Double Dare (From the Files of Madison Finn, 14) (6 page)

Even though Madison was dying to hear what Bigwheels and Dad had to say, she forced herself to write to Aimee first, even adding an urgent exclamation point to the message.

From: MadFinn


To: Balletgrl


Subject: Gotta Party!


Date: Sat 23 Sept 4:13
PM


Aim, we HAVE to get working on Fiona’s party!!!!! Mrs. Waters was walking up the sidewalk as I was leaving Fiona’s this afternoon, and she asked me all of these questions about what we should do. Should we have games? What kind of decorations do we want? Do we just want to order pizza, or should we have something more special???


I had NOOOOO idea, so I said I’d ask u. So I’m asking. But we have to decide *soon* b/c the party is only a week away. Oh—and I almost told Mrs. W that we’d bake the cake but I wanted to wait & talk 2 u first.


This is going to be funner than fun!!!! Wait—is funner a word? (:-)


BTW—you’ll never believe what happened at Fiona’s. Don’t scream but she saw the guest list!! Only for a second—and she had no clue what it was. Whew, right? I know what ur thinking again, that I can’t work for the CIA. LOL.


How was ballet practice? WBS!!


Maddie


Madison clicked
SEND
and eagerly returned to her inbox, where messages from Bigwheels and Dad were waiting.

From: Bigwheels


To: MadFinn


Subject: Re: Fw: Need Your HELP!


Date: Sat 23 Sept 2:10
PM


I’ve been thinking about your webpage, and I’m wondering whether you’ll be using any sound files on your page? I found this cool site—animalbytes—that has a sound file for practically every animal on the planet—you know, like a lion’s roar, an elephant’s trumpet, a giraffe’s … well, whatever. You can download the file onto your computer, and upload it onto your page. I thought it would be good for science projects, stuff like that.


Sorry this is so short. I’ll write L8R.


Yours till the rain forests,


Bigwheels


Madison was glad that Bigwheels was trying to be helpful, but wasn’t sure how to add sound files to a webpage. Was adding sound too complicated for a school project?

I’ll check out the site but stay simple, Madison told herself as she filed the e-mail into her file called THE CONTEST. At least for now.

She deleted the advertisement from Boop-Dee-Doop; and then opened up the last e-mail … from Dad.

From: JeffFinn


To: MadFinn


Subject: Surf City


Date: Sat 23 Sept 4:57
PM


Hi Maddie! I found another site that might be good for your contest page. Check out bighomeworkfun. You’ll find a lot of great links.


BTW, What do you get when you cross a duck with a beach bum?


A Webbed surfer!


;-D


Dad


Madison typed the bighomeworkfun web address into her browser and waited for the page to load. She couldn’t believe all of the great help she was getting! This webpage was practically building itself … sort of. She clicked on an icon of a blackboard and waited for the next page to open. It was a slow site.

“Maddie,” Mom said from behind her. “You were late. And now you’re playing around on the computer? It’s time to take Phinnie for a walk.”

“Okay, Mom,” Madison replied without turning around. “In just a minute—”

“No.” Mom’s voice was firm. “Now.”

Madison turned around and saw her mother frowning and holding Phin’s leash. Phin looked up at Madison with his big puppy eyes.

“Rowrroooo,” he wailed.

Madison grabbed the leash from Mom. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I just lost track of time.”

“You’re forgiven, Honey Bear,” Mom said with a smile. “But dinner is in half an hour, so get moving.”

“Back in a flash,” Madison promised as she hurried through the house with Phin. She grabbed a jacket from the peg in the front hallway and threw it on as they stepped onto the porch.

Phin strained at his leash, eager for his walk. “Okay, okay,” Madison said. “I’m hurrying.” She loped along, sucking in the fall air—still warm, but with just a hint of fall crispness to it. As she looked around, Madison saw that the neighborhood foliage was just starting to turn gold, orange, and red. The multicolored trees looked like monsters against a sky that was deepening from afternoon pink to evening purple. The sun was going down earlier now.

Madison thought about how quickly the seasons changed….

Like a lot of things.

Egg popped into Madison’s mind. He’d been one of her best friends forever. They’d always told each other everything since they were small. But in the last few days, things had definitely changed between them.

