Speed Dating by Natalie Standiford

kid. Paint any pictures of me lately?”
    Quiver.
“Not lately,” Mads said. “I’ve been doing animal portraits. But if you feel like posing, I could draw you again.”
    “Maybe. My mom says she wants a portrait of me for the living room. But I think she means a professional portrait. No offense.”
    “Oh.”
    “Not that you’re not a good artist or anything. Just… you know.”
    “Sure.”
    Sean looked around, scanned the table, and got up. “Well, I really just came to this thing for a kick, see who’d show up,
     you know. I got what I wanted out of it. Think I’ll split. Later.”
    “Later.”
    He walked away from the table with a wave to Alex and another to Quintana. Now there were more girls than boys at the party.
     Mads was no longer needed as a place-holder. She got up and joined Lina at the head table.
    “Learn anything?” Lina asked.
    “Yes,” Mads said. “I learned that boys really, really like Quintana.”
    “You already knew that.”
    “I know,” Mads said. “But now I’ve got a PhD in it.”

10
Absorbing the Moonbeams
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    To:     hollygolitely
    From: your daily horoscope
    HERE IS TODAY’S HOROSCOPE: CAPRICORN: Life is full of mysteries. Why should today be any different?
----
    H ow did you find this restaurant?” Holly asked. It was Friday night, their first date, and Eli had brought her to a tiny Mexican
     place in Santa Marta. Santa Marta was about an hour’s drive from Carlton Bay, and even smaller. The restaurant, Lucia’s, sat
     on a cliff overlooking the ocean. It was dark and candlelit and decorated with Mexican handicrafts. “It’s very romantic,” Holly
     added.
    “Oh, I have an interest in Mexico, and Mexicanthings,” Eli said. He tapped his fork against hers so it made a
ting.
“The candlelight turns your hair into gold.”
    Holly self-consciously touched her hair. “Thank you.”
    She couldn’t believe this night had finally come. She’d been thinking about him so much since the Speed Dating party, imagining
     his face, trying to guess what he would say to her if they were alone together. Which wasn’t easy, since he hadn’t given her
     much to go on the first time they’d met. And he’d taken so long to get in touch with her, it made her uneasy. Yes, he said
     he was afraid he’d fall in love with her too quickly, but Holly’s fake-o-meter buzzed slightly at that excuse, as much as
     she wanted to believe it. Still, what choice did she have but to meet with him, then wait and see?
    “Tell me about yourself,” Eli said. “I want to know everything.”
    “Hmm,” Holly said. “Where should I start? The creature that is Holly has many lives, many moods, many facets.”
    “I can see that,” Eli said. “Tell me about your family. Do you have any brothers or sisters? What are your parents like?”
    “I have an older sister, Piper. She’s a freshman at Stanford. We get along okay when she doesn’t pull her Queen Bee trip on
     me. We get along better than ever now that she’s away at school.”
    “Is she beautiful like you?”
    “She looks different from me, more like my mom. I think she’s prettier. She’s really thin, and her hair’s darker than mine,
     and she has freckles. She’s cool-looking.”
    “And your parents?”
    “Curt and Jen? They’re okay. They don’t bother me too much. My dad likes to tease me sometimes. They go to a lot of parties
     and dinners. They pretty much let me do what I want.”
    “You’re so lucky,” Eli said. “My family has me in a dynastic stranglehold.”
    “A what?”
    “I don’t blame them. It’s only because there’s so much at stake. My father has a ranch down in Santa Barbara. He left us two
     years ago to live there.”
    “So your parents split up, huh? Sometimes I think mine should. Just get it over with, you know?”
    “No, you shouldn’t wish for that,” Eli said. “Trust me, it’s a terrible thing when it happens. My mother—I probably shouldn’t
     say this, but my mother has