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"Dare" Chapter 5

And I can’t deny your eyes, you know I try to

read between the lines, a solid warning sign.

                “So how was the date?” Erica asked Madison as she poured an insane amount of sugar into her coffee. Maybe that’s why she was so hyper all the time.

                “It was okay, I guess,” Madison responded trying to put her wallet back into her bag while balancing her bagel and latte in the other hand as they walked towards a table by the window.

                “Okay? You guess? What does that mean?”

                “Well, it was nice. Scott’s really nice.”

                “Nice?” Erica made a face as if she had just smelled rotten cheese or something.

                “Yeah. The date was nice. What’s wrong with that?”

                Erica sighed. “Did you have fun, at least?”

                “Do you not like him or something?”

                “What? No, no that’s not it at all--.”

                “Because he’s perfect. I mean, he’s smart and sweet and cute opened the door for me when I got in his car. He likes me. He wants to go out again.”

                “Madison,” Erica began in that scolding voice of hers she always used when she was pissed off at Madison for being clueless (which was often).

                “What?”

                “Do you even hear what you’re saying?”

                “About Scott?” No, about George Washington. Really.  Erica wondered how a girl who got straight A’s could possibly be so damn stupid sometimes.

                “Yeah,” Erica took a sip of coffee while trying to stay calm. “You said he’s perfect.”

                “You don’t think he is?”

                “No one’s perfect.” Sure, try telling that to Miss OCD perfectionist Madison who is irked when her sneakers get even a teensy bit dirty or when she gets a 99 and not an 100. “Sure, Scott may seem perfect, on paper. Future UPenn kid, rich, whatever. But he’s not perfect for you.”

                “How do you know that? Maybe he is. Aren’t you the one who told me to take chances?”

                “You think you took a chance by going on a date with him?”

                “Um, yeah.”

                “He’s not perfect for you because you said the date was nice. And if you really liked the kid you would’ve used a better adjective than nice.”

                “What’s wrong with nice?”

                “And sure I give you credit for going out with him. But taking a chance Mads? Come on. He asked you out. You knew he liked you. You knew you didn’t like him. You knew that you wouldn’t end up liking him. You knew that you’d be on that date with him talking about school and colleges the whole time. Am I right?”

                Madison just looked at Erica. This conversation was reminding her of the one she had with Connor, here at this very Starbucks. Maybe there was something in the air that just made her antsy. Or maybe the Starbucks didn’t like her for some reason. Whatever it was, she was starting to feel very, very angry and so she ended this conversation like the Connor one. She got up and left. Good to know she’s matured in these past few months.

                Madison had been getting straight As her entire life. There was not a teacher, not a test, not an assignment that could throw off her GPA, nothing that could fool her, because even if she was a bit confused all it took was a couple hours of studying to straighten things out. But now Madison felt like the fool. If this were a test, she would be failing. And I don’t mean less than a 90, which is what Madison considered failing. Actual failing, like a good ‘ole six four.

And I’ve been out just waitin’ by the phone

when you were goin’ it alone.

                Life is crazy sometimes. Sometimes things just happen to us that completely surprise us. And although we knew they were possible, or even probable, all along we are still, for some strange reason, completely shocked when they arrive.  That is exactly how Madison felt that night.

                She had been furious after the conversation she had with Erica, as we all know Madison does not take criticism well. She sat at home the entire day doing AP Calculus problems until she thought her head would explode from limits and derivatives. She had plans that Saturday night to go to a party with Erica and Sara and some other girls, but of course that wasn’t going to happen. Erica was the one who always had to drag her to the parties anyway and with Erica mad at her (which she probably was, since she hadn’t called all day) there was no way anti-social Madison would want to go. Madison really had two choices: she could drown in self-pity, sit home watching Law & Order re-runs all night, and feel like the boring, non-risk-taker that she normally was or she could get up off her ass and do something. And she happened to do the later.

