Can True Love Survive High School?

  “That's horrible,” Lina said. “Very mean. And it won't make him like me at all.”

  “You're right. It will make him hate you. Both of us. But what can we do? There's got to be something.”

  They sat quietly for a few minutes, thinking. Slowly a plan began to take shape in Lina's mind. I'm really sick, she thought as the hazy details gradually became clearer.

  “I've got it,” she said. “When the party is winding down, I'll hide in his bedroom closet. His bedroom has got to have a closet, right?”

  “I'm liking this so far,” Ramona said.

  “Then, after everyone is gone, I'll come out. We'll be alone together. Maybe I'll offer to help him clean up.”

  “Which could lead to other things.” Ramona nodded her head happily. “Like kissing … ”

  “It could work,” Lina said. “Don't you think? I mean, it will be nighttime, we'll be alone together … anything could happen.”

  “Guess what? The Markowitzes said Mads can go to Stanford with Holly,” Lina announced to her parents at dinner that night. With her Dan plan settled, it was time to attack her second problem—getting permission to go on the crazy college weekend.

  “That doesn't surprise me,” Sylvia Ozu said. They sat in the spare, minimalist dining room at a table too big for the three of them: Lina's father, Ken, at one end, her mother, Sylvia, at the other, and Lina marooned in the middle. It wasn't easy to pass dishes from one person to the next; you kind of had to stand up a little bit or slide the platter along the table with a push. Sylvia reached as far as her short arm would go for the bowl of green beans almondine. Lina helped her by giving the dish a shove.

  “The Markowitzes are too lax with their children, I've always thought,” Sylvia continued. “I mean, they're lovely people, very nice, but I wouldn't call them disciplinarians.”

  “Actually, they're pretty strict with Mads,” Lina said. “Well, not strict exactly, but very protective. They worry a lot.”

  “That's not the same as setting out a clear set of rules and sticking with them,” Sylvia said. “One look at their house tells you that.”

  Mads' house was messy, true. It was an eclectic jumble of stuff gathered over the years by every member of the family. They didn't seem to throw anything away. Lina's house was cool and modern, spare and very neat, with a faint Japanese influence. Lina preferred Mads' house.

  “We're getting off track here, Sylvia,” Ken said. “What difference does it make what the Markowitzes' house looks like? The question is, Can Lina go away for the weekend with her two best friends?”

  Thank you, Dad. Sylvia, an allergist, was a little chilly and could be stern with Lina. But Ken, a banker, usually took Lina's side. Still, even Lina and Ken teamed up together could rarely defeat a determined Sylvia.

  “Ken, do you remember what you were like in college?” Sylvia said. “Do you remember how you spent your weekends? Do you really think Lina is ready to be exposed to that?”

  Ken scratched his chin as if trying to summon up the memory. “I remember having a hell of a lot of fun,” he said.

  “You were a lacrosse player,” Sylvia reminded him. “They were the worst.”

  Ken laughed. “What about you? The theater crowd?”

  “I was pre-med.”

  “But all your friends were theater kids. Your parties were notorious! Remember ‘Naked Halloween’?”

  Lina's ears perked up. Naked Halloween? Sylvia?

  Sylvia looked annoyed. “You're only proving my point—a college campus is no place for a fifteen-year-old girl.”

  “What's Naked Halloween?” Lina asked.

  Sylvia shot her a freeze-glare, but Ken said, “It was a big costume party where everyone was supposed to come as a ghost—only you had to be naked under the sheet.”

  “Mom? You did that?”

  “No, I did not. I always wore a flesh-colored leotard under my sheet,” Sylvia said.

  “Once the party got going people tried to rip each other's sheets off,” Ken explained.

  “And anyway, I secretly attached my sheet to my waist, so you couldn't pull it off if you tried,” Sylvia said.

  “And believe me, people tried,” Ken said.

  “It was barbaric,” Sylvia said.

  “Hey, that was your crowd,” Ken said. “We didn't stoop that low at Toad Hall.” Toad Hall was the name of Ken's lacrosse fraternity. Lina had heard a few wild stories about their parties, too.

