On Tuesday night, Aria rang the doorbell at the Kahns' house, a redbrick mansion with white columns, a six-car garage, various porticos and turrets, and an eleven-acre backyard that had been the site of many infamous parties. Tonight, the Kahns were hosting another party, although Aria doubted it would feature body shots or illicit hookups in the Kahns' Photo Booth. It was a traditional Finnish smorgasbord to welcome Klaudia to the U.S., and judging by the number of cars in the long, circular driveway, it looked like the Kahns had invited everyone in Rosewood and several towns beyond.
Mrs. Kahn flung the door open and beamed. "Tervetuloa, Aria!" she said jovially. "That's Finnish for welcome!"
"Uh, tervtuloa," Aria echoed politely, trying to get the intonation correct…and not to gawk at Mrs. Jahn's outfit. Normally, Noel's mother was the epitome of horsey couture: Ralph Lauren riding pants, cable-cashmere sweaters, sleek Tod's boots, and diamonds on her fingers and in her ears that were probably worth more than both Aria's parents' houses combined. Today though, she wore a long red skit that looked like it was made out of stiff felt, a shirred blouse with puffed sleeves and elaborate best that featured yet more embroidery and smelled like mothballs. There was a slightly phallic bonnet on her head and black leather lace-up boots on her feet. And they definitely weren't the kind featured in the Jimmy Choo window at the King James Mall.
"Isn't my outfit divine?" Mrs. Kahn crowed, spinning so the skirt flared out. "It's the traditional Finnish costume! Have you ever seen anything so colorful? I'm half Finnish, you know. Perhaps my ancestors dressed just like this!"
Aria nodded and smiled dumbly, though she doubted Finns dressed that way unless they absolutely had to. Who wanted to look like a Grimm fairy-take character?
Then Klaudia stepped into the foyer. "Aria! We're so happy you make it!" Noel was right behind her. Klaudia looped her arm around Noel's shoulders like they were a couple.
"Uh, I wouldn't miss it." Aria stared pointedly at Noel, thinking he'd break from Klaudia and walk across the foyer to join her, his girlfriend. But he just stood next to Klaudia with a stupid grin on his face. Klaudia turned and whispered something in Noel's ear. Noel said something back, and they both chuckled.
Prickles rose Aria's skin. "Is something funny?"
"It's…never mind." Noel waved away Aria's question.
Tonight, Klaudia wore a marbled sweater dress that was at least two sizes too small. Her blond hair spilled down her back, and she wore wet, glossy lipstick that drew the eye straight to her mouth. Every guy at the party stared at her—including Mr. Shay, the elderly biology teacher at Rosewood Day who Aria had always thought was legally blind.
But then Noel slithered around the knot of adoring male admirers and wrapped his arm around Aria. "I'm glad you're here." It made Aria feel slightly better, especially since Klaudia was watching.
Everyone turned toward the kitchen, which boomed with polka-ish music Aria could only assume was Finnish. The table had a fairy-tale quality to it, too: There were burbling cauldrons, oversized goblets, sausage bursting out of its casing, fish with their heads still on, and gingerbread cookies that looked straight out of Hansel and Gretel. A glass pitcher held soured milk. In front of a bubbling Crock-Pot Mrs. Kahn had affixed a label that said Moose! The Rosewood residents gathered around the table looked a little bit lost.
"Ooh, delicious!" Klaudia chirped when she reached the table. About ten guys scrambled to help her, as if she were an infant incapable of making her own plate. Mason Byers offered to spoon up Klaudia a bowl of soup. Philip Gregory asked if Klaudia wanted some sausage—nudge, nudge. Preston Wallis and John Dexter, who'd graduated from Rosewood Day but were going to Hollis and still some of Noel's closest friends, retrieved napkins for Klaudia and poured her a mug of cider.
The girls were a different story, though. Naomi Zeigler and Riley Wolfe shot Klaudia dirty looks from the kitchen island. Lanie Iler, who was standing near Aria in the food line, leaned over to Phi Templeton, who wasn't nearly as much of a dork as she used to be when Aria, Ali, and the others made fun of her in seventh grade, and whispered, "You know, she's not that pretty."
