Can True Love Survive High School? (17 page)

“I'm glad you're not mad at me anymore,” Holly said. “I felt so guilty about what I did to you. Next time I will definitely ask your permission before I tell all your secrets to your mother.”

Britta laughed. “Wow, thanks. And I'll ask
your

permission before I run away again.”

“That's good. I wouldn't want to have to implant one of those microchips in your arm.”

“I think my parents already did, while I was sleeping,” Britta said.

26

The Answer Is Maybe

To: mad4u

From: your daily horoscope

HERE IS TODAY'S HOROSCOPE: CAPRICORN: Your life is a huge mess. But if you put enough mousse in your hair and go for the kooky vintage look, you could make it work for you.

I
t's hard to come back to cardboard pizza and cold green beans after seeing what a
real
cafeteria looks like.” Mads glanced around at the lunchroom and sighed. She and Holly and Lina were having lunch together at school, back from their Stanford weekend. “Should we demand that they install a frozen yogurt machine?”

“What, you don't like the rock-hard ice-cream sandwiches they keep in the freezer case?” Holly asked. She had just bought one and banged it on the table to show how indestructible it was. “They're perfect when you feel like breaking a window but you can't find a brick.”

“Here, give me that.” Mads spotted Sean sitting with his back to her at the next table. She took the ice-cream sandwich and heaved it at the back of his head. “Ow!” Sean cried. He turned around, rubbing his head and scowling at Mads.

“Hey, it does work,” Mads said.

“What did you do that for?” Sean asked. Then he reached down, picked up the ice-cream sandwich off the floor, and unwrapped it. “Whoa, dessert. Thanks, kid.”

“Sean manages to find a bright side to everything,” Mads said.

“Mads—why did you do that?” Lina asked.

Mads shrugged. “I felt like getting his attention. I'm experimenting with different methods.”

“Well, now you can cross hitting him in the head off your list,” Holly said. “There goes my ice-cream sandwich.”

“I'll buy you another one,” Mads said.

“Did you have fun with Rob last night?” Lina asked Holly.

“Yes,” Holly said. “We didn't do much, just watched a movie. But that's okay. He seems more relaxed now that Ed is safely back in England. Rob and Ed never quite jelled.”

“Rob doesn't go for the lovey-dovey stuff, does he?” Mads said.

“Not in that high-drama,
Wuthering Heights
way,” Holly said. “It used to bother me, but now I find it kind of refreshing.”

“All that drama takes a lot of energy,” Lina said.

“I'm not sure how long I could keep it going,” Holly said. “Britta got a letter from Ed already. It was written in red ink, and he decorated the borders with little drawings of hearts and flowers.”

“Wow. What did he say?”

“He loves her, he misses her, she's the light of his life,” Holly said. “She's back in swoonsville. But she's found a way of dealing. She says all great romances thrive in the face of adversity. So being apart from Ed will only make their love stronger.”

“Good luck,” Mads said.

“Yeah, we'll see about that,” Lina said.

“Can true love survive separation? That's the next great question,” Holly said.

“Did we ever decide if true love can survive high school?” Lina asked.

“Check El Diario and see,” Mads said.

El Diario by Madison Markowitz
Can True Love Survive High School?

That is the question. And here is my answer. True love is delicate. It needs tender loving care, the best conditions, and the tenacity of a pit bull. High school is rough, tough, crazy, full of temptations, hormones, and people who have lost their minds. Can true love survive all that? Maybe. But it won't be easy. If you do manage to make it past graduation, I think you're safe. You've found it. True love.

Here's a sneak peek at the Dating Game #4

X
-Rating

W
ill Holly Anderson, Madison Markowitz, and Lina Ozu please report to Mr. Alvarado's office immediately.” The library intercom crackled to life with the sound of the school secretary's nasal voice.

Mads looked at Holly and Lina. “Uh-oh. What
now
?” “I can't think of anything we've done wrong,” Lina said. “We didn't put any of the dirty letters we received on our Web site.”

Like the one by the girl who said her ex-boyfriend liked to do it in the car—and only in the car,
Mads thought. They knew enough not to put that on the blog. But could something have slipped through the cracks?

“Hello, girls,” Rod said at few minutes later in his office. “I've been seeing a lot of you these days.”

“If you'd rather not, we can always leave,” Mads joked.

Rod cracked a tense smile. “I wish it were that simple. Do you recall the warning I gave you the last time we met?”

The girls nodded. Nothing controversial on the Dating Game or he'd shut it down.

“Good,” Rod said. “Did you understand it? Was it somehow not clear?”

“We understood,” Mads said. “But maybe we have a different definition of ‘controversial’ from yours.”

“I'm sure you must,” Rod said. “Otherwise, I assume an item like this would not have appeared on your blog.” He picked up a printout. “I believe this is what you call an X-Rating.” He waved the paper in front of them. “I found it in that section where students write in about ex-girlfriends and ex-boyfriends,” he said. “A young man named Dashiell Piasecki wrote about his former girlfriend, Arabella Caslow. I happen to know Dashiell; he's a frequent visitor to this office.”

Mads tried to remember what Dash had written about Arabella. He was an obnoxious jerk, and Arabella had said so in
her
X-Rating of
him
. But his of her hadn't seemed so bad; in fact, Mads had the impression he still liked her.

“I'll skip the preliminaries and go straight to the highlights,” Rod said. He read from the printout. “‘Arabella is a bangin’ chick.'”

“Mr. Alvarado, all he's saying is that Arabella is pretty,” Holly explained. “It's a
good
thing.”

“That's not the point,” Rod said. “Her parents happened to see this—I should warn you that since you've received so much publicity recently, many parents have been reading our school site quite carefully. The Caslows were offended by the word bangin' in reference to their daughter.”

“Bangin' just means she's good-looking,” Mads said.

“But in a sexy way, correct?” Rod said.

“I guess,” Mads conceded.

“Was Arabella herself upset?” Lina asked.

“I don't know,” Rod said. “But her parents certainly were. They don't like having their daughter's attributes discussed online this way, and I don't blame them. It's crude.”

“But Dash was just trying to say she'd make a good girlfriend,” Mads explained. “Sure he's crude, but that's the way he is. It's not our fault.”

“Listen, girls,” Rod said. “I refuse to get into an argument with you over this. You were warned, fair and square. Since then, the complaints from parents have only grown louder. I have no choice. I'm removing the Dating Game from the school site. I'm sorry.”

“But Mr. Alvarado, that's not fair!” Mads' blood was boiling. He was dumping their blog completely! “What good is the site, if we can't express ourselves naturally and say what we really think in the words we normally use? It's—”

Rod cut her off. “Enough. I said I won't argue about it. This is the way it is, period. Please leave my office now.” He started shuffling papers around on his desk as if he were busy. Mads got up and left, followed by Holly and Lina.

“I can't believe it!” Mads cried, once they were out in the hall. “What are we going to do now?”

“We could move the Dating Game to a site of our own,” Lina suggested.

“Or one of those blog sites like Autumn uses,” Holly said.

Mads stamped her foot. “No. It's not right. It's the principle of the thing. The Dating Game was a special RSAGE feature. It was only open to us and protected from infiltration by anyone outside the school. It was part of the school community. It brought us all together, gave us a common place to say what's on our minds. That's what was cool about it. And anyway, this is totally unfair. We can't let Rod and those control-freak parents do this to us! We may be kids, but we have rights!”

Holly and Lina stared at her with their jaws hanging open. “Wow, Mads, you're really fired up. I've never seen you like this,” Lina said.

“Well, there are things we can do,” Mads said. “We're not beaten yet.”