Sara Shepard - Unbelievable

“Noel, it was so not rrow! ” Mona breezed into the room. She blew air-kisses at Noel, Mason, and Mike, shot a frosty smile at Sean, and dropped an enormous binder at the bottom of Hanna’s bed. She ignored Lucas completely. “It was just a little BFF bitchiness.”

Noel shrugged. He joined the other boys at the window and proceeded to get into a noogie fight with Mason.

Mona rolled her eyes. “So listen, Han, I was just talking to Spencer, and we made a must-have party list. I want to run the details by you.” She opened her Tiffany-blue binder. “You, of course, have the final say before I talk to the venue.” She licked her finger and turned a page. “Okay. Bisque or ivory napkins?”

Hanna tried to focus, but Noel’s words were still fresh in Hanna’s mind. Rrow? “What were we fighting about?” Hanna blurted out.

Mona paused, lowering her list to her lap. “Seriously, Han, nothing. You remember we were fighting the week before? About the skywriter? Naomi and Riley?”

Hanna nodded. Mona had asked Naomi Zeigler and Riley Wolfe, their biggest rivals, to be part of her Sweet Seventeen party court. Hanna suspected it was in retaliation to Hanna blowing off their Frenniversary celebration.

“Well, you were totally right,” Mona went on. “Those two are enormous bitches. I don’t want us to hang out with them anymore. I’m sorry I let them in the inner circle for a little bit, Han.”

“It’s okay,” Hanna said in a small voice, feeling a tiny lift.

“So, anyway.” Mona pulled out two magazine cutouts. One was a longish, white, pleated bubble dress with a silk rosette on the back, and the other was a wild-print dress that hit high on the thigh. “Phillip Lim gathered gown or flirty Nieves Lavi minidress?”

“Nieves Lavi,” Hanna answered. “It’s boatneck and short, so it’ll show lots of leg but detract from my collarbone and face.” She pulled the sheet up to her eyes again.

“Speaking of that,” Mona chirped, “look what I got for you!”

She reached into her butter-colored Cynthia Rowley tote and pulled out a delicate porcelain mask. It was in the shape of a pretty girl’s face, with prominent cheekbones, pretty, pouty lips, and a nose that would definitely be on a plastic surgeon’s most-requested list. It was so beautiful and intricate, it looked almost real.

“These exact masks were used in last year’s Dior haute couture show,” Mona breathed. “My mom knows someone at Dior’s PR company in New York, and we had someone drive it down from New York City this morning.”

“Oh my God.” Hanna reached out and touched the edge of the mask. It felt like a mix between baby-soft skin and satin.

Mona held the mask up to Hanna’s face, which was still half-covered by the blanket. “It will cover all your bruises. You’ll be the most gorgeous girl at your party.”

“Hanna’s already gorgeous,” Lucas piped up, whirling around from all the medical machines. “Even without a mask.”

Mona’s nose wrinkled as if Lucas had just told her he was going to take her temperature in her butt. “Oh, Lucas,” she said frostily. “I didn’t see you standing there.”

“I’ve been here the whole time,” Lucas pointed out tersely.

The two of them glowered at each other. Hanna noticed something almost apprehensive about Mona’s expression. But in a blink, it was gone.

Mona placed Hanna’s mask against her vase of flowers, positioning it so that it was staring at her. “This is going to be the party of the year, Han. I can’t wait.”

With that, Mona blew her a kiss and danced out of the room. Noel, Mason, Sean, and Mike followed, telling Hanna they’d be back tomorrow and she’d better share some of her medicinal marijuana with them. Only Lucas remained, leaning against the far wall next to a soothing Monet-esque poster of a field of dandelions. There was a disturbed expression on his face.

“So that cop, Wilden? He asked me some questions about the hit-and-run while we were waiting for you to wake up from your coma a couple days ago,” Lucas said quietly, sitting down on the orange chair next to Hanna’s bed. “Like, if I’d seen you the night it happened. If you were acting weird or worried. It kind of sounded like he thought the hit-and-run wasn’t an accident.”

Lucas swallowed hard and raised his eyes to Hanna. “You don’t think it was the same person who was sending you those weird text messages, do you?”

Hanna shot up. She’d forgotten that she’d told Lucas about A when they’d gone up in the hot-air balloon together. Her heart started to pound. “Tell me you didn’t say anything about that to Wilden.”

“Of course not,” Lucas assured her. “It’s just…I’m worried about you. It’s so scary that someone hit you, is all.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Hanna interrupted, crossing her arms over her chest. “And please, please don’t say a word to Wilden about it. Okay?”

“Okay,” Lucas said. “Sure.”

“Good,” Hanna barked. She took a long sip from the glass of water that was next to her bed. Whenever she dared to consider the truth—that A had hit her —her mind closed off, refusing to let her ponder it any further.

“So. Isn’t it nice that Mona’s throwing a party for me?” Hanna asked pointedly, wanting to change the subject. “She’s been such a wonderful friend. Everyone’s saying so.”

Lucas fiddled with the buttons on his Nike watch. “I’m not sure if you should trust her,” he mumbled.

Hanna wrinkled her brow. “What are you talking about?”

Lucas hesitated for a few long seconds.

“Come on,” Hanna said, annoyed. “What?”

Lucas reached over and tugged Hanna’s sheet down, exposing her face. He took her cheeks in his hands and kissed her. Lucas’s mouth was soft and warm and fit perfectly with hers. Tingles scampered up Hanna’s spine.

When Lucas broke away, they stared at each other for seven long beeps on Hanna’s EKG machine, breathing hard. Hanna was pretty sure the look on her face was one of pure astonishment.

“Do you remember?” Lucas asked, his eyes wide.

Hanna frowned. “Remember…what?”

Lucas stared at her for a long time, his eyes flickering back and forth. And then he turned away. “I—I should go,” Lucas mumbled awkwardly, and pushed out of the room.

Hanna stared after him, her bruised lips still sparking from his kiss. What had just happened?

That same afternoon, Aria stood outside the Hollis art building, staring at a group of kids doing capoeira on the lawn. Aria had never understood capoeira. Her brother described it best, saying it looked less like a Brazilian fight dance and more like the people were trying to smell one another’s butts or pee on each other like dogs.

She felt a cold, thin hand on her shoulder. “Are you on campus for your art class?” a voice whispered in Aria’s ear.

Aria stiffened. “Meredith.” Today, Meredith wore a green pin-striped blazer and ripped jeans, and had an army green knapsack slung over her shoulder. The way she was staring at Aria, Aria felt like a little ant beneath a Meredith-shaped magnifying glass.

“You’re taking Mindless Art, right?” Meredith said. When Aria nodded dumbly, Meredith looked at her watch. “You’d better get up there. It starts in five minutes.”

Aria felt trapped. She’d been considering bagging this class completely—the last thing she wanted to do was spend two hours with Jenna Cavanaugh. Just seeing her the other day had brought back all sorts of uncomfortable memories. But Aria knew Meredith would relay everything to Byron, and Byron would give her a lecture on how it wasn’t very nice to throw Meredith’s charitable gift away. Aria pulled her pink cardigan around her shoulders. “Are you going to walk me up?” she snapped.