Free The Dating Game by Natalie Standiford Page B

it? want to meet at the pinetop Saturday night? I mean, why wait, right?
    The Pinetop! Wow. Saturday night—she’d have to miss Rebecca’s party. Oh well. This was way better than some lame party. Going to the Pinetop Lounge with Sean Benedetto!
    The Pinetop was a divey old bar known for its ancient jukebox and lax door policy. Mads had heard some of the older kids at Rosewood talk about it. Holly’s sister Piper used to go there all the time. They hardly ever carded. Still, Mads knew she looked closer to twelve than twenty-one, and that might test the Pinetop’s limits. She needed a fake ID—now. It was time to get one, anyway.
    Mads wrote back to Sean:
    Pinetop’s cool. See you at 8?
    Saturday night at 8. See you then. How will I know you?
    I’ll know you
, she wanted to say, but thought better of it. Instead she wrote:
    I have straight black hair. You’ve probably seen me around school.
     
    Next she fired off an e-mail to Holly.
    Emergency—I need a fake id now! Can Piper hook me up?
     
    I’m about to go on my very first date with SEAN BENEDETTO!!!!

10
    Nightmare at the Pinetop Lounge
    To:     mad4u
    From: Your daily horoscope
    HERE IS TODAY’S HOROSCOPE: VIRGO: You have strong ideals, Virgo, and that’s a good thing. But watch out—reality is about to bite you in the butt.
    M ads’ seat belt could hardly restrain her as M.C. piloted the Volvo through the hills to Ridgewood Road. The Pinetop Lodge stood at the end of a small, isolated commercial strip, with a gas station, an old convenience store, a deli, and Prescott’s Pizza Shop.
    “There it is, Mom,” Mads said. “Prescott’s.” M.C. pulled into the parking lot. A few doors down, the Pinetop was hopping.
    “Are you sure this is where you’re meeting this boy?” M.C. asked.
    “Sure, Mom,” Mads said. She’d told M.C. that Sean was meeting her for pizza. M.C. was very liberal in a lot of ways: She believed in human rights and freedom for people all over the globe and all kinds of animals. But when it came to her daughter, certain rights didn’t apply. That included the right to go to a bar with a boy at age fifteen. Mads tried to argue that her parents’ rules made her a political prisoner, but they weren’t that stupid.
    “Is he here yet?” M.C. asked, looking around. Two cars were parked in front of Prescott’s, and a few people stood at the counter inside. “I think I’ll wait with you until he gets here. Just to make sure you’re all right.”
    “Mom, no!” Mads cried. “I don’t want him to think I need my mother to drive me around.”
    “But you’re not old enough to drive yourself! How is he going to think you got here in the first place?”
    “Please, Mom. Look, I’ve got my cell phone.” Mads opened her bag and flashed her new cell phone as if to demonstrate. “If he doesn’t show up or anything goes wrong, I’ll call you. I promise.”
    “All right,” M.C. said. “But call me as soon as he shows up. If I don’t hear from you in fifteen minutes, I’m calling you. And if you don’t answer, I’m coming right back.”
    “Thanks, Mom.” Mads opened the door and got out of the car at last.
    “Home by midnight!” M.C. reminded her.
    Mads went into Prescott’s and watched her mom drive off. Then she went into the bathroom, put on some lipstick, and headed over to the Pinetop.
    No sign of the Jeep yet. Mads figured she’d wait for Sean outside. It started to drizzle, so she waited under the Pinetop awning.
    After a few minutes a black Jeep pulled up, and Sean got out. In the light of the streetlamp Mads watched him shake out his hair, stuff his keys in his pocket and head for the door. Mads positioned herself in front of it so he couldn’t miss her.
    “Hi,” he said, reaching around her for the handle to the door. She blocked him.
    “Hi,” she said. “Are you meeting someone here?”
    His eyes narrowed as he stopped to take her in. “Yeah, I am, but—”
    “Is your screen name’p_diddy’?”