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The Pretty Little Devils Chat room
THIS IS A PRIVATE CHAT ROOM FOR INVITED MEMBERS ONLY
Members in chat room:
PLDSLY
PLDEL
PLDCARO
PLDMEG
PLDHAZE
PLDSLY: My voice system’s full of these messages. El, did U do it 2 get us back?
PLDEL: No! I got them 2. Like every 5 mins. TAG! UR DEAD!
PLDMEG: Whoever did it, not funny, OK?
PLDCARO: Hearing it!
PLDSLY: Haze? What about U?
PLDHAZE: Same thing. TAG! UR DEAD!
PLDSLY: All right, mes amies. I’ve had about enough of this. It’s freaking me out! We need to get to the bottom of who’s leaving these messages, like now.
It was raining on Monday morning, suiting Hazel’s mood. The creepy texts and e-mails had continued all weekend. And she hadn’t heard from Matty all day Saturday or Sunday.
She couldn’t figure out why he hadn’t called her, especially after he’d said he would.
Now, hurrying to school, she was cold and frazzled; to make matters worse, she had worn a long skirt and the hem was soaked from getting into and out of her car. Like most Southern Californians, she had forgotten an umbrella, and she was getting drenched.
Students in hoodies carrying books above their heads hurried from their cars through the gates of Brookhaven High. Security guards flanked vice principal Clancy, who was standing on a platform as he spoke through a bullhorn.
“First period today will be a mandatory assembly. File quickly and quietly into the media center auditorium.”
“What’s up?” Megan asked as she found Hazel in the hallway.
“Not much,” Hazel answered. “How are you?”
“Fine, considering the craziness that was this weekend.” Megan yawned. “Want to find the others before assembly?”
Hazel nodded. Together they caught up with Sylvia, Carolyn, and Ellen.
The five friends took the balcony. People were hooting and throwing wadded-up pieces of paper. Sylvia sat in the middle and gathered them toward her.
“All right, ladies, what is the deal with this assembly?” she asked. “Did you see how freaked Clancy looked when he was out front?”
Ellen nodded. “Seriously. It was like he’d seen a ghost.”
“I just hope this is not about the kids who showed up drunk at the dance,” Sylvia said, rolling her eyes. “If I have to sit through a lecture aimed at trash like Breona, I am going to scream.”
The microphone on the stage squealed loudly. Principal Kim came out from behind the curtain. With his dark blue suit and combed-over hair, he looked uncannily like a game show host.
He was flanked by his enforcer, Mr. Clancy, and a dour-looking woman with no makeup. Her light gray raincoat washed her out even further, Hazel noted.
“Take your seats,” Principal Kim ordered above the din. Clancy took a step forward, as if he could intimidate everyone into obeying.
It took a few minutes for everyone to settle down. Then Mr. Kim scanned the crowd.
“I have some very difficult news to give you all this morning. This may come as a shock to many of you, since we know she had many friends at BHS.” Mr. Kim looked down for a moment, gathering himself.
“Oh my God! This is it!” Megan whispered excitedly, tugging at Hazel’s sleeve. “Kim is going to tell us that Breona’s expelled for good!”
Principal Kim cleared his throat. “I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but one of your classmates, Breona Wu, passed away over the weekend.”
There were gasps, shrieks. Someone started sobbing. Hazel turned to the other PLDs in utter shock. They stared back.
“Drunk driving?” Carolyn asked.
Sylvia nodded. “No doubt. What an idiot.”
“This is Detective Charlotte Fullerton from the San Diego Police Department,” Principal Kim continued, gesturing to the woman in the gray raincoat. “I want you to listen closely to everything she has to say.”
Hazel sat forward. So did the others.
“Hello,” Detective Fullerton said. “I realize that that is a great shock. We of the department extend our sympathies to the entire student body.” She paused, then leaned closer to the microphone. “We are looking for information that might help us in our investigation. We’re specifically interested in talking to anyone who saw Breona after she left the dance. There will be a reward for any information that leads to arrests.”
“Oh my God,” Sylvia said slowly. “Arrests…That means they’re looking for suspects. Which means Breona was killed.”
Hazel felt numb. A girl her age—someone she knew—had been murdered.
When the assembly ended, everyone went to their second-period classes, but no one did any work. The death of Breona Wu was all anyone talked about. Rumors were flying. Hazel felt like she couldn’t escape people’s stares.
After all, she was a PLD. The PLDs hated Breona Wu.
And everyone—everyone knew it.
At lunch, Hazel bought some ramen and a milk. Her stomach had been churning all day. The bland noodles were about all she could handle.
Hazel pocketed her account card, and Lakshmi pounced.
“Hazel! I heard some police officers talking about Breona in the office,” she whispered urgently.