                Madison dialed Joe’s number, only this time was much different. Sure, Madison now had the guts to call him or text him every few days, but she never did what she wanted to do. She wanted to flirt with him, she wanted to let him know how she felt about him, she wanted to make him think she was attractive and like her back. She didn’t want to just act like his friend, she didn’t want to have to wonder if he was dating someone. Madison knew firsthand how much easier it was to want something than to actually go for what it is you want. She also knew that she was going in circles and that her old way of doing things, actually not doing anything at all, just wasn’t going to cut it anymore, not since she knew what doing things felt like, not since that kiss she had with Joe.

                “Hello?” The voice on the other end of the line asked Madison, as Madison’s mouth opened wide forming a very attractive “O” shape. That was not Joe’s voice, but a girl’s. It sounded strangely familiar.

                “Um, hey. Where’s Joe?”

                “Oh, hi sorry, I’m Taylor. They’re just finishing up a photoshoot now, he’s probably going to be back soon.”

                “Cool, thanks. I’m Madison. Could you tell him to call me when he gets back?”

                “Sure,” the voice said before hanging up. Who did it belong to? Apparently none other than Taylor Swift, aka the girl who sings the songs now constantly playing in Madison’s car, aka the girl rumored to be dating Joe…and apparently some rumors are true after all.

And all your different faces, and all your different ways

to make everything a mess.

                The rumor wasn’t exactly true. It was half-true or maybe something more like three-quarters of the way true, if that makes any sense. Joe and Taylor were so almost a thing that they basically were one, except for the fact that nobody knew except their families and except for the fact that Joe was sort-of not into it. I mean, yeah, he was a guy he liked how cute she was and how sweet she was, but she was so into him that it kind of turned him off and she was actually starting to get really cocky about her next CD and she never made him laugh. And he wanted to laugh. He wanted to not have to have to act like someone he wasn’t. He felt selfish and spoiled for once again getting himself into a ‘relationship’ when he just wanted to have fun and hang out. He wondered what was wrong with him, why he just didn’t want to be with girls like Demi and Taylor. Yeah, poor you, Joe. It must be difficult having your pick of whichever girl you want.

                Joe tried to hide the fact that he wasn’t into Taylor. He just didn’t want to hurt her, she was too nice. But she knew anyway, deep down inside she kind of knew all along. It was too good to be true, really. But it didn’t stop her from trying. It didn’t stop her from doing her hair in that special way before she saw him, it didn’t stop her from trying to say whatever she could to make him smile. She felt as if his smiles were saved for someone else, like every once and awhile she would see him texting someone with a huge grin on his face or she would be online and he wouldn’t respond for twenty minutes and she just had a feeling he was busy talking to someone else. She guessed it was this girl.

                “Hey,” Joe said, sitting down on the couch next to her. She had been so lost in thought she hadn’t realized he’d come back from the photoshoot with his brothers. “What’s up?”

                She tried to think of something cool that “was up” instead of saying the truth: that she had gotten to their bus wayyy early just in case the photoshoot ended before 8 and that she had spent the last half hour waiting for him and thinking about him. “Nothing really.” Wow, way to be exciting Taylor. “How was the shoot?”

                “It was okay.”

                Taylor really didn’t want to tell him that that girl called. She didn’t want to see the probably happy look on his face when he found out. But she knew it was the right thing to tell him. And she was also kind of curious. “Some girl called you. Said to call you back. I forget the name, something with an M I think.”

                “Madison?”

                “Um, yeah.” She looked to see his reaction, but he was facing the other way.

                “Wanna watch a movie?” Nick asked them.

                “Sure,” Taylor said and Joe nodded. Kevin sat down beside Joe as Nick put the “Juno” DVD in. Joe put his arm around the back of the couch. His arm didn’t touch her shoulders. And even though Taylor knew his arm was there, she also knew that it really wasn’t. And so as Madison drove to that party she was supposed to and thought of Joe, Joe was sitting in his tour bus watching a movie with Taylor in silence, thinking that he was glad Madison called.  It was easy for the three of them to not say how they felt, that was always the easier thing to do. But you can only play hide and seek with your feelings and thoughts for so long. At some point they’ve got to be let out. And that's the moment they were all scared of. The moment of truth.