  “Toad Hall was a slime pit,” Sylvia said. “Lina, pass the fish.”

  That was her signal that the subject was closed. Lina passed the fish. They ate in silence for a few minutes, flatware clicking against china.

  Lina and Ken traded surreptitious glances while Sylvia focused on her plate. “More water, Lina?” Ken asked, standing up to fill her glass from a pitcher. He gave her a little wink. She took this as a signal. I've softened her up.

  Yo u take it from here.

  “It's so interesting to hear you two talk about your college days,” Lina said. “Do you know what I've learned from this? I've learned that a person with strong character, a good family, raised with the right values, can withstand almost any temptation or corruption. Just look at what you both went through at college—the decadence! And see how well you turned out? Moral, upstanding citizens. And you raised me to be that way, too. It will take more than a wild frat party to change that.”

  She was afraid to peek at Sylvia's face—did that snow her? But she couldn't resist. Sylvia didn't look up. She chewed on a bean. She took a sip of water. She kept her eyes focused on the gleaming wooden table.

  Aha, Lina thought. She doesn't want to look up at us because she knows once she does it's all over.

  Sylvia swallowed. She looked up. First at Ken, then Lina.

  “I still think you're too young,” she said.

  “It's only a weekend, Sylvia,” Ken said. “Piper Anderson will look out for them.”

  “That's what I'm afraid of,” Sylvia said. She turned to Lina. “If I let you go, will you leave you cell phone on the entire time so we can check on you at any moment, day or night?”

  “Yes! I promise,” Lina said.

  “Do you know what will happen if your cell phone rings and you don't answer it?”

  “Grounded for eternity?” Lina guessed.

  “Correct. And do you know what will happen if we call you and you answer in a compromising position or some state of intoxication?”

  “Death by scolding?”

  “Or worse.” Sylvia paused, just for dramatic effect. She had once run with the theater crowd, after all.

  “All right. You may go.”

  linaonme: guess what? I can go to stanford!

  hollygolitely: sylvia actually said yes?

  linaonme: 10-4. And wait till you hear what she used to do in college. I'll tell u tomorrow at school.

  mad4u: so it's all settled? We're all going now?

  hollygolitely: all settled.

  mad4u: yay!

  linaonme: this is going to be so much fun! The crazy college weekend is on!

  11

  Jane Starts Talking

  To: mad4u

  From: your daily horoscope

  HERE IS TODAY'S HOROSCOPE: VIRGO: You got yourself into this mess. What are you looking at me for?

  * * *

  El Diario

  To my dear loyal readers,

  Never act in a play written by your own mother. In fact, if your mother expresses any interest in writing a play, do everything you can to stop her. And if she manages to get some words on paper, destroy them!

  “Someday, little Mariah, you're going to grow up and marry a farmer just like your Papa.” A woman named Kendall, who played Mama in Touched, was reading from the script. The whole cast was assembled for a read-through of the play. Mads thought Kendall didn't look much like anyone's Mama, with her spiky crimson hair and clanky jewelry, but she figured costumes and makeup would take care of that.

  “No, Mama,” A
udrey read. “Papa is a good man. But I won't spend my life toiling in the soil. I want to be FREE AS A BUTTERFLY!” Audrey's voice rose to a screech and she flung her arm in the air.

  “All right, Audrey, good,” Charles Huang, the director, said. “But you don't have to scream at the end of the line. Just say it like you normally would. Try it again.”

  “The problem is nobody normal would say a line like that.” Damien Chopra, who played Buck, Mariah's first love, leaned close to Jane and whispered those words. Mads, who was sitting on Jane's other side, overheard them. She couldn't agree more.

  Jane glanced at Mads as if worried they'd offended her. The woman who wrote those words was Mads' mother, after all. They probably assumed she thought the play was great. Mads would have to set them straight as soon as she could. She smiled and nodded to let them know she was on their side. Jane turned away.

  From the beginning, Jane had been aloof. Mads was starting to think Jane would never confide anything to her. But if she didn't, Mads was putting herself through this torture for nothing, and that was too terrible to think about.

  “I want to be free—as a butterfly.” This time Audrey whispered the end of the sentence.

