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back. No one except Josh, who only seemed to grin as he rested his hand at Georgiana's back.
"Next assignments," Lizzie said cheerfully.
"I'll go with her," Dante said, nodding in Anne's direction.
Lizzie exhaled sharply. She wasn't going to be told what to do with her own paper by the
likes of Dante. "Anne, I want you with Rick in the back corner."
As Anne got up, Lizzie patted her stool. "Dante, you're with me."
* * *
Dante walked up to the stool, then used his foot to push it back and out of the way. He
leaned his left hip against the desk, coolly crossed his arms, and stared at her. She went hot
behind her ears and told herself to stop being stupid. So what if he was cute? Hotness was
overrated.
He was closer to her this way than if he'd been sitting. Taller, too. Looming over her as
though he were the one in charge which he wasn't. She scanned him from toe to head. She
looked into his eyes and felt shivers down her spine. What gave him the right to take up so much
friggin' space? No, she wasn't going to look away. She wasn't even going to blink.
Unfortunately, he didn't, either. He seemed perfectly happy to stare at her with a smirk on
his lips. His eyes were even icier up close, as frigid as Alaska, but she noticed a darker rim of
blue outlining his irises.
"Great questions." His voice broke through her thoughts. He 'wasn't even the kind of guy to
lace his comments with heavy sarcasm. He just stated them as fact, even though they weren't.
"We're just getting started." She used her finger to glide his bio across the desk toward her.
Dante Braxton was a junior, like her. Lacrosse player. Strong academic record. Total East Coast
pedigree. Totally not the kind of guy to run in her circle, which meant as soon as this interview
was over, so were they.
She fished a recorder from the supply drawer beneath the desk, set it on the counter, and
pressed record.
Dante's eyes shifted to the small, palm-shaped device. Lizzie saw something flicker through
his gaze not annoyance, not judgment, but for a moment, perhaps nervousness.
He was nervous beneath that icy exterior?
Good.
"Why did you leave Exeter to attend the Jane Austen Academy?" It was her intention to use
the phrase the Jane Austen Academy at least a dozen times in the interview because she knew it
would irk Bergie.
Dante hesitated at her question and while she believed it was because of his snobbish
nature, the reporter's instincts in her clawed their way up. What was he hiding?
"Shouldn't you start with an introduction?" he asked.
"I thought the great Dante Braxton needed no introduction."
He smiled for a moment, but only a moment. "No one gave me one of these for you." He
splayed his hand across his bio and leaned in closer. The tanned skin at the back of his hand was
marred with nicks and bruises. From lacrosse, she guessed.
"That's because we're not interviewing me." She nabbed the corner of the bio to pull it back.
He let the page go. He smelled nice. She didn't know what it was, just clean and fresh. His breath
was even minty, and she was surprised because she expected boys to be all body odor and
pimples and farts.
"Is that because there's nothing worth finding out?" He smiled unnervingly.
She glared at him but forced herself to keep her cool. As one of Bergie's golden boys, he
was probably a total snitch. She couldn't trust him. Not for a second. "Dante," she said in the
formal, clipped tone she reserved for adults. "Why did you leave Exeter to attend the Jane
Austen Academy?"
"Because, Miss Egmont," he said with mock seriousness, "the academic record of this
institution speaks for itself, and I'm proud to be part of the first wave of male students."
Was he making fun of her? Whatever she didn't care. Bergie wanted a stupid interview?
She would get one. "What do you miss most about Exeter?"
"The anonymity."
She could have sworn there was a sparkle to his eyes, a slight lift to his lips. Was he being
funny? She looked away quickly, back to his bio. "What do you plan to accomplish while you're
at the Jane Austen Academy?"
"I plan to compete for the limited number of elite college acceptances available to Jane
Austen Academy students." His lips definitely quirked into a smile this time.
He was quoting her pre-term editorial, the one she'd written in protest of the changes. Did he
hope to fluster her? Well, she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction. "What acceptance are
you hoping for?"
"Georgetown."
"Georgetown?" Lizzie bit out. "That's " "She coughed into her shoulder. " Um, that's
ambitious."
Georgetown? Georgetown! Her dream school. It was well known that Georgetown only
offered one annual acceptance to a student from the Jane Austen Academy, except in 1982 when
a set of genius triplets had all made it in. Georgetown!
"You've settled on Georgetown then?" she said. "You've decided? Any backup schools?"
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