And then you threw me up against the wall,

who said it’s better to have loved and lost,

I wish that I had never loved at all.

 I've been terrible at  updating, i know, sorry. But i'm trying  : D

"Dare" Chapter 4

You’re push, push, pushin’ me away.

Pushin’ me away, every last word,

Every single thing you say.

                The cutest little golden retriever puppy is just like an adorable boy: if you put a tennis ball in front of the puppy and throw it, he’ll run to get it. If you show him another toy and throw it, he’ll stop mid-run and run away from the tennis ball to get the toy. So when Joe was near Taylor filming or when he spotted her at some event, he wanted her. But whenever he or Madison had the time to call each other, he found himself wanting her instead (And I’m not even mentioning all the attractive girls he saw each day before a show). It was easy for Joe to forget about Madison, especially with all the running around he had to do: interviews, photoshoots, appearances, concerts, you know, the usual. And it was easy for Joe to remember Taylor, especially because she called him all the time and because he thought her smile was pretty cute.

                This was how it had been for the past two months. After Madison started school again and found herself swamped with work and college applications, she found less and less free time to call Joe. She was stressed out to the max. To her, of course, a ‘good’ school could only be an ivy. Smartypants.

                So one Friday night her friends dragged her out of the house so they could go to the mall. It had been awhile since Madison had really seen her friends, because whenever she did it was to say bye to them after staying for a party for an hour before going home to study. But Madison had just sent in her application to Brown (early decision, of course), so she didn’t feel too guilty about taking a break from work.

                A game of “Truth or Dare,” had been long overdue so they started playing as they walked into Abercrombie. Erica walked over towards a table of sweaters.

                “Truth or dare, Mads?” Her friend Sara asked her.

                “Wait, one sec. Which one?” Erica asked nervously holding up two extremely expensive and thin sweaters: one in a light heather gray and one in a charcoal gray. She was freaking out so much because of a guy, Aaron Reed, which was actually unlike Erica. Madison was used to Erica being the confident one, especially with boys, so it was a bit strange seeing Erica nervous. But Erica really liked him, and had for her own personal record: a month and a half. She hadn’t even kissed any other boys since she first developed the crush. Amazing.

                “Um, that one,” Madison said, pointing to the darker one. It didn’t even matter anyway which one Erica wore because she was still pretty gorgeous and this guy probably liked her back anyway (like basically every guy Erica decides she likes). As Erica went to try on the sweater, Madison and her three other friends sat down on the floor by the dressing rooms.

                “Truth or Dare, Mads?”

                “Truth, duh,” Madison said, smiling.

                “Any guy you could kiss, right now. Who would it be?”

                Madison thought for a second. “I don’t know, nobody really.”

                “That’s a lie,” her friends laughed. Sara continued, “there has to be somebody…”

                “Come on, you guys. There aren’t any worthy guys at our school.”

                “Well, that is true.”

                “What about Joe?” Erica  yelled from inside the dressing room.

                “Joe?” Sara asked, unsure of who she was talking about. “Oh, Jonas. Of course.”

                Before Madison had a chance to respond, Erica did for her. “But Madison here messed things up. They’re just friends.”

                The three girls looked towards Madison in confusion, as they had no idea about any of the phone calls. Madison had no choice to tell them the story. After freaking out loud enough to attract the attention of the extremely hot (but probably stupid) guy working there and yelling at Madison, they made her pinky promise to stop being such a wimp and actually try with guys. Hah. Easier said than done.

So take my hand and

please just tell me why.

                To Madison, as we all know, the truth seemed easy. There was nothing fake about it, nothing surprising, nothing that could throw you off guard. It was what it was, without anything to hide, at least that’s what Madison thought. To Madison there were no questions that shouldn’t be answered, no open-endings, no ‘maybe’s.

