Forget Me Not (From the Files of Madison Finn, 21) (6 page)

Mom led the team back into the locker room to put away the equipment and change clothes. She wanted to ask the players a few more questions.

Julian Lodge stayed outside. He approached Madison and her friends as they waited on the sidelines.

“Well, girls,” Julian said, “you’re good friends to be out here, cheering on your friends like this.”

“Yeah, we are, yes, sure, uh-huh …” Aimee blubbered.

Lindsay couldn’t even say that much. The pair of them pasted on silly grins and just stared at Julian as if he really were some kind of movie star.

Madison wasn’t falling for it. For whatever reason, she didn’t like him or his movie.

“Madison,” Julian said. “A little bird tells me you don’t want to be a part of our little film.”

“A little bird? You mean my mother?” Madison said bluntly.

“Well, yes …”

“You have all these other students to be in it. They should be enough,” Madison said.

“Nonsense,” Julian said. “The film won’t be the same without each and every one of you.”

Madison rolled her eyes. “Uh-huh,” she said, not giving him an inch. “Well … I have things to do. Maybe.”

“Okay,” Julian said with a smile. “
Maybe
is good. See you around, then? Thanks for the first day of shooting, girls. Tell your friend Fiona she’s a real trouper.”

“Yeah, sure,” Madison said, trying hard not to sound rude.

“Maddie,” Aimee asked as Julian walked away. “What’s going on?”

“What?” Madison asked.

“Well, Julian is the … director,” Lindsay said.

“So?” Madison asked.

“So? You’re supposed to be helpful, aren’t you?” Aimee said.

Madison shrugged. “I am
always
helpful.”

Aimee raised her eyebrows, but before she could say anything more, Fiona, Daisy, and the others emerged from the locker rooms. Since Lindsay was getting a ride home from her dad and Fiona was meeting Chet and her parents back in front of the school, Madison and Aimee had made a plan to walk home from school together.

The air wasn’t as warm now as it had been when the sun was way up high in the sky. Now it felt more like a typical February evening. Madison zipped up her hoodie and buttoned her jacket right up to the neck. Aimee wrapped two scarves around her neck. One of them was a striped one that Madison’s grandmother had knitted for Aimee the year before. Madison had almost the same one, knitted with different colored yarns.

“Maddie, are you feeling okay?” Aimee asked as soon as she had the chance. “Ever since the film crew arrived you haven’t been acting the same, and it’s starting to bug me out.”

Madison kicked at a rock on the sidewalk. “I just don’t like being on camera. You know.”

“But you aren’t on camera, Maddie. You haven’t been on camera once yet.”

“I guess you’re right….”

“Hey, come over to my house,” Aimee said. “We can study—or maybe do our nails. Mom picked up this organic nail polish for me.”

“Organic nail polish?”

“Not tested on animals,” Aimee said. “And it smells good, not like chemicals.”

“But I don’t have nails,” Madison chuckled. “I’ve chewed them down to nubs in the last two days.”

Despite her lack of nails, Madison realized that heading over to Aimee’s house was a great idea. It was the best way to avoid Mom, at least for a little while. She decided to tag along.

As Madison and Aimee walked into the Gillespies’ hall, they heard the clang of metal pots. Mr. and Mrs. Gillespie were scooting around inside the kitchen, stewing at least three different crocks full of what they called Vegetable Mulligatawny. That night, Mr. Gillespie was hosting a potluck book-group supper at his Cyber Cafe and bookstore.

“Well, hello, you two!” Mrs. Gillespie said cheerily when she saw the kids.

“You’re still cooking?” Aimee asked. Her parents had been at it all day.

Aimee grabbed a handful of vegan nut cookies from the kitchen counter, and she and Madison headed in to the next room.

Aimee’s brothers were hardly ever inside the house at the same time anymore. But Madison found three of them there today. Roger, Dean, and Doug were sprawled across the two sofas and chairs in the den.

“What are you guys doing here?” Aimee asked when she saw them.

