�Okay, Madison! Truth or Dare?� Kennedi asked.
�Aw, fudge! Okay, um, dare!� Madison�s eyes grew sparkly.
�Oookay, I was not prepared for that. Okay, I dare you to...call your big brother and tell him your his girlfriend and tell him how much you enjoyed the sex you had with him last night.� Kennedi dared.
Alyson, Siobhan, and Tara burst out laughing.
�Oh, God, no! No!� Madison tried to back out of it, �No way!�
�Oh, yes, you picked dare, you have to!� Alyson said, between giggles.
Madison groaned, and reached for the extension on Siobhan�s desk, �Okay, but you have to be really, really quiet.� Her friends nodded as Madison punched in the number.
�Hey, Adam-pie.� she said in a voice dripping with sweetness, �I just wanted to call you and comment on the great sex action we had last night. No, it�s me, your sweetheart. Gotta go, Adam, bye.�
Madison laughed as she hung up the phone, and her friends all burst out laughing, too. �He knew it was me!� Madison said between hiccups of laughter.
�Oh, Maddi, I can�t believe you did that. Poor, poor Adam.� Tara shook her head.
*March, 2002*
Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled. Wind howled through the trees. Madison Winters looked out the kitchen window of her best friend, Siobhan Arintero�s house. The rain was coming down in sheets and showed no sign of letting up.
�Crappy March weather, huh?� Siobhan observed.
�Yeah. Maybe we can use the weather for an excuse not to have to do our Geometry.� Madison perked up.
Siobhan laughed, �I wish. We do have a test tomorrow.� she reminded her friend.
�You reminded me again!� Madison scolded, prodding her friend playfully.
�Sorry. C�mon, let�s do number nine and check each other�s answers.� Siobhan said, writing the problem down.
Madison watched her friend bent over her work. She sighed and looked over the problem which still looked as if it was written in Ancient Greek. She began to tap her pencil to the beat of the raindrops hitting the windowpane.
Siobhan looked up at Madison, who seemed lost in thought. �Penny?� she asked.
Madison smiled, �I was just wondering what our three best friends are up to. It�s probably not Geometry.� she said, wistfully.
�Well, I can tell you what they�re up to. Kennedi and Alyson are baby-sitting their siblings all over at the Almonds� because the elementary school has parent/teacher night tonight, and poor Miss Tara is at home alone because her parents took her grandparents out for their anniversary.� Siobhan reminded her friend.
�Oh, yeah. Maybe we oughta call Tara. She might be lonely.� Madison started to get up to reach for the phone.
�Nuh-huh.� Siobhan pulled her back down, �Tara�s fine. You just want to get away from the Math. Well, you can�t because we do have a test tomorrow.� Siobhan pointed to their math books and grinned.
Madison groaned, �Okay, problem nine.� she said, writing the problem down.
*October, 2002*
She was awakened later on in the night. She looked over at her friends and realized someone was missing. She slipped out of bed, and padded out the door and down the hallway to the bathroom. There she could hear the slight sound of someone crying.
�Honey?� she called out quietly. There was no response, but the crying continued.
�Honey, if you don�t open the door, I�m coming in.� she said a little more loudly. Still no response, so she eased the door open. The bathroom was dark, so with a huge amount of dread in her stomach, she flipped on the light.
�Sweetie, why were you crying in the dark?� she asked, as Kennedi saw Madison on the closed toilet seat, head in her hands, and crying.
�Maddi, please talk to me, you�re scaring me.� Kennedi said, kneeling in front of her friend and trying to take her hands away from her face.
Madison let Kennedi take her hands and she hiccuped before beginning, �I was so scared! I-I thought I was going to lose her!� Madison sobbed.
�Lose who?� Kennedi asked, although she was sure she knew who Madison was talking about.
�Syvanni. I-I never thought she�d go so far as to hurt herself like that. I-I thought she was fine. I-I didn�t know....� she trailed off, tears streaming down her cheeks.
�Sweetie, come here.� Kennedi said, pulling her friend into a hug. She sat there rocking back and forth, trying to soothe her friend.
�Guys, it�s almost three in the morning. What are you doing?� Tara�s sleepy voice asked as she padded into the bathroom, �What happened?� she asked, fearfully.
Madison looked up at her friend and held out her arms for her. Tara joined the hug, not exactly knowing what was wrong, but she could�ve hazarded a guess.
Kennedi pulled away and looked into her friend�s eyes, �Madison, Siobhan will be fine. Thanks to your phone call Thursday night we caught it before she could do any serious damage to her body. You did very well, honey, you noticed it before the rest of us did. And she�ll be fine. The school nurse said so and her doctor thinks so too. Don�t worry, honey, it�s all going to be okay.� Kennedi said, her eyes teary as she looked into Madison�s eyes.
Madison nodded, �I-I know.� she sniffled.
�I will you know. I will be fine. Thank you, Maddi.� Siobhan�s voice came from the doorway, where both her and Alyson were standing with tears in their eyes. All Madison had to do was hold out her arms and within seconds, all five friends were hugging on the bathroom floor.
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