Lisette Jewell bristled, crossing her arms and staring Tanner Hawthorne down. "Come on, Mr. Hawthorne, that''s a little much, don''t you think? We barely know each other. How can you just decide I''m not as good as Calliope?"


    She huffed. "You just met Calliope first, so you assume she''s more impressive or something. If you actually got to know me, you''d see things differently."


    Lisette''s expression was dead serious-she really thought a guy like Tanner should be into a girl like her.


    Across the room, Calliope noticed Lisette sidling up to Tanner. She happened to be standing behind Monty Jewell and Zelda, and overheard their not-so-subtle conversation.


    Zelda was eyeing Tanner and whispering, "He''s a catch. Lisette and him actually look pretty good together."


    Monty nodded, grinning. "If Lisette manages to reel him in, we won''t have to worry about thepany for a while."<fn7ab6> Latest content published on find?novel</fn7ab6>


    Calliope nearly choked on her drink. She finally got it-they were basically pushing Lisette to go flirt with Tanner. Were they out of their minds?


    She''d seen plenty of desperate moves before, but this was something else. Just in reckless.


    "You really shouldn''t send Lisette after Tanner," Calliope blurted out, unable to help herself. "She''s gonna crash and burn."


    Monty and Zelda both jumped and spun around, surprised to see Calliope standing there, eyebrows drawn together in annoyance.


    "What''s that supposed to mean?" Zelda snapped. "If you don''t want to help, fine, but do you really have to rub it in?"


    Calliope shrugged. "I''m just telling the truth. Lisette''s barking up the wrong tree. If you think Tanner, or anyone in this room is easy to win over, you''re dreaming."


    She nced at Lisette, then back at Monty and Zelda. "There are plenty of girls here with way better prospects. Sorry, but Lisette doesn''t exactly have much to offer. No one''s going to pick her out of all these trust fund kids. Everyone here cares about background-family, money, connections. Even if someone liked her, they''d still do their homework."  s


    She raised an eyebrow at Monty. "You know that, right?"


    Monty fidgeted. Of course he knew. In their world, social status was everything Marriages were basically business deals. Sometimes people did go off-script, but that was rare. He''d just been hoping Lisette might get lucky with someone like Tanner.  s


    But after what Calliope said, he felt a lot less confident.


    "You don''t know what you''re talking about!" Zelda shot back, her voice tense "Lisette is way better than you She''s sweet everyone likes her. Of course someone will fall for her! Calliope, not everyone is as unlikable as you!"  s


    Calliope just sighed. She couldn''t even be bothered to argue. Instead, she gave a little smirk. "Sure, Lisette''s the best. I''m sure she''ll sweep Tanner right off his feet."


    Zelda red at her, clearly irritated by the sarcasm.


    Calliope bit back augh and nced back at Lisette, who was still trying to make her case to Tanner.