Ali and Chloe Revisted (Book 2)

Chapter 11: Libraries Have Never Been Safe

Chloe listened as the Beyoncé song on her iPod shuffle ended and transitioned into a classical music number. She flipped a page of her massive Econ textbook and looked at a highlighted chart. While her mind should have been focusing on how the chart showed that the Federal Reserve controls the money supply, she was thinking about Ali.

It was after 8 P.M. on Wednesday night, and Chloe was sitting in one of the Rosewood Public Library's private, book-lined study rooms, going over the latest econ unit. Technically, she'd already gone over it, but she needed an excuse to see Spencer. She'd already hung out with Aria, Emily, and Hanna—she was exhausted from being to so many places in one night—but it was worth the time she got to spend with them. She even made sure to complete the tons of AP English, calculus, and chemistry homework ahead of time during the week so she'd have more free time to spend however she liked.

Chloe's thoughts wandered and called up other things than her AP Econ homework. Like the A notes she, Aria, Emily, and Hanna had received since Ian was released on bail. And the fund-raiser that was coming up on Saturday. And the news reports about Ian's upcoming trial on Friday.

Earlier that morning, when she was getting ready for school, she sat down at her makeup table and snapped on her LCD TV. The Action News Morning Report song blared out of the speakers. ROSEWOOD REACTS TO IAN THOMAS'S TEMPORARY RELEASE flashed in big black block letters at the bottom of the screen.

A petite, redheaded news reporter was at the local SEPTA train station, canvassing commuters for their thoughts about the trial. "It's despicable," said a thin, stately older woman in a high-necked cashmere coat. "They shouldn't let that boy out for even a minute after what he did to those poor girls."

The camera moved to a dark-haired girl in her twenties. Her name, Alexandra Pratt, appeared below her face. Chloe recognized her. She'd once been Rosewood Day's star field hockey player, but had graduated when Ali, Courtney, and the four girls were in sixth grade, a year ahead of Ian, Melissa Hastings, and Chloe's brother, Jason. "He's definitely guilty," Alexandra said, not bothering to take off her enormous Valentino sunglasses. "Courtney occasionally played field hockey with a group of us on the weekends. Ian sometimes talked to Courtney after the games. I never knew Courtney that well, but I think he made her uncomfortable. I mean, she was so young. And Chloe came to our practices occasionally, and she didn't seem to like him very much."

Ian's senior pictures appeared on the screen, his smile white, wide, and genuine. Then Chloe clicked off the TV as the morning news moved on to a story about an E. coli scare in local grocery store lettuce.

Now as Chloe pretended to be studying, her mind drifted to Courtney and the four girls. She remembered the game she used to be play with them when they were in sixth grade and she was in second grade: We Are All Secretly Sisters. They'd made up this fantasy that their birth mother was really worldly, rich, and connected, but she'd lost her six beautiful daughters in the Kuala Lumpur airport (mostly because they liked the words Kuala Lumpur) because she was schizo (mostly because they liked the word schizo). It had been Chloe's favorite game mainly because it didn't include Ali.

Chloe stared through the study room's porthole window at the enormous blue modern art mobile hanging from the library ceiling. Her name phone beeped, causing her to jump. But when she looked at the screen, it was a text message from Spencer.

We're ready to leave now, read the text.

Chloe began capping her multicolored highlighters and putting them back in their plastic sleeve, careful to make sure the markers were all turned the exact same way. Just as she slid the electric blue pen back in its place, a knock sounded at the door. Chloe looked up, and Spencer waved through the porthole.