As the sole heir to the largest private fortune on the planet, Roman had been spoiled beyond comparison in terms of material means, but his parents were a bit lacking in emotional affection. As a result, Roman had never really known what love was or how people in love were supposed to act or, let's face it, that there were people truly in love in the first place. The walls he'd built up against the opposite sex were layers thick, and whoever wanted to break them down needed to be tough.
Adriana ran through the requirements of the perfect girl in her mind. Physically speaking, she needed to be attractive enough to at least capture Roman's temporary interest, until he got to know her better. Physically, she knew his type—he tended to prefer exotic brunettes over all-American blondes. That wasn't a problem. What the town's female population lacked in sincerity, they more than made up for in looks.
Personality-wise, Perfect Girl needed to be able to speak her mind but at the same time not be too aggressive; intelligent; able to carry on a real conversation, and possess a lack of superficiality or pretense.
Now, that ruled out a lot of girls in Valesca.
Well, I'll just have to focus on the easy part first, Adriana decided, changing direction mid-stride and heading towards the administration wing of the school instead of the DC.
The student affairs office was pretty quiet when she arrived, which was a good thing. Unlike her brother and his friends, she didn't particularly revel in flaunting her power in front of others. That was the good thing about boarding school; she didn't have to worry about others treating her differently just because she was a Perry.
Then again, there were definite perks to the title, especially when she needed a favor. Like now.
"Hi!" the office assistant simpered, immediately standing up when she saw who just came in.
"Hi." Adriana was careful to keep her voice neutral. She glanced at the assistant's name tag: Teri.
"What can I do for you today?" Teri asked eagerly.
"I need a draft of this year's yearbook," Adriana said authoritatively. Zack had filled her in on how yearbooks worked here. The students' pictures were taken over the summer by a professional photographer hired either personally or by the school, to eliminate any potential of bad lighting and poor angles. It also gave students a chance to rally their team of professional hairdressers, makeup artists, stylists, aestheticians, and plastic surgeons. All the pictures were then sent to the school two weeks before classes started so that year’s yearbook editor could put together a mock-up and hit the ground running on the first day of school. The draft was supposed to be top-secret and seen only by yearbook committee members.
Luckily, Adriana had studied up on every aspect of her new school, and she knew the draft was locked in the storage room of the student affairs office.
Teri blinked, not looking quite as eager now. "Oh, well…" She swallowed hard, obviously nervous. "But only the Director of Student Affairs has the key to the storage room," she admitted meekly.
Adriana didn't even blink. If there was one thing she learned from being around the Scions so much, it was how to get what she wanted in the least amount of time. "Well, then, I'll just have a chat with her," she declared, trying not to sound too imperious. She didn't enjoy being so commanding most of the time but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.
Without waiting for a reply, she stepped around the front desk and made her way to the back, where the DSA's office was located, leaving a speechless Teri behind. Thank god Zack and Parker had given her an all-access tour a few days ago.
DR. WENDY WOLLENSKY, DIRECTOR OF STUDENT AFFAIRS, the bronze plaque mounted on the door read. Adriana gave one quick knock before twisting the knob and stepping inside.
Dr. Wollensky looked up, obviously startled. With her short silver hair and sleek black Prada suit, she looked astonishingly like Meryl Streep in Devil Wears Prada.
"Can I help you?" she asked, somewhat rudely. She obviously didn't appreciate Adriana just barging in like this.
Wow, she even has the same British accent, Adriana thought fleetingly, before she snapped back to the task at hand and gave Dr. Wollensky a polite but warning smile. "Of course," she said smoothly. "I would like the draft of this year's yearbook."
Now Dr. Wollensky looked at her like she was crazy. "A draft of this year's yearbook?" She let out a short laugh. "That's not going to happen."
"I think it will," Adriana countered, her voice saccharine-sweet.
The administrator narrowed her eyes. "Now listen here, young lady, I don't know who you think you are, barging into my office like this in the first place, and now you want me to hand over a confidential document? That's not going to happen on my watch."