Alright, so here's the new chapter... sorry I'm taking so long to update... I know how much I hate to wait for updates and I feel horrible for making you wait, but with school I have no choice.
Anyway, now it's time for your input. I've had some requests for who Madison should end up with, but I wanted to ask all of you readers. One person has said Alan, and another has said Sunshine... what do you think? Please let me know in a review!
Thanks everyone for reading, putting this on alert, favoriting it, and thanks so much for all of the reviews. They all really keep me going and are really encouraging. Now on with the new chapter, I hope you enjoy!
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Madison got up to her room thanking God that her dad was in his office. He would surely have a fit if he saw her walking in the house in wet clothes at this hour. She was glad that she didn't have to explain to him why Sunshine brought her home instead of Gerry or Alan. She quickly changed into her pajamas and put her hair in a messy ponytail at the top of her head before going down to her father's office.
She knocked on the door before walking in, "Hey Daddy."
"Hey sweetheart, did you have fun after the game?" he asked getting up to give her a hug.
"Yeah. Great move putting Petey in by the way, Alan was getting beat for sure," she said with a small smile. But when she thought about Alan, her heart sank a little. She felt horrible for leaving him to go off with Sunshine like that. Alan would never do anything like that to her. There was only one thing she could do. She faked a yawn, "Well Daddy, I'm pretty tired."
"I was just about to go back to the house and go to bed myself," he said.
"I'll wait and walk with you Daddy." Her plan was working perfectly.
As soon as she knew her Dad was asleep, she climbed out her window, still dressed in her pajamas. She silently prayed to herself that Alan would still be awake and that his parents would be asleep. It was a short walk to Alan's house; his family's property touched hers so she didn't have to go too far. She went around to the side of the house and looked to the second floor to see Alan's light still on. "Thank God," she whispered to herself. She picked up a few pebbles and threw them at his window, willing him to notice and to get up.
He opened the window, "Maddie, what are you doing here?" he asked in a loud whisper.
"I need to talk to you," she whispered back, climbing up the tree that was next to his window, and climbing into his bedroom and sitting on his bed.
He raised an eyebrow, "Ok… and this couldn't wait until morning because…"
"Alan I feel horrible about leaving you tonight, it's just that I think I might like Sunshine and he felt bad about what happened at the restaurant and…"
"It's ok Maddie, don't worry about it," he said patting her on the back in reassurance.
"No it's not Alan, you're my best friend and I should have been there for you. I'm sorry, really sorry. Forgive me?"
He smiled, "Absolutely. Now tell me what happened with Sunshine so I can tell Gerry if he needs to beat him up or not."
She grinned, "Well he was really upset about what happened, so when I'm like that I like to go…"
"To the old pee-wee field," Alan said cutting her off
"Right," she said and then continued, "And we got there at perfect timing, the sprinklers came on and everything." She smiled remembering how Sunshine had picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder.
"That would explain why your hair is wet," Alan said. "But did anything… happen?" he said raising an eyebrow.
"Alan Bosley, you're just as bad as the girls I cheer with…," she said playfully smacking him in the chest.
He grabbed her hands, "Oh come on, just tell me… please?"
She rolled her eyes, "Fine, when we were leaving I thought we were going to kiss, but it's almost like he chickened out at the last minute. But he was such a gentleman Alan, he opened the doors for me and all that…"
"So nothing happened?" Alan asked.
"Well I did kiss his cheek before I got out of the car, but that's it. And I mean, it's not a big deal, I kiss your cheek and Gerry's too," she said. Then she looked around a little, "Alan, have you changed your room around? It looks different."
He just laughed, "Yes I have, and you need to go home before Coach realizes you've snuck out again. I'll see you tomorrow."
"What are we doing tomorrow?" She asked.
He yawned, "I don't know Maddie but I'll pick you up ok?"
She smiled, "You're the best Alan!" and wrapped him in a tight hug. "I'll see you later."
"Be careful going out the window and going home," he warned her.
"I will." She waved and disappeared into the night.
That next day, the boys and Madison decided to go to the lake. This was nothing out of the ordinary- for as long as she could remember, Madison had been going to the lake with Gerry, Alan, and Ray. This time, however, was different. Ray was obviously not welcome, and others, namely Julius, Blue, Rev, Louis, Petey, and, of course, Sunshine came along.
Madison was still getting ready. She slipped on her bikini and put a sundress on over it. She grabbed a bag and placed a towel and a blanket in it before heading down to the living room to wait for Alan. When she heard the honking of a horn from her driveway, she shouted a farewell to her father before running out to Alan's truck.
She smiled as he reached over to open the door for her. "Hey Alan" she said, sliding in and buckling her seatbelt.
"Hey there Maddie-Bear" he grinned.
"Maddie Bear?" she questioned, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, I have no idea. It rhymed though," he said laughing.
She laughed with him, "You're crazy. You know that?"
He smiled, "But that's why you love me."
They poked fun at each other the whole way there. She would call him "chicken legs" and he would call her "string bean". That was just the way they were, all jokes and laughter, but they were always there for each other.
"So how about it with you and Sunshine?" he asked after one of his favorite songs had finished.
"It sure is a nice day for a swim. I love the lake," she said as if it were the answer to his question.
"Whoa there, way to change the subject" he said, acting out pulling back the reins of a horse.
"It's just that there's really not much more to tell, I told you everything last night. But what about you? Any lovin' for Al?" she grinned.
He playfully batted his eyelashes at her, "Oh come on Maddie, you know I only have eyes for you."
When they arrived at the lake, everyone was already there. "What took you so long?" Gerry asked.
At the same time, the two of them said:
"She took too long to get ready."
"Alan had to fix his hair."
