Friends till the End Read Online Free PDF

Fiona shook her head. “He said he’s too busy with the school website. Of course, I told him that was a lame-o excuse. Don’t you think?”
    Madison and Aimee nodded.
    Mrs. Montefiore tapped her baton on the music stand at the front of the room.
    “Welcome, students!” she declared in her singsong voice. “Mr. M. and I are beyond thrilled about this year’s revue. To see so many seats filled with students ready to entertain us … Well, it brings genuine tears to my eyes…”
    “Who is she kidding?” Aimee moaned under her breath. “Those cannot be real tears.”
    Fiona and Madison stifled a giggle.
    Mrs. Montefiore asked everyone to stand up and do a few stretches. No matter what kind of rehearsal it was or what time of day it was, she always added in some kind of acrobatic element. One time, Mrs. Montefiore had had everyone in the room act “like the wind” and blow themselves around the room. It was fun for about thirty seconds—until two kids collided and one got the real wind knocked out of him.
    Madison glanced around the room to see who else she recognized. There were surprisingly few seventh graders, a whole bunch of eighth graders, and a cluster of ninth graders sitting together in the front of the room. Although Egg was indeed not there that day, Madison saw his sister, Mariah, and waved at her to come over.
    Mariah Diaz was a wild ninth grader; today she had her hair streaked pink, a color that was most definitely not allowed in the school dress code. Madison guessed that Mariah had only just put the color in the day before. She was always taking risks like that.
    “Hey, Maddie,” Mariah said when she came over to Madison and the others. No matter what, Mariah always made the time to say hello and be friendly. In many ways, she was the exact opposite of her annoying sibling.
    “Hey, Mariah,” Madison responded. “Are you in the revue?”
    Mariah nodded. “Backstage, I think. I’m helping with the whole set and backdrops, working with the art department. Of course, I won’t be doing much more than painting. You know the deal: teachers are in charge. But I get to do a few of my own designs, which is cool.”
    “Wow,” Madison said, impressed.
    Mariah nodded. “My mom wanted me to play a piano solo, too. I don’t know if I want to perform though, unless it means getting Egg out here to play his head like a coconut!”
    Madison giggled. “Are you excited about graduating?”
    “Sure,” Mariah said. “If I graduate. Today, Principal Bernard said that if I showed up again with another inappropriate hair color, he’d suspend me.”
    “He wouldn’t do that!” Madison cried.
    Mariah nodded. “It’s nothing compared to what my mom will do to me. When she saw the pink this morning, she threatened to shave my head.”
    “I think it looks kind of cool,” Madison said.
    “Face it,” Fiona piped up, “you always look cool, Mariah.”
    Mariah smiled modestly. “Thanks. You do, too.”
    “Too bad no cool rubbed off on your brother,” Aimee joked.
    Mariah laughed hard. “Hey, I better sit down. Mr. M. is giving me the evil eye. Plus, his toupee is about to fall off. Check it out.”
    Madison and the others shot a look at the music teacher just in time to catch him readjusting his hairpiece.
    As the meeting continued, Mr. Montefiore explained how the entire group of participants would choose from a list of musical numbers, mostly Broadway tunes. Most people who volunteered to sing and dance would be singing group numbers, while a select few would do their whole act solo or in pairs. Mr. and Mrs. Montefiore sat down at the piano and belted out a few examples of the songs they’d be singing from shows like Guys and Dolls, Pippin, and Bye Bye Birdie.
    Madison thought about what Ivy had said to her in the hallway, about how Madison wasn’t “exactly” a performer and how she “practically” fell apart when she got onstage. Unfortunately, Madison had to admit that her enemy was right on