zoegirl:
then she passed out the access codes—right then and there—and *everyone* in the class got one except for me and a girl named Stephanie.
zoegirl:
and do you know what Stephanie writes about? bugs! every single short story she wrote was told from the point of view of an aphid! I AM NOT KIDDING!
zoegirl:
so Bug Girl and I, we’re the ones who suck. we’re the only two kids in the whole class who are such bad writers that we’re not allowed to keep writing!!!!
SnowAngel:
Zoe! oh, honey!!!!!!!
SnowAngel:
((((((((((((HUGS!)))))))))))))
SnowAngel:
cld u go talk to her or something? yr prof?
zoegirl:
yeah, right. NO WAY.
SnowAngel:
but you ARE a good writer. it’s got to be some kind of mistake.
zoegirl:
it wasn’t. my professor gave me this sad, pitying look and squeezed my shoulder, as if to say, “so sorry, I know this is a tough blow.”
zoegirl:
maybe she was trying to be nice, I don’t know. but all it did was make me that much closer to crying.
SnowAngel:
ack. Zo. I am SO sorry.
SnowAngel:
ah, crap—Maddie calling. one sec . . .
zoegirl:
Angela?
zoegirl:
come back! I thought you said no phone calls in public places, so get off the phone with Maddie and come back to me!
SnowAngel:
Zoe. SHIT.
SnowAngel:
starting new txt thread so Mads can be part of it, but prepare yrself: it’s bad!!!!
Tues, Nov 12, 7:23 PM E.S.T.
SnowAngel:
all right, Mads. shld I tell her or do you want to?
zoegirl:
what’s going on???
mad maddie:
my parents. they hate me
zoegirl:
what?
SnowAngel:
they don’t hate her.
SnowAngel:
they don’t HATE you, Maddie. in fact I’m sure they feel absolutely terrible.
SnowAngel:
but Zoe, they’re not letting Maddie come home for Thanksgiving!!!
zoegirl:
WHAT?
mad maddie:
yeah, I know, that’s great, huh? might as well kill myself now.
SnowAngel:
MADDIE. don’t you even say that.
SnowAngel:
and Zoe, they’ve all of a sudden decided they don’t have enough $ for her plane ticket.
zoegirl:
didn’t they already buy it? Thanksgiving break is in a week and a half!
mad maddie:
yes, but then they took this stupid financial planning class. they’ve decided to live a “cash-based life,” and since the ticket was exchangeable, they exchanged it.
mad maddie:
now—if I live that long—it’ll be my stupid coming-home-for-Christmas ticket.
mad maddie:
GOD. they hate me—and I hate them!
SnowAngel:
what did Ian say?
mad maddie:
SnowAngel:
Maddie?
mad maddie:
zoegirl:
Maddie, you’re sending text bubbles with no texts in them. that is not helpful.
mad maddie:
fuck helpful. fuck everything. I can’t even talk about it right now, so good-fucking-bye.
Wed, Nov 13, 7:24 AM E.S.T.
zoegirl:
I just ran five miles nonstop. I have never done that before.
zoegirl:
I think I ran for so long because I had so many things to process.
zoegirl:
1) Doug,
zoegirl:
2) being axed from the creative writing program, and
zoegirl:
3) Maddie.
zoegirl:
of all of them, Maddie’s the biggest. so I was thinking . . . could WE buy her a ticket?
zoegirl:
she really needs to come home. she kept saying how that was the only thing keeping her going, you know?
zoegirl:
so, I don’t know. throwing it out there.
zoegirl:
all right, I’ve got to shower. talk soon!
Thu, Nov 14, 2:45 PM E.S.T.
SnowAngel:
so now all Maddie will say, when she bothers to answer her phone, is what a total loser and failure she is.
SnowAngel:
it’s driving me bonkers!
zoegirl:
me too, BECAUSE I WANT TO FIX EVERYTHING FOR HER AND I CAN’T!
zoegirl:
I’ve got exactly $123.07 in my bank account, and that’s it.
SnowAngel:
and I’m so rich, I have 32 whole dollars and some random cents.
SnowAngel:
so that, combined with what I’ve got, brings us to . . .
zoegirl:
$155, give or take
SnowAngel:
it is annoying how fast you do math
zoegirl:
it is annoying how poor you are!
zoegirl:
kidding. kind of.
zoegirl:
I’ve searched the airline sites, as well as ones like Travelocity and Kayak, and the cheapest ticket I can find costs $461.
zoegirl:
oh, and that’s just for one-way. a round-trip ticket is $589.
