Constellations

| 9 | Keep Your Friends Close

The girls were standing with Hanna at her locker, watching her look at herself in the mirror on the inside of her locker, "Okay, I need to ask you guys something. And, I need you to be totally honest with me."

"Yeah." The rest of the girls said.

"Is this side of my face fatter than this side?" Hanna asked, turning to show both the left and right side of her face.

"No." The girls all said in unison. Hanna held her face in her hands and had a pout on her lips.

Aria looked over Hanna's shoulder to see Ian Thomas talking to a group of students, "Is that Ian?" Aria asked, squinting her eyes as if it would help her see better. Valerie's heart dropped, she looked in front of her for confirmation.

"Yeah. I hear he's the new field hockey coach." Spencer revealed. Valerie felt a shiver of fear run down her spine. Valerie never really had any petty fears, so when she was scared of something, it reached terrifying levels. The only thing Valerie had to be scared of was A, but now Ian's back and Jason wasn't here to protect her this time.

"Does Melissa know he's back?" Emily asked.

"Don't know why she ever broke up with him." Hanna shrugged, eyeing him like he was a piece of candy.

"She didn't." Spencer said, "He broke up with her."

"Hey!" Mona said, walking up to the girls, "The first one's for my bestie. And one for each of you, my bestie's other friends."

"What's this?" Valerie questioned, raising a brow.

"Oh nothing. Only an invitation to the most awesome birthday party ever, Camp Mona." Mona declared exuberantly. The girls all looked at each other with fake excitement.

"Camp Mona?" Aria wondered aloud.

"Don't let the camping part scare you. It's glamping, not camping. M is for Mona and massages, not mosquitoes." Mona assured, "Oh, Naomi, Riley, hey, wait up!" Mona called out rushing to another group of girls.

"Why is Mona inviting us to her birthday party?" Spencer asked, trying not to laugh.

"She knows that we're friends, and she's just trying to reach out to you." Hanna explained.

"Well, I prefer to keep a five mile radius between me and Mona at all times." Valerie quipped.

"Hey, she's just trying to be nice." Hanna defended.

"Oh, I'm sure she is." Valerie said sarcastically, "Just like that time she pushed me into a locker to gawk at some loser who wouldn't even respond to her texts."

Hanna tilted her head to the side and rolled her eyes, "Anyways, are you guys gonna go?" She asked.

"Absolutely not." Valerie muttered.

"I know she's your friend... but–"

"Yeah, but I'm gonna have to pass, I got this–"

"A lot of stuff to do this weekend."

"Me too."

Suddenly all the girls' phones chimed at the same time. They all knew who that had to be. They pulled their phones out to reveal the text.

"Camp Mona's a scavenger hunt and I'm the prize." Spencer read.

"Come find me bitches." Hanna read next.

There was a pause for a moment as they all looked at each other, "A," They all said.

Valerie and Aria were walking around, cleaning up the house and putting away laundry, "Oh, I was gonna do the laundry tonight." Bryon said.