Parallel Parking Read Free Page A

said. The lights came on. “Do you need to go to the nurse, Madison?”
    “No, I’ll be all right now,” Mads said.
    Ginny said. “I’m sorry you got sick, but it shows that the message of the movie really hit home.”
    It hit home, all right
, Mads thought.
    “I hope this means you’ll be an extra-careful driver,” Ginny said.
    “Don’t worry, I will,” Mads said.
    Ginny spent the last few minutes dividing the students into practice groups. She chose names at random from the class and
     refused all special requests. Mads hoped she’d get to be with Lina but braced herself for the worst.
    “Car number four: Lina Ozu, Ramona Fernandez, Ingrid Bauman, Karl Levine,” Ginny said. “You’ll be with Jen.”
    Mads caught Ramona glancing at Lina, who glanced back. Were they glad to be in the same car, or sorry? It was always hard
     to tell with them. Mads couldn’t figure out whether Lina and Ramona were friends or, if not enemies exactly, antagonists.
     But they seemed drawn together somehow, in any case.
    “Car number five: Autumn Nelson, Martin Irigazzy, Siobhan Gallagher, and Madison Markowitz. You’ll be with Mitchell. Okay,
     that’s it,” Ginny said. “See you next week.”
    Class broke up. “I’ve got the worst car,” Mads said to Lina.
    “Hey—Mads.” Martin Irigazzy stopped her on herway out of the classroom. She didn’t know him well. “We’re in the same car.”
    “Yeah,” Mads said. “With Autumn. And Crusty Mustache Man.”
    “Who?” Martin said.
    “It’s an inside joke,” Lina said.
    “Listen, Mads,” Martin said. “You barely know me, but—I’ve liked you for a long time.”
    Mads was shocked. “You have?”
    “Uh-huh. And I was wondering—” He squeezed his eyes shut, took a deep breath, then blurted out, “Do you want to go to the
     Happening with me?”
    The Happening was a dance, the big school event of the spring, coming up in a few weeks.
    Mads was too stunned to speak at first. Martin had liked her all this time—and she’d had no idea? How could that happen? She
     wasn’t even sure what his last name was until Ginny read it out loud that day.
    She recovered and said, “I’d love to, but I already have a date. I have a boyfriend.”
    “Oh, that’s cool,” Martin said. “Just thought I’d ask. Worth a shot, right?”
    “Don’t worry, Mads,” Holly said. “The worst is over. After the first class all you do is drive, pretty much, and that’s easy.”
    Lina, Holly, and Mads headed to Holly’s house after school to rehash the day’s events. Holly had taken driver’s ed the previous
     fall.
    “You wouldn’t say that if you knew who’s in my practice car,” Mads said. “Autumn. And Siobhan. And this guy Martin Irigazzy.”
    “He asked Mads to the Hap,” Lina said.
    “Who’s Martin Irigazzy?” Holly asked.
    “That’s what
I
wanted to know,” Mads said.
    “He’s had a crush on Mads forever,” Lina said.
    “That’s wild,” Holly said. “All this time he liked you and you barely knew he existed?”
    “It’s kind of romantic, you know?” Lina said. “Longing for someone from afar. I remember once last year I was riding downtown
     on the bus with my mother, and I saw this boy walking down Rutgers Street—”
    “Uh-oh,” Holly said.
    “Here we go,” Mads said.
    “Shut up, you guys,” Lina said. “He wore this little Greek fisherman’s cap tilted back on his head, and he had all this curly
     hair and a face that looked like a medieval saint’s—”
    “Puh. Leese,” Mads said.
    “Yeah, Mads, it’s not as if
you
never idealized a guy,” Holly said.
    “Thank you, Holly,” Lina said.
    There was no need to speak the name of The One Mads Held Above All Others, which was Sean Benedetto. Mads knew that Lina and
     Holly had heard his name enough already.
    “Why is it that every story seems to come back to Sean?” Lina said.
    “Finish,” Mads said.
    “I was trapped on a bus with my mother and couldn’t talk to him,”