                Months before Madison found herself seeing and hearing things that she didn’t want to. And once again, at a stupid house party, Madison found herself hating the truth. Because the truth about the truth was this: it could hurt. For the second time in her life, Madison didn’t want it. She didn’t want to hear Aaron tell another girl he liked her. She didn’t want to see him kiss her, she didn’t want to know for sure whether or not he was drunk. She didn’t want to know the truth about Aaron; that he wasn’t worth as much as Erica wanted to give him. And she certainly didn’t want Erica to know the truth.

                The party and the night seemed doomed the moment Erica saw the look on Madison’s face. Do I even need to tell you how bad Madison is at lying and hiding things? Madison expected Erica go over to him and scream at him or throw something at him or slap him, because that’s just so Erica. But she didn’t. She just opened her eyes wide as she listened to Madison’s words and then grabbed Madison’s wrist and dragged her out to the car, not saying a word.

                Sometimes words don’t fix things, Madison learned. Sometimes they can make things worse. When they got back to Erica’s house, Madison made them both hot chocolate and they sat at the kitchen table, completely in silence for a few minutes. Madison didn’t know what to say to her, what can you really say? That all guys aren’t that bad? That Erica would find someone better? Did Madison believe that better guys than Connor and Aaron existed?

                “I’m sorry,” was the only thing she could think of to say.

                “It’s okay,” Erica told her, taking a sip of hot chocolate before continuing, “I’m okay. It’s just…I really liked him.”

                “I know you did,” Madison said quietly.

                “But you know what? It was good while it lasted. While I thought he liked me, when we hung out.” Madison didn’t respond. “I know you probably don’t see it this way, Mads, but it was worth it in the end. Now I know what he’s like. And I tried. I don’t have to wonder what could’ve happened.”

                “I guess so,” Madison told her, but couldn’t really believe it when she was looking at a girl whose eyes were bloodshot from crying over a boy. She couldn’t believe it after having been that girl herself. “But he’s still an asshole.”

                “Well…yeah, he is. But at least I gave it a chance. You have to give things a chance Mads, otherwise nothing changes.”

You’re push, push, pushin’ me away.

You’re push, push, pushin’ me away.

                Madison didn’t believe in taking chances, not really. But as the next week passed, she noticed that Erica got out of her Aaron-funk and soon was her normal self again. If popular Erica could get her heart broken, then so could anyone.  But she didn’t let Aaron break her, she didn’t let him mess things up in her life. She wasn’t completely over him, but she wasn’t opposed to flirting with new guys either. That’s what Madison admired most about Erica, her confidence in who she was and her confidence in how she did things. So when she had time one Wednesday after school she called Joe. And when a kid in her calculus class asked her on a date for Friday, she said yes.

 Spinning round these walls are falling down

and I need you more than you know,

I’m not letting go.

feedback rocks.

"Dare" Chapter 3

There’s pretty girls on every corner, they watch him as he’s walking home,

saying, “does he know?” Will you ever know?

You’re beautiful, every little piece, love, and don’t you know,

you’re really gonna be someone, ask anyone.

                “Oh, man. I totally love this song,” Erica said, taking her right hand off the steering wheel to raise the volume as a breathy, girly voice with a slight southern twang started to sing some sappy love song.

                “Who is this?” Madison asked, glancing at her reflection in the mirror. Long eyelashes all thanks to Maybelline, check. Lightly glossed lips that look pretty sexy, check. Amazingly zit free face, check. Life…well, no check apparently.

                “Do you seriously not know who this is? Taylor Swift, aka the girl all emo about her guitar, aka the new pop princess of the radio, where have you been, Mads?”

                “Living under a rock, apparently,” Mads replied, deciding that she liked the song and this Taylor Swift girl. Well, Madison, that’s what you get for working at a day camp all summer. You become a major expert on the PB&J and Miley, but a complete loser when it comes to everything else. Did I mention that all her campers loved Camp Rock? And all the under-10 girlies loved the JoBros? Ah, if only they knew what the Shane Gray was really like.

