Parallel Parking (2 page)

Still, for the rest of the night Holly found herself catching Sean’s eye from across the room. They didn’t dance together
again or say anything to each other. But whenever she looked at him, he was looking at her.

Toward the end of the evening Autumn lost patience with dancing and the band and sat down to tear open her presents.

“Let’s get out of here,” Holly said to Sebastiano. “Do you need a ride?” Walker and Stephen were taking Lina and Mads home,
so Holly would be driving home by herself.

“Sure,” Sebastiano said. “Let me just say good-bye to a few people.”

“Okay,” Holly said. “I’ll meet you out by the car.” She said good-bye to Mads and Lina and Autumn, who was so busy shredding
metallic paper, she barely looked up. Holly went outside and found Sean leaning against her car.

“Heading home?” he said.

“Yep,” Holly said. She put her key into the door.

Sean took her by the elbow. “Hey,” he said. “I really like you.”

Startled, she turned toward him and looked up. He kissed her.

When she’d recovered, Holly glanced around. Did anyone see that? Did Mads? People all around were getting into their cars,
but no one seemed to have noticed Sean and Holly.

“What are you doing tomorrow night?” Sean asked.

Holly couldn’t remember if she had plans or not. “I don’t know….”

“Want to go do something?” he asked.

She needed a moment to take this in. Was Sean Benedetto asking her out? It looked that way. After talking to him that night,
she liked him more than she’d thought she would. And she was curious to find out more about him.

But Mads’ face loomed in her mind. What would she think if Holly went out with Sean, her eternal crush, her personal rock
star? Would she be upset? Holly wasn’t sure, but she really loved Mads and wouldn’t do anything to hurt her. That overrode
any curiosity she had about Sean.

“Sorry, I can’t,” she told him. “But thanks.”

“No problem,” Sean said. “See you around.”

She watched him walk to his Jeep. Then she got into her car, started it up, and waited for Sebastiano to come find her.

I just kissed Sean
, she thought over and over again.
Or, rather, he kissed me
. She had to admit, it wasn’t bad. He’d obviously had a lot of practice.

Should she tell Mads about it? Holly didn’t want to upset her. But keeping such big news from her seemed wrong.

Sebastiano came out and jumped into the front seat. “Did I miss anything?” he joked, as if nothing could possibly have happened
in the last ten minutes in the parking lot
of the Carlton Bay Country Club.

“Miss anything?” Holly said. “We’re in the parking lot of the Carlton Bay Country Club. What could have happened?”

To:     mad4u

From: your daily horoscope

HERE IS TODAY’S HOROSCOPE: VIRGO: I see carnage and mayhem in your future. Oh, wait, that’s just the next episode of
Laguna Beach
.

T
he rules of the road.” Ginny the Gym Teacher—in her new role as Ginny the Driver’s Ed Teacher—passed out a booklet of traffic
rules and safety tips. “We’ll go over them in class, but study them well. You’ll be tested on them in your written exam for
this course… and on the big day down at the DMV.”

“I told you this class would be a breeze,” Mads whispered to Lina.

Driver’s ed met last period Wednesday afternoons. Goth poetess Ramona Fernandez and her acolyte Siobhan Gallagher haunted
the back row, while Autumn sat front and center with her friend Ingrid Bauman. Mads hoped she’d never have to share the road
with Ramona or Autumn. Autumn struck her as a multi-tasking driver, the type who talks on the phone, applies mascara, fiddles
with the stereo, and keeps a lookout for cute guys all at the same time. Ramona was a flirt-with-death sort, and that was
one flirtation Mads didn’t want to be part of.

“We’ll spend some class time learning the rules and the basics,” Ginny said. “Then you’ll be assigned to practice cars in
groups of four with your driving instructor.” She indicated the two women and two men leaning against the chalkboard at the
front of the room. “This is Jen, Kathy, Doug, and Mitchell.”

Mads knew Jen as a gym teaching assistant and Mitchell as a frequent substitute teacher, but Kathy and Doug were new to her.

“Please don’t let me get Mitchell’s car,” Lina whispered. “He subbed for a month last year when Gantner was out having her
knee replaced.” Mrs. Gantner had been Lina’s ninth-grade English teacher. “After lunch he always had food stuck in his mustache.”

“Ew.”

