Perfect Strangers

Chapter 3 The whole assembly had been a major adrenaline rush for Madison, which made the rest of the day feel like she was wading through molasses.Madison's last period was American Literature with Lorraine Healy, the Iron Maiden. Ms. Healy was the toughest grader at Evergreen High. A B from her was a triumph. An A was an absolute miracle.The class was studying Hawthorne's classic American novelThe Scarlet Letterand Ms. Healy was lecturing at length about it. Madison knew she ought to be taking detailed notes, but today she was finding it hard to focus. Just for a lark, Madison slipped her PalmPilot out of her purse. Keeping it out of sight behind her desk, she logged on to her e-mail to see if her Heart-2-Heart pal had replied. Yes! Dear Pinky,Cookie Dough ice cream is great, but Cherry Garcia reigns supreme. I did the hair dye thing already, only I went blue. I looked like a Smurf. The good news is, I did it when I was visiting my cousins. The bad news is, the hair dye stained their sheets, and I had to buy them a new set. Inner thoughts: On the outside I'm the class clown, always ready with a wisecrack. On the inside, I'm a pretty serious guy. My secret wish: to start over.Just call me Blue Madison sat up in her chair. This guy sounded interesting. He was funny, yet serious. A major bonus: He liked Cherry Garcia, which was her second-favorite flavor of ice cream. Madison knew she should be paying attention to Ms. Healy's lecture, but she wanted to respond immediately. Since Madison had already chewed the tops off all her fingernails, she nibbled on a pencil as she tried to decide what to say to this guy. She remembered Mr. Wheeler's words: "Be honest and go with the flow!" Dear Blue,Do you think it's really possible to start over? I mean, without moving away to a new town? I think that even if I tried to change, my friends, family, and even my teachers wouldn't let me. No matter what I did, they'd go on assuming I'm this follow-the-rules, never-let-anybody-down kind of girl. So I guess I'll have to stick with their vision of me. However, once I graduate next year -- I'm going to go wild! Pierce some body part and get a tattoo. Whoo-hoo! How about you? Ever been tattooed?Pinky Madison sent her letter and slipped the PalmPilot back into her purse. Everyone around her was vigorously taking notes, keeping track of Ms. Healy's every word. It was funny -- even the kids who took advanced classes broke down into subgroups. There were the super-straight preppies, which was her clan. But there were also the computer geeks who sat in the back of the class exchanging vintage comic books and CDs full of MP3s downloaded off the Internet by bands no one had ever heard of. They spent their lunch hours quoting old Monty Python movies and reading excerpts from cyberpunk novels likeSnow Crash.Then there were loners like Kara Doyle, "queen of the Goths," who wore the obligatory black hair, lipstick, and floor-length vintage dress, and who at this moment was passing a note to another loner, Ian Yates, who was into extreme BMX biking and cartoons. The way Ian unfolded the note, Madison could tell he and Kara were definitely into each other. Which brought up the truly big shadow that hung over Madison's fairly perfect life: no boyfriend.Madison slumped in her seat. If loners like Kara and Ian could find each other, why couldn't she find her perfect mate? God! Even the Reverend Dimmesdale and Hester Prynne inThe Scarlet Letterhad found love. Of course, they got caught having an affair, so Hester had to wear that big red A for Adulteress for the rest of her life, and the reverend died of guilt and grief, but still...Ding!The chime sounded on her PalmPilot, signaling that she had mail. Ms. Healy was startled by the sound and looked up from her lecture notes, an irritated look on her face. Madison quickly pMalcolm, Jahnna N. is the author of 'Perfect Strangers', published 2005 under ISBN 9780689872211 and ISBN 0689872216.