“Oh?” Hazel glanced over at the PLD table. They were watching her.
She gave them a weak smile and returned her attention to Lakshmi.
“The police,” she continued. “They said Breona was ripped to shreds.”
“What?” Hazel asked.
“At first they thought it was a couple of mountain lions. But they’re doing all those tests….” Lakshmi waved her hand excitedly. “Forensics stuff. It was a person.”
Hazel couldn’t make sense of what Lakshmi was saying. “What was a person…?”
“A person ripped Breona to shreds. It took them hours to make a positive ID.”
“Oh my God,” Hazel said.
“Yes.” Lakshmi’s eyes glittered. “It’s terrible. Tell them I found out for you.”
Hazel had no idea what to say. She bobbed her head and headed for the PLD table.
“What did she want?” Sylvia demanded. “You look like you’re going to throw up.”
Hazel told them everything.
“Ripped to shreds?” Sylvia said contemptuously. “Where did she hear this? From Mommy?” She leaned sideways, peering over at Lakshmi. “It sounds ridiculous to me.”
“She said there are police investigators all over the office,” Hazel explained.
“No doubt. First a horse. Then a cheerleader. Next it’ll be a human being,” Megan drawled.
Ellen gasped. “Megan! Please! Someone is dead.”
Sylvia gave Lakshmi a little wave. She looked like she’d die from happiness.
“And Mrs. Sharma just happened to hear them talking about a highly confidential police investigation?” Sylvia asked. “No way. Lakshmi’s bluffing. She’s just trying to be the center of attention.”
The others nodded vigorously.
“I heard it was hit-and-run, just like we thought,” Megan said. “You can have suspects in a hit-and-run. It’s a form of murder, just an accidental one.”
“Well, bad things happen to bad people,” Sylvia said mildly. She glanced down at Hazel’s tray. “Your ramen looks good. I’m going to get some too.”
Hazel watched her walk to the serving line. She looked down at the plastic foam cup brimming with noodles and pushed it away.
“She could have had mine,” she said to the others. “I can’t eat.” She noticed the untouched food around the table. “I don’t know how she can.”
“Well.” Carolyn picked up her fork and moved some pasta around her plate. “She does really hate Breona.”
“Past tense,” Megan murmured. “She hated Breona. Although I guess you can still hate someone if she’s dead.”
“Ever since the assembly, people have been staring at us,” Ellen said softly. “And not in the usual way. I’ll bet you anything they’re saying we did it.”
“God, that’s sick,” Hazel said. “I don’t know how can anyone could think that.”
“I do,” Megan said, her voice very low. She glanced over at Carolyn.
“I know what you’re thinking, and don’t even say it,” Carolyn snapped.
Hazel and Ellen both tensed. “What?” Hazel asked.
“Megan, don’t,” Carolyn warned.
“PLDs don’t keep secrets, Carolyn, remember?” Megan turned to Hazel. “It’s just that…we all split up. Sylvia said she’d meet us at her house later, and then she went off with Josh. I went home and changed.”
“So did I,” Carolyn said.
“Then we met up and drove to her house. But we had to wait forever for her to show,” Megan concluded.
“So? She was with Josh,” Hazel said.
“So…she wasn’t with us.” Megan raised her brows. “How do we know where she really was?”
“Oh my God, you are not even going there!” Hazel cried. “You’re saying that Sylvia—”
“I’m saying we all know how much Sylvia hated Breona.”
“Shh, here she comes,” Ellen whispered.
“There,” Sylvia said, putting down her ramen, sitting down, and picking up a plastic fork. She twirled some noodles around the fork and popped them into her mouth. “Greasy, but tasty.”
The others exchanged glances. Ellen picked at her cuticle. And Hazel sat in a daze.
The rest of the school day was surreal. Kids were taken out of class to be questioned by the police. Some returned. Others didn’t. Rumors flew, including one that Breona had faked her own death so she could leave town and start over, afraid to show her face again after having so thoroughly humiliated herself at the homecoming dance.
As chance would have it, Megan, Carolyn, and Sylvia all had sitting jobs immediately after school. Everyone air-kissed in the parking lot, promising to be extra careful.
Hazel and Ellen walked together toward their cars. Ellen sifted through her bag, looking for her keys. She swore, then rummaged some more. She came up empty and stopped dead in her tracks
“What is it?” Hazel asked.
“I’m sorry. It’s just—I am so entirely freaked,” Ellen confessed. “You know what I realized?” Ellen looked at Hazel with wide eyes. “If Breona is dead, that means she wasn’t the one leaving all those messages all weekend.”
“You’re right. So who’s pranking us?”
“Hazel, Breona has been murdered and we’ve been getting tons of threatening messages. I don’t think this is just a prank.”