  “Um, okay, let's take a fifteen-minute break,” Charles said.

  The cast noisily pushed their chairs from the table. M.C. came up to Mads and Audrey and hugged them. “Isn't this is exciting? It's so exciting! People are actually speaking the words that I wrote! I can't stand it!”

  She ran after Charles to ask him something. The grin on her face looked tense and frozen.

  “Bet you twenty bucks she cracks by opening night,” Mads said.

  “You're on,” Audrey said. “Mama!” she called, running after M.C. Both M.C. and Kendall turned around.

  “So that's your little sister, huh,” Damien said.

  “Yep,” Mads said.

  “And M.C.'s your mom?”

  “That's what it says on my birth certificate.”

  “They're cool. So what happened to you?” Mads was startled for a second—who was he to insult her? He hardly knew her. But the grin on his face told her he was just joking around. “Guess you take after your dad.”

  “At least my parents didn't name me after a psycho,” Mads teased, thinking of an old movie she once saw about a crazed kid named Damien.

  “No, they just named you after a president. Or an avenue. Or a basketball arena in New York.”

  “What's wrong with that?”

  “Better watch out,” Damien said. “They named me Damien for a reason.” He made a face and pretended to grab at her neck. Instead he tickled her, and Mads laughed.

  “You all ready for our big lip-lock, Teen Mariah?” he asked. Damien was cute, a college freshman, but he could pass for younger. So he was playing both Teen Buck and Grown-up Buck. Mads would have to kiss him at the end of Act I. Looking him over, she decided not to mind.

  “I'm ready, but can you handle it, Buck?” she said.

  “Don't worry about me. I've got the kissing thing down,” Damien said.

  “Madison?” Jane came over to them. “Don't take offense but I think your mother is losing it already.”

  She pointed into the wings, where M.C. was hyperventilating and Charles was helping her sit down. M.C. leaned against the curtain, breathing easier now.

  “Is everything all right?” Jane said.

  “She's just the anxious type,” Mads said.

  “I'll say,” Jane said. “And what's with your sister? Act much?”

  Jane clearly had no fear of offending Mads anymore. Mads decided to take it as a sign of confidence in her. Straight talk.

  “She's a big ham. We're just lucky the theater isn't doing a musical. Annie would be especially deadly,” Mads said.

  “I know the type,” Jane said. “My boyfriend is a big show-off. He'll do almost anything for attention.”

  Aha. This was what Mads had signed on for. Although she already knew Sean liked attention. But it was interesting to hear Jane say it this way. Almost as if she were putting him down. Just a little.

  “Really?” Mads said, as if she didn't know.

  “Oh yeah. He's got copies of every video his mother ever shot of him, lined up in chronological order on his bookcase. If you go to his house he makes you watch them. It's pretty funny. Here's little Sean getting potty-trained, here's little Sean learning to swim, here's little Sean modeling his new school clothes …”

  “Talk about ego,” Damien said.

  “He's not embarrassed about it at all,” Jane said. “I mean, he has no sense of irony. It's endearing, in a way.”

  “Till you get tired of it,” Damien said.

  “And he's superstitious,” Jane said. “Do you know that on the day of a swim meet he has to wear these goofy boxer shorts with candy canes on them? Because he wore them the day he won some big meet. If he can't wear them he goes crazy. But they're worn to shreds. There's a big hole in the back….”

  Wow, Mads thought. Imagine knowing Sean so well you knew that he had a hole in his underwear. She tried to think of something she could say about Stephen, something intimate like that. But she didn't know him that well yet.

  Damien was laughing, and Mads couldn't help wondering if some of this talk was for his benefit. Jane seemed to be making gentle fun of a boy she cared about, but in another way it was as if she were roasting him and serving him up to be attacked by Damien. Like she was sending Damien a secret message: Yes, I date the very hot Sean (of course, because I'm so beautiful), but that doesn't mean he's not vulnerable to a hostile takeover. Or that I'm not open to a friendly one.

  “My boyfriend is actually kind of quiet,” Mads said. “He's not very attention-grabby at all. Although he did make a big splash at the art fair, so I guess he doesn't mind attention….”

