Read Online Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard - Free Book Online Page B

jacket pockets. For a second, she considered telling Maya about Ali. But a hummingbird swept past her and she lost her nerve. “I’m fine,” she said.
    â€œDo you wanna come in?” Maya asked.
    â€œNo…I…I have to go back to school,” Emily answered. “Swimming.”
    â€œOh.” Maya crinkled up her eyes. “You didn’t have to walk me home, silly.”
    â€œYeah, but I didn’t want you to get lost.”
    â€œYou’re so cute.” Maya looped her hands behind her back and swung her hips back and forth. Emily wondered what she meant by cute . Was that a California thing?
    â€œSo, well, have fun at swimming,” Maya said. “And thanks for showing me around today.”
    â€œSure.” Emily stepped forward, and their bodies smushed together in a hug.
    â€œMmm,” Maya said, squeezing tighter. The girls stepped back and grinned at each other for a second. Then Maya leaned forward and kissed Emily on both cheeks. “Mwah, mwah!” she said. “Like the French.”
    â€œWell, then, I’ll be French too.” Emily giggled,forgetting about Ali and the tree for a second. “Mwah!” She kissed Maya’s smooth left cheek.
    Then Maya kissed her again, on her right cheek, except now just a teensy bit closer to her mouth. There was no mwah this time.
    Maya’s mouth smelled like banana bubble gum. Emily jerked back and caught her swimming bag before it slid off her shoulder. When she looked up, Maya was grinning.
    â€œI’ll see ya,” Maya said. “Be good.”
    Â 
    Emily folded her towel into her swim bag after practice. The whole afternoon had been a blur. After Maya skipped into her house, Emily jogged back to school—as if running would untangle the jumble of feelings inside her. As she slipped into the water and swam lap after lap, she saw those haunting initials on the tree. When Coach blew her whistle and they practiced starts and turns, she smelled Maya’s banana gum and heard her fun, easy laugh. Standing at her locker, she was pretty sure she’d shampooed her hair twice. Most of the other girls had stayed in the communal showers for longer, gossiping, but Emily was too spaced out to join them.
    As she reached for her T-shirt and jeans, folded neatly on the shelf in her locker, a note came fluttering out. Emily’s name was written on the front in plain, unfamiliar handwriting, and she didn’t recognize the graph notebook paper. She picked it up off the cold, wet floor.
    Hey Em,
    Sob! I’ve been replaced! You found another friend to kiss! —A
    Emily curled her toes around the rubber locker room mat and stopped breathing for a second. She looked around. No one was looking at her.
    Was this for real?
    She stared at the note and tried to think rationally. She and Maya were out in the open, but no one was around.
    And… I’ve been replaced? Another friend to kiss? Emily’s hands trembled. She looked at the signature again. Laughter from the other swimmers echoed off the walls.
    Emily had kissed just one other friend. It was two days after she carved their initials into that oak tree and just a week and a half before the end of seventh grade.
    Alison.

7
SPENCER’S GOT A TIGHT POSTERIOR (DELTOID)
    â€œLook at his butt!”
    â€œShut up!” Spencer knocked her friend Kirsten Cullen in the shin guard with her field hockey stick. They were supposed to be running defense drills, but they—along with the rest of the team—were too busy sizing up this year’s new assistant coach. He was none other than Ian Thomas.
    Spencer’s skin prickled with adrenaline. Talk about weird; she remembered Melissa mentioning that Ian had moved to California. But then, a lot of people who you wouldn’t expect ended up back in Rosewood.
    â€œYour sister was so stupid to break up with him,” Kirsten said. “He’s so hot .”
    â€œ Shhh, ”