Free Thanks for Nothing (From the Files of Madison Finn, 5) by Laura Dower Page B

real attention to what Madison was saying.
    “Did you know that the place where passengers slept was called the ’tween decks?” Madison asked. “Cool, huh?”
    For twenty minutes. Egg and Madison pored through books and searched on the Internet for more ideas on what to write about.
    “Maybe we can make a real ship to show in class,” Madison said.
    “That would be so lame,” Egg whined. “Something on the computer would knock everyone’s socks off!”
    “What if we brought materials and everyone could watch the computer and then make their own Mayflower ?” Madison suggested. “Then we’d have both.”
    “You want this to be an arts-and-crafts project?” he asked. “Maddie, we need to be high-tech. Paste is for first graders.”
    “No, no,” Madison said. She shook her head no. “What about the Pilgrims? They weren’t high-tech.” Madison wanted to say that sometimes she liked making collages and crafts and what was wrong with that?
    “Fine, we can make a poster, too,” Egg finally agreed.
    But they were interrupted all of a sudden.
    “WALTER!” Egg’s mother’s voice bellowed from the other room. “You have another guest!”
    Egg ran down the stairs.
    Madison heard Egg greet Drew. She could hear Drew explain that he’d just been working on his social studies project over at Ivy Daly’s house. She cringed at the thought.
    Drew came into Egg’s bedroom and flopped onto a chair. “Hey, Maddie, what’s up?”
    “Um … Egg?” Madison asked. “What about our meeting? We just started. Why is Drew here?”
    “Well, I guess we’ll have to finish up later,” Egg said.
    “Huh? Later?” Madison felt a little knot of anger work its way up her throat. “What do you mean, ‘later’?” she asked. “Can’t Drew come back later ?”
    “Can’t we just finish tomorrow?” Egg asked.
    Drew didn’t say much of anything.
    “What about today. Egg? We’ve been planning this for almost a week,” Madison said. “You promised.”
    Drew interrupted. “Hey, I can come over another time. You guys are working on the extra-credit thing.”
    “Nah, we were mostly done,” Egg said.
    The rising anger knot was now lodged in Madison’s throat. She could feel her whole body flush, like when she got embarrassed—only worse.
    “Egg, you promised,” she repeated.
    She wanted to run.
    “I promised not to forget any more meetings. This isn’t forgetting. It isn’t the same thing.”
    “Fine, then I guess I’ll go,” Madison said abruptly. She quickly gathered her books and stuffed loose papers into her orange messenger’s bag.
    “Why don’t you stay and play Wrestle Showdown on the computer? You wanna?” Egg asked. “We can do team play since there’s three of us.”
    “No,” she said firmly. “E-mail me later. We don’t have a lot of time to work on it anymore.”
    “I know, I know,” Egg said, already a little distracted. He was loading the wrestling computer game and setting up the joysticks.
    “Hey, Maddie,” Drew asked her on the way out. “What’s the deal with you and Dan?”
    “Huh?” Madison stopped short. She made a face. “What are you talking about?”
    “Ivy was just saying some stuff when I was at her house …” Drew said.
    “Saying what ?” Madison wrinkled her nose.
    “Nothing. Forget I said it,” Drew said.
    Madison had no idea what Drew was talking about. She scurried out, passing by the kitchen where Abuela, Señora Diaz, and Tía Ana sipped coffees.
    “Madison, you just got here! Where is Walter?” Señora Diaz called out.
    “Egg is with Drew. We’re going to finish later,” Madison explained. She smiled at Egg’s family. “See you later. I mean, adiós. ”
    “Adiós!” Egg’s grandmother cried.
    Madison lifted the bag of Mayflower books over her shoulder and walked toward home. It weighed more than usual, so she took slower steps. There was no big rush to get anywhere right now.
    As her house came into view, Madison squinted. Dad’s car was