Of course the team knew that the lateness was because of the both of them.
Before she knew what was happening, Gerry had picked her up- still clothed in her sundress over her bikini- threw her over his shoulder, and started sprinting to the dock to jump into the water.
Madison was beating on his back, "Gerry Bertier, I swear if you jump in the water with me still in this dress I'll, I'll…"
"You'll what, sweet cheeks?" he said with his trademark playful grin.
She put on a serious face, "I'll make sure daddy makes you run twice as much at practice."
At the mention of extra laps, he set her down. She walked back over to her bag and pulled her dress off over her head. Then she stretched her arms above her head, shifting slightly from side to side to stretch before turning around to face the boys again while putting her hair up in a high ponytail.
"So am I going to have to get in the water by myself or is someone going to join me?" She asked the boys. "And are we grilling for lunch?"
Gerry came up and grabbed her, throwing her over his shoulder and running to the dock before jumping into the water. Sure enough, all of the boys followed suit.
Upon surfacing, Gerry replied, "And yes- I'm grilling burgers. And yes- Mom did pack pickles and white American cheese just for you."
She grinned, "Tell your mom she's a saint for remembering."
Then he turned and whispered in her ear, "So, chicken fight? We do need to uphold our title."
She grinned, "Absolutely."
"Alright fellas, time for a chicken fight, any challengers?" Gerry called to the team before dunking under the water so Madison could get on his shoulders.
"Alan, wanna try to end your losing streak, or are you too scared?" she asked grinning widely.
"Oh, I'll take your challenge String Bean," he replied.
The boys paired off with the teams being Sunshine and Blue, Alan and Julius, Petey and Louie, and Rev would be the referee.
Gerry and Madison took on Alan and Julius first. Madison knew this match wouldn't last too long because she knew Alan's weak spot. When Rev shouted, "GO" Maddie and Alan locked arms and she secured her legs around Gerry to make sure she wouldn't fall. Suddenly, she pulled her arms from Alan's grasp and started poking him in the ribs and stomach, tickling him knowing that when he started squirming there would be no way that Julius could hold him. Sure enough, seconds later he fell into the water with a splash.
"You play dirty Yoast," said Alan, grinning.
"Yeah, but I've been using the same trick on you for years now and you still lose," she said sticking out her tongue.
"Alright boys, who's next?" Gerry asked.
Petey laughed, "Consider your winning streak over."
When the match started, Gerry noticed that Petey's legs weren't secured around Louie as they should be. He pushed up hard on Petey's feet and Petey fell backwards, the match ending in less than half a minute.
"Well Petey, it looks like the streak isn't a streak after all." Madison teased.
"That was just luck that's all." He tried to defend himself.
Now it was Sunshine's turn. Madison had an idea of what she should do.
"Time out!" she called.
She took Gerry aside to form a strategy.
"Gerry, I have an idea. Get in really close. This one is going to be hard because he has really good balance, I say go for Blue." She said talking with her hands
"You got it champ," he joked wrapping an arm around her shoulders and messing up her hair.
She once again positioned herself on Gerry's shoulders, again securing her legs. When Rev said go, Gerry moved in close, pushing on Blue's shoulders. Madison locked her arms with Sunshine's biting her bottom lip in concentration. This match was by far the hardest ever, but Gerry pulled through in the end, pushing Blue causing him to lose his balance and fall backwards sending Sunshine back with him.
"Yeah!" Madison yelled from Gerry's shoulders flexing her muscles.
"How about that fellas?" Gerry shouted flexing his much bigger muscles.
He extended his arms to help Madison stand on his shoulders. She did a swan dive off and swam underwater until she was right behind Sunshine and reached up and dunked him under the water.
"Hey, what was that about?" he sputtered.
She grinned, giggling, "Just felt like it," and swam away.
"Oh no, you're not getting away that easily," he said in a jokingly evil voice. Grabbing her by the waist and throwing himself backward so that both of them went under.
Madison felt her stomach growl. "Gerry, are you going to grill yet? I'm starved," she complained after she and Sunshine had called a truce in the dunking war.
"I'm on it," he said, getting out of the water to light the grill.
"Don't forget to toast the buns!" She reminded him.
"Yes mother," he joked.
While waiting for the coals to get hot, they decided to play a game of football. Madison, Gerry, Blue, and Alan were on one team leaving the other team as Sunshine, Rev, Julius, Louie, and Petey. Naturally, Gerry and Julius were the captains.
"Alright, we're outnumbered but we've got this. Alan, you block Rev. Blue, you deal with Louie. We'll all have to get Petey. Now, we've got the ball first, so Madison you get open and I'll throw it to you, I want you to line up in front of Sunshine," Gerry said coaching the team.
When they got on the line, Madison knew this was going to be a tough match. She faced Sunshine.
"So we meet again," he said grinning.
"Looks like it Sunshine," she winked.
When the ball was hiked, Madison ran into Sunshine bumping him out of the way before running to get open. Right when she caught the ball, Sunshine tackled her, sending both of them to the ground.
He leaned in close and whispered in a husky voice, "I like it better when you call me Ronnie."
She could barely form words, "Kay." She whispered back before he helped her up smirking.
After a few more plays, it was time to start grilling. Madison spread a huge blanket out on the ground so everyone would have a place to sit. She set condiments and other burger stuff in the center of the blanket. Soon the burgers were finished and everyone was eating.
"These are delicious Gerry. Thank you!" Madison said.
"Well consider it repayment for the after camp dinner," he replied.
"So does this mean all of you will be cooking for me?" she joked looking at the boys.
After eating, they decided it was time to go home because they were all so tired from playing in the water. Madison stood and slipped her dress over her head.
"So, who's gonna take me home?" she asked.