With Phin following behind, the group headed upstairs to Madison’s room to play Disaster Zone. Upon opening her pink door, with the very large DO NOT DISTURB ME sign on it, Madison was relieved to see that she had, in fact, made her bed that morning. And fortunately there were no bras hanging on doorknobs or random articles of clothing lying on the windowsill. That would have been a real-life disaster zone, for sure.

  Fiona, who had been in Madison’s room dozens of times before, threw herself across Madison’s bed without a second thought. The guys were a little awkward, especially Hart. He didn’t seem to know where to sit or stand, so he just stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked around.

  Chet made his way over to Madison’s desk and searched her bulletin board for something he could make a joke about. He was always looking to make fun of something or someone. Drew and Egg wasted no time. They sat at Madison’s desk chair, placed their root-beer cans on the desk, and immediately found the online version of the game.

  A screen flashed orange and red. An image of flames appeared and then quickly formed the words Disaster Zone. Everything flashed bright yellow, and in the background was the sound of loud sirens. Then another screen popped up that read ARE YOU IN? CLICK HERE TO BEGIN GAME. Underneath the words was a single, flickering flame.

  Hart went over behind the other guys as they clicked on the flame. The whole screen went white with a sizzling flash. The boys hooted.

  Madison went over to the bed to sprawl out next to Fiona, but she stopped herself.

  Oh, no! she thought, remembering her journaling page. Was it still on the computer screen? Had Egg deleted it? Had he read it? She quickly hopped off the bed and raced over to her desk, elbowing her way into the huddle of guys.

  “Wait, wait,” Madison said. “I have something…on the…computer…” Madison pressed the ESCAPE key. The screen went blank.

  “Huh? What happened?” Drew asked in a bewildered tone.

  Egg’s eyes opened wide. “Maddie!” he cried. He tried clicking a few keys, but the game would not restart. Madison couldn’t find her document, either.

  “You killed it,” Chet said.

  “I did not,” Madison said. “I didn’t kill anything.”

  “What was so important that you had to destroy the game?” Egg asked, lightly punching Madison in the arm. He was only half serious, but his punch kind of hurt.

  “Hey, Egg, this is my laptop!” Madison said, punching him back, harder.

  “Walter!” Fiona said, jumping off the bed. “Maddie was working on her journal.”

  “You mean that dorky assignment we got in school?” Chet asked.

  “It is not dorky,” Madison said. “What is wrong with keeping a journal?”

  “Writing in a notebook is so…Middle Ages,” Egg joked.

  “What did you write about?” Drew asked Madison.

  “I’m not telling you what I write in my journal!” Madison said.

  “You’re right, Maddie,” Egg said. “A diary is private.”

  Madison was shocked. Egg was rushing to her defense? He was usually the ringleader, the one who teased her mercilessly. Where was the crazy joke that he always delivered? His next words were even more shocking.

  “Sorry, Maddie,” Egg said. “Guys, we should just chill out.”

  As Madison picked her jaw up off the floor, she realized why Egg was acting contrite. Fiona. Duh.

  Egg didn’t want to look dumb or pushy in front of the girl he really liked.

  Fiona responded accordingly, batting her eyelashes, or at least that’s what Madison thought she saw. There was an awkward silence again.

  “We should probably go,” Hart said, slouching forward, his hands still in his pockets.

  “No, no. Don’t go,” Madison said quickly. “I mean, you don’t have to go. I like having you here. Phin likes your being here, too. I mean, he likes all of you being here…Why don’t we go on TweenBlurt or something?”

  “Oh!” Egg’s face lit up. “Wait! Wait a minute! I know what we can do! Man, this is brilliant.”

  “You and your brilliant ideas,” Chet moaned.

  “What is it, Walter?” Fiona asked sweetly.

  “Let me show you.”

  As Egg clicked away, Madison prayed that his fingers wouldn’t slip and cause him to select one of her e-mail messages or open the secret folder on her desktop that held her files. She had visions of Hart standing there while a dozen different files carrying his name opened up.

  Hart Jones

  Hart (Continued)

  Mr. & Mrs. Jones

  The One

  Him

  Just like that, every detail about her crush would be on display for the world to see. And Hart would probably laugh so hard that his head would explode. This situation was getting a little too close for Maddie’s comfort.

  Thankfully, Egg bypassed all of Madison’s private documents and headed right for TweenBlurt’s blog area. The screen went blue with tiny bubbles as the word BLOGGERBLURT appeared on a giant fish swimming toward them. The fish looked 3-D, a lot like the “Ask the Blowfish” fish that swam around on the fortune-telling area of the site.

  Phin rubbed up against Madison’s le
g. In the face of all of the distractions, he was demanding attention again. As Phinnie purred (because sometimes happy dogs purr, even louder than cats do), Madison read aloud the text that appeared on-screen.

  Welcome to BLOGGERBLURT!

  Here are some answers to your most important questions.

  What’s BLOGGERBLURT about?

  This site is where you can get FREE, fun, online diary pages that you update through your web browser. All you have to do is type the text you want into one of our more than 125 easy-to-use, cool design templates. Za-Zam!

  How private is my diary?

  You have the choice whether or not to list your diary in the member’s area. Click on “BloggerBlurt Members” for more information. To be extra safe, all areas on the site have password protection. Share your password only with good friends—or else.

  “Hey, good friends,” Egg joked in a low voice. “The password is Disaster Zone.” He typed the words (without a space) into the computer in the box where it said to enter a password. His fingers danced over the keyboard. Madison wished she could type as fast as he could.

  Seconds later, the screen blinked: PASSWORD APPROVED. Everyone stared at the flashing cursor.

  “Now what?” Chet asked.

  “Wait,” Egg said. “The home page will come up. It’s my official blog for the Disaster Zone video game. Can’t you see?”

  Madison rolled her eyes. “Egg, it’s a blank page.”

  “Good one, Egger!” Chet laughed out loud.

  Drew snorted.

  “Haven’t you ever heard of a work in progress?” Egg asked, sneering. As he closed the page with a loud grunt, Madison spotted an icon in the lower right-hand corner of her screen. Her missing journal page!

  Before she could say anything, Egg clicked it.

  Madison cringed. There was nothing she could do now.

  “Gee, Maddie,” Drew said with a grin. “Is this what you were so worried about us seeing?”

  “It’s a blank page, too!” Chet said, laughing again.

  Madison glanced over at Fiona with a feeble smile and mouthed the word phew.