Friends till the End Read Online Free PDF Page A

brings you back,” Mom said sweetly.
    Madison nodded. Phin nuzzled the backs of her knees, and it tickled.
    “See you, too, my little Phinster,” Madison joked around. She bent down to scratch Phin’s ears. “Seriously, Phinnie, be a good boy for Mom.”
    Dad lightly honked the horn. “Let’s boogie!” he called out.
    Mom stood in the doorway and waved good-bye to everyone, including Stephanie. Over the course of seventh grade, Madison had noticed that Mom and Stepmom had actually become a lot friendlier. Despite the Big D, it seemed that the last year had brought everyone a little closer together—almost like one big, happy family with a few blocks, or miles, in between.
    Then again, as Mr. Danehy had said in class, almost was the operative word.
    When it came to families, just about anything could happen.
    And when it came to Madison’s family, anything would happen.
    Madison just had to wait a few weeks to see how everything played itself out.

Chapter 4
    O UTSIDE THE LOCKED CHORAL room, Aimee twirled impatiently, and then twirled some more. Madison watched as her BFF tried to do three complete rotations without losing her balance. Of course, she could. As far as Madison was concerned, when it came to dance, Aimee could do anything.
    “You’re making me dizzy,” Fiona groaned, grabbing Aimee by the sleeve. “You have to stop.”
    “I can’t stop,” Aimee teased, spinning around again. “Wheee-hooo!”
    Madison giggled. “Yes, you can stop,” she declared, reaching out for Aimee’s sleeve. “Aim…”
    Aimee finally stopped the spin. She threw her arms up and quickly leaned into the wall to keep from falling flat, even though spins like that rarely made a ballerina dizzy.
    Madison and her two BFFs slid down to the floor and sat cross-legged, still waiting for the choral room to open up so the first official revue meeting could begin. A teacher was supposed to open the door, but so far only a crowd of students had shown up.
    “Guess what?” Aimee whispered to Madison and Fiona. “Ben might try out.”
    Aimee’s eyes lit up when she said the name of her crush.
    “Your Ben—is going to sing and dance?” Fiona asked in disbelief. “Aim, you’re making that up.”
    “I am not,” Aimee said defensively. “He said…”
    “He said it to be nice,” Fiona said.
    “Aim,” Madison made a face. “Ben is, like, one of the shyest guys in school. How could he possibly do the revue?”
    Aimee got a worried look on her face, and Madison realized that she’d just popped her best friend’s bubble.
    “He probably just said it because he likes you—and he wants you to keep liking him…or something like that…” Madison said, trying to make Aimee feel better.
    “Chet told me Ben was chosen to do the big speech for our class on Moving Up Day,” Fiona said. “He’s probably focused on that.”
    “Ben is our class valedictorian?” Madison asked. “Since when?”
    “He’s the obvious choice,” Aimee said, smiling wide. “He’s the smartest kid in our class, don’t you think?”
    “Yeah, he’s a super-duper-califragilisticexpialidocious genius,” Madison said, borrowing the funny word from the Mary Poppins song.
    Just then, the choral room door made a loud clicking sound. The choral directors, Mr. and Mrs. Montefiore, opened the double doors wide. The two of them were both dressed in navy blue and white. Mr. Montefiore had on one of his ugly blue-striped ties over a wrinkled white shirt. Mrs. Montefiore wore a dark blue dress with thin white stripes. Being a matched set fashionwise wasn’t the only way that they seemed the same. This couple talked alike, walked alike, and even laughed the same way.
    The kids rushed inside. Madison, Aimee, and Fiona staggered toward three seats near the middle of the room. When everyone finally settled in, the room was packed.
    “Is Egg doing the revue, or what?” Madison asked Fiona, who always knew where Egg was—and where he was headed.
    “No,”