Unbelievable (Book Four)

Eight: Doesn't Everyone Talk About This Stuff In A Hospital Room?

Monday morning, instead of rushing to English class before the bell rang, Aria was running toward the Rosewood Day exit. She'd just received a text message on her Treo from Lucas. Aria, come to the hospital if you can, it said. They're finally letting people in to see Hanna.

She was so engrossed and focused, she didn't see her brother, Mike, until he was standing right in front of her. He wore a Playboy bunny-icon T-shirt underneath his Rosewood Day jacket and a blur Rosewood Day varsity lacrosse bracelet. Engraved in the bracelet's rubber was his team nickname, which, for whatever reason, was Buffalo. Aria didn't dare ask why—it was probably an inside joke about his penis or something. The lacrosse team was becoming more and more of a frat every day.

"Hey," Aria said, a bit distracted. "How are you?"

Mike's hands seemed welded to his hips. The sneer on his face indicated he wasn't up for small talk. "I hear you're living with Dad now."

"As a last resort," Aria said quickly. "Sean and I broke up."

Mike narrowed his ice blue eyes. "I know. I heard that too."

Aria stepped back, surprised. Mike didn't know about Ezra, did he? "I just wanted to tell you that you and Dad deserve each other," Mike snapped, whipping around and nearly colliding with a girl in a cheerleading uniform. "See ya later."

"Mike, wait!" Aria cried. "I'm going to fix this, I promise!"

But he just kept going. Last week, Mike had found out that Aria had known about their dad's affair for three years. On the surface, he'd acted all tough and cool about their parents' dissolving marriage. He played varsity lacrosse, made lewd comments to girls, and tried to give his teammates titty twisters in the hallways. But Mike was like a Bjork song—all happy and giddy and fun on the surface, but bubbling with turmoil and pain underneath. She couldn't imagine what Mike would think if he found out Byron and Meredith were planning to get married.

As she heaved a huge sigh and continued toward the side door, she noticed a figure in a three-piece suit staring at her from across the hall.

"Going somewhere, Ms. Montgomery?" Principal Appleton asked.

Aria flinched, her face growing hot. She hadn't seen Appleton since Sean had told the Rosewood staff about Ezra. But Appleton didn't exactly look pissed—more like...nervous. Almost as if Aria was someone he had to treat very, very delicately. Aria tried to hide a smirk. Appleton probably didn't want Aria to press charges against Ezra or talk about the incident ever again. It would draw indecent attention to the school, and Rosewood Day could never have that.

Aria turned, fueled with power. "There's somewhere I have to be," she insisted.

It was against Rosewood Day policy to walk out of a class, but Appleton did nothing to stop her. Perhaps the Ezra mess was good for something, after all.

She reached the hospital quickly and sprinted up to the third-floor intensive care unit. Inside, patients were sprawled out in a circle, separated only by a curtain. A long, U-shaped nurse's desk sat in the middle of the room. Aria passed an old black woman who looked dead, a silver-haired man in a neck brace, and a groggy-looking fortysomething who was muttering to herself. Hanna's partitioned-off area was along one of the walls. With her, long, healthy auburn hair, unlined skin, and taut, young body, Hanna was definitely the thing in the ICU that didn't belong. Her cordoned-off area was full of flowers, boxes of candy, stacks of magazines, and stuffed animals. Someone had bought her a large, white teddy bear that wire a patterned wrap dress. When Aria flipped open the tag on the bear's plushy arm, she saw that the bear's name was Diane von FurstenBEAR. There was a brand-new white cast on Hanna's arm. Lucas Beattie, Mona Vanderwaal, and Hanna's parents had already signed it.