“Blame Dad,” Roger said simply. He was the oldest brother. He helped his dad part-time at the bookstore.

“Yeah, Dad got all of us to go to this stupid thing at the bookstore tonight,” Dean said. “Me and Doug have to run the food table. How bad is that?”

“Where’s Billy?” Madison asked, wondering where Aimee’s fourth brother was hiding.

“He had something to do at the college and couldn’t come home,” Roger said, “but of course Dad asked him anyway—twice.”

“Aren’t you helping out, Aimee?” grumbled Aimee’s ninth-grade brother, Doug. He was always complaining that Aimee got special treatment because she was the only girl in the house other than Blossom, the Gillespies’ female basset hound.

“I guess I’ll help out,” Aimee shrugged. “Dad probably figured he’d just drag me in at the last minute as usual.”

“Yeah, right,” Doug said. “But you’ll probably find some reason not to come, knowing you.”

“Even if Aimee can’t go … I can come,” Madison piped up.

“Oh, Maddie, you don’t have to come. It’s so dumb, and it goes on forever, and you don’t want to be there. Trust me on this one,” Aimee said.

They sat around talking for a while longer, until Aimee and her brothers had to go. Madison said, “Later, alligators,” and headed home alone.

The inside of Madison’s house looked dark from the outside. But after she opened the door, flicked on the light, and got a quick smooch and nuzzle from Phin, Madison felt a lot better. She plopped down on to the living-room sofa and waited patiently for Mom’s return. The orange laptop was good company. Madison opened another new file.

Whatever


We sat around at Aim’s house talking about the documentary for like an hour. Her brothers think it sounds cool. Of course they would. Roger wanted to know what kinds of questions the director and his crew were asking. Doug was acting above it all, as usual. Apparently his class of guys in the ninth grade got interviewed this afternoon and Doug said it was the dumbest thing he’d ever done. Of course he exaggerates all the time. I know he probably combed his hair and posed for the camera. He’s so full of himself sometimes.


Unlike me. I know I sound like a broken record but I just don’t know HOW I’m going to face the whole movie crew tomorrow. That sinking feeling is back AGAIN. I think b/c my Mom is in charge Julian Lodge is going to hunt me down until he films me. Help.


Rude Awakening:
Why do I always end up in the middle of everything, including my very own midlife, well, middle-school-life, crisis?


Maybe I should e-mail Hart about what happened. I wonder what he’d say? It seems so weird that we E each other now. That’s such a MEGA step.


BTW: I haven’t gotten another e-mail from Bigwheels yet since we chatted on tweenblurt this wk. Why has she not written when she said she would write? I guess she’s busy with her new class pal.


Whatever.


Out of the corner of her eye, Madison saw Phin jump up. She heard the sound of keys in the lock, only the door wasn’t locked.

“Rowwowooooorrooo!” Phin howled.

“Maddie, you left the front door unlocked,” Mom called out. “Where are you, honey bear?”

Madison hit
SAVE
and clicked her laptop shut.

“In here,” Madison yelled.

“Oh, hello,” Mom said, appearing in the doorway to the living room. “Sorry I took so long. You want to order in?”

“I guess,” Madison said unenthusiastically.

Madison secretly wished she were having dinner over at Dad’s. At least he liked to cook. The only time Mom ever seemed to cook was when she wasn’t busy working on some film project. Madison wondered if Mom’s job wasn’t a hazard to their digestive systems. How much pizza and take-out Chinese could one family take? They’d ordered out three times already that week.

Mom called Lotus Queen for dinner. Then she dumped a bag of DVDs onto the living-room sofa adjacent to her office.

“What are those?” Madison asked.

“B-reels,” Mom said.

“Be what?” Madison asked.

“B-reels. It’s the complete footage from the video shoots,” Mom answered. “We look at everything and edit down to the good parts. Julian had copies made of all the footage so I could take a look.”

“Everything? Madison asked. She could read the labels on the tops of the DVDs, but she had no idea how to decode the numbers.

