Unbelievable (Book Four)

18: Now, Introducing, For The First Time Ever In Rosewood, Jessica Montgomery.

That same afternoon, Aria stood outside the Hollis art building, staring at a group of kids doing capoeira on the lawn. Aria had never understood capoeira. Her brother described it best, saying it looked less like a Brazilian fight dance and more like the people were trying to smell one another's butts or pee on each other like dogs.

She felt a cold, thin hand on her shoulder. "Are you on campus for your art class?" a voice whispered in Aria's ear.

Aria stiffened. "Meredith." Today, Meredith wore a green pin-striped blazer and ripped jeans, and had an army green knapsack slung over her shoulder. The way she was staring at Aria, Aria felt like a little ant beneath a Meredith-shaped magnifying glass.

"You're taking Mindless Art, right?" Meredith said. When Aria nodded dumbly, Meredith looked at her watch. "You'd better get up there. It starts in five minutes."

Aria felt trapped. She'd been considering bagging this class completely—the last thing she wanted to do was spend two hours with Jenna Cavanaugh. Just seeing her the other day had brought back all sorts of uncomfortable memories. But Aria knew Meredith would relay everything to Byron, and Byron would give her a lecture on how it wasn't very nice to throw Meredith's charitable gift away. Aria pulled her pink cardigan around her shoulders. "Are you going to walk me up?" she snapped.

Meredith looked surprised. "Actually...I can't. I have to go do something. Something...important."

Aria rolled her eyes. She wasn't being serious, but Meredith was looking back and forth shiftily, as if concealing a big secret. A horrible thought occurred to Aria: What if she was doing something wedding related? Even though Aria really, really didn't want to imagine Meredith and her father standing at the front of a church altar, repeating their vows, the horrible image popped into her head anyway.

Without saying good-bye, Aria walked over to the building and took the stairs two at a time. Upstairs, Sabrina was about to start her lecture, instructing all the artists to find workstations. It was like a big game of musical chairs, and when the dust settled, Aria still didn't have a seat. There was only one art table left...next to the girls with the white cane and the big golden retriever guide dog. Naturally.

It felt like Jenna's eyes were following her as Aria's thin-soled Chinese slippers slapped against the wood floor toward the empty workstation. Jenna's dog panted amiably at Aria as she passed. Today, Jenna wore a low-cut black blouse with a tiny bit of a lacy black bra peeking through. If Mike were here, he would probably adore Jenna because he could stare at her boobs without her ever knowing. When Aria sat down, Jenna cocked her head closer to her. "What's your name?"

"It's...Jessica," Aria blurted, before she could stop herself. She glanced at Sabrina at the front of the room; half the time, art teachers for the continuing-ed classes didn't bother to learn people's names, and hopefully Meredith hadn't told Sabrina to look out for her in class.

"I'm Jenna." She stuck out her hand, and Aria shook it. Afterward, Aria turned away quickly, wondering how on earth she would get through the rest of the class. A new Jenna memory had come to mind that morning when Aria was eating breakfast in Meredith's freak show of a kitchen, probably brought on by the looming dwarves on top of Meredith's refrigerator. Ali, Aria, and the others used to call Jenna Snow, after Snow White in the Disney movie. Once, when their class went to the Longwood Orchards for apple-picking, Ali had suggested they give Jenna an apple they'd dunked in the orchard's filthy woman's toilet, just like the wicked witch gave Snow White a poisoned apple in the movie.

Ali suggested that Aria give Jenna the apple—she always made the others do her dirty work. "This apple is special," Aria had said to Jenna, holding the fruit out-stretched, listening to Ali snickered behind her. "The farmer told me it was from the sweetest tree. And I wanted to give it to you." Jenna's face had been so surprised and touched. As soon as she took a big, juicy bite, though, Ali crowed, "You ate an apple that's been peed on! Toilet breath!" Jenna had stopped mid-chew, letting the apple chunk fall out of her mouth.