Only the Lonely (8 page)

“Annie who?” Madison looked. “You mean Aimee?”

“Your friend, the one who’s at camp?” Fiona queried again. “She looks so nice. Is she nice? Duh. Of course she’s nice—she’s your friend. That was a stupid question.”

Madison nodded, but it didn’t really matter. She noticed how sometimes Fiona started and finished a conversation all by herself.

“Who’s
that
?” Fiona asked, pointing to a second photo with Egg in it.

“Oh, that’s Egg—well his real name is Walter. Walter Diaz. He’ll go to Far Hills too. He’s a nice guy even if he does like wrestling more than life itself sometimes. Well, you’ll probably meet him soon.”

“Yeah,” Fiona snickered. “He’s pretty cute, isn’t he?”

Madison stopped the tour. Had Fiona actually used the words
Egg
and
cute
in the same sentence?

“Fiona, did you just say Egg was
cute
?”

“He is, Madison. He’s like totally my type. You said his name was Walter?” Fiona was actually
staring
at his picture.

In that brief moment, Madison realized that she had SO much to learn about Fiona if they were going to be friends. She had to learn about bananas and other foods that made Fiona puke. She had to learn when Fiona was being a space case and when she was really ignoring Madison. She even had to learn that sometimes Fiona might just see someone like Egg as a cutie. Being a friend with someone new suddenly meant learning lots of new stuff.

From the moment Madison had said “Make yourself at home” inside her room, Fiona had started snooping around like a kid in a toy shop. First she picked up Madison’s stuffed Beary, an oversized Teddy Bear with bald patches from where he’d been loved a little too much.

“Is his eye missing?” Fiona asked.

Madison grinned. “I chewed it off when I was two, I think.”

Fiona examined Madison’s glitter nail polish, picked over a basket of junk on her dresser, and read every CD case and book spine on the bookshelf. Meanwhile, Madison just stood by and let herself be
inspected.
She had been nervous about sharing her house and her stuff, but now Madison wanted Fiona to know everything.

“Oh, do you like Calvin and Hobbes too?”

Madison nodded.

“Is orange your favorite color or what?”

Madison grinned.

“Who’s this guy? Is he your boyfriend or something?”

Madison grimaced. “NO WAY!”

Fiona was looking at a framed photograph of Madison with Hart Jones, a boy from her class. It had been taken on a second-grade field trip to Lake Wannalotta upstate. The only reason Madison had it on her shelf was because she and Hart were holding up this humongous sunfish between them. It was funny, so she’d kept it. Now she realized she’d better replace it. She didn’t want people to get the wrong idea, especially people like Fiona.

“Lucky thing this Hart guy left at the end of second grade. He was like a walking zombie, always tagging along with me and Aimee and Egg, and pestering me. Ugh. His family moved.” Madison said quickly.

“Hey, what’s
this?”
Fiona asked when she saw a framed collage over Madison’s bed.

Madison explained that she liked cutting out words and images from magazines and pasting them all together to make a picture. The collage hanging over her bed was themed around the subject of “family.” She’d glued pictures of babies next to words like
Need You
and
Comfort.
There was a border of lace around the edges.

“You are a wicked good artist, Madison,” Fiona smiled when she said that. “I mean it. You should take art in school. Have you ever? I can’t draw to save my life. I’m so jealous!”

“Gee, thanks.” Madison shrugged again. She figured Fiona was just trying to be nice since they were only starting out as friends. “I don’t really consider myself to be any kind of real artist, but I like it. I mean it’s not
drawing,
exactly …”

“Maybe we should take an art elective or something
together
this year?” Fiona suggested. “You can help me make art!”

“What are your hobbies, Fiona?” Madison asked.

“Hmmm. I know I’m gonna try out for soccer this year. Does sports count as a hobby? Chet plays basketball and everyone usually tries to get me to do that too because I’m tall, but I think I’m going for seventh-grade soccer.”

“You’re into sports?” Madison plopped down on her bed.

Fiona smirked, “Oh yeah, I am
totally
into sports. Big time.” She sat down next to Madison.

