“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.”
Natalie Standiford, Can True Love Survive High School?
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