But when they’d approached Snooker’s, Hanna had been apprehensive. She didn’t have a fake ID, and after getting caught shoplifting last fall, she didn’t really want the cops after her again. Dinah had squeezed her hand and said, “Leave everything to me.” She breezed up to the bouncer, who had a crew cut and wore a heavy gold chain around his neck, and said, “Hey, Jake! Remember me?”
The bouncer had smiled at Dinah appreciatively, but then asked to see the girls’ IDs. Dinah had stuck her lip out in a pout. “C’mon, Jakie-poo. Don’t be like that.” She traced her fingers up and down his arm. Finally, the bouncer just shrugged and opened the door for them. Inside, Hanna gave Dinah a thumbs-up. It was just like something Ali might have done.
Dinah reached for a French fry from the plate they’d ordered. “We are so going against our boot camp pledges right now. I bet Vince is going to know and make us work out for five hours next session.”
“Yep, I can feel the fat oozing back to my thighs,” Hanna joked.
Dinah waved her hand. “As if you ever had fat in your thighs! Why did you join boot camp, anyway?”
Hanna rolled her eyes. “Uh, because I’m horribly out of shape and can’t fit into any of my clothes?”
Dinah stared at her like she was crazy. “Are you one of those girls who looks in the mirror and sees a cow?”
“I’m not like that,” Hanna assured her. Or was she? Every time she looked at her reflection, she found something wrong. Her hair looked oily. Her arms were puffy. Her face was too round. A lot of the time, she barely noticed all the hard work she’d put in with Mona in eighth grade. All she saw was the old Hanna, the loser she’d been back in middle school.
Hanna popped a fry into her mouth. “You know, I had this beautiful friend once. She was popular, gorgeous, the kind of girl everyone wanted to be. I was in her clique, but she always made it clear that I was hanging on by a thread. She made fun of the way I ate, how my jeans didn’t fit, everything. After so many years of hearing that, it’s kind of hard to shake.”
Dinah leaned her elbows on the counter. “So what happened to this girl? You ditched her, right?”
Hanna kept her eyes fixed on the Absolut bottles behind the bar. “Actually . . . she’s dead. Her name was Alison DiLaurentis. Maybe you’ve heard of her.”
“Maybe I’ve heard of her?” Dinah’s eyes popped wide. “That was only like the biggest story in all of Rosewood. They found her body not so long ago, right?”
Hanna nodded.
“Wow.” Dinah knocked back the rest of her martini. “You know, I knew Alison.”
“You did?” Hanna’s head whipped up.
“Uh-huh.” A faraway look clouded Dinah’s face. “We met at a field hockey camp—I used to play in elementary school before I finally admitted to my parents how much I hated it. Alison was at the camp, too. She ruled a group of girls there, made them do everything she wanted. And for a while, I was their target. They called me Dinah Vagina. I didn’t even do anything to them.”
“That’s terrible,” Hanna said. “Ali used to call me Hanna Mon-TON-a. And a bunch of other names I don’t even want to think about. Part of me wishes she could somehow see how much weight I’ve lost since then, how I’ve transformed.”
Then Hanna sighed. “Actually, what am I saying? Ali would still probably find something about me to pick on if she was around now.”
“Except now you wouldn’t be friends with her, right?” Dinah said, linking her arm with Hanna’s. “You’re way too strong and independent to put up with that bitch.”
“Totally,” Hanna said shakily, although she wasn’t really sure if that was true. Ali’s jeering words still haunted her, especially when reincarnated through Mona as A. But she felt an even stronger kinship with Dinah now. Ali had touched them both, for better or for worse. They’d both been the girls Ali loved to tease.
A cheer rose up behind them, and Hanna turned around to see Mr. Irish chugging a bunch of beers on a back table. “Sexy,” she murmured, nudging Dinah. “I just might have to go home with him tonight.”
Dinah snickered. “I thought you were saving yourself for Vince.”
“I thought you were,” Hanna retorted. An awkward beat passed, then suddenly the girls burst into laughter.
Dinah sighed. “I don’t know what that guy’s deal is. I saw him outside of the gym a couple of days ago, and he went on and on about how he was so happy that you and I were paired up together—he thought I could really help you out and teach you something.”
Hanna slammed the counter with her palm. “I don’t believe it. He said the same thing to me—about you!”
One of Dinah’s eyebrows rose. “Do you think he wants us to compete for his attention? That’s probably been his grand plan all along.”
“What a jerk,” Hanna spat. “He acts all saintly, but he’s really just trying to get us to throw ourselves at him.” She hated to think that way about Vince, but maybe it was true.
“And what’s with that vitamin water crap he keeps pushing?” Dinah rolled her eyes. “Every time I turn around he’s swigging it.”
“I bet it doesn’t even have any vitamins in it,” Hanna said. “And it’s probably a zillion calories. He’s been brainwashed.”
“You know what?” Dinah got a determined look on her face. “He’s a loser. We’re better off without him.”