When In Doubt - Freshman Year

Chapter 10

Madison

After she'd selected a piece of her dynamite roll between her chopsticks, Madison really started to enjoy the splendor of a sushi/hibachi grill in the next town over that Friday evening. Mandy had corralled the girls together to get into her matte-black Mercedes C-Class and drove them all to Eau Claire, which was about a half hour down I-94 East. It was a much bigger town and offered a lot more in terms of shopping and restaurants; Menomonie was fine and all, but an Applebee's was considered one of the main restaurants within a five-mile radius.

I can only take in so many half-off appetizers after 9 p.m

She'd looked down at herself and admired how great she looked: Her hair had the fresh shimmer of a new blowout at the salon & spa they'd all visited while out, and she had on one of her best cashmere sweaters and skinny jeans with black Tory Burch rider boots, and had even noticed a couple cute guys that kept checking them out.

She'd told herself to enjoy the moment while it lasted; it was going to be another late night of studying and getting work done while the girls found some party to go out to without her.

How the hell did they get all their work done so quickly?

Madison knew that when she'd signed up for all honors courses that her workload was going to be heavier, but Mandy and Lindsay always seemed to have their work done at an unnatural rate. The funny thing was, Madison was never around when they'd actually done their work.

Maybe they paid some poor, unfortunate souls to do the work for them; probably some shy, nerdy guys who'd barely even talked to a guy before?

"Um, hello? Earth to Madison, did you hear me?"

She'd jumped to attention when she'd heard her name, and noticed that Ali, Mandy and Lindsay all stared at her.

Madison smiled. "Sorry, I didn't hear that, what's up?"

"Have you heard what your roommate is doing tonight? That she's having people over?" Mandy raised a brow, sounding slightly on edge at having to repeat herself.

"Oh yeah, she's having some 'classy night' or whatever because she got a good grade on her latest project."

"What is that exactly?" Lindsay asked, confusion all over her expression.

"They just dress up and drink, that's it." Madison shrugged like it hadn't mattered, but the truth was that she thought it'd sounded like fun. Back home, her and her speech team friends would do something similar; they'd dress up, drink whatever they found in their parent's cabinets and drunkenly gave impromptu speeches at whomever had been willing to host.

"It sounds weird, like, they're trying to relive a homecoming after party or something," Lindsay already considered it unworthy of her attention.

Let's be honest though, it was probably because she didn't receive an invite.

Eden had come up to her earlier and told her about it and asked if it was okay to do it in their room, and that if it was, if she was interested in joining, to which Madison really appreciated. It was nice to see how Eden really made an effort to keep their roommate relationship on a good note. Madison had been tempted to stay for it until she'd heard who was also going to be there.

"Heather messaged me, asking me if I wanted to go, but I told her I already had plans with you guys," Ali said to them.

"Eden invited me too, but I didn't want to be there if Heather was going to be there," Madison pointedly looked at Mandy. "Did you know she bitched me out earlier this week for what you said to Matt the other weekend?"