Madison’s Code

by: Sophie

Premise: To Jamie Lawson, there is no one more annoying than Madison Bell. But when the two are paired together for a group assignment, Jamie starts to notice things about Madison that other people seem to overlook. Using her analytical skills and her penchant for contemplation, can Jamie decipher her mysterious classmate?

Disclaimers: anxiety, depression, mentions of self-harm

* * * * *

Author’s Note: This story is pretty personal to me. I wrote it when my girlfriend and I started dating to help her understand a very special part of me. I had never planned on showing anyone other than her. But… maybe someone else out there needs a story like this? A story that explains little stuff in a simple, relatable way. Or maybe someone’s partner needs it.

Pin 1: Smile

One.

“Which color is this?”

“Green.”

The only thing that annoyed me more than Madison Bell was her colorblindness. I know that sounds terrible, but when someone in the eleventh grade plays the “what color is this” game every fifteen minutes it gets old fast. And who by chance would I get stuck with for my poster presentation?

“This one?” she asked, holding up a colored pencil.

“Blue.”

She hesitated, the tip of the pencil hovering over the poster. Then she looked at me again.

“Do blue and green go well together?” she asked.

“Does it matter?”

“I want it to look nice.”

But when it was clear that I wasn’t going to answer her stupid questions anymore, she went back to coloring without intervention. I used my expert penmanship to write out our hypothesis on an index card. Long, flourished letters.

“I love your handwriting,” she told me, watching me over my shoulder. “I mean, girls handwriting is always better than boys, eye, em, oh. But yours is even better than all the other girls too! There should be a tournament or something for handwriting. You could place first, I bet.”

Kill me.

“This one?” she asked, holding up another colored pencil.

When the bell rang, Madison followed me out of the library. My legs were long and toned, and hers a chubby mess. Still, she kept pace.

“Would you want to come over tonight and we can finish our poster? I have stickers that I think could really help it pop. And I got this boarder from the store for last year’s poster and I bet I still have some.”

“I would rather do just about anything else,” I said honestly. There was no illusion here: Madison Bell annoyed me and Madison Bell knew it. “Finish it yourself and I’ll bring the cards tomorrow.”

“Oh.”

When I turned around, a few paces down the hall, she had stopped following me. I thought, for a second, she was upset with what I’d said. Something about the way her eyes caught the light. But the next second, she looped arms with Amanda Simmons and started telling her about our experiment.

Annoying.