Lights Out! by Laura Dower Page B

forevermore.’”
    Madison hoped that what Fiona was singing in the song would be true in real life.

Chapter 10
    M ADISON’S EYES GLAZED over as she looked at the crowd. A lodge of seventh graders clapped furiously. Lindsay clapped along with them. Aimee just kept twirling. The excitement was contagious.
    Fiona beamed and bowed. Then she took a second and then a third bow.
    As they walked away from the performance area, Aimee whispered to Madison, “We did it!”
    Madison smiled. “I knew we could.”
    Fiona rushed over to them and threw her arms around Aimee’s neck.
    “Yay!” Fiona chirped. “I am so-o-o-o glad that’s over. Phew.”
    “Wow!” Lindsay said. “You were amazing, Aimee!”
    Aimee threw her arms into the air. “Of course!”
    “And you were amazing, too, Fiona!” Lindsay added.
    “Thanks, Lindsay,” Fiona replied, giving her a big squeeze, too.
    Madison stood as still as a post, waiting for Fiona’s arms to come flying around her own shoulders. But they didn’t. Fiona didn’t say a word to Madison directly. Not a word.
    Aimee and Fiona hurried back to where they had been sitting earlier. Madison and Lindsay trailed behind.
    “And next up is Sweet Stuff,” Mrs. Goode bellowed.
    “Stage hog is more like it,” Lindsay muttered under her breath as they watched Ivy take the stage again.
    Madison thought that was funny, but she didn’t giggle. She was too worried about Fiona. Why had her BFF rushed away from her?
    For this performance, Ivy wore the same costume she had worn for the song with the boys—but now she had removed her feather boa and put on platform sandals. The drones wore sandals and shorts, too.
    They sang “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” and tossed a beach ball around the stage area.
    “‘They just wanna, they just wanna…’” the drones sang behind their leader, Poison Ivy. She was trying to dance, but her shoes kept getting in the way.
    “What a clod,” Aimee said.
    Madison watched the enemy teetering on her platforms, taking smaller and smaller dance steps so she wouldn’t fall. The room was clapping along with the song. All the boys, including Hart, were whooping at the singers.
    “Whoo! Whoo!” Chet yelled.
    Madison swore she saw Ivy look right at Hart. He grinned.
    “We should have done a fast song like this one,” Aimee said.
    Madison nodded. “Maybe…”
    “Do you think theirs is better than ours?” Lindsay asked, sounding worried.
    “I like it,” Fiona mused. “I think the fast ones are better. Egg’s song was nice, too.”
    “Of course you liked his song!” Aimee said teasingly.
    Fiona blushed.
    “We’ll win.” Madison said. “I know we can win. Fiona—you were great.” Madison smiled, hoping for some kind of a postcompliment, positive reaction from Fiona.
    But all she got was a blank stare.
    “Fiona, don’t you think we were good?” Madison asked again.
    Fiona shrugged and raised her hands in the air to clap. She appeared preoccupied. The clapping got louder as Ivy and the drones took their bows.
    “I hate to say it,” Aimee whispered. “I mean, I REALLY hate to say it. But they were good.”
    “Yeah,” Lindsay agreed, smacking her lips. “We’re history.”
    “What is WRONG with you guys?” Madison said, raising her voice. A couple of kids nearby turned around.
    “Relax, Maddie,” Aimee told her.
    Madison just shook her head.
    After getting off the stage, Ivy walked toward them, stepping carefully in her clunky shoes. She sat down on the floor very close to where Fiona and the others sat.
    “You were good,” Fiona told Ivy.
    Ivy ran her fingers through her red hair, which was hanging loose on her shoulders by now. “You think so?” she said.
    “No, you were good.” Fiona nodded. “In both songs.”
    “Thanks. You were good, too,” Ivy said.
    Ivy shot Madison a glare. Madison bristled. Was this some kind of “be nice to everyone” camp game that people played? Had her BFFs completely forgotten who was the enemy?