perfect little lies | jason dilaurentis

009. The Perfect Storm

Four girls sat around the island at Spencer's house. Aria read out flashcards for Spencer, while Hanna complained about it. The SATs were in 12 hours and the girls were trying their best to cram knowledge inside their heads. Well, all except Emily. Rachel wasn't sure where she was.

"This is insane!" Hanna exclaimed, "How many words do they expect you to learn in one night?"

Aria chuckled and flipped to the next card. "Stringent." She read out.

"Uh, tough, inflexible." Spencer repeated the definition.

"It's not like you're actually gonna use 'em." Hanna mumbled.

"Meretricious." Rachel took the next card from Aria's pile.

"I mean, it's not like you go to college and and you just start speaking a completely different language." Hanna continued her rant.

"It's about getting into college." Spencer said, "Meretricious, um, phony, flashy?"

Rachel nodded and put the card down with the others they had already reviewed. Aria took the next card and continued the testing of Spencer's knowledge.

"Hey, what did Noel Kahn say to you after the memorial?" Hanna asked, continuing to change the subject.

Spencer looked at Hanna like she had two heads. "Hello, we are taking the SATs in less than twelve hours. Can we focus?"

Hanna scoffed. "Okay, Spencer, you do not need to know any more big words. You're already scary enough to anyone under fifty."

Spencer gaped at the girls. "I'm not scary!" Spencer complained, "Am I scary?"

Rachel stifled a chuckle with a slight cough. Spencer gave her a look. "A little." Rachel admitted. Spencer pouted slightly before going back to her book.

Hanna returned to the original topic. "Hey, I saw Noel Kahn hugging you earlier and he did NOT wanna let go."

Aria gave Hanna a small glare. "Talk about not wanting to let something go."

"Why can't you just give him a chance?" Hanna asked, "He's smart, he's cute, his Dad owns like, half of Rhode Island, and he's got great lips."

"His Dad?" Rachel questioned. Hanna screwed up her face.

"No. Ew." She said disgustingly, "Seriously, Aria, you and Noel would look amazing together."

"Can we just drop it, please?" Aria pleaded, "I'm not looking for anything other than a friend."

"Why?!" Hanna asked, "Don't you have enough on Facebook? Besides, don't you want someone real, someone you can, I don't know, scratch and sniff?"

Rachel screwed up her face in disgust. "Maybe you should eat your food over the garbage. It would match your brain right now."

Aria chuckled and Hanna sighed and exclaimed, "Look, I am just trying to help a friend out here. We don't all have smoking hot ball boys from the country club."

"What is going on with you and Alex?" Aria asked the studious girl, "Is he back from that tournament?"

"Yeah, he's back." Spencer replied bashfully.

"And?" Rachel pressed.

"And... it's good." Spencer's cheeks flushed a light pink as she thought about her boyfriend. Hanna let out a soft gasp and grinned. The girls looked at Spencer to continue. "It's so good. I want it to last, but I'm afraid I'm gonna blow it."

"So, when can we officially call him your boyfriend?" Rachel asked. Rachel was never usually interested much in other relationships, but when it came to her best friends, she had to be. Just talking about it excited her.