Can True Love Survive High School? by Natalie Standiford Read Free Book Online Page A

there are plenty of good places to eat around here,” Dan said.
    “But the Marina Café is one of my favorites,” Ramona said. “Always has been. It's a little pricey, but worth it.”
    They had almost reached the café. Something about that group of six was starting to look familiar. That tall, balding guy in the brown suit, for example—he looked an awful lot like John Alvarado, the principal of RSAGE. And that round lady with curly gray hair … Was that—? It was. Mildred Weymouth, the geometry teacher. Known to the students as Mildew.
    “Well,” Ramona was saying, “since we're all hungry and we're all headed in the same direction, why don't we all eat together?”
    No! Lina elbowed Ramona. Didn't she see? Dan was going to some kind of teacher get-together—and Ramona was trying to get them invited.
    “Well, I guess you can join me, if you really want to,” Dan said.
    “Great!” Ramona said.
    They had reached the café. Camille Barker, the pretty young French teacher, sat beside Alvarado, with Frank Welling, the art teacher, on her other side. Lina wanted to grab Ramona's head and force her to look at where they were going. Dan stopped, and Ramona finally tore her eyes away from him and saw the table full of teachers. She stopped dead in her tracks.
    “I'm sure we can fit you girls in somewhere,” Dan said.
    “Thanks, Dan, but we were in more of a milkshake mood,” Lina said. Finally her tongue loosened up. “Right, Ramona?”
    “Yes, milkshake, definitely.” Ramona started to back away from the café as if it were a hangout for the undead. Actually, the undead would probably have appealed to her. Nothing was worse than off-duty teachers. Dan excepted, of course.
    “Really? Too bad,” Dan said. “Well, see you girls at school.” He walked through the opening in the gate that separated the café's deck from the boardwalk, waving to his colleagues. Ramona grabbed Lina and they ran back toward the bench they had come from.
    “Look what you almost got us into!” Lina said. “You're too impulsive. You shouldn't have pushed me in front of him without a plan.”
    “Well, you could have said something and helped me out. You didn't open your mouth the whole time. You made me do all the work.”
    “We can't just throw ourselves at him,” Lina said. “We have to think carefully about what we're doing.”
    “You're right,” Ramona said. “This is a delicate operation. Tonight, before you go to sleep, pray to the Goddess of Girlpower to send you a brilliant idea. Say, ‘Oh mighty Isis, infuse me with your wisdom of love—’”
    “I'm not doing that,” Lina said.
    “I'll do it, then,” Ramona said. “You always make me do everything.”
    “Walker!” Lina called. She spotted him between classes the next afternoon, weaving through the hall toward her locker. She'd been looking for him all day. “I've got to ask you something. You had Modern World History last year, right? What did you do for your final project?”
    “What?” Walker looked surprised at her question. “Let me ask
you
something. What happened to you last night?”
    “Last night?” Lina didn't know what he was talking about. Did he mean why did she spend an hour before bed praying to Isis to send her a brilliant Dan plan? Probably not. How would he know about that?
    “Remember? I had people over?”
    Oh, yeah. She vaguely remembered him mentioning something about that in the newspaper office. After the run-in with Dan she completely forgot about it. But she never said she'd go—did she?
    “Walker, I'm sorry I missed your get-together,” Lina said. “I didn't think it was a big deal.”
    “It wasn't a big deal.” He seemed hurt. She couldn't understand why. Did the whole party hinge on her being there? “But you said you'd come. I was expecting you, that's all.”
    “I didn't say I'd come,” Lina said.
    “Yes, you did,” Walker said. “You said, ‘I'll see you later.’”
    Lina struggled to remember her exact