They decided to sign up for art class
and
try out for soccer together when school started the following week. Maybe soccer could help Madison get rid of her klutziness? She hoped so.

Madison clicked her laptop on. She wanted to show Fiona all the stuff it could do. She clicked on the icon to load the web site funkyfotostudio.com. There was a button with a smiley face that led to the
Makeover Magic
page. The site promised it could give anyone a whole new look—virtually. “So …
this
is why I wanted you to bring a photo,” Madison admitted. “We can make us both over. I have a photo of me already uploaded. Wanna try?”

Fiona nodded and Madison transferred her photo to the computer. Then they started to play around with the images.

First, they tested a blond wig on Fiona’s head. She looked like she was wearing a really lame Halloween costume.

“I look like a clown!” Fiona cried. “Can you imagine if I dyed my hair blond for real? My parents would KILL ME!”

Madison gave herself brown eyes and a crew cut. “Ha! Look at me! I look like my brother—if I had one!”

They laughed. Fiona tried a full-figure makeover with a whole new style. She put herself into a teeny-tiny, itsy-weenie polka-dot bikini.

“I look like an even bigger fool with this look!” she shrieked. “Would you ever wear something like this in public? I don’t think so!”

They both tried to cut and paste on the same exact blondie wig, dress, and shades. Then they hit a different button and turned themselves into squirrels with people faces.

“This site is so weird,” Fiona said. “In a good way. What else do you have on your computer?” “Lots of things,” Madison said. “The thing is, I started out keeping real files of pictures of clothes, sunglasses, cool shoes, temporary tattoos and stuff like that, like from all the teen magazines.” Madison showed Fiona the stacks of colored folders, “I cut stuff out and keep it in folders and I organize it all by categories so if I need to make something like a card I know where to look and find it.”

“You are so organized.” Fiona gasped.

“I guess so,” Madison tilted her head to the side. “I like to make stuff. Actually, I LOVE to make stuff. And I really like being organized.”

“Can I see what you’ve got?” Fiona asked.

Madison shrugged, feeling a little protective. She really wanted to show off all her stuff—including the files of Madison Finn. But she decided at the last minute that it was much better
NOT
to share. The files were super-secret, after all.

Fiona didn’t ask again. She didn’t push.

“Files are SUCH a good idea. I need to get organized in a BIG way,” Fiona continued. “I still have all these boxes to unpack from our California move! Plus, my Mom and dad expect me to be like a straight-A student in junior high. They have me like on the advanced placement list at all the Ivy League colleges already.”

“College?” Madison gulped.

“Dad says it’s right around the corner,” Fiona said. “He is like this super achiever and I think he expects me and Chet to be the same way. And since Chet is such a lump, I guess that leaves me. I have to do well for the both of us.”

Madison couldn’t believe Fiona was giving so much thought to college. It was five years away! Still, she admired the fact that Fiona wanted to do well in school. Madison took the same kind of pride in being a top student.

“Hey, Madison, you should store our makeover picture in a new and improved Fashion File,” Fiona joked, hitting a few computer keys. “Forget Harvard and Princeton! We can be maw-dells!”

“You really could be a model, you know,” Madison said earnestly.

Fiona laughed so hard, she spit. “NOT!”

Madison decided to save the picture of them as “blondie twins” as a screen saver. She’d e-mail it to Fiona, too, later.

Fiona walked back over to the photo of Egg. “You know, Madison, I really, really, really would love to meet your friend.”

“Egg?” Madison gawked. “You may change your mind when you see him up close, Fiona. He’s like a real wrestling freak and—”

“I like sports!” Fiona squealed.

Madison laughed. “Can I ask you a question?”

Fiona shrugged.

“Have you ever kissed a boy?”

Fiona smiled coyly. “Yeah.”

“A lot?”

“Well, I have kissed two different boys.”

“Two? But …” Madison couldn’t believe it. “Tell me everything.”

“Well, it’s really no biggie.”

“TELL ME!”

Fiona thought for a minute.

