Madison's Journey

Chapter 14

On the first day back to school after the Christmas break, Madison stood at Amy’s locker at the start of lunch. It had been five days since the blow up, and Madison couldn’t handle the silent treatment anymore. She took a deep breath when she saw Amy and Brad turn the corner and start walking towards her. When Amy noticed her, her smile disappeared and was replaced with a dark cold expression.

“Amy, can we talk, please?”

“No, Madison. We can’t talk. I have nothing to say to you, and you have nothing to say that I want to hear,” she spat, turning her nose up at Madison.

“Amy, please. Just let me explain,” Madison pleaded.

“Madison, get away from me,” Amy’s loud voice caused several of their classmates to look in their direction.

“Amy, we’re best friends, please.”

“Madison, read my lips,” Amy was yelling now, her face red and distorted in anger. “I don’t want to talk to you. Do you understand? Stay away from me.”

Madison felt like she had been slapped. She stared at Amy with tears falling down her cheeks as Amy turned on her heel and stormed off with Brad chasing behind her. Everyone in the hallway was staring at Madison, who was trembling and crying weakly in the hall. She wanted to get out of there, away from the prying eyes and embarrassment, but her legs wouldn’t move. She leaned against the lockers and covered her face with her hands. After a moment, she felt a hand on her shoulder.

“Mad, come on. Let’s get out of here.” It was Colin. He put his arm around her waist, guiding her down the hallway and out the front doors. They didn’t speak as he led her to his car, opened the door and helped her sit down in the passenger seat. He knelt down beside her and wiped her tears with his thumb. “I’m sorry, Mad. I can’t believe she did that.”

“It’s—it’s okay, Colin,” she sputtered through her tears. 

“No, Mad, it’s not okay. I’m sorry I dragged you into this mess. This is my fault. I can’t believe that sister of mine,” his voice was deep and full of anger. His face was creased and his eyebrows were furrowed as he shook his head thinking about the scene his sister had just made.

Madison reached out and touched his arm in an attempt to calm him down. “Colin, I’m fine. Don’t be mad at Amy. I surprised her, that’s all.”

Colin shook his head and managed a stiff smile. “I can’t believe you’re defending her after that.”

Madison didn’t speak, she just shrugged her shoulders and looked down at her lap. She wasn’t sure what else to say or do. She was humiliated and heartbroken and wanted to crawl into her bed and hide from the rest of the world.

Colin glanced around the parking lot. As he did, Madison found tears falling from her eyes again and tried to hide her anguish as he looked back at her. His finger pushed against her chin, lifting her gaze to his. “Do you want to get out of here?”

She shrugged again. “Yeah, kind of, but lunch is going to be over soon.”

“Who cares. We can skip the rest of the day. I mean, do you really want to go back in there?”

She shook her head miserably. “No, not really.”

“Good, it’s settled.” He jumped up, closed her door and climbed into the driver’s seat. “Where to, m’lady?”

She giggled, the embarrassment floating away. “Well, I’m kind of hungry. Maybe we can grab some food and sit and talk somewhere.”

He put the car in gear, smirking sideways at her, “Sounds perfect. As long as we only talk about stupid stuff, nothing that has anything to do with Amy or Carissa.”

She grinned. “Deal.”

They grabbed burgers from Burger Town, and he drove them to the lake. They ate in his car again, with the heat on. “So, are you back to babysitting today?”

“No, Lisa’s off till Wednesday, so they don’t need me until then. I do have a shift at Burger Town after school tomorrow, so that’s good.”

Colin raised an eyebrow. “Good, why?”

She spoke without thinking. “I need the money. I haven’t worked for Bill and Lisa since the twenty-third. The bills need to be paid.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she realized what she had said.

“Bills? What do you mean? What bills?” His eyebrows furrowed together at her words.

She sighed. She wanted to tell him, she wanted someone else to know her secret, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. “Well, mom hasn’t been working as much lately, so I told her I would pay my phone bill and the cable bill, since I need the Internet for school, and it almost got turned off.” The lie came out quickly and as convincingly as she could make it sound. 

“I’m sorry, Mad. That must be hard. I didn’t realize things were that bad at home.”