                “She’s also dating your famous lovvvva, the one and only J Jonas.”

                “She is?”

                “Yeah, she’s been going to all their shows and stuff. Pretty cute, I guess, although you and him wouldn’t be too bad,” Erica said, turning to look at Madison and giving her a wink.

                Madison stared at the road straight ahead, trying not to outwardly freak out because she totally was on the inside. Because she totally did not tell Erica about that hot and heavy kiss she shared with Joe, or their three hour phone conversation that day in the rain, or the fact that she promised (and wanted) to call him back, but never did. And now, almost a month after their lip lock, he was with some music queen. Oh.Okay.

                Madison was fine. Really. I mean, after that whole talk with Joe she sorted things out. She started working and spending all her free time at the mall or babysitting. She was back to her little old self, minus her ex who she hadn’t seen since she ran out of Starbucks that day, but who was supposedly going to be at this party.

                So after Madison took a few deep breaths and decided that she really hated this stupid country-pop-cheesy lyric-singing girl, Erica was pulling up into a driveway. The two girls got out, Erica linking arms with Madison as they walked up the long driveway and into the backyard of one of their semi-close friends. Suddenly Madison felt weird, and it wasn’t just because Erica had forced her to wear a pretty revealing bikini under her tank and jean skirt. As they entered the backyard, Madison looked around, taking in the usual scene: kids that she knew, kids that she didn’t, some couples making out, some kids wandering around, probably drunk. Madison wanted to do her usual party move, which was turn around and leave and watch Season One of One Tree Hill on DVD, but she couldn’t do that because Erica was her ride. She was also there to support Erica who had a crush on some guy and was going to ‘go for it’ that night, but that was stupid because the second they got there Erica unlinked arms with her, and went off to go and find him.

                That left Madison there standing like a freak. A wallflower.  A dork for not showing off her bikini and getting in the pool, a dork for not grabbing a beer, a dork for not going over to talk to anyone. Madison was okay with that though, because it was summer and she was going off to college soon and these kids were going to be completely drunk off their asses by the end of the night.

                “What’cha doing?” Erica asked, sitting down next to an awkward and bored Madison. She had a smile on her face, and Madison knew that meant that things had gone well with whatever-his-name that Erica liked this week. She was happy for Erica, of course, but wasn’t in the mood for happy love talk at the moment. And she knew Erica would end up telling her every little detail anyway over the next week.

                “Nothing,” Madison said, closing her phone. She had been looking through her texts, the ones from three weeks ago that she hadn’t deleted because she kind of felt cool knowing that someone really cool (ahem, and famous) liked her.

                “Really?” Erica said, raising her eyebrows. She knew Madison too well and it was clear that Mads was hiding something from her, so she grabbed the phone. “Truth or Dare?”

                “Do we have to play that right now?”

                “Yes, we do,” Erica said in that bossy, you-better-listen-to-me-cause-I-know-everything voice that kind of helped create this mess in the first place.

                “Fine. Truth,” Madison responded, trying to get the phone out of Erica’s hands.

                “What do you want?”

                “What do you mean, what do I want?”

                “What do you want, Mads? Because I know you don’t want this. You want more than to be sitting here by yourself not having any fun. So why don’t you tell me what it is that you do want? And be honest with me.”

                Madison didn’t really have an answer, but Erica waited there for one, “I don’t know.”

                “You know what I think you want?”

                “What?”

                “I think you want to take a dare. You really, really want to.” And then Erica opened the phone, plugged in some numbers, and looked at it before handing it back to Madison. “Meet me in the front in an hour? My mom wants me home by three,” and then, with a slight smile, Erica turned around and walked back towards the party.

If you and I are a story that never gets told,

if what you are is a daydream I’ll never get to hold, at least you’ll know.

You’re beautiful, every little piece, love.

                Joe must’ve been seeing things. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to mix Nick’s red bulls with all those drinks. But even though his head was pounding from the music blasting from the speakers at the premiere party he was at, and even though his head was also a teensy bit foggy, he could swear that it said “Madison Calling” on his phone.

