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

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