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She’d come to Rive Gauche since Mona, of course—Lucas worked here on the weekends, and he always slipped Hanna free Diet Cokes with the teensiest splash of rum. But it wasn’t Lucas standing next to her tonight either. It was…Kate.
Kate looked good—fabulous, even. Her chestnut hair was held back by a black silk headband. She wore a vermilion empire-waist dress with a pair of dark brown Loeffler Randall boots. Hanna was wearing her favorite black patent leather Marc Jacobs heels, a fuchsia cashmere cowl-neck, skinny jeans, and her favorite ultra-red Nars lipstick. Together, they looked a gazillion times better than Naomi and Riley, who were huddled like ugly garden gnomes at Hanna’s rightful table.
Hanna glowered. Naomi’s super-short hair and stumpy neck made her look like a turtle. Riley’s ratlike nose twitched as she wiped her nonexistent lips with a napkin.
Kate glanced at Hanna, registering what was happening. “They’re not your frenemies anymore, remember?” she said out of the corner of her mouth.
Hanna let out a sigh. In theory, she backed Kate’s if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em plan. But in reality…
Kate faced Hanna. She was three inches taller than Hanna, so she had to look down at her when she talked. “We need them as friends,” Kate said calmly. “Strength in numbers.”
“It’s just—”
“Do you even know why you hate them?” Kate snapped.
Hanna shrugged. She hated them because they were bitchy…and because Ali had hated them. Only, Ali had never explained the odious thing Naomi and Riley had done that had made her drop them cold. And it wasn’t like Hanna could’ve asked Naomi and Riley about what they’d done. Ali made Hanna and the others promise never to speak to Naomi and Riley, ever.
“Come on.” Kate put her hands on her hips. “Let’s do this.”
Hanna groaned, glowering at her soon-to-be stepsister. There was a tiny indication of a blemish at the corner of Kate’s lip. Hanna wasn’t sure if it was just a pimple…or something else. She’d been obsessing over the puzzling secret Kate had alluded to yesterday at breakfast—that she’d slept with a guy, but it had led to a complication. Herpes was certainly a complication, wasn’t it? And didn’t herpes lead to cold sores?
“Fine, let’s go,” Hanna snarled. Kate smiled, grabbed her hand again, and proceeded toward Naomi and Riley’s table. The girls noticed them, waving at Kate but looking at Hanna suspiciously. Kate marched right up to the banquette and plopped down on the plushy red seat. “How are you guys!” she squealed, giving them air kisses.
Naomi and Riley fawned over Kate for a few moments, admiring her dress, bracelet, and boots, pushing their uneaten fries in her direction. Then Naomi glanced at Hanna, who had remained standing by the dessert cart. “What’s she doing here?” she said in a low voice.
Kate pushed a fry into her mouth. She was, Hanna had observed, the kind of girl who could super-size everything and not gain an ounce. Bitch. “Hanna’s here because she has something to say to you guys,” Kate announced.
Riley raised an arched eyebrow. “She does?”
Kate nodded, folding her hands. “She wants to apologize for all the mean things she’s done to you over the years.”
What? Hanna was too stunned to speak. Kate had said they should be nice, not sell out. Why should she apologize to Naomi and Riley? They’d done just as much to Hanna over the years as Hanna had done to them.
Kate continued. “She wants to start fresh with you guys. She told me she didn’t even know why you were fighting in the first place.”
Hanna shot Kate a look that could have frozen molten lava. But Kate didn’t flinch. Trust me, her expression said. This will work.
Hanna faced forward, running her hand through her hair. “Fine,” she mumbled, lowering her eyes. “I’m sorry.”
“Good!” Kate crowed. She faced the others encouragingly. “So, truce?”
Naomi and Riley glanced at each other, then smiled. “Truce!” Naomi exclaimed loudly, making the diners at the next table look over in annoyance. “Mona screwed us over, too. She acted all BFF and then dumped us after your car accident. For no reason at all!”
“Well, now we know the reason,” Riley corrected, raising a finger. “She wanted to ditch us to get back on your good side so, like, no one would suspect that she hit you with her car.”
“God.” Riley pressed her palm to her chest. “So evil.”
Hanna winced. Did they really need to get into all that right now?
“Anyway, we feel so awful for what you had to go through, Hanna,” Naomi simpered. “And we’re sorry, too, about our fight. So truce, definitely!” She jiggled up and down excitedly.
“Great!” Kate cried. She nudged Hanna, and Hanna mustered a smile too.
“So sit, Hanna!” Naomi said. Hanna sat cautiously, feeling like a Chihuahua who had walked into a testy Rottweiler’s yard. This seemed way too easy.
“We were just looking at the new Teen Vogue,” Riley announced, shoving a dog-eared magazine toward them. “There’s that benefit this weekend, after all. We have to beat all those ugly bitches to the best dresses.”
Hanna raised a suspicious eyebrow, noticing the date on the Teen Vogue cover. “I thought this issue didn’t come out for another few weeks.”
Riley took a sip of her seltzer and cranberry juice. “My cousin works there. This is just a mock-up, but the issue’s already been put to bed. She sends me early issues all the time. Sometimes she even sends me local sample-sale invites, stuff the public never gets invited to.”
