Page 79 of Broken Princess

Anthony laughs again. "Man, you really are going crazy cooped up in this place, aren't you?"

"You have no idea," I mutter.

"Well, let's see... The dance went well, except that Buffy Lawton smacked Samantha Demillo in the face and accused her of sneaking around with her boyfriend," he begins.

"You can't be serious," I say, my jaw on the floor.

"Then Samantha threw a mojito at her and their friends got involved, and it took six professors just to haul them off each other," he continues.

"See!" I cry, throwing my hands up. "I'm gone for one semester and I miss all the good stuff."

Anthony just cackles. "Don't worry, there's footage all over the Internet. There's even a remix."

"I'm sure," I say, rolling my eyes. "What else?"

"Well, I'm not bombing my classes, so that's always good news," he muses. "My father is bugging me about taking on more responsibility over break, but I already have a list of excuses lined up to get me out of it. I'm going to need you to help me practice, by the way."

"Naturally," I say, smiling. "So... any guys I should know about?"

I want to think he'd tell me any major developments like that, but he’s been busy as of late and I don't want to pry, either. When I feel the sudden shift in his energy, I know something is up.

"Anthony?" I ask, tilting my head. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing, it's just..."

"What?" I press.

He stares at me for a few moments, and I can see the war going on behind his eyes. For the first time, I also see something in them that I recognize easily enough. Guilt.

"Anthony," I murmur. "Whatever it is, you know you can tell me anything." I pause. "I hope you know that."

"I do," he says quickly. "But I..."

He trails off, and I start to get worried because Anthony is not the type to mince his words.

He finally takes a deep breath and says, "I'm an idiot."

I blink. "What are you talking about?"

"There is a guy... thewrongguy for, like, a myriad of reasons," he mumbles. "And I didn't mean to. I couldn't stand him at first, and I don't know when it happened, but I started to fall for him. And by the time I realized what a dumb, stupid, idiotic thing that was to do, it was too late. I know you're going to hate me when I tell you this, but I promise it's not any more than I already hate myself."

I watch him worriedly. It's clear this has been weighing on him for a while, and I begin to wonder if that's the real reason he has been so distant lately. "I could never hate you. Certainly not for developing feelings for Stefan."

His head shoots up and his expression goes blank. "What? How did you—?"

For once, it's my turn to give him the knowing smirk he's given me on so many occasions. "You're as bad as I am about hiding your feelings, apparently. When it comes to the ‘wrong guy,’ at least."

"Great," he mutters, looking away as he rakes his hand awkwardly through his hair. "And here I thought my idiocy was my own dirty little secret."

"You're not an idiot," I insist. "And for what it's worth, I really don't think Stefan is the wrong guy."

He stares blankly at me. "You're joking, right? I’m pretty sure he’s straight, for one thing, and for another, he's a Romero, and—"

"Anthony, breathe," I interrupt. "You're spiraling."

He pauses, taking a deep breath. Then another, until he finally seems like he isn't going to pass out. "Okay. I'm good now."

"Good," I say. "Now, about Stefan... maybe he is straight, or maybe he's not. I don't know. But what I do know is that everything isn't always black and white, and when I saw the two of you together the night of the reception..." I shrug. "Honestly, it seemed like there was something there, and Lorenzo said the same thing."

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