Friday night, just before the limo was supposed to arrive to escort Hanna to her party, Hanna stood in her bedroom, twirling around in her brightly printed Nieves Lavi dress. She was finally a perfect size two, thanks to a diet of IV fluids and stitches that made it too painful to chew solid foods.
"That looks great on you," a voice called. "Except I think you're a tad too thin."
Hanna whirled around. In his black wool suit, dark purple tie, and purple-striped button-down, her father looked like George Clooney circa Ocean's Eleven. "I'm so not too thin," she answered quickly, trying to hide her thrill. "Kate's way thinner than me."
Her father's face clouded over, perhaps at the mention of his perfect, poised, yet incredibly evil quasi-stepdaughter. "What are you doing here, anyway?" Hanna demanded.
"Your mom let me in." He walked into Hanna's room and sat down on her bed. Hanna's stomach flipped. Her dad hadn't been in her bedroom since she was twelve, right before he moved out. "She said I could change here for your big party."
"You're coming?" Hanna squawked.
"Am I allowed?" her father asked.
"I…I guess so." Spencer's parents were coming, as well as some Rosewood Day faculty and staff. "But, I mean, I thought you'd want to get back to Annapolis…and Kate and Isabel. You've been away from them for almost a week, after all." She couldn't hide the bitterness in her voice.
"Hanna…" her father started. Hanna turned away. She suddenly felt so angry that her dad had left her family, that he was here now, that maybe he loved Kate more than he loved her—not to mention that she had scars all over her face and that her memory about Saturday night still hadn't returned. She felt tears in her eyes, which made her even angrier.
"You okay?" he asked her.
A horn honked outside. Hanna pulled back her bamboo blind and saw the limo Mona had arranged waiting in her driveway, its wipes moving furiously over the windshield to keep off the rain. "I'm great," she said suddenly, the whole world tipping up again. She slid her Dior mask over her face. "I'm Hanna Marin, and I'm fabulous."
Her father handed Hanna a huge black golf umbrella. "You definitely are," he said. And for the first time ever, Hanna thought she just might believe him.
What seemed like only seconds later, Hanna was perched atop a pillow-laden platform, trying to keep the balcony's tassels from knocking off her Dior mask. Four gorgeous man-salves had hoisted her up, and they were now beginning their slow parade into the party tent on the fifteenth green of the Rosewood Country Club.
"Presenting…in her big return to Rosewood…the fabulous Hanna Marin!" Mona screamed into a microphone. As the crowd erupted, Hanna waved her arms around excitedly. All of her guests were wearing masks, and Mona and Spencer had transformed the tent into the Salon de l'Europe at Le Casino in Monte-Carlo, Monaco. It had faux-marble walls, dramatic frescoes, and roulette and card tables. Sleek, gorgeous boys roamed the room with trays of canapes, manned the tents' two bars, and acted as croupiers at the gambling tables. Hanna had demanded that none of her party's staff be female.
The DJ switched to a new White Stripes song and everyone began to dance. A thin, pale hand caught Hanna's arm, and Mona dragged her through the crowd and gave her a huge hug.
"Do you love it?" Mona cried from behind her expressionless mask, which looked similar to Hanna's Dior masterpiece.
"Naturally." Hanna bumped her hip. "And I love the gambling tables. Does anyone win anything?"
"They win a hot night with a hot girl—you, Hanna!" Spencer cried, prancing up behind them. Mona grabbed her hand, too, and the three jiggled with glee. Spencer looked like a blond Audrey Hepburn in her black satin trapeze dress and adorable round-toe flat. When Spencer put her arm around Mona's shoulders, Hanna's heart leaped. As much as she didn't want to give A credit for anything, A's notes to Mona had made Mona accept Hanna's old friends. Yesterday, in between rounds of their Mandy Moore drinking game, Mona had told Hanna, "You know, Spencer's really cool. I think she could be part of our posse." Hanna had waited years for Mona to say something like that.
"You look great," a voice said in Hanna's ear. A boy stood behind her, dressed in fitted pinstriped pants, a white long-sleeved button-down, a matching pin-stripped vest, and a long-nosed bird mask. Lucas's telltale white-blond hair peeked out from the mask's top. When he reached out and clasped her hand, Hanna's heart started racing. She held it for a second, squeezed, and let it drop before anyone could see. "This party is awesome," Lucas said.