SnowAngel:
but we can’t give up. Maddie’s seriously depressed, Zoe.
zoegirl:
I know. I asked if maybe she could spend Thanksgiving with one of her suitemates, and she said she’d rather stay in the homeless shelter.
SnowAngel:
with Jermaine!
SnowAngel:
nvm, bad joke.
SnowAngel:
it’s a strange thing for her to say, tho, cuz Maddie used to like her suitemates . . . didn’t she? and now she dislikes them so much that she’d rather eat turkey with sad dirty ppl?
zoegirl:
well, things with Zara and the Esbees have been going downhill. even so, I’m sure she was just being dramatic.
zoegirl:
have you talked to Ian?
SnowAngel:
briefly, but he had class. do that math magic of yrs and tell me how much we need to buy her that ticket, on top of what we already have.
zoegirl:
$434, and my stupid parents say that they “can’t interfere with the decisions Maddie’s parents have made,” so there goes that possibility.
SnowAngel:
mine said the same thing. my mom said she’d be happy to help if Maddie’s parents asked her to, but that she doesn’t want to go to them offering money because of dumb “I’m sure they don’t want charity” reasons.
zoegirl:
when we are parents, we will help our kids when they need help! promise?
SnowAngel:
duh!
SnowAngel:
Ian will be more than happy to chip in, I’m sure, but I doubt he’ll have that much. how can we raise $400???
zoegirl:
I don’t know. is it even possible for us to raise $400?
SnowAngel:
Shut. Your. Mouth.
SnowAngel:
oh dear. did that sound harsh? I don’t mean to sound harsh—I just don’t want to think anything but positive thoughts!
zoegirl:
I want to get Maddie to Atlanta as much as you do, but we can’t just snap our fingers and make it happen.
SnowAngel:
so then, what? are you suggesting we give up?
SnowAngel:
WE ARE THE WINSOME THREESOME! WE DO *NOT* GIVE UP!
zoegirl:
but Angela . . .
SnowAngel:
what happened to the Zoe I used to k
now? where’s the spirit? where’s the guts?!!!
zoegirl:
whose guts?
SnowAngel:
*your* guts, stupid!
zoegirl:
um, am I normally a girl with spirit and guts?
SnowAngel:
yes. no. kind of!
zoegirl:
I’m the quiet girl in the corner, Angela. I’m quiet and I read books. remember?
SnowAngel:
but you still have spirit and guts, like how you got over Doug by becoming a runner and how you kiss girls and how you got up in front of millions of ppl and read yr story. all of that. takes. guts!
zoegirl:
I’m hardly a runner, I kissed ONE girl, and I got kicked out of my writing class. I got told I *couldn’t* be a writer, remember?
SnowAngel:
Zoe, you’re being annoying. your teacher can tell you that you can’t take the next creative writing class, but she can’t tell you not to write.
zoegirl:
oh
SnowAngel:
yes, and what does she know anyway?
SnowAngel:
if you want to be a writer, then you’ll keep writing, because that’s WHAT YOU DO. you don’t give up.
zoegirl:
what are you leading up to?
SnowAngel:
that we’re not giving up on Maddie either. that we’ll get her to Atlanta one way or another!
Thu, Nov 14, 8:12 PM E.S.T.
SnowAngel:
Maddie, pick up the phone.
SnowAngel:
Maddie!
SnowAngel:
Pick! Up! The! Phone!
SnowAngel:
*rips hair out*
SnowAngel:
will u at least txt me back, then????
SnowAngel:
cuz girl, I talked to Ian, and you have some explaining to do. BIG TIME.
SnowAngel:
plus I am worried about you and I love you and I am worried about you!
SnowAngel:
goddammit, Maddie. call or txt when u can.
SnowAngel:
I’ll be waiting.
Fri, Nov 15, 9:01 AM E.S.T.
SnowAngel:
Zo! I found Ian yesterday, and guess what?
zoegirl:
what? does he have piles of money hidden away that we can use to buy a plane ticket?
SnowAngel:
no, and he thought it was weird that I even asked.
SnowAngel:
not weird as if it was a bad idea. weird cuz he had no idea how upset Maddie is.
zoegirl:
how cld he not know how upset . . . ?
zoegirl:
duh duh duh. because she’s been keeping it from him. truly keeping it from him, even more than I could have imagined.
zoegirl:
Angela, I’m starting to wonder if Ian knew *any* of it. did he know that Maddie and Zara don’t hang out anymore?
