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"What’s that?" Naoami?"

Hanna unfolded the airplane and turned it over

Hi again, Hanna! I want you to read Naomi and Riley the sentences below just as they’re written No cheating! And if you don’t, everyone will know the truth about you-knohat That includes Daddy --A

Hanna stared at the paragraph beloritten in rounded, unfa to pound What A had written would ruin her flawless rep forever:

I tried to get in Sean’s pants at Noel’s party, but he dumped me instead And, oh yeah, I make myself throw up at least three tiet a luuuuve letter?" Riley cooed "Is it frolanced at Naoe heels They both stared at her like wolves, as if they could smell her weakness "Did you see who put this here?" she asked, but they looked at her blankly and shrugged

Next she looked around the soccer bleachers, at every clu’s bus driver in the parking lot, leaning against the back of the bus s this to her had to be here, right? They would have to know Riley and Nao near her

She looked at the note again She couldn’t say this to theht about the final time her dad asked her about Jenna’s accident He’d sat down on her bed and spent a long ti at the knitted socktopus Aria had made for her "Hanna," he finally said "I’ with fireworks the night that girl was blinded"

"I…I didn’t touch the fireworks," Hanna whispered It wasn’t a lie

Down on the soccer field, two Lansing boys were giving each other high fives Somewhere under the bleachers, someone lit up a joint; its skunky, mossy smell wafted into Hanna’s nostrils She cru, walked over to Naomi and Riley They looked up at her, be open Her breath, Hanna noticed, stunk like soet in seans pants at noels party but he dumped me instead," Hanna blurted out She took a deep breath The part wasn’t even exactly true, but whatever "And-I make myself barf three times a day"

The words caible jumble, and Hanna turned swiftly around "What did she say?" she heard Riley whisper, but she certainly wasn’t going to turn around and make herself clearer

She sto around so a precarious tray of Cokes and popcorn She looked for so Not a single person was giggling or whispering Everyone was just watching the Rosewood Day soccer boys advance toward Lansing’s goal

But A had to be here A had to be watching

22

YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH

Friday evening, Aria shut off the radio in her bedrooone on and on about Foxy He made it sound as if Foxy were a shuttle launch or a presidential inauguration, not just some silly benefit

She listened to the sounds of her parents walking around the kitchen There wasn’t the usual cacophony of noise--NPR on the radio, CNN or PBS on the kitchen TV, or a classical or experi on the kitchen stereo All Aria heard were pots and pans clanging Then a crash "Sorry," Ella said curtly "It’s fine," Byron answered

Aria turned back to her laptop, feeling more and more crazed by the second Since her Meredith-stalk had been cut short, she was now researching her online Once you started Web-stalking someone, it was hard to stop Aria had Meredith’s last naa schedule she found online, so she searched Google for Meredith’s phone nuht maybe she’d try to call to tell her, kindly, to stay away from Byron But then she found her address and wanted to see how far away Meredith lived, so she ot nuts She looked at a hypertext paper Meredith had done in her freshe on William Carlos Williams She hacked into Hollis’s student portal to see Meredith’s grades Meredith was on Friendster, Facebook, and MySpace Her favorite movies were Donnie Darko; Paris, Texas; and The Princess Bride, and her interests were quirky things like snow globes, tai chi, and nets

In a parallel universe, Aria and Meredith could have been friends It made it even harder to do what A asked in Aria’s last text o away

It felt like A’s threat was burning a hole in her Treo, and whenever she thought about seeing not only Meredith but Spencer in the yoga studio thatthere? Did Spencer know sorade, Aria had told Ali about seeing Toby at her dra out at Spencer’s pool "He doesn’t know anything, Aria," Ali had answered, cal more sunscreen "Chill out"

"But how can you be sure?" Aria had protested "What about that person I saw outside the tree house that night? Maybe they told Toby! Maybe it was Toby!"

Spencer frowned, then glanced at Alison "Ali, maybe you should just--"

Ali cleared her throat loudly "Spence," she said, sort of as a warning

Aria looked back and forth at them, confused Then she blurted out the question she’d wanted to ask for a while: "What were you guys whispering about the night of her accident? When I woke up and you were in the bathroo"

"Ali, ere," Spencer hissed

Ali gave her another sharp look, then turned back to Aria "Look, eren’t talking about Toby Besides"--she gave Aria a little sht now?"

Aria bristled Just days before, Aria and Ali had caught her father with Meredith

Spencer tugged Ali’s arm "Ali, I really think you should tell--"

Ali held up her hand "Spence, I swear to God"

"You swear to God what?" Spencer shrieked "You think this is easy?"

After Aria saw Spencer at the yoga studio thisher down in school and talking to her Spencer and Ali had covered soled in A But…she felt afraid She thought she’d known her old friends inside and out But now that she knew they all had dark secrets they didn’t want to share…maybe she’d never really known the her out of the memory Startled, she dropped it into a pile of dirty T-shirts she’d been rabbed it