“Before we start, I want you all to understand what a serious undertaking you’re embarking on,” Ginny said. “Driving a car
is one of the most dangerous things you will ever do—and you’ll do it every day. It’s like operating a killing machine. If
you don’t learn to do it properly and keep your wits about you at all times, you could end up like this. Hit the lights, please.”

“Oh, no,” Lina whispered. “The dreaded crash movie.”

“The what?” Mads said.

The video started out okay. A man stood in front of a plain blue wall. “What you are about to see is actual footage from real
automobile accidents. You may be shocked, horrified, and upset. You should be. The victims of these accidents were once happy,
carefree young people, just like you. They never expected to die in a bloody heap of twisted metal. I imagine you don’t, either.
But careless driving can have deadly consequences—as you’re about to see.”

Mads shut her eyes and gripped Lina’s hand. “I can’t look. You know how I get at horror movies.”

The video continued. Mads couldn’t see what was happening, but she heard the narrator’s voice. “Kenny and Susie were sixteen,
out on a date. Look what happened when Kenny took his eyes off the road to give Susie a quick kiss. Just one brief second,
and—”

Mads heard tires squealing, a loud crash, metal crunching, gas exploding. She winced. The class groaned. Someone tapped her
on the shoulder.

“Open your eyes, Markowitz, or you won’t pass this class,” Ginny said.

Mads opened her eyes a crack, just in time to see the screen fill with blood and body parts. She shut them again.

Ginny put the video on Pause. “Open them. I’m waiting….”

Mads opened her eyes. The whole class was staring at her. She could understand why. Anything was better than looking at the
image frozen on the screen. The top of a car had been sliced off by the bottom of a tractor trailer truck.

“That’s better,” Ginny said. “And keep them open. I’ll be watching you.”

The video resumed. Mads’ stomach gurgled ominously. She swallowed, trying to keep down the bile. She knew driving could be
dangerous. She wasn’t the careless type. She’d always be careful—she promised! If only she didn’t have to see all this gore.

“Think a stop sign is just a suggestion? Think again,” the narrator said as the consequences of running a stop sign were splattered
all over the screen.

“Mads, are you okay?” Lina asked. “You look kind of green.”

“I think I’m going to be sick,” Mads said. “You’d better get out of the way.”

She jumped up and ran into the bathroom, making it to a toilet just in time to puke up her lunch.

“Mads?” Lina had followed her in. “Are you all right?”

Mads knelt on the bathroom floor, recovering. “I feel better now.”

Lina helped her to her feet, and she washed up. “The movie should be almost over by now. Are you ready to brave the wrath
of Ginny?”

Mads rinsed her mouth out one last time, spat, and nodded. “What can she do, toss me under the wheels of a tractor trailer?
Let’s go.”

They slipped back into the classroom. Ginny frowned at them. The movie was wrapping up.

“So the next time you’re thinking of speeding, or disobeying traffic rules, or driving while under the influence of alcohol
or any illegal substance, remember this: It’s a horrible way to die.” The narrator looked grim. The words
THE END
flashed on the screen in red letters.

“Lights,” Ginny said. The lights came on. “Do you need to go to the nurse, Madison?”

“No, I’ll be all right now,” Mads said.

Ginny said. “I’m sorry you got sick, but it shows that the message of the movie really hit home.”

It hit home, all right
, Mads thought.

“I hope this means you’ll be an extra-careful driver,” Ginny said.

“Don’t worry, I will,” Mads said.

Ginny spent the last few minutes dividing the students into practice groups. She chose names at random from the class and
refused all special requests. Mads hoped she’d get to be with Lina but braced herself for the worst.

“Car number four: Lina Ozu, Ramona Fernandez, Ingrid Bauman, Karl Levine,” Ginny said. “You’ll be with Jen.”

Mads caught Ramona glancing at Lina, who glanced back. Were they glad to be in the same car, or sorry? It was always hard
to tell with them. Mads couldn’t figure out whether Lina and Ramona were friends or, if not enemies exactly, antagonists.
But they seemed drawn together somehow, in any case.

“Car number five: Autumn Nelson, Martin Irigazzy, Siobhan Gallagher, and Madison Markowitz. You’ll be with Mitchell. Okay,
that’s it,” Ginny said. “See you next week.”

Class broke up. “I’ve got the worst car,” Mads said to Lina.

“Hey—Mads.” Martin Irigazzy stopped her on her
way out of the classroom. She didn’t know him well. “We’re in the same car.”

