First off, I want to announce who guessed the book right, and that person was... DawnieDawnDawn, who guessed 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' and is correct! Nice guessing :)
2nd, this idea was inspired by reviews from Pinkluver93 and Bigslayerguyman. Thanks for the inspiration. Hope you all enjoy the chapter :)
One week left until Middle School started. Middle school, a whole new school with new kids and teachers. Maddie had all her school supplies in her new bookbag ready to go, but she still didn't feel ready for middle school. Not because she felt unprepared, she just didn't want summer to end. The season was just way too short for her liking.
Since her mom was busy going over some paperwork for the company she worked for, Maddie was simply laying on the couch and watching tv. Normally she would go outside and practice baseball, or play with Robbie. But unfortunately, her best friends was still camping with his parents, and while she could practice on her own, it wouldn't be as fun.
'It's my last week of summer, I shouldn't be laying her,' Maddie thought, 'I need to do something... I just don't know what.'
"Finished!" Margaret happily closed the folder, put her pencil down, and sighed. Her work was finally done, and now she had the entire day to do whatever she wanted. She glanced around her at-home office, and her eyes fell on a picture on her desk.
The picture was of her, Mordecai and Maddie (who was five at the time) sitting on a bench at the park. Rigby's arm was in the picture too, since he tried to get into the picture but didn't quite make it. The scarlet bird smiled at the picture, specifically at her husband.
Said husband was about two cities away, at a self produced artists convention. Normally he wouldn't have cared about going, but three famous art collectors would be there looking at people's best work. It would've been a missed opportunity if the bluejay didn't go, so Margaret insisted he did.
Glancing at the picture again, Margaret now looked at her young daughter. She found her smile slipping a little. Two days alone together, and all the two had really done together was eat meals together and watch some tv. Not really what you would call quality time.
She remembered what Eileen had said to her on the phone before she left for the weekend with her family. "Maybe with Mordecai gone for the weekend, you and Maddie will spend some quality mother/daughter time together." So much for that.
It wasn't as if the two didn't love each other, they definitely did. They ate meals and talked during them, they watched certain shows together, Margaret always came to every one of Maddie's baseball games, and they always told each other they loved each other.
But still, Margaret usually had to work while Maddie was at home, which meant Maddie would spend more time with Mordecai than with her. It wasn't that way on purpose, it just happened. And as a result, Maddie was simply closer to Mordecai than to Margaret. It was as simple as that.
"Well, maybe I can change that," Margaret mumbled. Putting the calculations and business notes back in her case, Margaret walked out of her office, and into the living room.
"Hey Maddie," Margaret said in a friendly tone. A head of purple feathers turned to look at her.
"Oh, hey Mom," Maddie replied.
"I was thinking, maybe you and I could go to the mall today," Margaret said, hoping her daughter would take the offer. After all, the mall was the best place to meet someone or to spend time with them.
"But we already bought new clothes for the school year," Maddie replied.
"We don't have to buy clothes, we don't have to buy anything even," said Margaret, "I'd just thought we'd hang out there and spend some time together."
Maddie thought about it. Normally she would've refused, but there didn't seem like a reason to today. They weren't trying on a bunch of clothes, and there was nothing else for Maddie to do at home. The young bird then remembered something her father had told her before leaving: Spend some time with your mom this weekend, okay?
Maybe a trip to the mall wouldn't be so bad, and it would only be a couple hours.
"Yeah, okay mom," Maddie finally replied, giving her a small smile, "It might be fun."
"Great," Margaret smiled back, "Well, let's go."
"Okay." Maddie turned off the tv, and followed her mom out the door to the red van.
()(()()()()()()()
The Twin Peaks mall wasn't very busy on a Sunday afternoon, so it was easy to find a parking space. In no time at all, the two girls were inside the mall.
"So, where do you want to go first?" Margaret asked. Maddie shrugged her shoulders.
"I guess we can walk around until we find something," Maddie replied.
"Okay." The two walked through the food court, and passed the theatre and a few stores that sold soap, hair accessories, purses and other various items. They continued walking past all the stores, since none of them seemed to interesting.
But then, just before they reached the escalators, Margaret spotted something she loved going to, and was certain her daughter would grow to love it just as much.
"Maddie, how about we go there?" Margaret asked, pointing at the small room. Maddie looked at her mother, confused.
"The manicure place?" Maddie asked. Why would they go there. To a ten year old, energentic, tomboy girl, it didn't look fun at all.
