Perfect (Book Two)

Six: Charity Isn't So Sweet.

That same Wednesday afternoon, Hanna stood at the entrance of the Rosewood YMCA, a restored, Colonial-style mansion. The facade was redbrick, it had two-story-high white pillars, and the moldings around the eaves and the windows looked like they belonged on a gingerbread house. The Briggses, a legendary eccentric, wealthy family, built the place in 1886, populating it with ten Briggs family members, three live-in guests, two parrots, and twelve standard poodles. Most of the building's historical details had been torn down to make way for the Y's six-lane swimming pool, fitness center, and "meeting" rooms. Hanna wondered what the Briggses would think about some of the groups that now met in their mansion. Like the Virginity Club.

Hanna threw her shoulders back and walked down the slanted wood hall to room 204, where V Club was meeting. Sean still wasn't returning her calls. All she wanted to say was that she was sorry, God. How were they supposed to get back together if she couldn't apologize to him. The one place she knew Sean went—and Sean thought she'd never be—was Virginity Club.

So maybe it was a violation of Sean's personal space, but it was for a worthy cause. She missed Sean, especially with everything that was happening with A.

"Hanna?"

Hanna whirled around. Naomi Zeigler was on an elliptical trainer in the exercise room. She was dressed in dark red Adidas terry-cloth short-shorts, a tight-fitting pink sports bra, and matching pink socks. A coordinated red hair tie held her perfect blond ponytail in place.

Hanna fake-smiled, but inside she was wincing. Naomi and her best friend, Riley Wolfe, hated Hanna and Mona. Last spring, Naomi stole Mona's crush, Jason Ryder, and then dumped him two weeks later. At last year's prom, Riley learned that Hanna was wearing a sea-foam-green Calvin Klein dress...and bought the exact same dress, except in lipstick red.

"What are you doing here?" Naomi yelled. still cycling. Hanna noticed that elliptical's LED screen said Naomi had burned 876 calories. Bitch.

"I'm just meeting someone," Hanna mumbled. She pressed her hand against room 204's door, trying to seem casual, only she didn't realize the door was ajar. It tipped open, and Hanna lost her balance and toppled halfway over. Everyone inside turned to look at her.

"Yoo-hoo?" A woman in a hideous plaid knockoff Burberry jacket called. She stuck her head out the door and noticed Hanna. "Are you here for the meeting?"

"Uh," Hanna sputtered. When she glanced back at the elliptical, Naomi was gone.

"Don't be afraid." Hanna didn't know what else to do, so she followed the woman inside and took a seat.

The room was wood-paneled, dark, and airless. Kids sat on high-backed wooden chairs. Most of them looked normal, if a bit on the goody-goody side. The boys were either too pudgy or too scrawny. She didn't recognize anyone from Rosewood Day except for Sean. He was sitting across the room next to two wholesome-looking blond girls, staring at Hanna in alarm. She gave him a wave, but he didn't react.

"I'm Candace," the woman who'd come to the door said. "And you are..."

"Hanna. Hanna Marin."

"Well! Welcome, Hanna," Candace said. She was in her mid-forties, had short blondish hair, and had drowned herself in Chloe Narcisse perfume—ironic, since Hanna hd spritzed herself with Narcisse last Friday night, when she was supposed to do it with Sean. "What brings you here?"

Hanna paused. "I guess I've come to...to hear more about it."

"Well, the first thing I want you to know is, this is a safe space." Candace curled her hands around the back of a blond girl's chair. "Whatever you tell us is in the strictest confidence, so feel free to say anything. But you have to promise not to repeat anything anyone else says, too."