Sara Shepard - Wicked

“I got another note last night.” Spencer shoved her Sidekick under Hanna’s nose. “Look.”

Hanna read the text silently. I thought we were friends, Spence! Blah, blah, blah. “So?” she snapped.

“I was in the Rosewood library at the time. And when I turned around, I saw steam on the window. Breath marks. I swear to God it’s Ian. He’s watching us.”

Hanna sniffed. This probably would be the time to mention her own A note from yesterday, but that would mean she believed the notes were something to be afraid of. “Wilden told us it’s just a copycat,” she whispered. “ Not Ian.”

“It’s got to be Ian!” Spencer shrieked so shrilly that a pack of younger girls dressed in winter cheerleading uniforms looked over in alarm. “He’s out of jail. He doesn’t want us to testify against him, so he’s trying to scare us. It totally makes sense, doesn’t it?”

“Ian’s under lockdown,” Hanna reminded her. “This is probably just from some loser kid from Rosewood who saw you on the news, thought you were hot, and thinks this is a way to get your attention. And you know what? He has your attention. He’s won. The best thing you can do is just ignore him.”

“Aria got another note too.” Spencer whipped her head around and looked down the hall, as if Aria would miraculously materialize. “Did she say anything about it to you? Do you know if Emily has gotten any?”

“Why don’t you bother Wilden with this instead?” Hanna said hurriedly, taking a step back.

“Do you think I should?” Spencer put her finger to her chin. “This note says I should keep quiet.” Hanna groaned. “You are so lame,” she said. “It’s. A. Fake.”

With that, she gave Spencer a parting shrug and whirled away. Spencer let out a squeak of disbelief, but Hanna ignored her. She was not about to let Knockoff A manipulate her—she would not be that scared, weak little girl from just a few months ago. Her life was different now.

Kate, Naomi, and Riley were clumped at the end of the hall near the big picture window that looked out onto the snowy soccer fields. Hanna rushed back to them, hoping she hadn’t missed anything good. The three of them were chattering about what they were going to wear to the Rosewood Day charity benefit at Spencer’s house Saturday night. The plan was to spray-tan at Sun Land in the morning, get mani-pedis at Fermata in the afternoon, and then change and do makeup at Naomi’s before hopping in a rented town car. They’d considered arriving in a stretch Hummer limo, but Kate had informed them that Hummers were so two years ago.

“Society photographers might be there, so I’m going to go for my Derek Lam halter dress.” Naomi swept a lock of long white-blond bangs out of her eyes. “My mom said I had to save it for prom, but I know she’ll forget in a week and let me get something else.”

“Or we could all dress alike,” Riley suggested, pausing to gaze into her Dior compact. “What about those Sweetface dresses we saw at Saks yesterday?”

“Sweetface, blegh.” Naomi stuck out her tongue. “Celebs should not be allowed to design clothes.”

“Those dresses are totally short and cute,” Riley urged, not giving up.

“Stop cat-fighting,” Kate said, bored. “We’ll go to the King James again this afternoon, okay? There are probably tons of stores we didn’t hit. We’ll all find something fabulous. What do you think, Hanna?”

“Done.” Hanna nodded. Naomi and Riley quickly straightened up and agreed.

“And we need to find you a boyfriend, too, Kate.” Naomi wound her arm around Kate’s waist. “There are so many cuties in this town.”

“What about Noel’s brother Eric?” Riley suggested, edging her scrawny butt against the heat vents by the windowsill. “He’s so hot.”

“He went out with Mona, though.” Naomi glanced at Hanna. “Is that, like, weird?”

“Nah,” Hanna said quickly. For the first time, she didn’t feel a twinge at hearing Mona’s name.

“Eric would be perfect for Kate.” Naomi widened her eyes. “I heard that when he was dating Briony Kogan, they snuck off to New York and stayed in a penthouse at the Mandarin Oriental. Eric took her on a carriage ride around Central Park and bought her a love bracelet from Cartier.”

“I heard that too .” Riley swooned.

“Well, I certainly could use some romance like that,” Kate admitted. She shot Hanna a covert pout. Hanna nodded back, catching Kate’s oblique reference to her secret, the disastrous, complicated relationship with Herpes Boy in Annapolis. Though Kate still hadn’t confirmed it was herpes, she’d asked that Hanna not get into it with their new friends.

Hanna felt another hand on her arm and exasperatedly turned, thinking it was Spencer again. Instead, it was Lucas.

“Oh, hi.” Hanna coolly ran her hands through her hair. Over the past few days, she’d communicated with Lucas via only a few terse e-mails and texts, ignoring his repeated calls. But she’d been busy cultivating her new clique, which was as delicate an art as hand-beading a couture gown. Surely Lucas would understand.

Hanna noticed a tiny speck of what looked like pink donut frosting on the tip of Lucas’s nose. Normally, she found Lucas’s inability to get all of his food in his mouth cute, but with Kate, Naomi, and Riley here, it was embarrassing. She quickly wiped it off. She wished she could also tuck in his shirt, tie the laces on one of his Converse sneakers, and muss up his hair a little—it appeared he’d forgotten to use the Ceylon-scented styling gel she’d bought him at Sephora—but that might seem really high-maintenance.

Kate stepped forward, grinning broadly. “Hi, Lucas. Nice to see you again.”

Lucas’s eyes darted back and forth from Kate’s arm, which was linked around Hanna’s, to Hanna’s face, then back to Kate’s arm again. Hanna smiled dumbly, praying that Lucas would keep his mouth shut. The last time he’d seen Hanna and Kate together was over winter break, when he’d picked Hanna up to go skiing. Hanna hadn’t even bothered to acknowledge Kate, pretending like she was merely another piece of living room furniture. She hadn’t had time to tell him about the latest turn of events.

Kate cleared her throat, looking amused. “Well. We should leave the lovebirds alone, girls.”

“I’ll catch up with you,” Hanna said tightly.

“Bye, Lucas,” Kate trilled as she, Naomi, and Riley clacked down the hall.

Lucas shifted the books in his arms. “So…”

“I know what you’re going to say,” Hanna interrupted, her vocal cords taut. “I decided to give Kate a chance.”

“But I thought you said she was demonic.”

Hanna put her hands on her hips. “What am I supposed to do? She lives in my house. My father basically told me that he’ll disown me if I’m not nice to her. She apologized to me, and I decided to accept her apology. Why can’t you just be happy for me?”

“Okay, okay.” Lucas stepped back in surrender. “I am happy for you. I didn’t mean for it to sound like I wasn’t. I’m sorry.”

Hanna let out a long, fiery breath through her nose. “It’s fine.” But Lucas had killed her buzz. She strained to hear what Kate, Naomi, and Riley were saying, but they were too far away. Were they still talking about dresses, or had they moved on to shoes?

Lucas waved an arm in front of Hanna, a concerned look on his face. “Are you okay? You seem kind of…weird.”

Hanna snapped back to him, mustering up the best smile she could. “I’m fine. Great, actually. But we should go, right? We’re going to be late to class.”

Lucas nodded, still looking at Hanna funny. Finally, he sighed, leaned over, and kissed her neck. “We’ll talk more about this later.”