Along the sidewalk, someone had raked up a small pile of fallen leaves. Phin plunged in, scattering them everywhere. Madison tugged hard on his leash.

“No, Phinnie,” she said. “We’d better leave those alone or else we’ll be in trouble with the neighbors.”

As they cruised along Fiona’s block, Madison still couldn’t get her friends out of her mind. Why did Egg and Chet assume that Fiona and Madison’s page would be bad? It hurt to hear them tease.
Hair clips
and
pop stars?
HA! The boys were probably working on a page about shooting hoops and fart jokes.

Phin started chasing a runaway leaf down the street. Madison ran after him, pulled along by the leash, back toward home.

Madison was more determined than ever. She and Fiona would do everything in their power to make those boys eat their words. So what if Egg and Chet’s double dare meant double the work? It could also mean double the fun!

Let the games begin.

B
Y THE TIME MADISON
slid into her seat in Mrs. Wing’s classroom on Monday afternoon, her head was spinning. She’d spent most of the weekend studying for Señora Diaz’s Spanish vocabulary quiz and for a math test. Now that both were over, Madison finally had some downtime in the computer lab.

Madison found a terminal away from everyone else and connected to the Internet. Fiona wasn’t alongside her, but the two had agreed to divide the work on their webpage. While Fiona was busy with the English, foreign language, and social studies part of their homework-helper page, Madison would work on science and math.

The search engine chugged and Madison awaited the results to her question:
What science and nature sites are the best?
Interesting sites popped up—like one called deepdeepblueseas—with pages of information on different marine animals, including sharks. Madison found pictures of sharks in their natural habitats that she copied onto a disk. Even if I don’t win the webpage contest, Madison thought as she surfed through the site, I definitely will kick butt on my next science paper.

“Mrs. Wing?” someone yelled from across the room.

Madison looked up and saw the back of Egg’s head. He was in a terminal on the other side of class, waving his hand eagerly in the air.

“I’ll be there in just a minute, Walter,” Mrs. Wing said. She turned back to Lance, the student she was helping first, and pointed to the screen.

“That link isn’t working properly,” Mrs. Wing told Lance. “Are you sure the HTML coding is right?”

“I’ve checked it a hundred times,” he insisted.

“Let’s take a look together,” Mrs. Wing said, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. She was wearing a red wrap dress and a necklace of large amber beads. Her hair was done up in a loose French twist. Madison knew that if
she
tried that hairdo, it would look like a mess. But on Mrs. Wing, it looked prettier than pretty.

“Mrs. Wing!” Ben Buckley also called out her name. “Can you help me please? It’s an emergency!”

“Lance first, then Walter, then you,” Mrs. Wing said as she leaned over and typed on Lance’s keyboard. “And there’s no need to shout, Ben. That goes for everyone in this room. I’ll get around to
all
of you.”

Madison smiled. She loved the way Mrs. Wing never hurried, and always gave whoever she was helping her undivided attention.

After turning back to her computer screen, Madison scrolled down the page layout she and Fiona had put together so far. A headline moved across the top like a theater marquee:
WELCOME TO MADISON AND FIONA’S HOMEWORK CENTER
. Below that were icons for each of the subjects they wanted to cover: English, social studies, science, and others. Madison plugged in the new shark image as the icon for science. Even though it
looked
exciting, she needed to jazz up the page in a different way.

More pictures? More special effects? What was the name of the sound-bite site Bigwheels had recommended?

Animalbytes! Madison remembered and typed in the address. As she browsed and clicked, Madison discovered every animal and nature sound imaginable—and they were all free. Downloading the sound files was way easier than she had thought. Madison could even use the sounds for other purposes, too.

Like the PARTY!

The day before, when Madison and Aimee had brainstormed the content and design for Mrs. Waters’s surprise party e-vite, they were only thinking about the images and the words. What if Madison could figure out how to add sound to the invitation? She quickly surfed around in search of another sound site that would have the noise of a bowling ball knocking down pins in a bowling alley. With that noise and a little formatting, Madison would be ready to send the best multimedia e-vite ever.

“Mrs. Wing?” Egg yelled. His voice startled Madison.