                “Hello?” He said, feeling a strange sensation wash over him. Surprise? Hurt? Anger? Confusion? Maybe a little bit of each. He didn’t hear anyone respond on the other line. Maybe he was more trashed than he thought. Or maybe Madison was just pissing in her pants nervous and incapable of acting normal. Yeah, that one sounds about right. “Madison?”

                “H-hey. I’m really sorry, um…”

                “Why are you calling me now?” Joe shook his head. He would really never understand girls. First Madison makes out with him, then she won’t talk to him, then she talks to him for three hours on the phone one day and says she’ll call. Then she calls three weeks later at one in the morning.

                “I wanted to call you, and I was going to, but I jus—“

                “No you weren’t.”

                “What?”

                “You weren’t going to call me.” He might’ve sounded rude, but at that point Joe didn’t really care. He was kind of over the whole trying-to-find-love-slash-a-real-relationship thing and back to just hooking-up-slash-partially-dating thing. He was also kind of pissed off that she didn’t call and kind of pissed off that he cared that she didn’t call.

                “Well, I guess that’s true. Erica made me call.” Joe was tempted to hang up and go get another vodka-and-whatever-drink he had. It sounded better than feeling like an idiot over a girl, which was something Joe never ever did. And he certainly wasn’t about to start now.

                “Alright, then. Since you don’t want to talk to me, I’m gonna go,” Joe started to look around the dark, humid room for that familiar head of blonde curls. He could go make out with Taylor right now. At least she liked him.

                “I do want to talk to you,” Madison said softly.

                “It doesn’t really seem like it, does it? You ignore all my calls and then one time answer and say you’ll call me back. And you didn’t.”

                “There’s a reason why I didn’t call you back.”

                “And what’s that?”

                “I’m sure you probably figured this out already, but I’m not that girl you met that day at the meet-and-greet. That’s not me at all.”

                “So…?”

                “So, I’m not as gorgeous as Demi or Taylor or whoever. My friends dared me to kiss you. And you probably do stuff like that all the time and that’s okay, but I don’t.”

                “A dare?”

                “Yeah and I never choose Dare. Never. I just did that one time because that’s when Connor broke up with me and I was freaking out.”

                “So, w hat, do you and your friends play Truth or Dare all the time or something?”

                “Yeah. It’s kind of our tradition.”

                “And you always pick Truth? That’s lame.”

                “Thanks.”

                “No problem. You gotta work on that though. A world without dares is pretty boring. Just think about it. If you hadn’t taken that dare we wouldn’t be speaking right now.” He might’ve been mad at her before, but he couldn’t help but smile as he talked to her. So he walked a bit further away from the center of the party so he could hear her better. He suddenly didn’t care about dancing, or drinks, or even Taylor. He was so deep into the conversation that he didn’t notice Taylor watching him. If he did he would’ve seen how pretty she looked, how she wore a special dress and makeup just for him, and how lonely she looked as he walked away.

And when you find everything you looked for,

I hope your laugh leads you back to my door.

Oh, but if it don’t, stay beautiful.

"Dare" Chapter 2

And when it rains,
will you always find an escape?
Just running away
from all of the ones who love you.
From everything.

There are several times in our lives when we will find ourselves in uncomfortable, awkward, and possibly quite embarrassing situations. Madison is no different. Like the time when she was buying bras in Victoria’s Secret and she saw her math teacher in line behind her. Or the first time she got her period and had to ask every girl in her English class if they had a pad. Experiences like these make you want to flee and hide out in your bedroom closet curled up into a ball, and that is exactly what Madison wanted to do that night at the movie theater. It was supposed to be a little girl’s night out (or “G.N.O” for you hip Miley fans), but we all know that life is full of surprises and this was just the case.

