“Um, about your Poconos trip,” she said tentatively, not daring to look Ali in the eye. “Do you think there’s room for one more?”
The corners of Ali’s mouth spread into a wide grin. She jumped up and down a little, and then threw her arms around Aria’s shoulders. “I thought you’d never ask.”
Ali pulled Aria across the parking lot, avoiding a shiny patch of ice. “We’re going to have such a great time, I promise. You’ll forget all about Noel. And tomorrow, we’ll find you someone even hotter.”
They skipped to the bottom of the hill, arm in arm. “Look who I found!” Ali cried, hitting the unlock button on her key chain. “She’s coming with us!”
Everyone whooped. Suddenly, Aria heard a strange, muffled sound. She paused, curling her hand over the car door. It sounded like a thump, followed by a squeal.
“Did you hear that?” she whispered, looking around the parking lot. Couples staggered to their cars. Limos chugged. Mothers waited for their kids in their SUVs. Aria thought about the Polaroids she’d found in the woods. That phantom face, looming at the barn window. She looked around for Wilden…or any cop, for that matter, but they were all gone.
Ali paused. “Hear what?”
Aria waited, listening again. Between the thumping bass and the booming fireworks, it was difficult to hear anything. “I guess it’s nothing,” she decided. “Probably just some kids hooking up on the Commons.”
“Sluts,” Ali giggled. She opened her door and gracefully got into the driver’s seat. Spencer sat beside her, and Hanna, Emily, and Aria clambered into the back. As soon as the car flickered to life, Ali cranked the music up so loud that it drowned out the fireworks. “Let’s go, bitches!” she cried. And off they went.
26
A REINVENTION OF THE PAST
The DiLaurentises’ Poconos house was exactly as Hanna remembered it: large and rambling, with red-painted teak siding and white shutters and windows. The porch light was off, but the moon was so big and bright that Hanna could see five white rockers on the porch. She, Ali, and the others used to sit on those rockers, Us Weekly magazines in their laps, watching the sun set over the lake.
The car crunched into the driveway and rolled to a stop. Everyone leaped up and grabbed their purses. The night air was cold. A mist hung over the valley, as fine and vaporous as breath.
There was a rustle in the bushes. Hanna halted. A long tail flickered. Two eyes glowed yellow. A black cat scampered stealthily across the driveway and into the woods. She breathed out.
Ali unlocked the door to the house and ushered them in. The place smelled like aged wallpaper glue, dusty wood floors, and closed-up rooms. There was also a faint odor that reminded Hanna of old hamburger.
“Drinks?” Ali cried, dropping the keys on the farmhouse table.
“Definitely,” Spencer said. She unloaded a grocery bag of Cheez-Its, blue corn tortilla chips, M&M’s, Diet Coke, Red Bull, and a bottle of vodka. Hanna went to the cupboard where the DiLaurentises kept their glasses and pulled out five crystal tumblers.
After making vodka and Red Bulls, everyone strolled into the den. Built-in bookshelves lined the walls. The closet was slightly open, revealing stacks and stacks of old board games. The television that got only four channels still sat on the old hutch. Hanna stared out at the big backyard, immediately locating the spot where they’d built the five-girl tent and slept under the stars. Ali had presented them with their Jenna bracelets in that tent, making them promise that they’d remain best friends until the day they died.
Hanna wandered over to the mantel, noticing a familiar silver-framed photo. It was the picture of the five of them standing next to a big canoe, all of them soaking wet. The same photo used to hang in the DiLaurentises’ old foyer. It had been taken the first time Ali invited them to the Poconos, not long after they became friends. Hanna and the others had made up a secret ritual of touching the bottom corner of the photo at the same time, though they’d been too embarrassed to tell Ali about it.
Everyone else gathered around the photo, too. The ice in their glasses rattled. “Remember that day?” Emily murmured. Her breath already smelled like vodka. “That crazy waterfall?”
Hanna snorted. “Yeah. You freaked.” It was their maiden voyage on a new canoe Mr. DiLaurentis had bought from the local sporting goods store. They’d all paddled furiously to start off, but then everyone got tired and bored and let the current carry them. When the river began to get rough, Spencer wanted to try and ride the rapids. Then Emily saw the little waterfall ahead and demanded they abandon ship.
Spencer nudged Emily’s ribs. “You were like, ‘People die if they go over waterfalls in a canoe! We should tip it and swim to shore!’”
“And then you tipped us all without telling us first,” Aria said, shaking with giggles. “That water was so cold!”
“I was shivering for days,” Emily agreed.
“We look so young,” Hanna murmured, focusing especially on her own pudgy face. “Just think, a couple weeks before that, we were sneaking into your yard trying to steal your flag, Ali.”
“Yeah,” Ali said distractedly. Hanna watched her, waiting for Ali to chime in with a memory, but Ali simply began to pull out the bobby pins from her French twist, setting each one on the glass end table. Maybe it was wrong to bring up the Time Capsule day. Courtney had apparently been home that weekend, switching from the Radley to the Preserve. It probably stirred up all kinds of bad memories.