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are they, like, serious?" I asked, filleting my heart down the middle and leaving it wide open to his answer. Gage looked at me for a
moment, and for that one moment I swear I saw actual compassion in his eyes.
"Please. Ivy is never serious about anyone," he said, standing. Then he turned and faced me and opened his arms. "Besides, the girl
does have a brain. She'll be coming back for more of this in no time." Gag. But still. I hoped he was right.
* * *
"Has everyone come up with a guest list?" I asked that night. Via e-mail, I had reminded each of my Billings sisters that they were
to create their own lists of invitees for the fund-raiser--friends, family, people with cash. We were getting down to the wire, so I hoped
that everyone had made time to work on it between classes. "Got it!" Portia announced, holding up her rhinestone-covered PDA as ev-
eryone else murmured their assent. "Mine's handwritten. Is that bad?" Constance asked, biting her lip. "It doesn't matter what format
it's in as long as you have one," I replied. "Now I need someone to volunteer to compile them all and cross-reference for any dupli-
cates. Volunteers?" "I'll do it!" Kiki offered. Her mouth was full of the mini eclair she'd just popped into it, but I got the gist. Vienna
had ordered up a few dozen delicacies from the French bakery in town, which were now being passed around on silver platters.
"Great. Everyone get your lists to Kiki by the end of the night," I directed. "We'll also be inviting every Easton alumni under the age
of sixty-five. Ms. Lewis e-mailed me the list today, and I'll forward that to you as well," I told Kiki. "Okay," Kiki said, taking Con-
stance's list. "What do I do with all the addresses once I have them?"
"Actually, I was kind of hoping that maybe you and Astrid could come up with some kind of gorgeous e-mail invite to send to ev-
eryone," I replied. "We can mock it up now and then just add in the locations once we have them. Sound good?" "I'm in!" Astrid an-
nounced. "I just got this new design software from my dad that's still in prototype. It's killer," Kiki added. Noelle sat forward in her
chair and cleared her throat. "E-mail? Really?" she asked, looking up at me like I had suggested fingerpainting the invites. "Isn't that
sort of gauche?" I felt my fingers start to curl. I had decided to go with her theme. Did she really have to contradict my one piece of
input in front of everyone? I mean, I know I had flirted with her man and all, but did that mean I was never going to get a say in any-
thing ever again? No. I wouldn't let her step all over me that way. So I'd flirted with Dash. Last year she'd helped kidnap my boyfriend
and had left him for dead. I'd say we were even. Until she found out about the fact that I'd almost slept with Dash. That might tip the
scales in her view. But as of now, she didn't know about that.
"It's the fastest and cheapest way to reach everyone," I told her patiently. "If we have to get invitations printed and stamped and
mailed, by the time the guests receive them, it will be two days before the party." Noelle raised her palms. "Point taken." I let out a
breath. See? She wasn't trying to control things. She was simply voicing an opinion. Way to overreact, Reed. "Okay, I think that's it
for tonight," I told the room. "If anyone has any suggestions for us before we leave for New York on Saturday, stop by my room and
let me know." The meeting broke up with everyone gabbing happily and comparing their lists, swiping a few more treats from the
platters around the room. I suddenly felt too exhausted to move. It was difficult, keeping up appearances and being a leader when my