SnowAngel:
I mentioned that to him, just in terms of “. . . yeah, and she’s not going out with her friends, and she’s not even sure they ARE friends . . .”
SnowAngel:
he gave me the blankest look and said he didn’t think she’d ever really gone out with them.
zoegirl:
what???
SnowAngel:
so I told him about the casino and the roller derby and the other insane adventures she’s had, and he knew about NONE of them.
SnowAngel:
he thought I was making stuff up to mess with him. he thought I was just being random!
SnowAngel:
is Maddie hiding stuff from us too? is she leading a double life???
zoegirl:
I don’t know, but if I had to guess, I’d guess yes.
Fri, Nov 15, 9:15 AM E.S.T.
SnowAngel:
P.S. Ian can contribute $150 to Project Save Maddie, which is awesome. but that still leaves us short, doesn’t it?
SnowAngel:
and confused!!!
Fri, Nov 15, 9:17 AM E.S.T.
SnowAngel:
P.P.S. and also, that girl from the party? the nurse, on Halloween?
SnowAngel:
this has nothing to do with Maddie, but she’s going to be ok(ish), and I wanted to tell you.
SnowAngel:
Anna heard some girls talking at the Zeta house, and she found out that the girl who dressed up as a nurse is a junior named Kylie.
SnowAngel:
Anna talked to her, and Kylie wasn’t exactly thrilled, but she didn’t turn Anna away either. she said she’d rather not know.
SnowAngel:
anyway, Kylie is seeing a counselor. she’s not dropping out of school or anything and she’s staying in the sorority, even. Anna said that Kylie looked bewildered when Anna asked that question, like she didn’t see how the two things connected.
SnowAngel:
maybe they don’t for her. but for me they did.
SnowAngel:
but this next part makes me happy. Kylie told Anna it meant a lot, the note. knowing that she hadn’t been . . .
SnowAngel:
SnowAngel:
knowing that it cld have been worse, but wasn’t.
SnowAngel:
*deep breath*
SnowAngel:
ok. done. thought you’d want to know, that’s all.
Sat, Nov 16, 1:00 PM E.S.T.
zoegirl:
Maddie, plz be awake.
SnowAngel:
yeah, Maddie. we know you don’t want to talk. whatever. but YOU know you’re being stupid (I love you!) and self-sabotaging (still love you! will always love you!)
zoegirl:
me too, Mads. love and love, even though you have some major explaining to do. but right now that doesn’t matter. we just want to know you’re ok.
SnowAngel:
type a dot or something if yr there.
zoegirl:
a dot? do you mean a period?
SnowAngel:
a dot or a period or anything! the tic-tac-toe board, even.
SnowAngel:
###
SnowAngel:
see how easy?
zoegirl:
that’s not a tic-tac-toe board, Angela. you do know that, right?
zoegirl:
but never mind. Maddie’s not typing anything, so . . .
SnowAngel:
I think we shld tell her anyway.
SnowAngel:
I hope you’re reading this right now, Maddie!!! BECAUSE IT IS IMPORTANT!
SnowAngel:
Zoe? you start.
zoegirl:
well, Angela and I Skyped for hours last night. at the end, we added Ian to the call too.
zoegirl:
and we put it all together—all the stories you told us.
SnowAngel:
we know they’re not true, not a single one.
SnowAngel:
which means u were lying to us
zoegirl:
a lot
SnowAngel:
and when we figured it out, we felt pretty dumb. because remember that one time when I even said to you, “Whoa, Maddie, your life is like a movie”? haha, you must have laughed yr head off at that.
zoegirl:
or not. I tossed and turned all night, and it came to me finally that you probably *wanted* us to figure it out, and maybe you’ve been sad that it’s taken us this long.
SnowAngel:
we made a list:
SnowAngel:
first u told Zoe that you were a card player with mad skills. we had to IMDb that one after we figured out the others, cuz I’ve never seen it. Zoe has, but it was a long time ago.
SnowAngel:
anyway, you got that from the movie about the genius MIT kids who figured out how to rip off casinos by counting cards, didn’t u?
zoegirl:
“21”
zoegirl:
that?
??s what the movie was called
SnowAngel:
then came your stint as a roller derby queen. I still can’t believe Zoe believed that.
zoegirl:
well, you believed me when I told you about it, Angela.
zoegirl:
and can’t you see Maddie as a roller derby queen?