"I know it doesn't really seem like fun, but trust me, it's really nice and relaxing," Margaret said, trying to convince her daughter.
Maddie sighed. 'Guess I don't have much of a choice,' she thought. "Alright, let's go," Maddie said. The two walked inside and were immediantly greeted.
The worker was wearing a red vest with a name tag on it, and had long raven hair. "Hello," she said politely, "what can I do for you two?"
"Two mani-pedis please," Margaret replied, getting the money out of her purse. After she paid, the two were led to two chairs that were next to each other.
"So, what happens now?" Maddie asked, curious what she had gotten herself into.
"You just sit back and relax," Margaret answered. Two employees walked over to them. One walked over to Maddie, the other stood beside Margaret. They started getting out their tools, as well as a bowl of hot water and lotion.
The employee working on Maddie, a woman with short black hair, squirted some lotion onto Maddie's hands and began massaging them. It felt so strange to the young bird, and she had to fight the urge to pull her hands away. But after a while, it felt... nice.
After the hands, both employees moved on to the feet. When the cold lotion was put her foot, Maddie let out a surprised yelp. Margaret giggled a little.
"You okay?" she asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine." While the feet required more tools and more work, it was just as relaxing. As they got their pedicures, the two girls watched the tv up on the wall of the business, which was showing random music videos. Most of them were pretty entertaining.
Finally, the pedicures were finished, with each bird getting a little bit of nail polish on their feet as the finishing touch (Midnight blue for Maddie, and Rose Red for Margaret). Margaret gave them a tip, and then the two walked out the doors.
"So, how did you like your first mani-pedi?" Margaret asked.
"I guess it, wasn't as bad as I thought it would be," Maddie replied, a little embarrassed that she actually liked doing something girly, "But now my feet feel kinda weird when I walk."
"Yeah, it feels a little weird, but you get used to it," Margaret replied, remembering how her feet felt when she got her first pedicure.
After that, the girls walked to a few random stores -a sports store, a video game store, and a make-up store (guess which one Margaret wanted to go to)- they decided it was time for lunch. After all, it was almost one o'clock.
The two decided to eat at a Chinese place, and the food tasted delicious. They also talked a lot during lunch. It was mostly the normal things they talked about, but it was still a good conversation. There was never any awkward silences or moments when they wished the third member of the Quintel family was there. It was just a nice mother-daughter lunch.
While they were eating, a guy walked up to Margaret and flashed a cute smile. "Hey there," he said, still smiling despite the fact Margaret looked annoyed by him and Maddie was glaring at him, "So, you look like your kid look like you could use some company. Did I mention I'm great with kids."
Maddie was about ready to tell this guy off, but then stopped when she saw her mother smile back at this guy!
"Aw, that's so cute, pretending to ask a girl out," she said with a sarcastic tone, "Now why don't you guy try it with the real thing, a girl who isn't already married. Sound good?"
"Uh, yeah, uh," the man said, now flustered, "I, uh, Igottago!" And with that, he quickly walked off.
"Nice one, Mom," Maddie complemented, smiling at her mother.
"He was easy enough to deal with," Margaret replied, "No big deal." She had dealt with enough guys to know that despite the smooth-talking outside, they guy was really just trying whatever he could to get lucky, and though that no one could see through the cover up. One dose of reality, and he was out of there.
"You wouldn't have wanted to date him anyway, right Mom?" Maddie asked.
"Right," Margaret replied, "You're dad is the only one for me." She still couldn't believe how long it took her to realize that the sweet, kinda shy, nice guy who stopped by the coffee shop every day was the perfect guy for her. She almost felt a little guilty for making Mordecai wait that long.
"Because you guys fell in love when you first saw each other, right?" Margaret looked up.
"Where did you hear that?"
"Dad told me."
Margaret smiled and laughed a little. "Well, we were friends at first sight," Margaret explained, "but when we did fall in love, I knew it was right." Maddie smiled.
Their trays now empty, Margaret took them over to the trash and told her daughter she would be right back. So Maddie sat there, looking around at the mall surroundings. As she gazed around, her eyes fell on the movie theatre a couple stores away. A familiar trailer was playing on the tv above the theatre doors.
Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the dining hall...
Zombie Dinner Party III
Since Maddie knew the zombies were fake, she wasn't scared by the movie. In fact, she wanted to see the movie, especially since she and her dad had watched the 2nd ZBD movie together a few months ago on dvd. The movie was rated PG-13, so she would have to wait until her dad came home to ask if they could see the third movie together.
