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"Seriously," James answered "You think I could take her to Foxy?"

Aria felt like soirlfriend? Friday night, he’d said he hadn’t dated anybody in a long ti his bachelorish frozen dinners for one, his eight thousand books but one drinking glass, and his sad, dead spider plants It didn’t look like he had a girlfriend

Ja, but she doubted it Aria bubbled with anger Years ago, she ht only typical Rosewood boys were players, but she’d learned a lot about boys in Iceland Soirl would look at Ezra--sensitive, ru Ezra--and distrust him He reminded Aria of someone Her father

Aria suddenly felt sick She stood up, grabbed the hall pass fro, and strode out the door

"Aria?" Ezra called, sounding concerned

She didn’t stop In the girls’ room, she rushed to the sink, dispensed pink soap into her hands, and scrubbed the spot on her neck Ezra had touched She alking back to class when her cell phone chi and pressed read

Naughty, naughty Aria! You should know better than to go after a teacher, anyway It’s girls like you who break up perfectly happy families --A

Aria froze She was in the middle of the empty front hallway When she heard a noise, she whirled around She was facing the glass trophy case, which had been transformed into an Alison DiLaurentis temple Inside were various candids from Rosewood Day classes--teachers always took tons of pictures throughout the year, and the school typically presented theap-toothed kindergartner; there she was dressed up as a pilgrirade play There was even some of her school-work, like an Under the Sea diorarade and an illustration of the circulatory systeht Aria’s eye Solass Aria’s eyes widened

PS Wondering who I am, aren’t you? I’m closer than you think --A

14

EMILY’S PERFECTLY FINE WITH TAKING ALI’S SLOPPY SECONDS

"Say butterfly!" crowed Scott Chin, Rosewood Day’s yearbook photographer It was Thursday afternoon, and the swim team was in the natatorium for team photos before the Tate , she didn’t even think about having her picture taken in a bathing suit

She posed with her hands on the starting block and tried to s his pink lips A lot of kids at school speculated about whether Scott was gay Scott never outwardly ad to dispel the rumors, either

As E, she noticed Tate Prep’s tea to their bleachers Toby was in thea blue Cha his shoulders back and forth to war about Toby ever since he rescued her yesterday She couldn’t i picked her up like that--he’d have worried that lifting her ht pull his shoulderabout Toby had triggered sootten

It was one of the last tiet that day--clear blue sky, all the flowers had bloomed, there were bees everywhere Ali’s tree house sarette smoke--Ali had pilfered a Parliarabbed Emily’s hands "You can’t tell the others this," she said "I’ve started secretly seeing this older guy, and it’s a-"

Euy she liked, a little piece of her heart cracked off

"He’s so hot," Ali went on "I alo sort of far with him"

"What do youin her life "Who is he?"

"I can’t tell" Ali suys would freak"

And then, because Eer, she leaned forward and kissed Ali There was a singular, wonderful hed E…and then they went to their separate houses to have dinner