Flawless Read Online Free PDF Page A

inside of her mouth. “Doesn’t insurance pay for those things?”
    “That’s not it exactly,” Mr. Marin answered. “Mr. Ackard made your mother an offer.”
    “Sean’s father is a plastic surgeon,” her mother explained, “but his pet project is a rehabilitation clinic for burn victims. He wants you to report there at three-thirty tomorrow.”
    Hanna wrinkled her nose. “Why can’t we just give him the money?”
    Ms. Marin’s tiny LG cell phone started to ring. “I think this will be a good lesson for you. To do some good for the community. To understand what you’ve done.”
    “But I do understand!” Hanna Marin did not want to give her free time away to a burn clinic. If she had to volunteer, why couldn’t it be somewhere chic? Like at the UN, with Nicole and Angelina?
    “It’s already settled,” Ms. Marin said brusquely. Then she shouted into her phone, “Carson? Did you do the mock-ups?”
    Hanna sat with her fingernails pressed into her fists. Frankly, she wished she could go upstairs, change out of her funeral dress—was it making her thighs look huge, or was that just her reflection in the patio doors?—redo her makeup, lose five pounds, and do a shot of vodka. Then she would come back down and reintroduce herself.
    When she glanced at her father, he gave her a very small smile. Hanna’s heart jumped. His lips parted as if he were going to speak, but then his cell phone rang, too. He held up one finger to Hanna to hold on. “Kate?” he answered.
    Hanna’s heart sank. Kate. The gorgeous, perfect quasi-stepdaughter.
    Her father tucked the phone under his chin. “Hey! How was the cross-country meet?” He paused, then beamed. “Under eighteen minutes? That’s awesome .”
    Hanna grabbed a hunk of cheddar from the cheese plate. When she’d visited Annapolis, Kate wouldn’t look at her. She and Ali, who’d come with Hanna for moral support, had formed an insta–pretty girl bond, excluding Hanna entirely. It drove Hanna to wolf down every snack within a one-mile radius—this was back when she was chubby and ugly and ate and ate. When she clutched her stomach in binged-out agony, her father had wiggled her toe and said, “Little piggy not feeling so good?” In front of everyone . And then Hanna had fled to the bathroom and forced a toothbrush down her throat.
    The hunk of cheddar hovered in front of Hanna’s mouth. Taking a deep breath, she stuffed it into a napkin instead and threw it in the trash. All that stuff happened a long time ago…when she was a very different Hanna. One only Ali knew about, and one Hanna had buried.

3
    IS THERE AN AMISH SIGN-UP SHEET SOMEWHERE?
    Emily Fields stood in front of the Gray Horse Inn, a crumbling stone building that was once a Revolutionary War hospital. The current-day innkeeper had converted its upper floors into an inn for rich out-of-town guests and ran an organic café in the parlor. Emily peered through the café’s windows to see some of her classmates and their families eating smoked-salmon bagels, pressed Italian sandwiches, and enormous Cobb salads. Everyone must have had the same post-funeral brunch craving.
    “You made it.”
    Emily swung around to see Maya St. Germain leaning against a terra-cotta pot full of peonies. Maya had called as Emily was leaving the Rosewood Day swings, asking that she meet her here. Like Emily, Maya still had on her funeral outfit—a short, pleated black corduroy skirt, black boots, and a black sleeveless sweater with delicate lace stitching around the neck. And also like Emily, it seemed that Maya had scrounged to find black and mournful-looking stuff from the back of her closet.
    Emily smiled sadly. The St. Germains had moved into Ali’s old house. When workers started to dig up the DiLaurentises’ half-finished gazebo to make way for the St. Germains’ tennis court, they uncovered Ali’s decayed body underneath the concrete. Ever since then, news vans, police cars, and curiosity seekers had