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Hanna frowned, holding her foamy raft to her chest "I was just curious"

Spencer stepped closer The air beca sounds seemed to evaporate "I wasn’t mad at Ali She was mad at me I have no clue why, okay?" Then she did a 180 and startedover other kids as she went

Hanna curled her toes She hadn’t thought of that day in a while

Lucas cleared his throat "What are the notes about? The cheese thing?"

Hanna stared at the skylights on top of the Rosewood Abbey, the site of Ali’s ht She’d told Lucas about A--why not everything else? It was like that trust exercise she’d done on her sixth-grade caers had stood behind her and Hanna had to fall into her ar her clunk to the grass

"Yeah, the cheese," she said quietly "And…well, you oing around about o and now lives with his beautiful stepdaughter She wears a size two"

"What size do you wear?" Lucas asked, confused

She took a deep breath, ignoring that question "And I got caught stealing, too--some jewelry from Tiffany, and Sean Ackard’s father’s car"

She looked up, surprised to see that Lucas hadn’t jurade, I was a fat, ugly spaz Even though I was friends with Alison, I still felt…like a nothing Mona and I worked hard to change, and I thought we’d both become…Alison It worked for a while, but not any her problems out loud, she sounded like such a loser But it also felt like the tione with Mona to a spa in the country and had a colonic The process was gross, but afterward she felt so free

"I’lad you’re not Alison," Lucas said quietly

Hanna rolled her eyes "Everyone loved Alison"

"I didn’t" Lucas avoided Hanna’s startled look "I know that’s terrible to say, and I feel horrible about what happened to her But she wasn’t very nice to rade, Ali started a rumor that I was a hermaphrodite"

Hanna looked up sharply "Ali didn’t start that rumor"

"She did Actually, I started it for her She asked if I was a herame I said I didn’t know--I had no idea what a herhed and told everyone Later, when I looked it up, it was too late--it was everywhere"

Hanna stared at him in disbelief "Ali wouldn’t do that"

But…Ali would do that It was Ali who had gotten everyone to call Jenna Cavanaugh Snow She’d spread the ru Ali said as gospel

Hanna peered over the edge of the basket That ru a her to send Hanna a heart-shaped box on Candy Day Ali had even gone with Hanna to buy new glitter-pocketed Sevens to mark the occasion She’d said she loved the about that, too

"And you shouldn’t say you’re ugly, Hanna," Lucas said "You’re so, so pretty"

Hanna stuck her chin into the collar of her shirt, feeling surprisingly shy

"You are I can’t stop looking at you" Lucas grimaced

"Yikes I probably way overstepped the friends thing, huh?"

"It’s okay" Heat spread over her skin It ood to hear she was pretty When had someone last told her that? Lucas was as different froet Lucas was tall and lanky, and not in the slightest bit cool, with his Rive Gauche job and ESP club and the sticker on the back of his car that said, SCISSOR SISTERS, which could be a band or a salon or a cult But there was soet to it, like how Hanna and her dad had once plundered the New Jersey beaches with their metal detector They’d searched for hours and had found not one but two dia under the sand

"So listen," Lucas said "I’ether on Saturday and have an anti-party? I have a negative-edge pool It’s heated Or, you know, if that’s not your thing, we could…I don’t know Play poker"

"Poker?" Hanna glanced at him askance "Not strip"

"What do you takeTexas Hold ’Eood"

"All right Sure I’ll come over and play poker" She leaned back in the balloon, realizing she was looking forward to it She gave Lucas a coy sh Now that I’ve ot to fess up about so by joining all your activities?"

Lucas leaned back "Let’s see There’s the fact that I’m a hermaphrodite"