Friends till the End Read Online Free PDF Page B

target. Despite minor successes in speaking onstage at the Junior World Leaders Conference or presenting papers in front of an entire class, Madison Francesca Finn was way better behind the scenes.
    “Okay. I just decided. I’m absolutely not singing,” Madison declared to her friends.
    “Maddie,” Aimee said, “If you’re singing in a group, no one will hear you—”
    “I’ll hear me,” Madison said.
    “You’re too hard on yourself, Maddie,” Fiona said.
    “I’m just realistic,” Madison said.
    “Well, I’m singing!” Fiona chirped. “And I know Lindsay wants to sing, too. Maybe she and I can do a duet. I’ll ask Mrs. Montefiore.”
    “What’s Madhur doing?” Aimee asked.
    Madison and Fiona both shrugged. No one knew for sure.
    After a chaotic hour of song selecting, the large group was dismissed. Madison saw Ivy skip out of the room as if she didn’t have a care in the world. A few rows beyond her, Mariah exited the hall, too, her pink-haired head held high. Despite her outsider stance, Madison looked up to Mariah a lot. Egg didn’t realize how lucky he was to have her for a big sister.
    “We’ll post the final list of participants up on the main bulletin board in the lobby by tomorrow at lunch, along with a complete schedule of run-throughs and practice times,” Mr. Montefiore said as everyone left the room.
    “Thank you, dears, for coming!” Mrs. Montefiore gushed.
    Madison had made plans to walk home together with Aimee and Fiona, but on the way out of the choral room, she remembered that she’d left a notebook in Mr. Danehy’s classroom. The purple notebook was important, because it contained her preliminary project notes. That night, Madison planned on surfing the Internet for more facts and figures related to the list of topics.
    As Madison walked toward the science room, she saw that there weren’t too many students—in fact, there weren’t too many people at all—left in the building, although Madison narrowly missed a collision with a custodian and his very large bucket of dirty mop water.
    Luckily, Mr. Danehy’s door was ajar, which meant that he was probably still inside. He never left his classroom open at night. There were Bunsen burners, glass jars containing lab specimens, and a whole host of other valuable items stored inside. He knew that pranksters could very easily enter his room and cause mayhem if he didn’t lock it up when he left.
    “Mr. Danehy?” Madison said as she pushed the door open.
    Her teacher was not alone.
    “Oh, I was just talking about you,” Ivy blurted out as soon as she saw Madison come through the door.
    “What are you doing here?” Madison asked. Ivy wasn’t the type to stay after school unless she absolutely had to.
    “The question is,” Ivy said in her most saccharine voice, “what are you doing here?”
    “Ms. Finn,” Mr. Danehy said, “Ms. Daly informs me that the two of you have not yet chosen a topic for the project.”
    “No? Well…” Madison was completely taken aback.
    Ivy held up a notebook. It was purple.
    Madison’s notebook!
    “I was just showing Mr. Danehy our class notes,” Ivy said, holding it up.
    “Our class notes? Wait—that’s—wait—” Madison tried to speak fast, but it came out all garbled. She was too surprised to get the words right.
    “Girls, girls, girls,” Mr. Danehy said, holding up his hands like a referee. “I understand your concerns, but remember: the notes are irrelevant. Our work habits are not negotiable.”
    Madison must have been making a “Huh?” face because Mr. Danehy continued with his explanation. His words quickly got a lot clearer.
    “Ms. Finn,” Mr. Danehy said, “I need you and Ms. Daly to work together. You do know what that word means, don’t you?”
    “Yes, of course—”
    “Because I don’t like what I’m seeing. It appears Ivy here has been working much harder on the project notes.”
    Madison started to reply. “But I was working—”
    “We’ll figure