"She's in my English class," Phi answered, rolling her eyes. "She barely knows how to read English. I thought people from Europe were, like, fluent."
Aria hid a smirk. She would have thought Razor scooter-obsessed Phi would be sensitive about making fun of others.
"If James keeps looking at her, I'm going to kick her ass," Lanie continued through her teeth, spearing a sausage and plopping it on her plate. James Freed was her new boyfriend.
Someone tapped Aria on the shoulder and turned. Klaudia was right behind her, staring at Aria with her large, blue eyes. "Hallo, Aria," she said. "I eat you?"
At first, Aria thought she was serious—it was just the thing a fairy-tale villainess might say. Then Klaudia peered nervously into the crowd. "So many people, and I only you know!"
"What a lovely idea!" Mrs. Kahn appeared from out of nowhere and clapped a hand on Aria's shoulder. "You two should definitely eat together! You'll love Aria, Klaudia."
"Oh." Aria fiddled with the bat-wing sleeve of her silk blouse. Wouldn't Klaudia rather eat with her male entourage? But it wasn't like she could say no with Mrs. Kahn standing there.
After spooning a few more bites of vegetarian goulash on her plate, Aria led Klaudia to the bay window seat. They were quiet for a moment, taking in the party. The popular girls from Rosewood Day had moved to the long table in the breakfast nook, still giving Klaudia—and Aria, by association—the evil eye. A nearby cluster of adults Aria didn't recognize were out-boasting one another about where their kids had gotten into college. Through the archway to the living room, Aria caught sight of Spencer and a boy she didn't recognize, but she knew better than to wave.
The postcard haunted her. Today, she was sure she felt someone watching her—even in classes where she sat in the last row of the room, even when alone in a stall in the girls' bathroom. She kept whipping around, heart in her throat, but no one was ever there. During study hall, she'd listened to two meditation tapes in a row, but they'd only gotten her more riled up. Even sitting here, in Noel's kitchen, she kept peeking at her cell phone, terrified of a new text.
Could A seriously be back? What if A really knew the horrible thing she'd done?
Aria turned to Klaudia, trying to shake the awful thoughts from her mind. "So how do you like Rosewood Day?"
Klaudia dabbed her mouth with a napkin. "So big. I get much lost! And people give directions, and I'm like…oof!" She pretended to wipe sweat off her brow. "My old school in Helsinki? Six rooms! Thirty people in our class! Nothing like this!"
The corners of her mouth turned down as she spoke. She finished the tirade with a shaky titter. Was Klaudia…scared? It had never occurred to Aria that such a gorgeous, confident creature could be intimidated by anything. Perhaps she was actually human.
"I know what you mean." Aria swallowed bite of beet and turnip mash. "The high school I went to in Reykjavik only had about a hundred students. I knew everyone within a couple of weeks."
Klaudia lowered her fork. "You did school in Reykjavik?"
"Yeah." Didn't Noel tell Klaudia anything about her? "I lived there for almost three years. I loved it."
"I go there!" Klaudia's smile broadened. "For the Iceland Airwaves festival!"
"I went to that, too!" The Iceland Airwaves festival was the first concert Aria had gone to. She'd felt so adult traipsing onto the grounds, passing the hippie tents selling temporary tattoos and dream catchers, and inhaling the smells of exotic vegetarian cuisine and hookah pipes. During one of the many Icelandic bands' sets, she'd met three boys: Asbjorn, Gunner, and Jonas, and Jonas had kissed her during the encore. That was when Aria knew moving to Iceland was the best thing that could've ever happened to her.
Klaudia nodded excitedly, her blond hair bouncing. "So much music! My favorite was Metric."
"I saw them in Copenhagen!" Aria said. She would have never pegged Klaudia for a Metric girl. Music was one of those things Aria hadn't been able to talk about with anyone here the way she had in Iceland—all the Typical Rosewoods, as she called them, never ventured to listened to anything not on the iTunes Most Downloaded list.
