Read All Shook Up (From the Files of Madison Finn, 22) for Free Online

serious & sad & it bummed ME way out.
    After we finished talking Aim went down to the nurse to see if she could be excused from the rest of school. I think she must have gone b/c it’s almost last period anyway. What am I supposed to do to make her feel better? IS there anything I can do???
    Rude Awakening:
I used to think friendships kept sailing no matter what. So why does it feel like my ship is sinking?
    I hate it when I start overthinking everything. I admit I do feel a little bit guilty about the fact that I instantly got so friendly with Madhur and invited her to the lunch table and all that, but isn’t it supposed to be good to make new friends? I only wanted to share Madhur with everyone else—including Aim. The thing about Madhur is that she comes from such a different world and has such a different family—but we are SO much alike.
    Is it possible that 2 strangers can just instantly connect?
    “Hey,” someone said, poking Madison in the shoulder.
    Madison looked away from the screen and found herself face to face with none other than Hart Jones.
    “Hart!” Madison cried, worried that he could read her thoughts—or even worse, her computer monitor.
    But he didn’t see anything. He collapsed into a chair at the side of the table where Madison was typing.
    “So, what’s up? What are you writing? One of your files?”
    Madison felt herself get hot under the collar. She quickly hit a key that made everything onscreen disappear.
    “What I am writing is none of your beeswax,” Madison said, teasing him. Then she lowered her voice. “You’re so nosy.”
    Hart leaned a little bit closer to Madison. “Why didn’t you go to Mrs. Wing’s today?” he whispered.
    “Mrs. Wing’s? For what?” Madison asked.
    “Site update,” Hart reminded her.
    “Oh!” Madison had forgotten all about the weekly website update. She was one of the school team members in charge of updating pages and downloading new photos and text to the site.
    “I guess Lance can do all the work,” Madison joked.
    Lance was another member of their team, who was the butt of a lot of class jokes. He wasn’t exactly a computer whiz—more like a computer fizz.
    “But Lance isn’t as sweet as you,” Hart said.
    Madison blushed, taken aback by his comment. Lately Hart had been saying things that caught Madison completely off guard. Although getting attention sometimes made Madison squirmy, she liked the way it made her feel deep down inside.
    Hart inched closer to Madison. Was he about to grab her hands? It would be a record-breaking fourth instance of holding hands! Madison was definitely keeping count.
    Just as Hart made his move, Mr. Books, the librarian, appeared.
    “This is a study zone, students,” Mr. Books said sternly. “Back to homework, please.”
    “Yes, sir,” Hart said, slumping back in his chair.
    As soon as Mr. Books walked away, Madison and Hart broke into silent laughter. Their faces turned watermelon red—but no noise came out.
    Then someone else popped out from behind the stacks of books.
    “Madison Finn,” a girl said sharply.
    It was Poison Ivy.
    Madison jumped, startled. She swallowed her laughter.
    “Hart,” Ivy said, as she moved suspiciously close to him. Madison couldn’t believe how Ivy continued to try to get Hart’s attention—and affection—even when she knew that he was already taken.
    Ivy was the queen of lost causes.
    As Ivy sidled up to the chair where Hart sat, Madison counted five different times when a hand or side or some other part of Ivy touched Hart. She had made up some stupid story about needing Hart’s help on a homework assignment.
    As if. Thankfully, Madison could tell that Hart was barely listening.
    After the enemy had been talking for a while, Hart turned to her and said, “I’m sorry. What did you say?”
    Ivy stared back at him, dumbfounded. No words came out.
    Madison wanted to burst out laughing. She bit her tongue so she wouldn’t. Finally, Ivy spoke.
    “By the way,