Ya'll I am SO sorry for the long delay on these updates… but now school is out and it's all good, so I won't be as busy as usual. Read, review, and enjoy.

Chapter 12 – A Little Girl Talk

That night, as everyone else was sleeping, Maddie walked downstairs into the kitchen to get a snack and watched some TV because she couldn't sleep worth anything. AJ was still up, and about five or ten minutes later, she came down and sat with Maddie on the couch.

"Why are you up at this hour, Madd?" she asked.

"Couldn't sleep," she said.

"Why?"

"I don't know," she mumbled. "Don't you ever have those nights?"

"Only when something's wrong. So tell me… what's up?"

"Nothing's up, I just can't sleep… why is that so bad? What's the big deal?"

Then AJ knew that something really WAS up with Maddie, and she would stop at nothing to find out what it was.

"Maddie," she said, her hand on her shoulder, "What's wrong? Please tell me, I might be able to help."

"I don't want you to get mad at me and think I'm all conceited or anything like that, like you got mad at London."

"Well I can't make you any promises, unless you admit that it might be a little conceited of you."

"It kinda is, but I don't know what you'll think about it."

"Then I guess you're gonna have to tell me and I'll have to find out, then," she said, looking into Maddie's eyes understandingly.

She was scared, but she knew she had to do it. It had been bothering her for a while now.

"Well," she sighed, "Okay. Lately I've been feeling a little left out."

"By who?"

"Everyone."

"Even Aly and I?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"Okay, why? What have we been doing to make you feel left out?"

"Well, for one, Zack and Cody won't leave you alone."

AJ laughed. "I know, but they're so adorable. I'm not trying to leave you out."

"Well, you are," she said, with a rather snobbish tone.

AJ started to get a little frustrated and annoyed. "Maddie, it's not like I really like Cody… he's little and he's adorable. I don't want him to feel left out."

"So it's okay for me to be the only one left out, but it's not okay for him to feel left out?"

"No… he's just little, adorable, and I didn't want to hurt his feelings, I hate when I hurt people."

"Then you should hate yourself right now, because you sure did hurt mine. You and Aly both did. Aly is SO much worse than you, too," she said.

"Look, I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean to… and what's this about Aly acting the same way as me?"

"Well, she does the whole Zack thing you do with Cody, only she also does it with Raviv, and it's much worse."

"Well, she hasn't seen Raviv for five months, Maddie," she said, "I would have thought you would have understood that."

"Well, sorry to disappoint you, then," Maddie said, again with a snobbish tone. "I don't."

"How would you feel if you had a boyfriend that you couldn't see for five or six months? You wouldn't like it either, and you know that."

Maddie had to think up a comeback for this one. She couldn't think of one at all, so she just didn't say anything. She didn't want to admit that AJ was right.

"Well, this isn't my problem… you need to talk to her about this," AJ said. "I've noticed myself that she hasn't been paying enough attention to you, though," she said.

"Thank you! At least SOMEONE agrees with me!" she exclaimed.

"Well, actually, I'm the only one that agrees with you because I'm the only one you've told."

"That's true…" Maddie mumbled. They both shared a laugh.

"Now, don't you feel better that we talked about this and worked it all out?" AJ asked her.

"Yeah," Maddie said. "I feel a lot better."

"That's good. And I'm really sorry that I wasn't paying enough attention to you… I had no idea. I'm really glad you told me."

"Believe me, so am I. Now I'm sorry that I didn't talk to you sooner, since everything worked out really well."

"Maddie, if you ever need to talk about anything, rather it's about me or not, please tell me. I'll try to help. I'll be here for you."

"Thanks," Maddie said, grinning widely. "I appreciate it."

AJ smiled back. "Well," she said, yawning, "I'm gonna go to bed now. Aren't you sleeping with me tonight?" she asked.

"I was supposed to sleep with Aly, but sure, why not?" Maddie asked. "Go on up, I'll be there in a second."

"Okey dokey," she said, grabbing her glass of water and walking upstairs. Maddie turned off the television, put up the Doritos, poured out her glass of water, and walked upstairs.

End of Chapter 12