“Please be patient, Walter, I’m coming,” Mrs. Wing said.

But an impatient Egg kept clicking his mouse as if he wanted to squash a bug onscreen. What was his problem? Madison wondered. Egg seemed grouchier than grouchy. Maybe he’s having trouble without Chet there to help?

WAIT! Madison thought. Why am I wracking my brain to figure this out? Egg will know how to add a sound to an e-vite! I should ask him!

The only trouble was that they weren’t really talking.

There were only a few minutes left before the bell and the end of class. Deciding that now was her chance to break their silence and get Egg’s undivided attention, Madison logged off and slipped out from behind her desk.

Egg saw her coming and scowled. “What are you looking at, Maddie?” he asked. “Trying to figure out what I’m doing for the computer contest?”

Madison rolled her eyes, but decided not to take the bait. “Actually, I came over here to talk to you about something totally different,” she said. “I have a secret and I could use your—”

“WHAT?” Egg snarled. He was still scowling, but he looked a little interested. “What?” he said again, nicer this time.

“You have to promise not to tell,” Madison said.

“Fine, I promise,” Egg said. “What?”

Madison leaned over and kept her voice low. “Mrs. Waters asked me and Aimee to help her plan a surprise party this Saturday for Fiona and Chet,” she said. “And so we’re making the electronic invitation.”

Egg’s eyebrows flew up. “Really?” he asked.

Madison nodded. “Yeah. Aimee and I came up with a list of people to invite for Fiona, but we don’t really know who to invite for Chet. I thought maybe you could help. And I’d like to add sound to the e-vite, but I’m not really sure….”

“Sure,” Egg said, smiling. “This is so cool, Maddie. Why didn’t you tell me sooner? I have a million ideas.”

“I know,” Madison agreed. “Okay, so for the list of guys, I’ve got you and Drew, of course—”

“Did someone say my name?” Drew asked from his seat to the left of Egg. He leaned over and smiled at Madison.

“Can we tell him?” Egg asked.

Drew stared at Egg. “Tell me what?”

“Shh!” Madison said. “Okay, we can tell him. But you guys really can’t tell anyone else about this. If word gets around, the surprise will be totally ruined!”

“I won’t tell anyone anything,” Drew said. “Especially since I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Egg?” Madison asked.

“We promise, we promise,” Egg said. Then he turned to Drew. “Big surprise party for Chet this weekend,” he explained.

“No way,” Drew said. “Awesome!”

“It’s for Fiona, too,” Madison added.

“Duh, they’re twins,” Egg said. “So who’s invited?”

“That’s the question,” Madison said. “Any ideas?”

“Dan,” Drew said. “We’ve gotta have Dan there.”

“He’s on the list,” Madison said. “So is Hart. And Suresh.” Madison felt her cheeks start to burn at the mention of Hart’s name, and she hoped Egg and Drew wouldn’t notice.

“That’s cool,” Egg said. “What about Ben? He and Chet are pretty friendly.”

Madison bit her lip, thinking about how Aimee had vetoed Ben on Saturday. “Don’t you guys think he’s a little … obnoxious?” she asked.

Egg shrugged. “Yeah,” he said. “So? I’m obnoxious, too.”

Drew snorted the way he always did when he laughed at Egg’s wisecracks.

“Hey, Chet thinks Ben’s hilarious,” Drew added.

Madison sighed. “Okay,” she said. “He’s on the list.”

Just then, Mrs. Wing walked over. “I’m sorry, Walter. Samantha’s program was a little more complicated than I thought. But I can help you now.”

“Oh, it’s no problem, Mrs. Wing,” Egg said. “Madison and Drew are helping me.” Madison had to fight down a giggle. Egg was always extra-polite when he spoke to Mrs. Wing, because he had a little crush on her. It was sort of funny to watch him in action.

Mrs. Wing smiled at them. “Okay, great. Let me go help Ben before the bell rings.”

“Don’t you need to talk to her?” Madison asked Egg as Mrs. Wing walked away.

“I’ll catch her later, during free period,” Egg said. “This is more important.”

Madison smiled. That was just like the Egg she’d always known—friends always came first with him.