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"Melissa!" Mrs Hastings cried

And then, everything went black

29

THERE’S A FULL MOON AT THE HOLLIS PLANETARIUM

Hanna staggered to the planetariu, but it was kind of hard to walk in the court dress Or sit down Or, well, breathe

Okay, so the whole thing was too da and then even longer to zip up the back She had even considered borrowing herthe dress off and going through the zipper torture again The process had taken so long, in fact, she’d hardly had ti here, like touch up her makeup, tally the calories she’d eaten today, or import her old phone numbers into her new BlackBerry

Now the dress fabric see so tightly to her hips that she had no idea how she would pull it up to pee Every ti There were certain spots, too, like around the belly, the side of her boobs, and across her butt, that…bulged

She had eaten a lot of Cheez-Its over the past few days…and she’d tried really hard not to throw any of theht that fast? What if so with her irls who gained weight by si at food?

But she had to wear this dress Maybe the fabric would loosen the more she wore it, like leather The party would probably be dark, too, so no one would notice Hanna tottered up the planetariuuin

She heard the pu and steeled herself She hadn’t felt this nervous about a party since Ali’s seventh-grade Halloween bash, when she’d still felt like she was teetering on the edge of dorkdoeeky friends Chassey Bledsoe and Phi Templeton had shown up as three Hobbits fros Ali had taken one look at them and turned them away "You look like you’re covered in fleas," she’d said, laughing in their faces

The day after Ali’s party, when Hanna had gone with her rocery store, she’d seen Mona and her dad in the checkout line There, on the lapel of Mona’s denim jacket, was the crystal-studded jack-o’-lantern pin that had been in Ali’s party gift bag Mona earing it proudly, as if she belonged

Hanna felt a twinge of guilt about ditching Lucas--he hadn’t e-mailed her back after she cancelled on hiiven her in T-Mobile and then sent her the dress Best friends always came first, especially best friends like Mona

She carefully pushed through the large metal front door Immediately, the music washed over her like a wave She saw bluish ice sculptures in theplanets hung fro, and an enorer-than-life Noel Kahn gazed through a telescope on the Jumbotron

"Oh my God," Hanna heard behind her She turned around Nao emerald sheaths and carried tiny satin clutches Riley s Hanna the once-over Naouffaw Hanna would have nervously pulled in her sto it for her

"Nice dress, Hanna," Riley said sreen dress, she looked like an inverted carrot

"Yeah, it looks really good on you," Naohter and strode away She skirted around a black-suited waitress carrying a tray of mini crab cakes and tried not to look at theain a pound Then she watched as the ied Nicole Hudson and Kelly Has, appeared on the screen They also wore slinky green sheaths and carried the sas "Happy birthday, Mona, fro kisses

Hanna frowned Party court? No The court dress wasn’t green--it was cha kids parted A beautiful blond girl strode right up to Hanna It was Mona She wore the exact saown as Hanna--the one they’d both been fitted for at Saks Except hers didn’t pull across the stomach or the ass The zipper didn’t look puckered and strained, and there were no bulges Instead, it accentuated Mona’s thin waist and showed off her long, lithe legs

Mona’s eyes boggled "What are you doing here?" She looked Hanna up and down, her et that dress?"

"You sent it to me," Hanna answered

Mona stared at her like she was crazy She pointed at Riley "That’s the court dress I changed it I wanted to be the only one wearing chane--not all of us" She looked Hanna up and down "And certainly not any whales"

Everyone tittered, even the waitresses and the bartender Hanna stepped back, confused The roos Mona wrinkled her nose and Hanna suddenly felt like a drawstring had pulled her throat closed It allsense

Of course Mona hadn’t sent the dress A had

"Please leave" Mona crossed her ares "I disinvited you, re to explain, but she stepped down unsteadily on her gold Jio out froround Worse, Hanna heard a loud, undeniable riiiiiiiip Suddenly, her butt felt a lot less constricted As she twisted around to assess the daave way, too The whole side of the dress burst open fro the thin, lacy straps of her Eberjey bra and thong