Madison walked in with Erica and two of their other friends, planning on seeing “Mamma Mia!” because they all had a dorky obsession with Broadway musicals, and got on the line to buy tickets. There were a few people ahead of them on the line, and Madison swore she heard a familiar voice. But it couldn’t be him, she thought to herself, and dismissed the thought, but then boy-with-the-familiar-voice and the girl he was with finished buying their tickets and started to walk into the main theater area, and that was when Madison realized that this boy’s voice was familiar because it was Connor's. Duh.

“Connor?” Madison whispered in disbelief, getting pissed off at the fact that he was there with a girl that wasn’t her. And she had a right to be pissed, I mean, it had only been a little over a week since their little ‘break up’ fiasco at the house party and he was already dating someone else? And, not that Madison was noticing or anything, but he was wearing the same shirt that he wore on their second date (which was, of course, to the movies). Ugh. Sometimes Madison really wished she was a lesbian. Boys were just so…annoying. Idiots.

“Connor?” Erica asked quite loudly, looking at Madison curiously and wondering what she was talking about, when Connor and random-slut-on-a-date-with-Connor girl turned around.

“Oh, hey guys,” Connor said, walking over to them, his arm lightly around the waist of the girl.

“Hey,” Madison responded lightly, trying to prevent herself from clawing out this girl’s eyes out.

“Hi,” slut-girl said. She smiled warmly and Madison felt bad about wanting to kill her, but it still didn’t mean she wanted her around. This girl was very pretty, with short, layered brown hair, green eyes, and light freckles on her cheeks and nose. Madison couldn’t help wondering what was so special about this girl, because obviously, unlike Madison, this girl was exciting. Puh-lease.

Erica, being great at starting and holding conversations, unlike our dear Madison, started to talk to slut-girl and ask her about what movie they were going to see. That left Madison standing by Connor. Awkwardly, I may add.

“So how are you?” Connor asked her, putting his hands in the pockets of his sexy Abercrombie jeans. Now honestly, Connor, that is the dumbest question you could have asked. In the book of dating there is a “What to Do if You Break Up,” section and in that section it says specifically that you never, never, ever ask the person you dumped how they are doing. Why? Because you broke their heart and messed them up, that’s why.

Instead of answering with the truth which was “I’m pissed off at you for breaking up with me and dating another girl because we belong together, you stupid, effing schmuck,” Madison chose to answer with a wimpy, “fine.” Madison was so pissed off by this point that it was clear, even to thickheaded Connor, that she was so not fine.

“Cons, want to get some popcorn or candy or something now? The movie’s starting in a few minutes,” slut-girl interrupted, looking at her watch.

“Yeah, one sec, okay?”

“Okay, I’ll go on line then. It was nice to meet all of you,” she said, smiling at them sweetly, before walking away.

“So I guess you’d better go, you know, to your new girlfriend,” Madison said harshly, as she narrowed her eyes as the girl walked away. Maybe if she stared at her long enough she would go away.

Connor sighed. “Madison…” he started to say.

“What?” She snapped.

“Look, I think we have to talk about some things.” Madison didn’t say anything. The last time they ‘talked’ he told her that he didn’t want to be with her anymore and she certainly didn’t want to hear words like that again, but at the same time she still wanted to talk to him. Maybe he’d realize that he was wrong to break up with her. Or...maybe, actually probably, not. “How about Starbucks. Tomorrow?” Madison nodded pathetically. She was so whipped. “Okay, let’s say 8?” She nodded again, trying not to look at him. “Okay, see ya then,” he said before walking back towards his date.

There are girls who get cheated on or dumped or hurt by a stupid guy who are silent, like Madison. They are upset, they are angry, but they sit there and let it all hit them like a ton of bricks and are too scared or freaked out to respond. The problem with that is that the guy never gets to knowhow she really feels. And even though telling him doesn’t normally change anything, it can make you feel a hell of a lot better because you know that at least you did something.

