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Breaking Up Is Really, Really Hard to Do

Page 14

by Natalie Standiford


  Here's a sneak peek at the Dating Game #3

  Can True Love Survive High School?

  Lina jumped on her bike and pedaled toward the water. Carlton Bay “was a waterfront town, full of boat piers and seafood restaurants and a weathered boardwalk that ran along the shore called the Marina. Ramona was waiting for her on a bench, licking an ice Gream cone, her own bike leaning against a rail.

  “Heard you got an eyeful at the game today,” Ramona said. Drops of pink ice cream dripped into her raven hair and down her ragged black dress and tights. She really has the Goth look down, Lina thought, taking in Ramona's black outfit, green nails, and elaborate mask of Goth makeup. Around her neck Ramona wore a thin orange tie, a symbol of her love for Dan, their teacher, who always wore skinny ties.

  “I can't believe how fast word gets around when there's nudity involved,” Lina said. A streaker had run onto the field at the varsity lacrosse game.

  “Sit down, we've got to talk fast,” Ramona said. “I don't have that much time. My mom's having trouble unloading a house, and she wants me to put a spell on the buyers.”

  Ramona was into spells and voodoo. Her mother was a real estate agent, not Goth at all, but it looked like Ramona was drawing her into her web. Lina would have thought real estate was immune to supernatural power, but obviously she was wrong.

  “First of all,” Ramona said, “I surrender him to you.”

  “What?” Ramona was nearly as in love with Dan as Lina was, and very competitive. It wasn't like her to surrender anything to anyone.

  “Look, there's no time to fool around,” Ramona said. “Only one of us can have him, right? I mean, if you look at it realistically. And that's what we've got to do—be realistic. So, you're the one who's been secretly e-mailing him and all. Once we get him, he's yours. I just want to live vicariously through you. But you have to promise to tell me every detail, no matter how personal or gross. Promise?”

  “I promise.”

  “Really? Do you swear? Do I have to extract some kind of elaborate vow from you?”

  “No, you can trust me, Ramona. You know that.”

  “I do not know that, but I don't have much choice. Now. How are we going to get him?”

  Lina thought a minute. “Um, what are we talking about, exactly? What do you mean, get him?”

  “Well, you know…” Ramona trailed off. That was the thing about loving a teacher. You longed, you yearned, but for what exactly? It was so unlikely you'd get anywhere with him that you didn't have to think that far ahead.

  “You're going to be his girlfriend,” Ramona finally announced.

  And that was what Lina wanted. But somehow she found it hard to picture.

  “We'll start slow,” Ramona said. “Let's say our goal is that by the end of the month he will think of you as different from the other students. Special.”

  Secretly, Lina hoped he already felt this way. “That's not enough.”

  “Okay. The two of you have to be somewhere alone together. Not school-related. And it has to be understood that what you're doing is not a student-teacher thing, but a guy-girl thing.”

  Ramona was rolling now. “I've got it. We'll send him a note from ‘a secret admirer’ and get him to meet us somewhere. You'll go up to him with a black veil over your face, so he can't see who you are, and then—”

  “Ramona—” Lina elbowed her in the ribs. A familiar figure was walking toward them down the boardwalk.

  “What? I'm on a roll here. Then, when the moment is right, you rip off the veil—”

  “Ramona! Look!” Lina nodded at the man, who was coming closer. It was him. Dan.

  Ramona clutched Lina's arm. “Oh my god! It's him! I conjured him with my psychic brain waves! I knew I had powers!”

  “Ow—Ramona, your claws are digging into my skin.” Lina peeled Ramona's hand off her arm.

  “This is a sign,” Ramona whispered. “This is our moment. We've got to act NOW!”

  “Now? What are we going to do?”

  “Just go!” Ramona yanked Lina to her feet. Dan had nearly reached them.

  “Ramona, stop it!” Lina whispered. “I thought you had to go home and cast a spell on some real estate.”

  “That can wait.”

  “At least tell me what the plan is!”

  Don't miss a minute of THE DATING GAME WITH Holly, Madison, and Lina!

  Here's how it all began…

  And look for the 3rd installment of THE DATING GAME! Can True Love Survive High School?

  Log on to www.DatingGameBook.com for much more

  PLAY THE DATING GAME with YOUR FRIENDS!

  www.DatingGameBook.com

  AND

  Share quizzes and questionnaires!

  Check your astrology match and

  see if love is in the stars!

  Get love and dating advice

  from those in the know!

  Send e-cards to your secret crush!

  AND much more at

  www.DatingGameBook.com

  TAKE THE QUIZ

  Is He IT?

  Is the guy you're dating right for you?

  1. When he calls or IMs:

  A Your heart races with excitement.

  B You're glad to hear from him.

  C You feel queasy.

  2. Your best friend thinks he is:

  A Prince Charming

  B Slime

  C Her boyfriend

  3 Five years from now, he'll be:

  A Joe College

  B Pumping Gas

  C Repeating 11th grade

  The Dating Gomes continue…and Holly, Lina, and Madison ore in foe big surprises when they try to figure out if the guys they like are “It”—or not!

 

 

 


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