“Yup, there’s usually hours of filming that gets whittled down to a few key moments for each film,” Mom said. “But you know this! You’ve seen my B-reels before. Remember when we sat and watched that gorilla footage for more than a week?”

Madison laughed. She did remember.

“And remember the rain forest footage? Half of it was blurred from the camera malfunction. What a disaster.”

“Yeah, I remember that, too,” Madison said.

Mom and Madison sat together in the living room for at least twenty more minutes talking about Mom’s job. Madison realized, as they sat there, that maybe she was being too harsh. Mom’s devotion to the documentary film business wasn’t all bad. After all, Mom did get to travel to some cool places, like the Galapagos Islands. And Mom had collected some very cool stories over the years, like the ones about the gorillas and the rain forest.

In spite of their momentary couch-bonding and the rush of memories about all the great things Mom
was
doing, however, it was still hard to forget all those other things Mom
wasn’t
doing.

The doorbell rang. The takeout delivery guy was there.

Madison braced herself for another night of flat noodles, soy sauce in little packets, and frazzled nerves.

Tomorrow was another day, but unfortunately it was another day with the film crew and Mom and Julian Lodge.

How would Madison ever survive the rest of the week like this?

T
HURSDAY MORNING, MADISON RUBBED
the sleep out of her eyes earlier than usual. She’d tossed and turned all night.

Mom was up early, too. She looked more dressed up than usual, in tailored black pants and a crimson-colored, chenille turtleneck sweater. Mom moved around the kitchen as if she were walking on air, even though she was wearing high-heeled boots.

Madison had gotten a little dressed up herself, just in case the camera did catch her in action today. If she had to be filmed at all, at least she’d get filmed wearing something cute. Her sandblasted blue denim looked good in any light, at any angle. She stuffed the cuffs inside a new pair of brown sheepskin boots with some of the sheepskin showing on the outside.

“I see you’re ready for today,” Mom said. “You look just darling in that top. It’s new, right?”

Madison wore a fuschia-colored sweater set that she’d ordered from the Boop-Dee-Doop site. It was trimmed with spangles and buttons threaded with silver. It matched Madison’s pink button-down coat and the striped scarf that Gramma Helen had made for her a while back.

“Maddie, I don’t think I say it enough,” Mom said, “but I am terribly proud of you. And now that I’m inside your school on a daily basis, I can be proud of you all the time. I feel lucky.”

“Lucky?” Madison repeated flatly. “Sure thing, Mom. Me, too.” She was lying through her teeth. She didn’t feel like contradicting Mom that early in the morning; not when she knew that she’d be seeing Mom all day long in different parts of the school.

That week, Mom was like the human equivalent of cooties. Madison just couldn’t shake her—no matter what she said or did.

They drove to school and walked into the school building together. Mom actually followed Madison to her locker before finally (finally!) saying goodbye and heading off to meet with Julian and the crew. Madison went off to class, happy to be free at last.

Where were her friends when she really needed them?

On the way to first period, Madison stopped in to Mrs. Wing’s technology classroom. Egg, Drew, and Lance, another kid from their class, sat at monitors, typing madly.

“Madison!” Mrs. Wing cried when she saw her at the doorway. “I was hoping you might come around this morning. Long time no see.”

“Maddie, we have news,” Drew said.

“
Great
news!” Egg declared.

“What is it?” Madison asked.

“Julian Lodge wants to do a special feature on technology,” Egg said. “He’s going to film, here in the tech lab. How cool is cool?”

“Cool is cool,” Madison said blankly, not really knowing what that meant.

“Translation, Finn: they want to film us,” Lance added.

“Oh?” Madison said.

“It’s strictly voluntary,” Mrs. Wing said gently. “Although I would love for you to take part. You’re such an integral part of our web team.”

Madison felt overcome with queasiness. “I don’t know,” she said to Mrs. Wing. “I think I might be busy then.”

“We haven’t even told you what time they’re filming,” Egg interjected.