  “That guy is your boyfriend?” Jane asked. “The one who did the giant installation of a bedroom?” Mads nodded. “That was cool. There's something about that guy. He's kind of sexy,” Jane said.

  Mads clenched her teeth to keep her jaw from dropping open in shock. Jane thought Stephen was sexy? Sean's girlfriend thought Mads' boyfriend was sexy? Stephen suddenly gained a new stature in Mads' imagination. A golden aura glowed around him. Not as strong as Sean's, but it was there. He was sexy. If Jane thought so, it had to be true.

  mad4u: guess what jane told me today? Sean wears boxer shorts with candy canes on them! and a big hole in the back!

  linaonme: gross.

  mad4u: where's holly? I can't wait 2 tell her.

  linaonme: don't know. I tried to call her a while ago but she was out.

  mad4u: I want 2 write about the stuff jane said in my blog diary—but what if sean reads it? he might get mad.

  linaonme: use fake names. Like the blind items in a gossip column.

  mad4u: hmmm … maybe. But sean will still know it's him.

  linaonme: but he'll never admit it, so he won't tell anyone. except maybe jane. He might get mad at her.

  mad4u: that might be good … can't decide. What have u been up 2?

  linaonme: ramona and I made a plan to get dan. After the writers dinner I hide in his closet and come out when everyone's gone. What do u think?

  mad4u: interesting. Wacky, yet clever. If it doesn't backfire. linaonme: there's always that.

  mad4u: what r u doing 2nite?

  llinaonme: nothing. Walker asked me to go to the movies but I told him I had 2 much homework.

  mad4u: the movies? Was it a date?

  linaonme: no. just a friend thing. with a group. But now that we're talking about movies, I feel like going out. kiss me stinky!

  mad4u: I'm dying to see it. let's go 2nite. I'll call holly.

  Holly wasn't online, so Mads tried her cell. She got voice mail. She tried Holly at home and Jen answered.

  “Hi, honey,” Jen said. “Holly's not here. She's out with Britta tonight.”

  Britta again? Mads said, “Thanks, Jen,” and hung up. Then she dialed Lina.


  “Holly's not home. She's doing something with Britta.”

  “Are you kidding me?” Lina said. “She's always with Britta. We were supposed to get together after school yesterday but she canceled on me to help Britta shop for a new dress.”

  “Oh, right—because Ed was taking her to Le Mas for their two-week anniversary.” Le Mas was a very romantic, fancy restaurant in an old farmhouse just outside of town. “I wish Stephen would take me there, but it's so expensive.”

  Lina sighed. “My parents took me there once. It's beautiful, but you don't want to be there with your parents.”

  “Britta is so lucky,” Mads said. “But I wish she wouldn't hog Holly so much.”

  “I really want to see that movie tonight,” Lina said.

  “Me, too,” Mads said. “But we promised Holly we'd see it with her.”

  “How can we if she's always busy with Britta? She can see it with Britta if she wants,” Lina said.

  “I guess,” Mads said. “It's not so terrible if we go without her, is it?”

  “No one is keeping her from seeing the movie,” Lina said.

  “Okay,” Mads said. “Let's go.”

  12

  The Love Nest

  To: hollygolitely

  From: your daily horoscope

  HERE IS TODAY'S HOROSCOPE: CAPRICORN: If you wear sticky-sweet perfume, you attract sticky-sweet people.

  * * *

  I know it's dark out, but we can't turn on the flashlight until we get inside,” Ed whispered. He led Holly, Rob, and Britta through the dark down a stone path to a small beach house. The nearest house was a quarter of a mile away, but Ed didn't want them to be seen from the road.

  Holly stumbled on a rock and fell against Rob, who put his arm around her. In his other hand he carried a cooler full of food and drinks. Ed carried a pizza. Holly and Rob were double-dating with Britta and Ed, and Britta had suggested showing them their secret hideaway.

  The door was unlocked. Once inside the house Ed turned on his flashlight. The electricity had been shut off. It was spooky. All the shades were drawn on the roadside windows, but the seaside part of the house was open to the water. Holly could hear the waves lapping on the shore.