Perfect (Book Two)

Nineteen: Watch Out For Girls With Branding Irons.

The Strawberry Ridge Yoga Studio was in a converted barn on the other side of Rosewood. On her bike ride there, Aria passed a tobacco-colored covered bridge and the row of Hollis art department houses, charmingly ramshackle Colonials that were spatter-painted various shades of purple, pink, and blue. She crammed her bike into the rack in front of the toga studio; it was already full of other bikes, all bearing Meat Is Murder and PETA stickers on their frames.

She paused in the yoga studio's lobby and looked at the scruffy, makeupless girls and hairy, limber boys. Was she crazy to make A's instructions—Strawberry Ridge Yoga Studio. Be there—literally? And was she ready to see Meredith? Perhaps A was baiting her. Perhaps A was here.

Aria had seen Meredith only three times before: first when Meredith came to her dad's student-teacher cocktail party, then when she caught Meredith and her dad in the car together, and finally the other day at the Victory, but she'd have recognized her anywhere. Now Meredith was paused in front of the studio's closet, dragging down mats, blankets, blocks, and straps. Her brown hair was up in a messy ponytail and there was that pink spiderweb tattoo on the inside of her wrist.

Meredith noticed Aria and smiled. "You're new, right?" She met Aria's eyes, and or a terrifying second Aria was certain Meredith knew who she was. But then she broke eye contact, lean over to pop a CD into that portable stereo. Indian sitar music swam out. "Have you done Ashtanga before?"

"Um, yes," Aria answered. She noticed a big sign on the table that said Individual Classes $15, and fished out a ten and a five and laid them on the desk, wondering how A knew Meredith was here—and if A really was here.

Meredith smirked. "And I guess you know the secret, huh?"

"W-What?" Aria whispered, her heart pounding. "Secret?"

"You brought your own mat." Meredith pointed to the red yoga mat under Aria's arm. "So many new people come here and use the studio's mats. You didn't her it from me, but you could scrape off the foot fungus on our mats and make cheese."

Aria tried to smile. She'd brought her own yoga mat to classes ever since she first went with Ali in seventh grade. Ali always used to tell her that community yoga mats gave you STDs.

Meredith squinted at her. "You look familiar. Are you in my drawing class?"

Aria shook her head, suddenly aware that the place smelled like a mixture of feet and incense. This was the sort of yoga studio Ella would go to. In fact, perhaps Ella already had.

"What's your name?"

"Um, Alison," Aria said quickly. It wasn't as if she had the most common name in the world, and she was afraid Byron might have mentioned it to Meredith. Which made her pause. Would Byron talk about Aria to Meredith?

"You look like this girl in the drawing class I TA for," Meredith said. "But class just started. I get everyone confused."

Aria picked up a leaflet for a seminar on Getting to Know Your Chakras. "So, you're a grad student?"

Meredith nodded. "Getting my MFA."

"What is your, um, medium?"

"Well, I do all sorts of stuff. Painting. Drawing." Meredith looked behind Aria and waved at someone else coming in. "But I recently got into branding."

"What?"

"Branding. I weld these custom-made branding irons together to make words, and then I burn the words on big blocks of wood."

"Wait, so the brands are like cattle brands?"

Meredith ducked her head. "I try to explain it, but most people think I'm crazy."

"No," Aria said quickly. "It's cool."

Meredith glanced at the clock on the wall. "We have a couple minutes. I can show you some photos." She reached into a striped cloth bag that sat next to her and pulled out her cell phone. "Just scroll through these, here..."

The photos were of blond slabs of wood. A few just had single letters on them, and a few said short things, like catch me and control freak. The letters were a little strangely shaped, but looked really cool charred into the wood. Aria flipped to the next photo. It was a longer slab that said, To err is human, but it feels divine.

Aria looked up. "Mae West."

Meredith brightened. "It's one of my favorite quotes."

"Same." Aria handed her back the phone. "These are really cool."

Meredith smiled. "Glad you like 'em. I might have a show in a couple of months."

"I'm sur..." Aria clamped her lips together. She was about to say, I'm surprised. She hadn't expected Meredith to be like this. When Aria imagined Meredith, only uncool attributes had come to mind. Imaginary Meredith #1 studied art history and worked for a stuffy, stale gallery somewhere on the Main Line that sold Hudson River School landscapes to rich old ladies. Imaginary Meredith #2 listened to Kelly Clarkson, loved Laguna Beach, and if encouraged, would lift her shirt to get on Girls Gone Wild. Never did Aria think she'd be arty. Why would Byron need an artist? He had Ella.

As Meredith greeted another yoga student, Aria moved into the main studio room. It had high ceilings, exposing the barn's wooden rafters; shiny, caramel-colored wood floors; and large, Indian-print sheets hanging everywhere. Most people had already sat down on their mats and were lying on their backs. It was weirdly silent.

Aria looked around the room. A girl with a brown ponytail and large thighs was doing a backbend. A lanky guy moved from downward dog into child's pose, breathing forcefully through his nose. A blond girl in the corner sis a seated twist. When she faced forward, Aria' stomach dropped. "Spencer?" she blurted.

Spencer paled and pushed herself onto her knees. "Oh," she said. "Aria. Hey."

Aria swallowed hard. "What are you doing here?"

Spencer looked at her crazily. "Yoga?"

"No, I know that, but..." Aria shook her head. "I mean, did someone tell you to come here, or...?"

"No..." Spencer narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Wait. What do you mean?"

Aria blinked. Wondering who I am I'm closer than you think.

She looked from Spencer to Meredith, who was chatting with someone in the lobby, then back to Spencer. The wheels in her head started to turn. Something about this felt really, really messed up.

Her heart pounded as she backed out of the main room. She rushed to the door, bumping up against a tall, bearded guy in a leotard. Outside, the world was maddeningly impassive to her panic—the birds chirped, the pines swayed, a woman walked by with a baby carriage, talking on her cell phone.

As Aria fling herself toward the bike rack and unlocked her bike, a hand squeezed down on her arm. Hard. Meredith was standing next to her, giving her a very fixed stare. Aria's mouth fell open. She gasped loudly.

"You aren't staying?" Meredith asked.

Aria shook her head. "I...um...family emergency." She jerked her bike free and started pedaling away.

"Wait!" Meredith screamed. "Let me give you your money back!"

But Aria was already halfway down the block.