Peyton Church is a city girl by anyone's standards. Born and raised in New York City, she grew up wanting for nothing. She attended the most prestigious preparatory schools, shopped on Fifth Avenue, dined with the rich and famous and was adored by...
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"HAVE YOU LOST whatever modicum of common sense you had left in that pretty head of yours?!" Eliza exclaims once I'm done telling her my plan.
One perk of Miss Dawson's sudden leave was that Eliza had been one of the twenty or so students who'd had their timetables screwed up. So now, my last period economics class was her last period economics class.
Which is why she's currently sitting next to me, and completely freaking out while we're supposed to be answering the questions on the board.
"It's not that crazy," I shrug as I twirl my pen between my fingers.
Eliza narrows her kohl lined eyes in confusion. "Are you hearing yourself right now? 'Cause to me it sounds like you're planning a coup against her royal highness Queen Clarissa."
Slowly, I nod my head. "Yeah. That's about it. I don't see what's so crazy about it."
"Oh, that's not the crazy part," she hisses, leaning forward and crossing her arms around her waist. "The crazy part is that you actually want to trust Hunter Manwhore Maddox to help you with this devious scheme. I repeat: have you lost your freaking mind?!"
With a sigh, I lean back in the plastic school chair and cross my legs. "He seems to insist on being a fixture in my life for no apparent reason. Why not use it to my advantage?"
Eliza's face screws up. "Have you met the guy, Peyton? There's a very good chance the guy's a Petrie dish of at least three different STDs. Not to mention he lacks this thing called a personality. You really want to use that to your advantage?"
"Ew! Not like that!" I practically scream, my lip pulling back in disgust. When the teacher's head whips up to glare at us, I zip my lips and make a show of going back to my school work.
But as soon as her eyes go back to the romance novel hidden from view behind her desk, I drop my pen and return my attention to the crazy blonde beside me.
"I have no intentions of actually screwing the guy. I just have to convince everyone that I am. Which shouldn't be hard, considering Clarissa's already convinced I am."
"Think about it for a second here, Peyton," she insists. "Are you really so desperate to do this that you actually want everyone to think you're hooking up with a guy whose widely known for being a womanizing player?"
"I don't want to convince them we're booking up, Liza. I want them to think we're dating," I clarify.
To say Eliza looks like she thinks I'm high would be an understatement. "Dating? As in commitment? Exclusivity? Monogamy? I don't think this class is long enough to list everything wrong with this situation."
