Michael paused. “We could do that.” He sounded surprised. “Believe me, you won’t be disappointed. It’s a wonderful find.” He clattered on his keyboard. “Okay. We’ll need some cash up front, enough for the first month’s rent, security, and a broker fee. So we should get your mom on the phone. She’s going to be your guarantor for the lease and authorize the transfer of the deposit, right?”
Spencer wiggled her fingers over the laptop keyboard. Olivia had made it clear that her husband, Morgan, was suspicious of people he didn’t know. If she asked Olivia and Morgan for money, she risked losing his trust. She glanced at the screen. There was the folder in the right-hand corner of the desktop. Spencer, College.
She slowly opened the folder and then the PDF. All the information she needed was there. The account was in her name. Olivia had said that once Morgan met her, he’d love her. He’d probably reimburse this account ten times over.
“We don’t need my mother to be involved,” Spencer said. “I have an account in my name I’d like to use.”
“Okay,” Michael said, not missing a beat. He probably dealt with rich city kids with their own accounts all the time. Spencer read Michael the numbers on the screen, her voice quivering. Michael repeated them back to her, and then told her all he had to do was call the landlord and they’d be set. They made arrangements to meet in front of the building at 4 P.M. on Monday so Spencer could sign the lease and collect the keys. After that, the apartment would be hers.
“Great,” Spencer said. Then, she hung up her phone and stared blankly at the wall.
She had done it. She had really done it. In mere days, she wouldn’t live here anymore. She’d be a New Yorker, away from Rosewood for good. Olivia would come home from Paris, and Spencer would be adjusted to city life. She imagined meeting Olivia and Morgan for casual dinners in their apartment and fancier dinners at the Gotham Bar and Grill and Le Bernardin. She pictured the group of new friends she’d make, people who loved going to art exhibitions and benefits and didn’t give a shit that she had once been pursued by a bunch of jealous losers who called themselves A. When she thought of the boys she’d meet, she felt a twinge of sadness—none of them would be Andrew. But then she thought of how he’d treated her today and shook her head. She couldn’t dwell on him right now. Her life was about to change.
Her head felt soft and hollow, as if she were drunk. Her limbs shook with glee. And it almost seemed like she was hallucinating—when she looked out the back window, she thought she saw sparkling beams of light bouncing off the trees, like a fireworks display just for her.
Wait a minute.
Spencer stood. The beams were from a flashlight, criss-crossing over the tree trunks. A figure crouched and started rummaging in the dirt. Whoever it was tried one spot, stopped, and then crab-walked a few paces to the left and tried another.
Her stomach dropped. It couldn’t be a cop—they’d abandoned these woods days ago. She hefted up the window, curious as to whether the person was making any noise. To her horror, the window made a loud scraping sound against the jamb. Spencer winced, curling away.
The figure stopped, turning toward the barn. The flashlight beamed erratically, first right, then left, and then, for a moment, on the figure’s face. Spencer saw the whites of two blue eyes. The edges of a black hooded sweatshirt. A few pale strands of familiar blond hair.
Spencer wrinkled her nose in disbelief. Was that…Melissa?
The figure flinched in the darkness, as if Spencer had spoken out loud. Before Spencer could determine if it really was her sister, the flashlight in the woods snapped off. A few twigs cracked. It appeared that whoever was out there was walking away. The footsteps grew fainter and fainter until Spencer couldn’t distinguish them from the swishing trees.
When Spencer was certain the person was gone, she ran outside and crouched in the dirt. Sure enough, the soil was soft and loose. She felt around for a moment, touching only stones and sticks, but the ground still felt warm, as if someone else’s hands had just been there. As she looked up, she heard a thin sound, far off in the trees. Goose bumps rose on her arms. It almost sounded like…a giggle.
But as Spencer cocked her head, the noise vanished, and she couldn’t help but wonder if it had just been the wind.
20
ARIA’S FREE FALL
That same afternoon, Aria met Jason outside Rocks and Ropes, an indoor rock-climbing facility a few miles outside Rosewood. “After you,” Jason said, holding the front door.
“Thanks.” Aria swooned. She hitched up the slightly too-big spandex yoga tights she’d stolen from Meredith’s closet, hoping that Jason wouldn’t notice how baggy they were in the butt. Jason, on the other hand, looked comfortable and sexy in a long-sleeved gray T-shirt and Nike warm-up pants, as though he climbed rock walls all the time. Maybe he did.
Once inside, the light was fluorescent and harsh. Aggressive guitar rock blared through the speakers, and the high-ceilinged, rubbery-smelling room had thousands of colorful, plastic-looking outcroppings on the walls. Jason had asked Aria to Rocks and Ropes in a text message this morning, admitting he wasn’t the type of guy to take girls to dinner and a movie. Really, Aria would have stood in line at the DMV with Jason if that was what he considered a date.
After signing in, they walked over to the big wall and looked around. Aria ogled a few girls as they scuttled up the side of the wall, harnesses tied tightly around their waists. How could they stand being up that high? Just craning her neck gave Aria vertigo. She shuddered.