Free Ex-Rating by Natalie Standiford Page B

“You’re part of the family. And everyone in the family pitches in to help,
     right?”
    “What about your mother?” Holly couldn’t help pointing this out.
    “Except Mom,” Julia said. “Special circs.”
    “But Julia, I’ve got to start my history project tomorrow. It’s half my grade—”
    “You’ve got plenty of time for that,” Julia said. “Besides, those little errands won’t take long.”
    Holly looked at the list again. Gather menus from five different caterers? She didn’t even know how to do most of these things.
     And even if she did, it would take a week to finish everything on the list.
    Julia leaned close, took Holly’s hand in hers, and said softly, so that the boys didn’t hear, “I can’t tell you how much it
     means to me. And Rob and Gabe. And Mom. They may not say anything, but this is such a hard time for us, and having you around,
     an extra pair of hands …” Her eyes teared up. She wiped them with her napkin. “You’re so sweet. Really. Sometimes I think
     if it weren’t for you, this whole family would be falling apart.”
    “I don’t want your family to fall apart—”
    “I know you don’t,” Julia said. “Because you’re a good person. A beautiful person with a generous heart.”
    “Well, I don’t know about that—”
    “You are,” Julia said. “So—you will help me, won’t you? Promise?”
    What could she say? “Yes. Of course I’ll help you.”
    “Promise?”
    “Promise.”
    “Dinner is served!” Gabe called, carrying loaded plates to the table. Holly folded up the list and put it in her pocket. She
     couldn’t help feeling annoyed with Julia. It was
her
wedding, not Holly’s. Holly wanted to help, but she didn’t want to do
everything
. Julia was trying to make her feel guilty about it, as if helping her were Holly’s duty or something. Holly was beginning
     to see Rob’s sister in a new light. She sure was good at getting her way.
    Rob set the salad on the table, sat down on Holly’s other side, and gave her a kiss. “Great to have you here, Holls.”
    Julia lifted her glass of wine. “A toast. To Holly—practically.a member of the clan.”

10
Going Underground
To:
mad4u
From:
your daily horoscope
    HERE IS TODAY’S HOROSCOPE: VIRGO: You’re getting so bold! You’ll pay for it, but it’s nice to see someone really put herself
     out there.
    L ina! Did you get the code?” Mads asked.
    “Got it,” Lina said. She gave Mads a slip of paper. “But I feel funny about this.”
    Mads, Lina, and Holly huddled in Holly’s bedroom Sunday for an emergency blog meeting. When Lina told her that Ramona had
     access codes and could write on the school Web site, Mads knew she was onto something. She wanted to get started right away.
    “Why do you feel funny? The moral high ground is totally on our side,” Mads said, “We’re being censored! Denied our rights
     as American citizens, just because we’re in high school. Doesn’t that piss you off?”
    “Sure, it does,” Lina said. “But we’re also blatantly disobeying the principal. We could get into a lot of trouble.”
    “It’s pretty serious, Mads,” Holly said. “I’m with you all the way, but we should realize we’re taking a risk.”
    “It’s not that risky,” Mads said, “We’ll hide the blog where no one will ever find it—unless they know where to look.”
    That was the plan: to plant the Dating Game back on the school site, hidden at the end of the summer reading list. The only
     problem was that they needed a teacher-access code in order to write on that part of the site. Ramona worked in the school
     office and had access to the codes. She was more than happy to pass on the code in the name of subversive activity. She loved
     anything secret and dangerous.
    Using the access code, Holly sat at her computer and transferred the Dating Game, X-Ratings, questionnaires, and all, to the
     end of the summer reading list.
    “All we have to do is spread the word so people