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"Wow," Aria said Part of her wanted to gloat, but part of her just felt tired "Soyou didn’t sleep with her?" She couldn’t help but ask It was kind of inconceivable to think Noel had resisted gorgeous Klaudia

Noel shook his head "I’m not into her like that, Aria I like soh her She didn’t dare look at hiive too ainst the doorja I can understand if you don’t want to get back together, butI miss you Maybe we could at least be friends? Iclasses?"

Aria raised her head "You liked those cooking classes?"

"They’re kind of girly, but they’re fun" Noel smiled shyly "And anye need to have our Iron Chef battle at the end of the seey soap Noel always used tickled Aria’s nose What was he asking for: a coirlfriend again? Maybe it was too late to get back together Maybe they really didn’t have enough in common Aria would never be a Typical Rosewood, after all It wasn’t even worth trying for

Sheto answer, because Noel breathed in sharply "You’re not back with that teacher dude again, are you? When I saw you guys together last night"

"No," Aria said quickly "He’s" She squeezed her eyes shut "Actually, he’s into Klaudia"

This suddenly struck her as ridiculous She leaned over and laughed long and hard, tears streahed aardly, not really getting the joke After aon the porch in baggy jeans and an oversized T-shirt and rubber shower shoes over white gym socks, a look Aria had always hated So Noel would never write a novel So he’d never roll his eyes at the irony of the suburbs or whine about how everything here was so contrived and pretentious But then she thought about how, on Christmas Day, Noel had appeared at Aria’s doorstep in a Santa Claus outfit with a bag of presents for her, all because she’d told him that her family never "did" Santa when she was little And hohen Aria dragged Noel to theat the Philadelphia Art Museuh the roo a book about Picasso’s Blue Period at the gift shop afterward because he thought it was trippy And heclass at Hollis, knives poised over green bell peppers, Noel had pointed out that they looked just like lumpy butts The other students,the class to meet woh harder

She stepped toward Noel Her heart pounded as he leaned down, his breath sweet and warm on her face They’d only been broken up for teeks, but the moment their lips touched it felt like their very first kiss Fireworks went off in Aria’s chest Her lips tingled Noel pulled her in and squeezed her so hard she thought sheoutside, and Aria was pretty sure her mouth tasted like coffee, and Noel’s shower shoes were probably caked in mold The moment wasn’t perfect, but it didn’t ht Maybe even the right that Ella had talked about in the kitchen just o And for Aria, that was as perfect as perfect could be

Chapter 36

THE REAL SPENCER F

"Sorry it s the lid of her family’s backyard hot tub, which had been closed up since last fall She fiddled with the tie on her Burberry string bikini

"I’ one of her practice swimsuits, the shoulder straps stretched and the Speedo e as it’s war off her T-shirt to reveal a new Missoni bikini And Aria shrugged, unzipping her hoodie, showing off a polka-dotted maillot that looked like it could have come from a 1950s time capsule

Steam rose froly Percival, Spencer’s old yellow rubber duck, bobbed in the water, left there fro Percival in here was a ritual of hers, back from when she was little and her parents only let her climb in the tub for a few minutes at a ti it was just as bad as a security blanket, but Spencer loved seeing the duck’s happy s in the bubbles

One by one, the girls stepped into the warm bath Spencer had invited them over to rehash what had happened with Kelsey, but as soon as she saw Mr Pennythistle--she should really start calling hi with the lid to the tub earlier today she thought they et some relaxation out of the visit, too

"This feels awesoreed Her pale cheeks and forehead were already red fro to get in a hot tub together?" Hanna asked "At the Poconos?"

Everyone nodded, staring into the stea the girls alone on the porch They’d all hugged and said how happy they were to be friends again

"I re so happy," Eed so fast," Hanna said, her voice tight

Spencer arched her neck up and looked for patterns in the gray clouds That night at the Poconos felt like it was both yesterday and a et over it, or would it be so that haunted them for the rest of their lives?

"I found out what rehab hospital Kelsey’s in," she said after a moment "The Preserve"