Inheritance by Malinda Lo Page B

letting the curtains fall shut, and sat down in the armchair. The governor’s press conference was about to start, but she couldn’t focus on the television. All she could think about was the man in the car across the street. The government was clearly still watching her, and it wasn’t even trying to hide it anymore.

CHAPTER 6
    On Monday morning, Agent Forrestal was waiting right inside Kennedy High School’s front doors with the Defense Department’s Jeff Highsmith.
    “Good morning, Miss Holloway,” Highsmith said, smiling.
    Reese hated when people called her “miss.” She wondered when the title had lost its aura of respect; now all it did was tell her she was being patronized. “Hey, Jeff,” she said. His smile disappeared.
    Across the lobby, Reese saw Diana Warner waiting with David and his family. Reese headed across the mosaic-tiled floor to meet them, her parents following. The school smelled of industrial floor cleaner, along with that indefinable something extra—the lingering trace of thousands of students, their perfumes anddeodorants and the faintly musty scent of books—that combined to create a scent that Reese would always recognize as Kennedy High. David saw her coming and stepped away from his parents to greet her with a hug.
    “Hey,” he said.
    “Hi.” There was no time to linger, because as soon as they had greeted each other’s parents, Diana took them to a classroom that had been taken over by the
Sophia Curtis Show
’s hair and makeup team.
    As the makeup artist poked at Reese’s eyes with wands and brushes, repeatedly asking her to stay still, Diana went over the plans with Reese, David, and their parents. The main interview would be shot in Mr. Murray’s biology classroom, and then Sophia wanted Reese and David to give her a tour of the school on camera. Reese and David were to be interviewed first, and after their portion was finished, Sophia would sit down with their parents.
    “What about Highsmith?” Reese heard her mom ask.
    “He’ll be observing,” Diana said.
    The makeup artist finished touching up Reese’s lips and stood back. “You’re all set,” she said, and handed Reese a mirror.
    Reese was taken aback by her own reflection. She wore makeup to debate tournaments, but she had no idea what the makeup artist had done to make her eyes look so big. They looked more greenish than usual, too, and her lips were shiny with some kind of peach-colored gloss.
    “You look great,” her mom said from the makeup chair beside her.
    “Thanks,” Reese said. She glanced up and saw David standing nearby, flipping through the release forms that the TV producers had given them. His hair and makeup had been finished first, but she hadn’t seen him yet. The stylist had done something to his hair to tame the parts that stuck up in the wrong places, and as he read through the forms, unaware that Reese was watching him, she realized with a jolt that she was about to tell the world—on television—that she was dating him. She had known him for so long, but she didn’t think she had ever seen him the way she did right then. The outfit that Diana Warner had picked did look good on him. The shirt clung to him just enough to show off his broad shoulders, and the jeans fit perfectly. The stylists had put some kind of pomade into his hair that made it seem blacker and sharper than before, emphasizing the clean line of his jaw and the angle of his eyebrows.
    He looked up and caught her eye, and she realized she had been openly staring at him. Her entire body heated up and she hoped the makeup she was wearing hid the redness on her cheeks. He grinned and came over to her, leaning down to whisper, “You look amazing.”
    She was short of breath. “Thanks.”
    “David, Reese, let me introduce you to Sophia Curtis,” said Diana.
    Reese scrambled to her feet. The reporter was standing nearby with a small but friendly smile on her face. “Hello,” she said, extending her hand to Reese