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Are you done sniffing around, Scooby-Doo? Everyone you involve in this will get hurt Including YOU --A
5
A SECRET UNEARTHED
On Tuesday afternoon, Aria walked with her head down to journalisust of hipped bits of freshly irl’s hair band across the Commons For a second, when Aria looked up, she swore she saw Noel’s loping figure crossing the green
But of course it wasn’t At lunch today, she’d overheard a few lacrosse players mention that Noel had been released fro at ho on TV? Not that Aria would admit it to her friends, but she’d checked his Twitter incessantly He hadn’t posted since proht
An ache filled her She missed Noel like crazy And she hated herself for it
She also hated the strange looks people had been giving her all day Like the way Sean Ackard was staring at her right now: sort of half pity, half fear After a pause, Sean rushed up to her "Here, Aria," he said, pressing so into her hands
Aria stared down at it Rosewood Episcopal Youth Group Counseling for Troubled Teens
"I’ve heard," Sean began worriedly "I just thought itelse, then seemed to think better of it and turned to hurry away
Aria shut her eyes The suicide-pact ruain They’d circled the school shortly after the Eco Cruise--everyone thought the girls had a death wish for heading out on a lifeboat without a proper captain And now, for soeance
Aria crumpled the flyer into a ball and turned to the barn Just as she touched the brass doorknob, someone yanked her from behind and pulled her around the corner She yelped in protest, only to see that it was her brother
"I’ve been looking for you," Mike said gruffly
Aria lowered her eyes Last night, when she got ho at the saht, she’d found a note in Mike’s handwriting on her bed: Hanna toldWe need to talk
She’d called Hanna, furious How could she have coreed to keep quiet? But Hanna hadn’t answered her phone A few minutes later, Mike had knocked on Aria’s door, but she’d thrown the covers over her head and feigned snoring This a class before Mike woke up But not even ohts
"I get why you didn’t tell ," Mike said in a low voice "But I can help I uys say he did,I don’t even realize" He uy’s dead todefensive She was grateful for her brother’s loyalty, but she hadn’t thought about Noel’s actions i his other relationships, too "Look, you need to stay out of it If this is Ali, we don’t knohat she’s capable of"
Mike furrowed his brow "I’ it on"
If Aria were in a different ht have snickered Mike’s attitude reed to the Hollis outdoor pool Mike, age five, would stand at the edge of the high diving board with his hands on his hips, proclai scared hih He’d cliet wet and ruin his swi mower as it made a crisscross pattern on the soccer field Usually the scent of freshly rass cheered her up, but not today "You knohat I really want? To run away To be completely anonymous"
"Do you really think Ali would let you do that?"
"No And besides, everyone in this stupid country knoho I aht on cue, the Channel 4 news van pulled into the student lot There was probably a camera aimed at her that very second
Mike pushed his hands into his pockets "People in other countries probably don’t, though"
"So?"
His blue eyes o But when I was in your rooht, I saw the pamphlet on your desk The one about Amsterdam"
It took Aria a few seconds to recall what he was talking about It see she was a finalist for an artist apprenticeship in A to be so far away from Noel