"Thanks, it was nothing," Mona piped in. She nudged Hanna. "Although, I don't know, Han. Do you think that hideous thing Lucas is wearing qualifies as a mask?"
Hanna glanced at Mona, wishing she could see her face. She looked over Lucas's shoulder, pretending she'd been distracted by something that was going on over at the blackjack table.
"So, Hanna, can I talk to you for a sec?" Lucas asked. "Alone?"
Mona was now chatting with one of the waiters. "Um, okay," Hanna mumbled.
Lucas led her to a secluded nook and pulled off his mask. Hanna tried to thwart the tornado of nerves rumbling inside her stomach, avoiding looking anywhere near Lucas's super-pink, super-kissable lips. "Can I take your off, too?" he asked.
Hanna made sure they were truly alone, and that no one else would be able to see her bare, scarred face, and then she let him lift off her mask. Lucas kissed her softly on her stitches. "I missed you," he whispered.
"You only saw me a couple of hours ago." Hanna giggled.
Lucas smiled crookedly. "That seems like a long time."
They kissed for a few more minutes, snuggled together on a single couch cushion, oblivious to the cacophony of party noises. Then Hanna heard her name through the tent's gauzy curtains. "Hanna?" Mona's voice called. "Han? Where are you?"
Hanna freaked. "I should go back out." She picked up Lucas's mask by its long bird beak and shoved it at him. "And you should put this back on."
Lucas shrugged. "it's hit under that thing. I think I'll leave it off."
Hanna tied her own mask's strings right. "It's a masquerade, Lucas. If Mona sees that you've taken yours off, she'll kick you out for real."
Lucas's eyes were hard. "Do you always do everything Mona says?"
Hanna tensed. "No."
"Good. You shouldn't."
Hanna flicked a tassel on one of the pillows. She looked at Lucas again. "What do you want me to say, Lucas? She's my best friend."
"Has Mona told you what she did to you yet?" Lucas goaded. "I mean, at her party."
Hanna stood up, annoyed. "I told you, it doesn't matter."
He lowered his eyes. "I care about you, Hanna. I don't think she does. I don't think she cares about anyone. Don't let it drop, okay? Ask her to tell you the truth. I think you deserve to know."
Hanna stared at him long and hard. Lucas's eyes were shiny and his lip quivered a little. There was a purple welt on his neck from their earlier make-out session. She wanted to reach out and touch it with her thumb.
Without another word, she whipped the curtain open and stormed back onto the dance floor. Aria's brother, Mike, was demonstrating his best stripper pole dance to a girl from the Quaker school. Andrew Campbell and his nerdy Knowledge Bowl friends were talking about counting cards in blackjack. Hanna smiled when she saw her father chatting with her old cheerleading coach, a woman whom she and Mona had privately called The Rock, because she bore a resemblance to the professional wrestler.
She finally found Mona sitting in another one of the pillow-laden enclaves. Eric Kahn, Noel's older brother, dangled next to her, whispering in her ear. Mona noticed Hanna and sat up. "Thank God you got away from Loser Lucas," she groaned. "Why has he been hanging around you so much, anyway?"
Hanna scratched at her stitches underneath her mask, her heart suddenly racing. All at once, she needed to talk Mona. She needed to know for sure. "Lucas says I shouldn't trust you." She forced a laugh. "He says there's something you're not telling me, as if there would ever be something you wouldn't tell me." She rolled her eyes. "I mean, he's totally bullshitting me. It's so lame."
Mona crossed her legs and sighed. "I think I know what he's talking about."
Hanna swallowed hard. The room suddenly smelled too strongly of incense and freshly cut Bermuda grass. There was a burst of applause at the blackjack table; someone had won. Mona moved closer to her, talking right in Hanna's ear. "I never told you this, but Lucas and I dated the summer between seventh and eighth grade. I was his first kiss. I dumped him when you and I became friends. he called me for, like, six months afterward. I'm not sure he's ever gotten over it."
Hanna sat back, stunned. She felt like she was on one of those amusement park swings that abruptly changed directions halfway through the ride. "You and Lucas…dated?"
