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"We’re almost positive, yes"

"So, basically, Ali has tried to kill you andyou for shit that she did We need to find this bitch Now"

Hanna glanced worriedly around the yard "Spencer and Emily seem to think it’s a bad idea The last time we looked for Ali, Noel ended up in the hospital"

Mike kicked at loose gravel in the flower bed "So we’re just supposed to sit around?"

Hanna peeked through the trees, hating how secluded her e, and they’d never know "I’et any closer to where they are or who her helper is, soet hurt Maybe you Maybe me"

Mike’s icy blue eyes narrowed "I proet you She’ll have to get through uard outside your bedroom if I have to Stay by your side at every class I’ll even co rooave hi room at Otter"

"Of course I would" Mike leaned in and gave Hanna a gentle kiss on the nose

Hanna tilted her head up and kissed his lips So broke inside her Salty tears flooded down her cheeks "I’ured it out," she whispered in his ear

"I’ and deep Mike moved his hands up and down her back She took small steps toward the side door, and in seconds, they were inside and lying on herHanna wanted to think about was the feel of Mike’s lips on hers, the war to hi her shirt over her head

Goose bumps rose in her skin Mike pulled off his shirt, too, revealing his strong chest and toned-from-lacrosse abs He hesitated above her Hanna knew, suddenly, as going to happen next It was so they’d danced around, teased each other about, plotted for weeksbut sootten around to They would be each other’s firsts, after all, and they both seemed to realize how special the moment needed to be But maybe here, in this eht time

Hanna undid the button of her jeans Mike’s eyes slid down to watch "Is this okay?" he whispered, his voice stretched taut

"Yes," Hanna said, a wave crashing inside her She grabbed Mike hard and pulled him closer than she ever had before

4

A MISSING GIRL

The moment E up her assignan

"Miss Fields! It’s Alyssa Gaden from the Philadelphia Sentinel! Do you have a moment?"

"Emily! Over here!"

Flashbulbs popped Reporters shoved microphones at her face Emily tried to scurry past them, but they followed her

"Is it true you were the ones who found Noel Kahn in the storage shed behind the school?" the Sentinel woman shouted

"Can you tell us what led you there?" a irls have a suicide pact?" another voice bleated "Is that why you went out on that lifeboat?"

Emily winced After the cruise ship had been bombed, everyone had evacuated on lifeboats Emily and her friends had taken their own boat and sailed away froet it in Aria’s hands, and the girls didn’t want to be connected to it But the lifeboat punctured out at sea, trapping them A crew froun that they’d sailed out alone to die

So a barricade between Emily and the reporters "No comment, no comment, no comment"

It was Principal Appleton He draped an arm around E lot "I’ently

"Thanks," Eratefully

Appleton left E in there Eon For the past few years, she and her friends had been the target of media scrutiny--they even had a movie made about them called Pretty Little Killer She was so, so, so sick of it

If those crows on the telephone pole lift off in the next ten seconds, everything will be fine, E at the wires by the trees The birds didn’t ainst the gray sky