“Did they do something to you?” Hanna pressed.
“You could say that,” Ali mumbled vaguely.
A group of girls a few tables over flipped through a copy of Us Weekly, gossiping about a starlet’s botched plastic surgery. An old married couple shared a piece of molten chocolate cake. A steaming plate of mussels and fries appeared in front of Hanna and Ali. Ali dove in right away, but Hanna hung back for a moment, trying to figure out what Naomi and Riley had done.
“The letter thing is an awesome plan.” Hanna grabbed a fry from the top of the pile. “It’ll be like the famous Will Butterfield note!”
Ali paused, a shiny mussel shell between her thumb and forefinger. There was a wrinkle between her eyebrows. “Huh?”
“You know,” Hanna encouraged. “The time you found that note Will Butterfield wrote to his math teacher and got Spencer to read it over the morning announcements? It was classic.”
The haze slowly dissolved from Ali’s eyes and her lips curved up. “Oh. Yeah. Right.” Her smile quickly wobbled into a frown. “Sorry. It just seems so long ago.”
Hanna popped a mussel into her mouth, wondering if she shouldn’t have brought it up.
“It’s cool,” Hanna said, patting Ali’s arm. But Ali’s attention was elsewhere. Hanna followed her gaze to the mall atrium. Someone was crouched behind the burbling fountain, staring at them. Hanna’s stomach seized. There was a flash of blond hair and Hanna thought about the Polaroids Aria had found. That face in the window. Now the news was saying that Billy might not be guilty of any of the murders. It was like a nightmare coming true.
Hanna sneaked a peek at Ali. “Who is that?”
“I don’t know,” Ali whispered back. Her hands quivered.
Hanna held her breath, watching, waiting, but then a group of kids passed, blocking her view. By the time they’d bounded into Banana Republic, whoever had been watching was gone.
19 THE BIGGEST QUESTION OF EMILY’S LIFE
Sheets of cold rain pounded on the roof of Emily’s Volvo wagon as she turned into Ali’s new neighborhood. The development’s duck pond, with its quaint wooden gazebo and rickety footbridge, was silent and still in the cold, wintry darkness. Emily had already envisioned sitting with Ali by the duck pond’s edge in the springtime, holding hands and blowing dandelion seeds across the grass. She’d imagined riding bikes with Ali around the winding streets of the development and camping out in her big backyard, waking up every few hours to kiss. And she’d pictured pulling up to Ali’s house tomorrow to pick up Ali for the Valentine’s Day dance, Ali descending the staircase dressed in a gorgeous red silk gown and red satin heels.
Hopefully she wasn’t getting ahead of herself.
After her conversation with Carolyn at the diner, Emily had decided to ask Ali to the dance today at school. Problem was, she hadn’t seen Ali anywhere. She wasn’t at Steam with Naomi, Riley, and Hanna’s stepsister-to-be, Kate. Emily didn’t pass her in the hallways between third and fourth period on her way to chemistry. She hadn’t shown up at gym, either. During sixth period, jittery to the point of feeling sick, Emily asked for a hall pass from her ceramics teacher and roamed the school, peeking into various classrooms, hoping for a glimpse of Ali’s face. The dance was the next day. She was running out of time.
The DiLaurentises’ porch light was on, and the family’s BMW was in the driveway. Emily took a few deep breaths, staring at the traffic light beyond Ali’s street. If it turns green in the next five seconds, Ali will say yes, she said to herself. She slowly counted to five. The light glowed red. Best two out of three, she decided.
Five more seconds passed, and the traffic light was still red. Sighing, she got out of the car, strode up the walk, and rang the bell. There were footsteps, and then the door swung open. Jason DiLaurentis stood on the other side, his blond hair combed flat against his head and his face unshaven, wearing ratty jeans and a Penn T-shirt. When he saw it was Emily, his eyebrows knitted together. The last time Emily had seen Jason, he’d chewed her out for allegedly denting his car. The heated look on his face made her think he hadn’t forgotten.
“Hey,” Emily said, trembling slightly. “I’m here to see…Courtney.” She caught herself just before she said Ali.
“Uh, sure.” Jason yelled Courtney’s name up the stairs, then turned back and gave Emily a long, unapologetic look. Emily’s cheeks burned. She fiddled anxiously with a wooden dog statue that was sitting on the console table just for something to do with her hands.
“So you and Courtney are friends now?” Jason asked finally. “Just like that?”
“Yeah.” So? she wanted to add.
“Hey!” Ali bounded down the stairs. Her blond hair was in a ponytail, and she was wearing a sky blue T-shirt, a color she’d always worn back in seventh grade because it drew out her eyes. “What a nice surprise!”
Emily turned back to Jason, but he’d disappeared. “Hi,” she answered, feeling dizzy.
“Let’s go to the den,” Ali suggested, whirling around and disappearing into a room off the hall. The room was big, square, and dark, and smelled like a woodstove. A flat-screen TV was shoved against the corner, heavy velvet curtains were pulled across the windows, and a striped candy dish full of pink M&M’s sat in the middle of the coffee table. A bunch of photos lay on the floor, propped up against the chairs and bookcases.
Emily leaned down to look at the photo on top of the pile. It was a picture of the DiLaurentis parents and children—only two children, not three. Ali was in seventh grade, her face slightly rounder, her hair a little lighter. Jason stood next to her, his mouth smiling but his eyes serious. The DiLaurentis parents rested their hands on their kids’ shoulders, grinning proudly as if they had nothing to hide.
She stared again at Jason’s image, still shaky from their interaction in the hall. “Are you sure your brother doesn’t know who you really are?” she whispered.
Ali slumped down on the couch and shook her head vehemently. “No.” She shot Emily a warning look. “And please don’t tell him. My family has to believe I’m Courtney. It’s the only way they’ll think I’m better.”
Emily leaned back, the leather making a squeaky noise under her legs. “I promise.”
Then she reached out and touched Ali’s hand. It was cold and a little clammy. “I missed you today. There was something I wanted to ask you.”
Ali stared at Emily’s hand on hers. Her lips parted slightly. “What?”
Emily’s heart thumped. “Well, there’s a school Valentine’s Day dance tomorrow.”
Ali moved her jaw. Her bottom teeth stuck out slightly.
“Anyway, I was wondering if you’d…” Emily paused, the words catching in her throat. “If you’d want to go with me. Like as a date. We could double with my sister and her boyfriend. It’ll be really fun.”
Ali pulled her hand away. “Em…” she started. The corners of her lips shook, as if she was suppressing a laugh.
Emily’s stomach plummeted. All at once, she was transported to Ali’s tree house, moments after she’d leaned over and kissed Ali’s lips. Ali kissed back for a delicious few moments before she’d pulled away. “Now I know why you get so quiet when we change during gym class,” she’d teased.
Emily jumped up, bumping into the corner of an enormous marble chessboard on the coffee table. The white queen wobbled, then tipped over. “I have to go.”
Ali’s face fell. “What? Why?”
Emily fumbled for her jacket over the back of the chair. “I just remembered. I have homework.”