“Thanks, Col. It’s not too bad. But I miss my old life, you know? My dad, our house. Things were easier when he was around.” A tear escaped her eye and rolled slowly down her cheek. Colin reached over and wiped it with his sleeve. She smiled at him, then they went back to eating.

“Hey, Col?”

“Hm.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, but for what?”

“For rescuing me today. For being you, for being exactly what I needed.”

“Hey. I’m just returning the favour. You’ve been a really good friend to me these past couple weeks. You’re a great listener, and I’ve really needed that. I’m just…” He trailed off hesitantly.

“You’re just what?” Madison prodded.

“I’m just sorry that my b***h of a sister is treating you so badly. You don’t deserve it. And then there’s Derrick, I mean, that guy...”

Madison shook her head and put her index finger up to stop him. “No, we had a deal, remember?”

He smiled. “You’re right. Sorry, my bad.” They laughed and finished their burgers. “What now, m’lady?”

“I don’t know, a walk maybe?”

He nodded. “Good idea.” He patted his stomach. “Got to walk off these burgers.”

She laughed. “Right? Agreed.” They put their garbage in the can just outside the car and walked along the same path they had taken on boxing day. It wasn’t snowing today, but there was a layer of white snow on the trees that glistened under the afternoon sun. It was a pretty sight that made Madison smile. When they arrived at the tunnel, Madison turned to Colin. “I know we’ve only done this twice, but I think this may be our thing.”

He gave her a questioning look and grinned. “Yeah? Me too. I love this old tunnel, it’s quiet and peaceful, like nothing can touch us here”

She looked around as they continued walking and sighed, it was a happy sigh. “Yeah.” They fell into a comfortable silence and eventually turned around to head back towards the car. “Do you want to come to my place for a while? You can come in and play with George and Mary for a bit. If you want?”

“Yeah, I’d like that.” He grinned and they made their way back to his car. “How are the kittens doing?”

“They’re monsters, but I love them.”

“I bet they are,” he chuckled.

They got to her house and spent an hour playing with the kittens and talking. After he left, Madison felt a lot better. She thought about messaging Amy but decided against it. Instead, she got her schoolbooks out and tried to concentrate on her math assignment. It wasn’t easy, but soon she was immersed in calculus, all thoughts of the day’s events forgotten for the moment.

After that day, Madison sent Amy a couple of text messages but gave up messaging her when they all went unanswered. As the days of January flew by, Madison found a new friend in Colin. They were messaging lots, and he had started driving her to school every day since Amy was riding with Brad. In his own way, Colin was filling the void of Amy’s absence. She missed Amy but was happy to have Colin. He understood what she was going through with her because he was dealing with it as well.

“What time is Carissa’s doctor’s appointment today?” Madison was sitting in the passenger seat of Colin’s car as he drove them to school one morning at the end of January. 

He exhaled deeply. “Three forty-five. I’m nervous, but kind of excited.” 

“I bet. I’m so glad Carissa finally told her parents.”

He groaned. “Tell me about it. Oh, did I tell you that dad and I are turning the basement in to a living area for me and the baby. It’ll have two bedrooms, a bathroom and a little living room area and maybe a kitchen.”

“Oh, that’s awesome, Colin.” She looked at him with gentle eyes. “I’m glad your parents are being so great about this.”

“Yeah, once we figured everything out with Carissa and her parents, it all just started to fall in to place. We’re going to share custody. Dad already has the paperwork drawn up.” Madison smiled at her friend. His life was starting to sort itself out, which made her happy. “But guess who isn’t happy about this whole thing?”

“Hmmm…that’s a tough one, Amy?” Her eyes shone as they both laughed.

“You got it. I’m not sure what her problem is but she’s barely speaking to me. I can’t believe she’s still upset about you and I hanging out.” He shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe she’s upset about the baby, who knows. But my parents aren’t putting up with any of her crap. Which, come to think of it, probably isn’t helping the situation much.” His lips curved into a broad smile and Madison giggled and shook her head.

“Probably not. But hopefully she’ll come around after the baby’s born.”

“She better. Or at the very least, she better start being civil,” he said, his fingers clutching the steering wheel. Madison nodded, and Colin focused on the road. Neither of them spoke for the rest of the drive. They were listening to the radio, and Madison was lost in thought, missing her best friend.