Free Keep It Real (From the Files of Madison Finn, 19) by Laura Dower

you online?” Mom cried from downstairs. “Can I borrow your laptop? My computer down here isn’t working right, and I just need to check something online fast.”
    “Sure, Mom!”
    Madison trotted downstairs with her laptop and the portable disk drive.
    “Mom, can I ask you something?” Madison asked as she curled up in a ball on the large chair in Mom’s office.
    “Yes?” Mom replied.
    “What am I supposed to do about Ivy? Because I can’t deal anymore,” Madison said.
    “Deal with what?”
    “I cannot deal with anything Poison Ivy says or does!” Madison said.
    Mom made a face. “So? Is there anything you can do about it?”
    “I want to request that I switch lab partners in science—and maybe even get a different homeroom so I don’t have to see Ivy every single morning. Is that possible? Can’t you write me a note or something?”
    “Maddie…of course I can’t,” Mom said.
    “But I hate her, Mom,” Madison said with a scowl. “I hate and detest and despise her and her perfect, perfect life.”
    “ Hate is a very strong word,” Mom replied. “Who says her life is perfect?”
    “She does!”
    Madison told her mom what she’d seen, by mistake, of course, in Ivy’s journal and what Ivy had told her in class.
    “She’s acting snootier than ever, and it just makes me want to SCREAM. Today she called me a twit! Plus, there are these rumors…well, I can’t confirm anything, but apparently she’s dating some guy…and he’s older than us…”
    “Older?” Mom asked. “Dating?”
    “Aimee’s brother says the guy is a sophomore at Dunn Manor.”
    “Oh, boy,” Mom said.
    “Mom, I even saw Ivy crying in the girls’ room at school. She is such a total drama queen.”
    Mom clasped her hands in front of her.
    She got very quiet.
    “Maddie,” Mom said, “I think there’s something you need to know.”

Chapter 8
    “W HY ARE YOU ACTING so serious?” Madison asked Mom. “You’re making me nervous.”
    Mom put her hand on Madison’s arm. “I need to tell you something important. It’s a secret, but I’m going to share it with you. Can you keep this a secret? You can’t tell anyone right now. Not even Aimee and Fiona.”
    Madison listened carefully as Mom spoke.
    “When you were younger, I was very good friends with Ivy’s mother, as you know,” Mom said.
    “So?” Madison couldn’t keep herself from interrupting. “What does that have to do with anything?”
    “So…I haven’t seen or talked to Ivy’s mom in ages. We keep in touch a little through e-mails, but that’s about it. She’s been quite busy these past few years…”
    “Mom, what’s your point?” Madison asked. The suspense was killing her.
    “My point is that Ivy’s mother happened to be at Salon Pink at the same time as me the other day—and we started talking.”
    “About Ivy?” Madison asked, intrigued.
    Mom shook her head. “Maddie, just listen.”
    Madison sat back in her seat and crossed her arms. “Okay, okay.”
    “So, I got to talking with Ivy’s mom and…well…apparently she’s sick.”
    “Ivy’s sick?”
    “No, Maddie. Mrs. Daly is sick.”
    “Oh,” Madison said. “How sick?”
    “She was diagnosed with breast cancer a month ago.”
    Madison’s entire body went limp. “Cancer?”
    “Come here,” Mom said. She held her arms out to Madison.
    Madison walked into her mother’s arms and squeezed her tightly around the middle. She thought about all the things Aimee had said when she told Madison that her dance teacher had been diagnosed with cancer. Aimee had said that learning that news felt like getting a punch in the stomach. That’s what Madison felt like, too, right now.
    “Is it bad?” Madison asked.
    “From what I understand,” Mom went on, “Mrs. Daly said they caught it early, so it seems like she has a good chance of a full recovery. But she’s undergoing some medical treatments now.”
    “Chemotherapy?” Madison asked. She knew about that from science class