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"I brought the paper," Taylor said, digging into her bag for a rolled-up New York Post. She flipped straight to their favorite section: Page Six.
"Linds, there's a photo from your party!" Taylor crowed, showing them.
HAS THE PERRY HEIR FOUND LOVE? the headline blared, over the picture of Ryan and Mara.
"Oh my God! Don't tell me Ryan Perry has a girlfriend already!" Lindsay cried. "I'm so pissed! And at my party, too!"
Technically, Ryan and his friends were just hanging out at the club. He hadn't even known about the party. But Eliza and Taylor wisely didn't correct their friend's assumption.
"Give me that!" Lindsay said, grabbing the paper from Taylor's manicured fingernails. "Who IS she?"
"She's gorgeous, whoever she is," Taylor observed.
"Lucky bitch!" Lindsay hissed.
"And she's wearing the Chloe top I wanted last season, but they sold out!"
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"Why does everyone have to be so much cuter than me?" Lindsay complained. "It's so not fair. She's like a total babe and, of course, she gets, like, the hottest guy."
"Mara Waters ... Waters ... I wonder if that's Tobin Easley's cousin? You know, I think I've seen her around somewhere."
Eliza said nothing, feeling a tiny twinge of realization at how superficial this all was. If only these girls knew Mara was an au pair, they would never talk about her like this. She wouldn't even register on their radar. As she examined the picture, Eliza also felt a rush of pride. Mara did look awesome, and it was all because of her ... and Jacqui, of course, but Eliza liked taking most of the credit.
"I dunno, guys. I mean, I think she's a little high waisted, don't you think? Her legs are, like, up to her chin!" Eliza said
. As if that could be in any conceivable way a bad thing.
"Yeah, you're right," Lindsay agreed all too eagerly.
Soon the three are dissecting all of Mara's "flaws." Her eyes were too big. Her nose was way too small. Her smile, too wide. She was practically Quasimodo when they were through with the virtual dissection.
"And I don't think she's Tobin's cousin. I heard she's working for the Perrys," Eliza said, whispering the scandalous news. "She's practically the help!"
"Oooh ..." Lindsay and Taylor were breathless with excitement. This was called hitting pay dirt.
"I heard it from Sugar and Poppy, and they would know,"
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Eliza said. Sure, she was selling Mara out--but she also wanted to know what her friends thought of the whole deal.
"Ryan Perry's dating--the maid?" Taylor asked, wide-eyed.
"No, she's, like, the au pair or something," Eliza explained, backtracking.
"Au pair!" Lindsay snorted. "Is that what they're calling them now? Isn't that just a euphemism for foreign sex slave?"
Eliza wanted to tell them that only one of them was foreign and that most of their duties were 100 percent real and dealt with four children under the age of twelve, but she bit her tongue.
"Ryan's dating the housekeeper! That's hilarious!" Taylor cackled loudly.
"So he's, like, slumming," Lindsay said smugly. "We should inform the Post! Tell Page Six we have a bigger scoop!"
Eliza had a difficult time keeping the smile plastered to her face.
After the girls were done, they threw down the newspaper. "So, like, what's up with boarding school? Are you staying there next year, too?" Lindsay asked.