“Yeah,” Mads said. “With Autumn. And Crusty Mustache Man.”

“Who?” Martin said.

“It’s an inside joke,” Lina said.

“Listen, Mads,” Martin said. “You barely know me, but—I’ve liked you for a long time.”

Mads was shocked. “You have?”

“Uh-huh. And I was wondering—” He squeezed his eyes shut, took a deep breath, then blurted out, “Do you want to go to the
Happening with me?”

The Happening was a dance, the big school event of the spring, coming up in a few weeks.

Mads was too stunned to speak at first. Martin had liked her all this time—and she’d had no idea? How could that happen? She
wasn’t even sure what his last name was until Ginny read it out loud that day.

She recovered and said, “I’d love to, but I already have a date. I have a boyfriend.”

“Oh, that’s cool,” Martin said. “Just thought I’d ask. Worth a shot, right?”

“Don’t worry, Mads,” Holly said. “The worst is over. After the first class all you do is drive, pretty much, and that’s easy.”

Lina, Holly, and Mads headed to Holly’s house after school to rehash the day’s events. Holly had taken driver’s ed the previous
fall.

“You wouldn’t say that if you knew who’s in my practice car,” Mads said. “Autumn. And Siobhan. And this guy Martin Irigazzy.”

“He asked Mads to the Hap,” Lina said.

“Who’s Martin Irigazzy?” Holly asked.

“That’s what
I
wanted to know,” Mads said.

“He’s had a crush on Mads forever,” Lina said.

“That’s wild,” Holly said. “All this time he liked you and you barely knew he existed?”

“It’s kind of romantic, you know?” Lina said. “Longing for someone from afar. I remember once last year I was riding downtown
on the bus with my mother, and I saw this boy walking down Rutgers Street—”

“Uh-oh,” Holly said.

“Here we go,” Mads said.

“Shut up, you guys,” Lina said. “He wore this little Greek fisherman’s cap tilted back on his head, and he had all this curly
hair and a face that looked like a medieval saint’s—”

“Puh. Leese,” Mads said.

“Yeah, Mads, it’s not as if
you
never idealized a guy,” Holly said.

“Thank you, Holly,” Lina said.

There was no need to speak the name of The One Mads Held Above All Others, which was Sean Benedetto. Mads knew that Lina and
Holly had heard his name enough already.

“Why is it that every story seems to come back to Sean?” Lina said.

“Finish,” Mads said.

“I was trapped on a bus with my mother and couldn’t talk to him,” Lina said. “All I could do was watch helplessly as he walked
out of my life forever. I couldn’t stop thinking about him. I dreamed about him every night for a week. Even now, whenever
I go downtown, part of me is always keeping an eye out for him. But I never saw him again. And I have no way of ever finding
him. He’s just… gone.”

“That is so tragic,” Mads said.

“There should be a way to find people like that,” Holly said. “Like a Missing Persons bulletin board or something.”

“Did you ever see those ads at the back of the
Bay Reader?”
Lina said. The
Bay Reader
was a weekly alternative newspaper. “‘I Saw You’? People write in things like, ‘Girl with braids who works at Zola’s—you
rock my world.”

“Oh, yeah,” Mads said. “I love to read those. No one is ever looking for me, though.”

“Me either,” Lina said. “Not yet, anyway….”

“Maybe we could add a feature like that to the blog,” Mads said. They had started the Dating Game blog as a school project,
but it kept growing. From advice columns to matchmaking quizzes to relationship diaries, it had become the love center of
the Rosewood School for Alternative Gifted Education.

“We could call it Missed Connections,” Lina said. “You could describe someone you saw in an ad on the site and hope they see
it and answer you.”

“Right,” Holly said. “A girl could post something like, ‘Boy who kicked a soccer ball into my face during gym on Friday—I
want to get to know you.’”

“‘Because I am insane,’” Mads added.

“Or Martin could have written about Mads,” Lina said. “’Cute little dark-haired girl with baby face—’”

“Hey!” Mads wasn’t fond of her baby face.

Lina ignored the interruption. “‘—will you go to the dance with me?’”

“It’ll be anonymous, just like ‘I Saw You,’ ” Mads said. “That way, if your crush doesn’t respond, nobody will know but you.
You don’t have to face total public humiliation.”

“It’s like an online secret admirer note,” Holly said.

“Let’s do it,” Lina said. “For all the Martin Irigazzys out there.”