Chapter 13 (Madison)

"Madison, Madison. Maddi. MADISON HOLT WAKE UP THIS INSTANT!" Reagan shook me from dreamland.

"WHAT?" I snapped finally coming to the world of the livening.

"Wow, you sleep a lot. I stayed up 'till past midnight and still got up earlier then you," she said.

I wasn't happy. "So that's why you woke me up?"

"No, I have something important to tell you!" Rea said cheerily.

"Oh, later when you're not so happy. I can't take the cheeriness right now. Why are you so happy anyway?" I moaned, laying back down.

Last night was coming back to me slowly. Him picking me up. The occward car ride. The conversation before the move. The no-so-ocward car ride. Then the kiss. And the happiness that followed.

"Well I would think you would be happier, considering last night," she was still all smiles.

"Just tell me what you want so I can go back to sleep," even I could hear the lack of anger in my voice, and I didn't even want to go back to sleep. I just needed to think now that my head was cleared a bit.

"Okay, well," Reagan began. "Last night the Starlings came over, Ted and Sinead did. And well Ted kissed me!"

Oh great, another thing to think about. "Wonderful," I said sarcastically.

Rea must have missed the sarcasm because she answered, "I know, it was amazing! My first kiss! How was yours? You have to tell me everything!"

Right, Ned was my first kiss. I had forgotten that little detail. "It was nice," I said simply, and a bit dreamily.

"Aaaand," Reagan said encouragingly.

"It was like when we kissed the world went into sharp focus, then everything went fuzzy when it was over," I said more to myself then her.

"That's so sweet," she smiled.

"What about yours?" even if it was with an Ekat (ewww) I still had to know about my sister's first kiss. It was a big moment in any girl's life. And I had given mine away for a plan. Are you sure? said a little voice in my head. No, I mean, yes, yes I'm sure. I answered back. That's all it could have been, maybe he just miscalculated and kissed my lips instead of cheek.

"Well, it was the opposite of yours I guess, still amazing like yours, but it was kinda backwards. When we kissed everything got fuzzy, and when it ended everything came into sharp clarity," she smiled.

"Sharp clarity? Apparently intelligence is contagious by kissing," I joked.

"Well then you must have caught some, kissing Ned Starling and all. I mean he's even smart for an Ekat," said Reagan.

I fake yawned. "I think I'm going to go to my room and catch a few more z's."

She yawned for real. "Yeah, me too. Staying up 'till midnight last night was still worth it though."

I flopped down on my bed and let out a scream that was muffled by my pillow. Why couldn't things ever go according to plan? Why was my life turning into a bad romance movie? Ra Ra Ah Ah Ah Roma Roma Ma GaGa Ooh La La of course, now I have Bad Romance stuck in my head. Just great.

The plan had completely backfired. We weren't reversing the change, we were making it worse. And now I was changing too. I was falling for an Ekat. No, I fell for an Ekat. I fell for Ned Starling.

"Oh, what am I going to do?" I thought. "I don't want to change, but I don't want to give him up ether. And now I have to stop Rea and Ted if I ever want my siblings back.

"Or I could just give in, let myself fall for Ned, and accept that this is my family now. No. I'm a Tomas. We don't give up like scrawny Ekaterina's! Never Give Up! Never Surrender! How could I even think that? I have to fight however I feel for Ned. It doesn't matter if he's sweet, and nice, and funny, and cute. Oh what am I thinking? I can't give him up.

"I have to!

"I can't!

"I must

"Impossible!

"I have to!

"I can't!

"Oh what am I going to do? And who to call for advice? I can't even have my sister's help with this! Who can I call?"

I picked up my phone and looked through my contacts, I had gotten most of the competitors numbers after the hunt, just in case of an emergency. This counted as an emergency.

"Let's see," I muttered. "Amy? No probably wouldn't know much about boys. Sinead? Heck no, that might ruin the plan. Jonah? Maybe, but I kinda wanna talk to a girl about this. Natalie? Natalie! She would probably know something about boys."

I pressed call and she picked up on the 2nd ring. "Hello?"

"Hello Natalie? This is Madison."

"Madison? I thought I told you only to call if it was an emergency?" she hissed.

"It is," I reasoned.

"What is it?" her voice was panicky. "Vespers? My mother?"

"Umm...No."

"Then what?" she sounded confused.

"Uh, boy problems," I flinched as I said this. Me having boy troubles was just so unnatural

"Oh, that's worse! What is it? How can I help?" she exclaimed.

"Never thought I'd here those words out of your mouth."

She laughed. "Me ether, but seriously what is it?"

I quickly explained the situation.

"Ah, I say you should just get over him. He's not worth it and you'll get your family back. Besides it's better then going crazy all the time because you have a crush. It makes you hate them, but somehow you still like them," she explained.

"Thanks Natalie," I smiled.

"No prob. but you have to tell me how it works out later. K? Bye."

I think she thought she hung up, but didn't. I listened for a minute and heard her exclaim, "I hate you Dan Cahill!" Thinking of her advice earlier, and what that could possibly mean, I hung up.

"But how can I let him go?" asked that little voice in my head.