“We don’t know if Breona was murdered,” Hazel said more calmly than she would have thought. “All we know is that she died.”
“But Lakshmi said—”
“Lakshmi wants to get status by telling us things.” Hazel cut Ellen off.
“You have a point.” Ellen picked at her cuticle again. It was bloody and raw. “Um, you want to hang out together? I don’t really want to be alone, you know?”
“Yeah.” Hazel put an arm around her friend. “I know.”
Ellen hugged her. Then her body went rigid. “Oh God, Hazel. Look.”
Hazel turned and followed Ellen’s gaze.
A black-and-white San Diego Police Department squad car was parked just outside the entrance gates, its red lights swirling.
Mr. Clancy was standing off to the side with his arms crossed. An officer was beside him, talking to a student.
Hazel looked closer. Dark curly hair, the letterman’s jacket—it was Matty!
A second officer got out of the driver’s seat. He told Matty to get in the car.
Matty shook his head. He looked red-faced and very angry.
“It’s not my problem!” she heard him yell. The officer grabbed Matty by the arm and stuffed him into the back of the police car.
“Why are they taking him?” Ellen asked. “Hazel, why would the police want to talk to Matty?”
Ellen’s father wasn’t due home until after seven, so they went to her house. Hazel called her mother and said she would be studying late.
Ellen turned on the gas logs in the fireplace, and they sat for a long time—sipping cocoa, not talking much, not studying at all.
They turned on the news. Breona’s death was at the top of the local broadcast.
“Police are investigating the grisly death of Brookhaven High School’s beloved head cheerleader, Breona Angelina Wu,” the news anchor announced.
Hazel realized that Lakshmi’s report had been one hundred percent accurate. Someone had killed Breona in brutal fashion.
And the police had taken Matty away for questioning…
“Matty didn’t do it. He couldn’t. He was with you,” Ellen said, reading Hazel’s thoughts.
“He wasn’t with me all night,” Hazel said. “Maybe until two-thirty.”
“Haze, you know him,” Ellen insisted. “He’s just not that kind of guy.”
Then why did the police arrest him? Hazel wondered.
She buried her face in her hands.
“When he freaked out on the field, I thought Sylvia was overreacting.” Hazel took a shaky breath. “But maybe she was right. Maybe he has problems.”
“Stay calm,” Ellen said, giving Hazel a reassuring pat on the back. “Brandon told me their fight was totally not a big deal.”
“Brandon told you?” Hazel looked up. “You guys have been talking?”
Ellen’s eyes went wide for a moment. “Don’t tell Sylvia!” she squeaked.
Hazel rolled her eyes. “I think she has bigger things to obsess about right now. So, you know that she was just being manipulative, right? Trying to break you guys up?”
“Of course.” Ellen shook her head. “But what else is new?”
“Wait. I don’t understand. If you know about it, why do you guys put up with it?” Hazel asked.
Ellen picked up her mug. “The thing is, Sylvia has helped all of us at one time or another. We owe her. And besides…” She took a sip of her cocoa. “What would any of us be without the group? The PLDs as a whole are greater than the sum of its parts.”
Hazel could barely believe what she was hearing. It was clear that Sylvia had them all under her thumb.
Was she as trapped as the rest?
“Listen, Ellen,” Hazel said. “There’s something else you should know.”
Ellen cocked her head innocently. “What?” she asked.
“Sylvia and Brandon—they were hooking up for a while.”
Hazel watched Ellen’s expression. For a moment it looked like she was about to crumble.
“I hate to say it, but I’m not surprised,” Ellen whispered.
“Really?” Hazel asked.
Ellen shook her head. “Brandon has always been kind of weird around Sylvia. And the truth is, she does this kind of shit all the time.” She paused. “That doesn’t make it hurt any less.”
Hazel put a comforting hand on Ellen’s shoulder. “I don’t think you have to worry about it now. Brandon put an end to it. He really likes you, El.”
“Really?” Ellen gazed up, hopeful.
“Absolutely,” Hazel reassured her.
“It’s just—it’s weird that he never mentioned anything about it. Like he wanted to keep it a secret or something.”
“He probably just didn’t want to hurt you,” Hazel said quickly.
Ellen gazed into the distance, thinking. She frowned. Seconds ticked by in silence. “It’s okay,” she finally decided. “I know where his heart really is.”
Hazel smiled. “You know he—” She was interrupted by the ring of her cell phone. She rummaged through her purse, pressed talk, and put it to her ear.
“Haze,” Sylvia said. “I heard.”
“Heard what?” Hazel asked.
“About Matty. The police. A bunch of kids saw it happen.” Hazel heard typing in the background. “There’s something you should to read,” Sylvia continued. “It’s in the student files. I’m e-mailing it to you now.”
