"W-what are you doing here?" Hanna stammered, straightening up.
Kate giggled. "Was boot camp just too much for you today, Hanna?" She stretched out something in her hands. It was an extra-large T-shirt that said Get Your Butt In Gear!
Hanna's stomach dropped. "I—I don't know what you're talking about."
"The program sounds really awesome." Kate waved the T-shirt tauntingly under Hanna's nose. "I'm sure everyone at Rosewood Day would love to know what you've been up to."
She pulled out her phone and showed Hanna a series of pictures. Hanna and the red-shirted boot campers running through a tire obstacle course behind Body Tonic, all of them fat and red-faced and ridiculous-looking. The boot campers gathered in a circle doing one of Vince's AminoSpa chants. And the coup de grace: Dinah and Vince kissing, and Hanna standing in the doorway just now, looking devastated.
She'd seen everything.
"Give me that," Hanna said, grabbing for Kate's phone.
Kate held it over Hanna's head. "Not so fast!"
"Have you been following me?" Hanna shrieked. "Don't you have anything better to do?"
"What can I say? I love a good secret." Kate rocked back and forth in her fur-lined Uggs. "And someone gave me an amazing tip-off, so I followed you here."
A shiver snaked up Hanna's spine. Who could have done that? Immediately, A came to mind…but A was gone.
"Don't be ashamed of going to fat camp!" Kate went on. "At least you're making a positive change, you know?" She typed something into her phone. "I think this would make a lovely post on your Facebook wall. And maybe people would sympathize with you for losing the guy to that other girl!"
Hanna's heart pounded hard. "I'm not interested in Vince!"
Kate gave her a knowing look. "You keep telling yourself that, Hanna. But the photos don't lie. Now, what would be a good caption for Facebook? Boot camp is so amazing, and look at my awesome new friends? Or how about something simple, like Getting my huge ass in year?"
Hanna let out a whimper. She was "friends" with all kinds of people on Facebook. Naomi Ziegler and Riley Wolfe, two popular bitches, who'd love nothing more than to hear about this. Senior girls who invited her to amazing parties. Mason Byers, James Freed, Noel Kahn, and her ex, Sean Ackard. That Mona had wanted to kill Hanna was bad enough—a post about boot camp would cement her status as a loser for good. She already saw herself sitting alone in the cafeteria at lunch. Spending every Saturday night in her room. Never being invited to a party again.
"Please don't post about this," Hanna cried. "I'm begging you. I'll do anything."
One of Kate's eyebrows rose. "What's in it for me?"
A stiff wind blew up, numbing Hanna's ears and the tip of her nose. She stared out at the empty road in front of Body Tonic and racked her brain. What did she have that Kate wanted? Hadn't she given up enough? Ever since Kate had set foot in Hanna's house, Hanna's life had gone from bad to worse. Kate ad already usurped all of Hanna's father's attention. As soon as she started at Rosewood Day, she'd probably become the most popular girl in their grade, taking Hanna's place. How much more torture could she take?
What she wouldn't give for Mona right now—the Mona she knew before all the A stuff began. The two of them could laugh in Kate's face, tell her she wouldn't dare cross them, and then spin around and drive away in a cloud of exhaust. Having Ali here would be even better: She'd loop her elbow around Hanna's, lean in close, and whisper, "You've got something on her too, Han. That's what's so great about secrets—you can use them as currency."
Suddenly, Hanna's head shot up. It was as though Ali had spoken to her from beyond the grave. She did have something on Kate, something she'd almost forgotten.
She started to laugh.
"What?" Kate's eyebrows knitted together.
The giggles kept coming. Hanna rummaged around in her bag for her cell phone. "You're not posting anything on Facebook. Because if you do, I'm telling everyone about Santa."
Kate frowned. For a split second, a look of sheer terror crossed her face. "Huh?"
"You know," Hanna said mockingly, pulling up the photo she was looking for on her phone and thrusting it toward Kate. Santa caressing Kate's neck. Kate burying her hands in Santa's cottony beard. "A fitting caption would be Someone's been naughty this year. And haven't you heard that guy's a major pervert?" Hanna scolded. "He hits on twelve-year-old girls!"
Kate backed away from Hanna, her mouth opening and closing like a fish. "Please don't, was all she whispered.
"I think we have an agreement, then." Hanna pressed the Unlock button on her key chain. "If you post boot camp pictures online, I'll post this. 'Kay?"
Kate didn't answer, but Hanna knew she'd gotten her. Head held high, she swung into the driver's seat, turned the ignition, and pulled swiftly and expertly out of her spot. "Bye-bye!" she trilled, waggling her fingers at her stepsister. Kate remained where she was, the red T-shirt limp at her side.
Hanna drove away without giving her stepsister a second glance. As she turned out of the parking lot, a phrase Ali often said and Hanna had adopted came to mind: I'm Ali, and I'm fabulous. Hanna felt pretty frickin' fabulous right now, too.