Demi was not that type of girl. Maybe she was, back in the day, before she got her ‘big break’ or whatever-it-was with Disney and all that "This is Me" confidence and crap, but she was done with that now. So around the same time that Madison was sitting in “Mamma Mia!” and thinking about how pathetic her life was, Demi was looking for Joe. Because she had been giving him the silent treatment for the past week and it was pretty strange singing a love song in front of thousands of people with someone you weren’t talking to. And she also kind-of, sort-of, totally still had a thing for him and was wondering what the heck possessed him to kiss someone who wasn’t her.

“I need to talk to you,” Demi said once she found him, sitting in his dressing room and watching TV.

“Now? You haven’t spoken to me this whole week,” Joe lowered the volume on the TV and scratched his head.

“Well,” Demi said, trying not to look at Joe because he was wearing one of those thin V-neck t-shirts of his that were so sexy she could barely handle it, “I was pissed off. I mean, can you blame me? I walked in and saw you kissing some girl.”

“You know I’m sorry about that, Demi.”

“I know you’re sorry, but it doesn’t change the fact that you did it.” Demi was upset, but she was not going to cry. No, she couldn’t let herself do that. “Why did you?”

“It wasn’t about you. Look, I didn’t even know that girl, okay?” And was that supposed to make Demi feel better? Well, it wasn’t. “I just did it because, I don’t know, I needed a change. I thought I needed something.”

“What did you need?”

“I don’t know.”

“You just didn’t need me, right? Is that it?”

The answers to those questions were yes, but his mother had taught him well, and so he lied so he wouldn’t make her feel worse.

“What was wrong with me? Was I not good enough for you, rockstar?” Now Demi was coming very close to crying. Bad idea to wear all that eyeliner.

“No, no that’s not it at all.”

“Then tell me what it is!” Demi just couldn’t stop because she knew that if she never knew the truth she'd spend weeks thinking and guessing about it.

“I wanted something more.”

“More what?”

“I don’t know. Chemistry, maybe. Fire.” Well, that’s ironic. This conversation is starting to sound like another one we’ve heard about, doesn’t it? You know, a certain conversation that took place outside a house party? Yeah.

“So, what, you think we don’t have chemistry? What is that, Joe? You think our relationship was boring or something?”

Joe didn’t say anything in response, but it didn’t matter; Demi already had her answers, so she left the room and slammed the door behind her, letting the tears finally fall as she ran.

And oh, oh, how could you do it?
Oh I, I never saw it coming.
And oh, oh, I need the ending.
So why can't you stay just long enough to explain?

At 7:55 PM the next day, Madison was sitting in Starbucks and waiting for Connor to show up. She ordered an iced green tea, hoping that drinking something would distract her from her nerves. To make matters worse, well, worse according to Madison, she was still getting those stupid texts. What kind of texts? Cute, silly, flirty ones coming from Joe, that’s what kind of texts they were. And stupid, naïve Madison just kept deleting them, but Joe, stubborn little rockstar that he was, just had to keep sending them back. He also tried calling, but she just hit ‘ignore’.

You’re probably wondering why he was sending them. After all, Madison was nothing more than just your regular teenage girl. She may have been smart and pretty, but these are not the types of things that should attract hot guys who millions of girls want to marry. Madison was wondering as well. And the simple solution that she came up with was that he probably thought she was really cool, dangerous, and fun because of the way she acted at the meet-and-greet and after the show (ahem, slutty much?). And we all know that Madison was not really like that at all and the Madison that did those things that day was not the real Madison. Madison didn’t really want to be that girl either. Sure, it was fun and all, but a dare always comes with a risk. And with risks people can get hurt so, Madison believed, it’s better to just not take that risk at all.

“Hey,” Connor said, walking up to where she was and sitting down, holding a coffee, as Madison deleted another text.

“Hey.” Madison really didn’t know what to say. Being there in Starbucks with him now just felt so strange. They had gone there so many times together, when they were still a couple. The first time they went, Madison remembered, was back in ninth grade right before he asked her out. It had just opened and they ended up walking there from Madison’s house, which was pretty far away. After getting their drinks and starting to walk back, the sky suddenly opened up and it was pouring so Connor grabbed her hand and they ran back, spilling their drinks along the wa