“I’m out,” Hazel said, throwing Ellen a glance.
“Well, you need to get home,” Sylvia said. “You need to see this. Now.”
“But—”
“Look, just do it,” Sylvia said curtly. “It’s important.”
“What did she want?” Ellen asked once Hazel had hung up the phone.
Sylvia’s words echoed in her head. Real friends tell each other everything. She wondered what Sylvia could have found out about Matty.
“She left me an e-mail,” Hazel said. “I—I should go home anyway. My parents will be wondering.”
Ellen shrugged, like she was a little hurt, but she didn’t press. Hazel grabbed her keys.
Hazel entered her house and let the front door slam.
“Hi, honey,” her mother called from the kitchen. “We’re having that chicken you like so much.”
“Great,” she said flatly, heading straight for the stairs. “I have homework.”
“Okay. I’ll call you when it’s ready,” her mother replied cheerfully.
She must not have heard about Breona yet, Hazel thought. She wouldn’t be so calm otherwise.
She trudged up the stairs and down the hall. Corey was in his room, but she didn’t say hello. All she wanted to do was slip under the covers and try to forget everything.
After changing out of her wet clothes and throwing on a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt, Hazel sat down at her computer. She powered it up and logged on to her e-mail.
From: PLDSLY@hotmail.com
To: PURPLEHAZE@hotmail.com
Subject: I THINK YOU NEED TO READ THIS
Hazel took a breath and clicked on the subject line.
Hazel, this is from the school files. It’s about Matty. I know this will be painful for you, but I figured you should know before it’s too late. I had a bad feeling about him and there’s no denying it now—it’s all in the files. Call me later, mon petite, and we’ll talk about everything.
xo, Sylvia
Hazel braced herself and scrolled down. Part of Matty’s file had been pasted in the e-mail.
VARDEMAN, MATTHEW
“…Matthew violated the temporary restraining order taken out by his girlfriend’s parents prior to leaving for Brookhaven…. Matthew is prone to violent outbursts and physical aggression…serious anger-management issues…. We recommend continued counseling upon arrival in Brookhaven…as he will encounter additional stress with this transition, outbursts can be confidently predicted….
Hazel read it again.
…violent outbursts and physical aggression…serious anger-management issues…
Hazel remembered Matty’s explosion on the football field. His anger on the night of the dance. She shuddered. She’d been alone with him in the car after that. How could she have let herself trust him?
“Hazel…Hazel, did you hear me?” Her mother was calling her.
“What, Mom?” she yelled back, trying to keep her voice from cracking.
There were heavy footsteps on the stairs.
“I said, you have company,” her mother hollered.
Hazel shot bolt upright as her bedroom door slowly swung open.
Matty. He was here.
He was dressed in black, his hair dripping from the rain. His chest was heaving. Hazel saw a wild, desperate look in his eye.
…prone to violent outbursts…
Matty came toward her. She stood up to cover the e-mail on-screen, then clicked off the monitor.
She turned to face him, her shoulders tensed. “What do you want?”
“Just hear me out.” He held his hands out in front of him but continued into the room. “It was no big deal. They asked me some questions and let me go. They didn’t have any proof.” He smiled wryly. “So they had to release me.”
Hazel stared at him. Mute.
“I saw you in the parking lot as the police car was pulling away,” he explained. “I know it looked bad. But they let me go, Hazel. I had nothing to do with it.”
He came closer, reaching his arms out to touch her. Hazel stepped to the side, slowly backing away.
“I was going to call. But I had to get to you. I was freaking out.” He took another step toward her. “I found out how Breona died.”
She took a breath and stepped back again; she was nearly against the wall.
…restraining order…
“Someone stabbed her,” Matty said, his dark eyes boring into her. “Hundreds of times.”
“You. Need. To. Go.” Hazel forced the words from her frozen chest. “Now.”
Matty scowled. “What? Why? You think I did it? Are you crazy?” he demanded, growing louder.
“Get out of here,” she rasped. “Please.”
He gave her a long, hard look, then turned and stomped back down the stairs. She heard the front door open, then slam shut.
Hazel sank onto the bed, exhaling. It was all so confusing. She knew Sylvia was a manipulator, but it was all right there in Matty’s file—and in the angry expression she’d seen on his face. What was happening? Matty couldn’t have killed Breona—could he?
PERSONAL BLOG
HAPPY2BME
ALL SENSE OF TRUST HAS BEEN COMPLETELY TRASHED. I’M SICK OF BEING TREATED LIKE A DOG. HAZEL IS PLAYING WITH FIRE. SECRETS AND LIES—SOON THEY’LL ALL SEE WHERE IT GETS THEM. THEY’LL ALL PAY.