Ali's Pretty Little Lies (Prequel)

Fourteen: 2 Good + 2 Be = 4 Gotten.

The following day, the girls cruised up and down the aisles of Saks. The store was tastefully lit with recessed lights on signature pieces, and the walls were painted in black-and-white stripes. Dance music pumped out of hidden speakers, and thin, pretty salesgirls floated around the room with warm smiles on their faces. But Ali's favorite thing about Saks was that it always smelled like they were inside a perfume factory. No other department store smelled as good.

Hanna plucked a quilted Chanel purse from a shelf. "This. Definitely." The girls were playing their favorite game: What Would You Buy If You Had All the Money in the World?

"Really?" Ali made a face. "That's so grandmotherly."

Hanna looked horrified and dropped it. "Uh, I picked up the wrong one. I meant this." She showed her a red Louis Vuitton. Ali nodded her approval, and Hanna smiled with relief.

"I'm into this one," Emily said, holding up a Chloe satchel. "Can you just see me carrying this to school?"

"That's gorgeous," Ali said, sighing. "I wish I'd seen it first."

Emily pushed it toward her. "You take it. I can pick something else."

Ali rolled her eyes. "It's just a game, Emily." She selected a Dior satchel from the wall. "I'll make do with this."

"Can I help you, girls?" a saleswoman asked behind them. She raised an eyebrow when she saw the luxury pieces in their hands. Ali glanced at the others, and they burst out laughing, then dropped everything and scampered away.

"Let's go to Contemporary," Ali announced. "I actually want to spend some money today."

They filed onto the escalators and peered at their reflections in the mirrored walls. Ali was wearing skinny jeans and a flowing hot-pink top she'd seen on the cover of TeenVogue. Aria had put a blue streak in her hair and wore a silver sequined shirt, blue flare-leg jeans, and chunky wedges. Hanna had a beautiful French Connection mini-dress that was, unfortunately, way too small on her. Spencer looked super preppy in a Lacoste tennis dress and Tory Burch flats, and Emily wore her uniform of baggy jeans and a plain blue T-shirt. Ali made a mental note to persuade her to buy something cute.

As they got off at Contemporary, Ali spied a skinny ice-blonde by the dresses and froze. It was Iris, her sister's old roommate at the Preserve. She was with two other girls her own age, and when she saw Ali, a malicious smile across her face. She waggled her fingers in a taunting wave.

Emily frowned. "Do you know her?"

"No," Ali said, guiding her friends across the sales floor, far, far away.

She took deep breaths as they headed toward the jeans. It doesn't matter that she's here, she told herself. She won't say anything about the Preserve. She probably doesn't want the girls she's with to know she was committed.

She stared intensely at the rack of jeans, pretending Iris wasn't there. Aria, Emily, and Spencer drifted over as well, and soon, all five of them were at the jeans wall, pulling out their sizes in skinny-legs and bootcut, dark wash and light. Then they trooped or the dressing rooms, squeezing into one together before the salesgirls yelled, "Only one girl per room, please."

Halfway through her massive pile of clothes to try, Ali spun around in the three-way-mirror; then noticed Emily sitting on the couch at the end of the dressing room hall with a wistful, faraway look on her face. She stopped. "Why aren't you trying anything on, Em?"

Emily shook her head. "This stuff is way too expensive. My parents would die if they saw the prices."

"We'll chip in and buy you something," Ali offered.