Mona lowered her eyes and pushed a stray lock of golden hair off her mask. "I'm sorry I never said anything about it before. It's just that…Lucas is a loser, Han. I didn't want you to think I was a loser too."
Hanna ran her hands through her hair, thinking about her conversation with Lucas in the hot-air balloon. She had told him everything, and his face had been so innocent and open. She thought about how intensely they'd kissed, and the little moaning noises he'd made when she ran her fingers up and down his neck.
"So, he was trying to be my friend and saying nasty things about you to…to get back at you for dumping him?" Hanna stammered.
"I think so," Mona said sadly. "He's the one you shouldn't trust, Hanna."
Hanna stood up. She remembered how Lucas had said she was so pretty, and how good that had felt. How he'd read her DailyCandy blog entries while the nurses changed her IV fluids. How, after he'd kissed her in the hospital bed, Hanna's heart rate stayed elevated for a full half hour—she'd watched it on the heart monitor. Hanna had told Lucas about her eating issues. About Kate. About her friendship with Ali. About A! Why had he never told her about Mona?
Lucas was now sitting on another couch, talking to Andrew Campbell. Hanna made a beeline right for him, and Mona followed close behind, grabbing her arm. "Deal with this later. Why don't I just throw him out? You should be enjoying your big night."
Hanna waved Mona away. She poked Lucas in the back of his pin-striped vest. When Lucas turned around, he looked genuinely happy to see her, giving her a sweet ecstatic smile.
"Mona told me the truth about you," Hanna hissed, placing her hands on her hips. "You guys used to date."
Lucas's lump twitched. He blinked hard, opened his mouth, then shut it again. "Oh."
"That's what this is all about, isn't it?" she denuded. "It's why you want me to hate her."
"Of course not." Lucas looked at her, his brows furrowed. "We weren't serious."
"Right," Hanna scoffed.
"Hanna doesn't like boys who lie," Mona added, appearing behind Hanna.
Lucas's mouth dropped open. A blood of redness crawled from his neck to his cheeks. "But I suppose she likes girls who lie, huh?"
Mona crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm not lying about anything, Lucas."
"No? So then you told Hanna what really happened at your party?"
"It doesn't matter," Hanna screeched.
"Of course I told her," Mona said at the same time.
Lucas looked at Hanna, his face growing more and more crimson. "She did something awful to you."
Mona inserted herself in front of him. "He's just jealous."
"She humiliated you," Lucas added. "I was the one who came and saved you."
"What?" Hanna squeaked in a small voice.
"Hanna." Mona grabbed Hanna's hands. "It's all a misunderstanding."
The DJ switched to a Lexi song. It was a song Hanna didn't hear often, and at first she wasn't sure when she'd heard it last. Then, all at once, she remembered. Lexi had been the special musical guest at Mona's party.
A memory suddenly caught fire in Hanna's mind. She saw herself wearing a skin-tight champagne-colored dress, struggling to walk into the planetarium without her outfit bursting at that seams. She saw Mona laughing at her, and then she felt her knee and elbow hitting the hard marble floor. There was a long, painful riiiiip noise as her dress gave way, and everyone stood around her, laughing. Mona laughed the hardest of all.
Underneath her mask, Hanna's mouth dropped open and her eyes widened. No. It couldn't be true. Her memory was scrambled from the accident. And even if it was true, did it matter now? She looked down at her brand-new Paul & Joe bracelet, a delicate gold chain with a pretty butterfly charm clasp. Mona had bought it for her as a welcome-back-from-the-hospital present, giving it to Hanna right after A sent Mona that taunting e-card. "I don't want us ever to be mad at each other again," Mona had said as Hanna lifted the jewelry box lid.
Lucas stared at her expectantly. Mona had her hands on her hips, waiting. Hanna tied the mask's ribbon closure in a tighter know. "You're just jealous," she said to Lucas, putting her at around Mona. "We're best friends. Always will be."
Lucas's face crumpled. "Fine." He wheeled around and ran out the door.
"What a lame-ass," Mona said, sliding her arm in the crook of Hanna's elbow.
"Yeah," Hanna said, but her voice was so quiet, she doubted Mona heard.