"I loved! So much—tanssi!" She squinted, trying to think of the English word, and then bobbed her head back and forth as though she were dancing.
Then, setting her paper plate on the windowsill, Klaudia pulled out her iPhone and flipped through pictures. "This is Tanja." She pointed at a foxlike Sofia Coppola lookalike. "Best friends. We go to Reykjavik concert together. I miss so much. We text every night."
Klaudia flipped through more photos of her friends, mostly blond girls: her family, a gaunt, makeup-free mother, a tall rumpled father who she said was an engineer, and a modern box that reminded Aria of the house they rented in Reykjavik; and her cat, Mika, which she cradled like a baby in the same way Aria cradled her own cat, Polo. "I miss my Mee-mee so much!" she cried, bringing the picture to her lips and giving the cat a kiss.
Aria giggled. In these pictures, Klaudia didn't look slutty or conniving—she seemed normal. Cool, even. It was possible Aria had judged Klaudia unfairly. Maybe she was overly touchy-feely with Noel because she was uncomfortable in her new surroundings. And maybe she dressed sluttily because she thought all Americans did—if you went by American television, you'd certainly think so. Really, Aria and Klaudia had more in common than Aria originally thought—the Typical Rosewood Girls shunned Klaudia, just like they did Aria. They always blacklisted things they didn't immediately understand.
Klaudia turned to the next photo in the stack, a shot of her friends in ski gear on top of a mountain. "Oh! This is Kalle!" She said it like Kah-lee. "We ski every weekend! Who will I ski with now?"
"I'll slop with you," Aria volunteered, surprising herself.
Klaudia's eyes brightened. "You ski?"
"Well, no…" Aria forked the remaining goulash on her plate. "Actually, I've never skied in my life."
"I teach you!" Klaudia bounced in her seat. "We go soon! So easy!"
"Okay." Come to think of it, Noel had mentioned that his family was thinking about going on a ski trip for the long weekend at the end of the week. Surely Klaudia would be invited, too. "But I'd like to teach you something in return."
"How about that?" Klaudia pointed at the pink mohair scarf wound around Aria's neck. "Did you neuloa?" She rotated her hands around, pantomiming knitting.
Aria inspected the scarf. "Oh, I knitted this years ago. It's not very good."
"No, is beautiful!" Klaudia exclaimed. "Teach me! I make presents for Tanja and Kalle!"
"You want to learn to knit?" Aria repeated. No one, not even Ali or the others, had asked Aria To teach them—it had always been Aria's weird thing. But Klaudia didn't seem to think it was weird.
They arranged to meet on Thursday at a ski supply store so Aria could get proper gear. As they rose to check out the desserts, Aria noticed Noel staring at her from across the room with a surprised smile on his face. Aria waved, and so did Klaudia. "He your boyfriend, right?" Klaudia asked.
"Yeah," Aria answered. "For over a year."
"Ooh, serious!" Klaudia's eyes twinkled. But there was nothing envious about her demeanor.
Mr. Kahn appeared in the doorway. Aria hadn't seen him in weeks. He was always traveling on important business. Now, he was decked out in a brown loincloth, what looked like a bearskin coat, black boots, and a massive horned hat. He looked like Fred Flinstone.
"I'm ready for the feast!" he bellowed, raising a club in his left hand.
Everyone cheered. The Rosewood Day girls in the corner tittered. Aria and Klaudia exchanged a horrified look. Was he serious?
"Save me!" Klaudia whispered, hiding behind Aria.
Aria burst into giggles. "Those horns! And what's with the club?"
"I don't know!" Klaudia held her nose. "And Mrs. Kahn's skirt smell just like hevonpaskaa!"
Aria didn't exactly know what the word meant, but just the sound of it made her double over with giggles. She could feel the stares of the bitchy girls across the room, but she didn't care. All at once, she felt so grateful Klaudia was here. For the first time in almost a year, Aria had someone to laugh with again. Someone who really understood her in a way that the Typical Rosewoods couldn't.
For a moment, it even made her forget about A.