Free Only the Lonely by Laura Dower Page B

forgotten to give Aimee her collage card. She stuffed it into her backpack so she wouldn’t forget it tomorrow on the occasion of their pre-school party.
    Right before bed, Madison opened up her Aimee File.
Aimee
    I thought that I was doing all the changing around here, but Aimee has changed, big-time. She’s not the same and she’s a talking hog all of a sudden and she’s not the same person I remember. I don’t ever remember her being such a blabbermouth. Am I being mean by even thinking that?
    Another change I noticed is her boobs! They are getting like really big. I didn’t say that to her face, but I could see them through her T-shirt. I wonder if they hurt? She always said big boobs were like doom for a dancer. I wonder if that’s true?
    I hope that Aimee and Fiona can be friends. If we three get along, does that mean we have to leave Egg out? Does that destroy, like, the whole Three Musketeer thing with me, Aimee, and Egg? I had this two - second wish that maybe we four could be best pals, but I don’t know. Maybe I’m being a hog, too. I want things my way all of a sudden.
    Sometimes I just want to keep Fiona to myself. Does that make me the friend hog? Or is Fiona just one of those summer friends? I am confused.
    Madison realized that was a topic better discussed in her Fiona File, and quickly switched back to the subject of Aimee.
I know that Aimee is my best friend in the universe, and that we did the soul sisters pact thing in fourth grade and it’s stupid to worry about our friendship. Right?
    Madison wondered again if maybe she really was still “only the lonely.”
    What would Bigwheels do at a time like this? She looked at her empty mailbox and felt extra lonely.

Chapter 9
    I T WAS 1 A.M.
    Mom was fast asleep.
    Phin was fast asleep.
    But Madison was wide awake. Madison couldn’t remember being up this late since the year Mom and Dad let her stay up for New Year’s Eve when Mom was on the road making Documentary of a Documentary, or something like that.
    My mind is racingracingracing, Madison thought to herself. It was super-hot, too. Mom had turned down the air-conditioning because she claimed it was supposed to rain. The bedroom fan wasn’t working properly. Madison felt sweaty and way too conscious. She’d much rather be dreaming than facing this reality: it was the early morning before the night before the start of seventh grade.
    SEVENTH GRADE .
    It was all Madison could think about. Her insides were jumping beans. Her head thumped. She swore she could smell smells stronger than before. It was like the whole world was changing.
    SEVENTH GRADE .
    Wasn’t that enough to keep anyone awake?
    Madison had spent the last part of the summer worrying about her parents, her friends, and her slow death from boredom, and just now—with twenty-four hours to go—she realized that the thing she was probably most worried about all along was junior high.
    Around 5 A.M ., Madison finally did fall asleep. At long last she was wiped out by all her thinking. She slept for almost six hours, too, but then Mom finally woke her up.
    The first thing sleepy Madison did was check her e-mailbox. To her surprise, she discovered a bunch of messages from a bunch of people she hadn’t expected to hear from.
FROM
SUBJECT
Shnazzy’s
Super Savings—PLUS!
jefffinn
I’M HOME !
wetwinz
is this you???
Bigwheels
sorry
    The message from ShnaZZy’s had an even bigger discount promise on their latest sale. Madison was psyched, until she deleted the message by mistake—and then emptied her recycling folder to boot.
    JeffFinn, a.k.a. Dad, sent news from his Far Hills apartment. He was home at last and he wanted to take Madison to dinner the first night of school on Tuesday. It would be special in honor of his junior high school girl. Sometimes Daddy said the sappiest things. Madison couldn’t wait to see him. It had been a month, after all. She missed his hamburgers almost as much as his hugs.
    The next message was from