“There was this guy I was in totally in love with in California and we were boyfriend and girlfriend for a year. His name was Julio and we saw each other at the beach for this school volleyball squad and then we saw each other every single Thursday for a year. In the beginning we were just like smiling at each other. But this one time after a scrimmage, I got a point in and he grabbed me and kissed me, right there in front of everyone.”

“Were you embarrassed? I would have been so embarrassed!” Madison shuddered.

“I was embarrassed by the fact that everyone started clapping and hooting. But whatever. I was secretly hoping he would do it again. It wasn’t a long kiss, the first one, but it was nice.”

“Did he kiss you again?”

Fiona dropped her head. “Yeah. A lot.”

“So what happened to you guys?”

Fiona frowned. “He kissed my friend Claire, too. A lot.”

“Uh-oh.” Madison made a face.

“Yeah. It was bad.”

“What about the other guy?”

“Okay, when I kissed that guy it was just a dare. Maybe it doesn’t count exactly, but it was a dare and I kissed this eighth grader, Clark Cook, on the last day of school last year. He wasn’t even that cute. But we really kissed. And I swore I was going to die because I felt his tongue and I almost lost it and all I can say is thank goodness we moved away from California and I don’t have to go back to school and face him again. It was like kissing a dog, seriously.”

“Whoa.” Madison was impressed, even if one of the kisses was bordering on gross. “You kissed two different boys already. That’s like …”

“Not really so great,” Fiona confessed. “And leaving those guys in the dust is one good reason for having moved here to Far Hills, right?” Fiona laughed. “No more DOG kisses, except for Phinnie, of course!”

“I’m so jealous. I haven’t really ever done
anything
with a guy. I never even noticed guys until lately. Well, it’s okay because no one likes me anyway.”

“That can’t be true, Madison! You are so pretty! You’re just not paying attention, I bet.”

Madison was embarrassed, as usual. She fought the urge to get off her bed and run away.

“It is so true, Madison,” Fiona repeated. “I bet
lots
of guys like you. Didn’t you say that Hart guy was chasing you around?”

“Yeah, but he’s a loser.”

“Still, he’s a loser who’s a GUY!”

“Come on, Fiona, this is so embarrassing. I get too nervous around guys. I’m the person who runs away from people, remember? Besides, the only boys who even look at me are all into wrestling and stupid boy stuff.”

Fiona laughed. “Yeah, I know. Like Chet, my brother.”

Fiona stayed all day long until the sun went down. It was the best day of the summer so far. It was better than Brazil. It was better than shopping. It was better than
anything.
Madison had never really talked about this stuff with anyone else before today.

When Mr. Waters came by to give his daughter a lift home, Fiona whispered good-bye in Madison’s ear: “Thanks for being my friend.”

Fiona


We are official friends.


She has said so three times including today right here in this room. She told me when we went for ice cream last Thursday and I dropped my scoop of Raspberry Bliss on the ground. She told me in her living room the other day when we were looking at her family’s old photo albums. And she told me just now. Three time’s a charm, right? Mom always says that.


I think Fiona Waters is perfect and she has such a funny sense of humor and she’s a little spaced out and forgetful but I forgive her. And she’s experienced, too. She’s kissed 2 boys! Maybe she can help me in that department?


We talked for a while today about the whole boy thing. I admitted to her that I always get crushes on older boys like the ones Mom says to stay away from. She laughed at my story from last year when the ninth grader Barry Burstein who lives up the block asked me out and I had to tell him I was still in sixth grade. Mom called his mom she was so mad but of course I was flattered. Sometimes I see him around the neighborhood but he’s still embarrassed about thinking I was older than I am.


Anyway, Fiona says that boys are no big deal and that when we’re in school I’ll see that for sure and even I, Madison Finn, will have a boyfriend some day.


I think the rest of the kids at Far Hills are all gonna be soooooo jealous of me because the new girl who is so cool is
already
MY friend. She and I will take electives and try out for soccer together. Fiona said so. And we’ll sit next to each other at lunch. We’ll maybe get into the same homeroom if we’re super lucky. I hope we’re lucky.


Fiona Waters is like the friend I have been waiting for all summer. She is the antidote to all this loneliness.