Fall For You [The Jane Austen Academy Series #1] Read Online Free

back to the stage.
    Lizzie felt a drop in the pit of her stomach at the dismissive look, the kind she got so easily from her parents. Then it sparked into outrage. Who did he think he was, coming into her school and sitting in her auditorium seat and dismissing her?
    “That’s Dante Braxton,” said a voice behind her.
    Lizzie whirled—ugh, Emma. Chic, blond, Manhattanite Emma, who thought she knew everything about everyone and was better than everyone else because she was not only from Manhattan, she was from the Upper East Side—you know, the side that mattered.
    Emma wore a pencil skirt and tottered along on chunky spiked heels and her hoop earrings were so large they brushed her shoulders—completely impractical for the school assembly. It was like Emma couldn’t accept she wasn’t in Manhattan any longer.
    “I know who he is,” Lizzie lied, although she recognized the name now that Emma had said it. Dante was one of the names in the envelope Bergie had handed her—people she was supposed to interview later today. One of Bergie’s pet projects. Which meant he came from money. Lots of money. Bergie wouldn’t waste precious Gazette space unless it meant bolstering school donations. That probably explained why he thought he was above everyone.
    Ellie showed up behind Emma, with a cool look at Lizzie. Was Ellie mad at her? Did she know Lizzie had maybe lied about not being able to get the rooms changed? Technically, Lizzie hadn’t lied. Maybe she had saved them all a bunch of grief. Now at least they had a chance at transferring next semester. Who knew whether she’d have been successful if they’d pushed the issue with Bergie?
    But you didn’t push the issue, her conscience said. You took the managing editor position and ran with it. Even Anne had more nerve than you.
    “Hey,” Ellie said finally, nodding at her.
    “Isn’t this so fun?” Emma said, wrapping her arm around Ellie’s elbow. “I thought you guys would be roommates, but it’s so much more fun to mix things up a bit, don’t you think?”
    Lizzie gave a noncommittal mutter and marched past Dante, who didn’t even look up so she could grace him with a scowl, and headed to the next cluster of empty seats. As she sat down and Ellie sat next to her, she realized that Emma had followed and plopped down right next to Ellie. She hoped this was just first-day politeness and not a sign of things to come. She wasn’t sure she could handle a whole year of Emma in their crew of two.
    “—even though Headmistress Berg is wearing that dress like it’s high fashion, it’s so two seasons ago,” Emma was saying. “I remember seeing it come down the runway. And she’s too statuesque to pull off those shoulders and too pale to do orange.”
    Lizzie couldn’t remember the last time she’d heard anything so pointlessly ridiculous.
    She rolled her eyes at Ellie, but instead of rolling her eyes back, Ellie just squirmed in her seat, looked down, and studied her fingernails.
    “Is everything okay?” Lizzie bent her head to ask.
    “Yeah, just tired,” Ellie said.
    “Yeah, figures. Emma is exhausting,” Lizzie agreed, relieved Ellie wasn’t mad at her.
    “She’s okay.”
    Lizzie’s eyebrows shot up, but before she could retort, Ellie was speaking again.
    “How’s Anne?”
    Lizzie began to make a witty remark about how Anne had pulled off and ironed the bedsheets, but then she remembered the look on Anne’s face when she’d seen her mom’s cottage with Bergie’s name on it, and how she’d held herself like steel at a time when Lizzie would have freaked out. “Not bad. I’ll live.”
    Ellie’s blue eyes flew open in surprise.
    “What?” Lizzie said defensively. “Let’s just say I have bigger problems than Anne this year.” She looked up at Bergie, who was performing the mic check.
    Lizzie glanced down the aisle of seats to her right and to her left. She hated to admit that having boys around changed everything. Changed the way her