Free The Winter Lodge by Susan Wiggs

notebook. “I applied,” she admitted. The counselor at her other school had practically held her under house arrest, making her fill out applications. “I don’t really want to go to college,” she confessed.
    Sonnet and Zach seemed to take it in stride. At Daisy’s old school, saying “I don’t want to go to college” had the impact of saying “I have an STD.” People stared at you, hiding their disgust behind pity.
    And for Daisy, the most disgusted, pitying looks had come from her own parents.
    Zach and Sonnet didn’t look pitying at all. Maybe at this school you weren’t considered a loser and a freak just because you didn’t plan on being a rocket scientist or Supreme Court justice.
    So far, thought Daisy, the day didn’t totally suck. That was a surprise. Of course, they hadn’t even left homeroom yet.
    The bell rang and everyone flurried into action, shuffling papers, stuffing backpacks and heading for the door. In the corridor, kids floated along like leaves in a stream.
    Zach veered toward a classroom with French travel posters plastering the door. “Here’s my stop,” he said. “Find me at lunch.” He disappeared into a classroom.
    “So, do you have a boyfriend?” asked Sonnet.
    Boyfriend? Now, if Sonnet had asked her if there were guys Daisy hooked up with, she would have a different answer. “No boyfriend,” she said firmly. “Why do you ask?”
    “Because Zach is totally crushing on you. He has been since the second you walked into homeroom.”
    “I don’t even know him.”
    “I don’t even know Orlando Bloom, but I totally know I would be his love slave until the end of time.”
    “Believe me, I don’t want to be anyone’s love slave.” Been there, done that, she thought. “And anyway, you’ve got him pegged all wrong. He’s into you, not me.”
    Sonnet shook her head, corkscrew curls bobbing. “He hates me.”
    “Right. He hates you so much he brings you a pastry every morning.”
    “If you’re so smart, how come you’re not going to college?”
    “I’m not sure of anything.” She experienced a tiny glimmer of warmth and found herself hoping this was the start of an actual friendship. “I like the name Sonnet,” she said, wanting to turn the topic away from herself.
    “Thanks. My mom says she picked it because she didn’t want anything that sounded too ethnic.
    All my cousins on my mom’s side of the family are Lucias and Marias and so forth. Sonnet is just…weird.”
    “Weird in a good way,” Daisy assured her.
    “She once told me she was reading a book of Shakespeare’s sonnets when she went to the hospital in labor.” Sonnet’s velvety brown eyes softened with an expression Daisy couldn’t read.
    “So your last name is Romano, like the teacher,” she remarked, looking at the name scrawled on Sonnet’s notebook. “Coincidence?”
    “He’s my uncle Tony,” Sonnet explained. “My mom’s brother.”
    They didn’t look related, Daisy thought, but she didn’t say anything. “What’s it like, being in your uncle’s class?”
    “I’m used to it. There are a ton of Romanos in Avalon and half of them are teachers, so it’s kind of hard to avoid.”
    “So you have your mom’s name, not your dad’s,” Daisy observed, hoping it wasn’t a touchy subject.
    Apparently, it wasn’t. Sonnet answered easily, “My mom’s single. She never married my dad.”
    “Oh.” Daisy didn’t know what to say to that. She was fairly certain “I’m sorry” wasn’t appropriate. She scanned the crowded hallway. “Is it my imagination, or are there three teachers on this floor named Romano?”
    Sonnet gave a rueful smile. “That’s just the tip of the iceberg. There are Romanos everywhere.
    Some people say that’s how my mom got elected mayor. She has eight brothers and sisters.
    “So how about you?” Sonnet asked. “What are your parents like?”
    Divorced was the first thing that popped into Daisy’s mind. “My mom’s originally from Seattle,