"Oh, they're making another one?" Maddie turned and saw her mother standing behind her, holding a small shopping bag. "Well, I guess they are pretty good movies."
"Wait, Mom, you like the Zombie Dinner Party movies?" Maddie asked, surprised.
"Well yeah," Margaret replied, "I know they're a little cliche, but they're still pretty good. Did you want to go see it? I think you watched the 2nd one, right?"
"Yeah, but," Maddie replied, still surprised, "but I didn't know you did. Usually when you and Eileen, Rigby or Dad go to the movies, you see one of those corny romantic comedy movies."
"Well, Eileen isn't really into horror," Margaret explained, "and while Rigby likes zombie movies, he gets a little freaked out by them too. As for your dad well, don't tell him I said this, but I think he likes the romantic comedies more than me."
Both girls giggled. "Well, if you like the zombie movies, then can we go see it. I think the next show's in fifteen minutes."
"Sure," replied Margaret, "It'll be a nice way to end the afternoon. Let's go!" Smiling, Maddie stood beside her mom, and they walked to the theatre together.
'Maybe we have more in common than I thought,' Maddie thought. She then remembered the mani-pedis. 'And, maybe I can learn to like some of the things she likes too.'
But then, Maddie remembered the bag. "What's in the bag, Mom?"
"Oh, just a little surprise for you," Margaret answered, "I'll show it to you when we're in the car."
"Oh, okay," Maddie replied. They both smiled as they walked through the theatre doors.
()()()()()()()()()
The bluejay put his key into the lock, and turned it, opening the door. "Hey girls, I'm home!" he shouted. But he didn't hear the running of his daughter's feet, or his wife's yell of "Mordecai, is that you?" It was just silence.
"Hello? Margaret? Maddie? You guys home?" Still no answer. "Where are they?"
Just then, Mordecai heard the sound of car doors slamming, and two familiar giggles. "I can't believe they've gotten even more fake looking than the last time I saw one of those movies!"
"I've never even seen the first one, and I could tell they've gotten worse. But at least the effects were better than the acting."
"Tell me about it!" The girls giggled again, but then noticed the open door and who was inside. "Mordecai!" Margaret said happily.
"Dad! You're back!" Maddie shouted in surprise. She happily ran over and gave him a hug.
"Hey Maddie," Mordecai replied, ruffling his daughter's hair, or at least he was going to, until he noticed the new item in her hair. "What's that?"
"It's something Mom bought me while we were at the mall," Maddie answered. After the movie and the two had gotten into the car, Margaret allowed Maddie to open her surprise.
The surprise turned out to be a blue colored, stretchy cloth headband with white spots on it, the same colors as her junior baseball uniform. "I know you didn't want to get your hair cut short," Margaret said, "And I know when you put your hat on, your hair is flattened to the front-" which made it hard for Maddie to see sometimes- "So I thought this would help pull your hair back. You could wear it under you cap, and it matches your uniform. Plus, it's barely noticable."
"Huh," Maddie said, looking at the headband. Margaret helped put it in, and then Maddie looked at her new look through the side mirror.
It looked a little weird, but honestly, she didn't look super weird or super girly. She just looked like Maddie. Maddie smiled, and then looked over at her mom. "Thanks," she had said.
After talking with Mordecai about his weekend and their trip to the mall, Maddie had went to her room. There was an IM waiting for her on her computer.
Salyerman226: Maddie, where are you? You wanna talk?
Maddie sat down and typed a reply. BaseBallBirdGirl: I thought you were camping Robbie.
*Bing!* We were, but Dad got stung by a bunch of wasps, so we had to go home early. Don't worry, Mom's taking care of him. So, where were you all day?
Mom and I went to the mall. We ate lunch, went to the movies, and looked at stores, and we also got medi-pedis. Strange thing is, I liked it.
*Bing!* ...Who are you and wears the real Maddie?
Lol. Don't worry though, I'm not gonna become a super girly girl.
As Maddie sent her message, she couldn't help but think, 'Although, maybe next time we have to go to the mall, I'll come along too. I guess spending time with Mom, can be just as fun as spending it with Dad.'
"Who knew?" Maddie said, with a small smile before reading the reply message.
Sorry if this chapter was kinda boring to all my male readers. So, next chapter will be the kids' first day of Middle School. What surprises await them? You'll just have to read to find out :) Please review, and I'll see you next time!