Page 12 (1/2)

Aria glanced over at the girl in the passenger seat Courtney had her head down and was fidgeting with a beaded bracelet on her right wrist With her hair over her face and her bottoile and weaker than Ali ever had Much more innocent, too

"A lot of parents are messed up," Aria said softly

A fen, dead leaves swirled past the car Courtney pressed her lips together, her eyes narrowed For aShe pulled into the DiLaurentises’ driveway, and Courtney quickly opened the car door "Thanks again for the ride"

Aria watched as Courtney ran across the yard and disappeared into the house She rehts swar She certainly hadn’t expected that conversation

She was about to shift into drive when the hair on the back of her neck stood on end It felt like so at her Aria swiveled around and peered into a dark knot of trees across the street Sure enough, soure disappeared into the woods fast, but not before Aria caught a quick glimpse of a head of pale blond hair, cut bluntly at the chin She gasped

It was Melissa Hastings

12

DREAMS REALLY DO COME TRUE

Late Wednesday afternoon, E first to the right, then to the left Should she have used a curling iron on her stick-straight, reddish-blond hair? Did her sister Carolyn’s pink lip gloss look stupid? She pulled off the striped T-shirt she earing, threw it on the floor, and slid on a pink wool-cash, too She checked the digital clock on the nightstand again Courtney would be here anythis Maybe Courtney hadn’t even been flirting with her in gym class She had been in unconventional schools her whole life--she ht not be well-versed in the fine art of flirtation and other social cues

The doorbell rang, and E at her wide-eyed expression in thedown the stairs and scah the hall to the door No one else was home--her mother had taken Carolyn to a doctor’s appoint, and her dad was still at work She and Courtney would have the house to themselves

Courtney stood on the steps, her cheeks pink and her blue eyes sparkling "Hey!"

"Hi!" Emily unintentionally backed away just as Courtney ca, too, just when Courtney was self-consciously stepping aside

Eled "Come in," she said Courtney shuffled into the foyer and looked around, taking in the hutch of Huht piano in the living roo plants that Mrs Fields had brought indoors for the winter

"Should we go to your room?"

"Sure"

Courtney bounded up the stairs, turned right at the landing, and stopped at the door to the bedrooawked "H-how did you knohere ave her a crazy look "Because it says so on your door" She pointed at the wooden sign that said EMILY AND CAROLYN in cartoonish letters Emily let out a breath Duh It had been there since she was six

Emily moved some stuffed animals off her twin bed so they could both fit "Wow," Courtney breathed, gesturing at the Ali collage over the bureau It was a series of photographs of Erade In one corner was a shot of the five of the each other’s hair In another corner was a photo of E striped bikinis on Spencer’s pool deck, their arms wrapped around each other’s shoulders There were plenty of pictures of Ali alone, --of Ali sleeping on Aria’s rollaway cot, her face relaxed and beautiful Another of Ali sprinting up the hockey field in her Rosewood Day JV uniforh in the air Propped up next to the collage was the patent leather change purse Maya had returned to her at the press conference Eriotten ho if the shrine eird "That stuff is so old I haven’t gone through it in a long ti, she wanted to add

"No, I like it," Courtney insisted She bounced on the bed "It looks like you guys had a lot of fun"

"Yeah," E off her Frye boots "What’s that?" She pointed at a jar on Ehtstand

Emily cradled the jar between her palms The contents rattled "Dandelion seeds"

"What for?"

Color rushed to Emily’s cheeks "We all tried to smoke them once, to see if we’d hallucinate It’s stupid"

Courtney crossed her arued "Did it work?"

"No, but anted it to work So we put on lyshapes Hanna stared at her fingerprints, like they were really fascinating I giggled at everything Spencer was the only one who didn’t play along She kept saying, ‘I don’t feel anything I don’t feel anything’"

Courtney leaned forward "What did Ali do?"

Eled her knees, suddenly shy "Ali…well, Ali made up this dance"