Play It Again by Laura Dower Page A

downloaded it and it looks so cool.
    I am feeling ok now. My mom and dad are seeing a counselor I think. I guess I have to wait and see what happens. The only problem is that I can’t get all my homework done and I’m worried about my grades. Do you study hard? I just have so much more homework than I had last year. I think teachers believe in cruel and unusual punishment. My brain hurts.
    Send me more about the play. How is the guy playing The Wizard? Do you still like him? Thanks again for being my keypal and for your advice. It’s nice having you out there.
    Yours till the home works,
    Bigwheels
    E VEN BIGWHEELS HAD TROUBLE at school. It was just another thing they had in common. She sounded like she was in better spirits since her last e-mail. Maybe Madison really did help her keypal. Maybe she should make Bigwheels her own special collage about being smart. Bigwheels said she liked the Wiz cover, which meant she’d probably love a collage of her own.
    Madison rummaged through the piles on her floor for the right words and pictures. She found a cartoon of a computer and some pictures of flowers her mom had taken in Thailand on a business trip a while ago.
    It was nice to take a break from all things related to The Wiz.
    The house was so quiet. Mom was out running errands and then taking Phinnie to the vet for his regular checkup. Madison almost never missed Phin’s trip to the vet, but she made an exception this once. Mom said it was okay for her to sleep in after the busy week.
    Madison thought about staying under the covers. But she wasn’t about to waste valuable time alone— sleeping.
    She turned the stereo volume in the living room to its highest setting. She could feel the bass vibrate inside the wood floors as the radio played America’s Top 40. As her frozen waffles popped out of the toaster, Madison sang along even though she couldn’t sing. She liked the part of the radio show where people called from all over the country to dedicate songs to people they loved. One day Madison would call with her own song request. She’d dedicate her song to Hart.
    When the radio show ended, she went into Mom’s office to boot up her computer. This was the best part about being alone in the house. She could sit at Mom’s workstation with all its fancy dials and knobs and imagine that she, Madison, was the real-life film producer. She was Madison Finn—making an important call, dashing off a quick memo, taking a meeting.
    Madison loved the idea of being important.
    She also liked the idea of being just a little sneaky.
    Mom didn’t like it when Madison played video games, so she had strict rules about computer game time and kept all the games on the shelf in her office. But with Mom gone, Madison could play. Today she installed Troll Village, the not-yet-released video game software Mom got from someone at Budge Films.
    In Troll Village, Madison had to trick all the trolls in the town in order to become sheriff and rule the area. It was like the Wild, Wild West with saloons and horse stables, only the gunslingers weren’t wearing cowboy hats. They had pink, blue, and neon yellow troll hair. Madison could sit and play for almost an hour without moving a muscle. She wasn’t sure she even blinked when she played.
    When the phone rang, Madison jumped so suddenly that she pressed the control key accidentally and eliminated one of her troll’s seven lives.
    Whoops.
    “Hello, Finn residence.” She answered the phone in a special way just in case it was a work-related call for Mom.
    There was silence on the other end of the line.
    “Hello, is somebody there? Who is this?” Madison knew someone was on the line.
    “Maddie, is that you?” It was Drew Maxwell.
    “Drew?” Madison asked. “Is that you?”
    “Yeah. What’s up?”
    “Um … not much.”
    Madison took the game off pause and played while she talked on the phone.
    “How’s your weekend?” Drew asked.
    “Um … fine.” Madison had no idea why he’d