Can True Love Survive High School? Read Online Free PDF Page B

raised an eyebrow. After all, Britta barely knew this guy. “Were you scared?”
    “Scared?” Britta said. “Why?”
    Holly shrugged. “I mean it was nighttime and he wouldn't tell you where he was taking you—”
    “You wouldn't say that if you knew him,” Britta said. “He took me back to the house. The little house by the ocean. He'd bought a flashlight and candles and a blanket and some takeout food and everything. We sneaked inside and he lit some candles and we had a romantic dinner right there on the floor of the house.”
    Holly was impressed. “Oh my god! That is incredible.”
    “I know,” Britta said. “We stepped out on the deck and looked at the moon on the water. And he kissed me.”
    “Wow.” Holly closed her eyes. Why didn't anything like this ever happen to her? Holly wondered. It was like a dream!
    “My parents wanted to kill me by the time I got home. He wanted to see me again last night but I was afraid they'd say no. I mean, Sunday night. A school night. So I told them I was going to meet you at Vineland to study.” Vineland was a popular café.
    Holly's eyes popped open. “You did?”
    “And I sneaked back to the little house to meet him. But on the way I stopped to pick up some food and we had another romantic dinner.”
    Holly wanted to go back a step and clarify something. “You told your parents you were with me?”
    “You don't mind, do you?”
    “Well, no, but you should have asked me first. I didn't go out last night. What if your mother talks to Jen and finds out?”
    “You're right…. Next time I'll warn you.”
    “Okay.”
    “It's just that he's here for such a short time—only a few weeks!” Britta said. “So we have to spend every possible minute together.”
    They were really in love. Holly was blown away. She didn't know anybody who was this much in love. Not where the love was mutual, anyway. Sure, Mads loved Sean but he hardly knew she was alive. And Lina and Dan … that wasn't even worth thinking about. Holly didn't think of Mads' and Lina's crushes as real love. They were impossible, unattainable. Nothing would ever come of them, either one. But this … this was different.
    It had all happened so fast—and to Britta of all people.
    Holly thought about the last evening she spent with Rob. Saturday night, she went over to his house. They played video games. Holly actually liked video games; some of them, anyway. And she remembered thinking what a good time she had with Rob. They didn't have to do anything special; they got along so well they could just pal around like buddies.
    Like buddies. While Britta and Ed were having candlelight dinners in an abandoned beach house, she and Rob were blasting aliens and making nachos in the microwave. It was like two different worlds. One so immature and everyday—so high school—and the other so passionate and romantic. Worldly. Grown-up. Serious. Holly envied Britta. Suddenly her own life seemed humdrum, drab, excitement-free. Pathetic.
    “It's incredible,” Holly said to Lina and Mads at Vineland later that afternoon. “I mean, did you see her today? She's transformed.”
    “It's true, I almost didn't recognize her,” Lina said. “She looked lighter, or something.”
    “And she suddenly has a fashion sense,” Mads said. “How did that happen?”
    “It's—it's true love,” Holly said. “I think it is.”
    “They only met three days ago,” Lina said.
    “She hardly knows him,” Mads added. “How could it be true love already?”
    “It was love at first sight,” Holly insisted. “Mads, you of all people—”
    “Say no more.” Mads held her hand out to stop Holly from going further. “I know what you are going to say, Boobmeister, and you're wrong. Sure, I fell in love with Sean at first sight, but I never said it was
true
love.”
    “For one thing, Sean doesn't love her back,” Lina said.
    “Well, and for another thing—” Mads didn't want to dwell on that aspect of it “—I'm with