Pretty Little Devils Part 9

"I've got some in my purse," Megan offered. "Out in the living room. And actually, I should go too."

"Me too," Carolyn added.

They took their half-full martini gla.s.ses to the counter, dumped them out, rinsed and dried them, and put them back in their places.

"Well, your first job is almost over," Ellen said, smiling at Hazel. "You did great."

"Yeah." Megan slapped her on the back. "You definitely had a squishy-brain moment." She knocked on Hazel's head. "Huh, I think it's still in there."

Carolyn gave her a little hug.

Carrying her drink with her, Hazel followed them into the living room.

Sylvia emerged from the girls' rooms a moment later. "Okay, I ran the chain saw. They won't be bothering you anymore." She took Hazel's gla.s.s and measured how much was left. "You might want to dump this out now," she suggested. "It's important not to be too drunk when Cynthia comes home."

"d.a.m.n. I had such plans," Hazel quipped.

Sylvia made a check mark in the air. "Third initiation item: sitting job and near-stroke-inducing prank. You're almost done!"

"What's left?" Hazel asked, emboldened by her success...and the vodka.

"Wait and see," Sylvia teased.

"Okay. As long as no animals are harmed in the fulfilling of the item," Hazel said.

The four giggled appreciatively. They gathered their jackets and purses and filed out the front door. Hazel waved as they got in their cars.

She shut the door and leaned against it, taking another hefty swallow of her martini. Then she carried it into the kitchen to dump.

I'm so on top of this, she thought. I was born to be a PLD.

PERSONALBLOG.

HAPPY 2BME.

HAZEL, DO YOU LIKE YOUR NEW FRIENDS? DO YOU LIKE SURPRISES? YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT'S COMING. NONE OF THEM DO. I'M JUST GETTING STARTED-GEARING UP FOR THE REAL THING. YOU'LL SEE WHAT BEING A POPULAR GIRL MEANS.... SOMETIMES, IT MEANS YOU HAVE TO DIE.

CHAPTER FOUR.

Hazel was truly blessed.

Her econ teacher was out sick. Her AP chem teacher lectured too long and told everyone to turn in their homework the next day. Every a.s.signment she had blown off yesterday, she'd gotten a lucky break on today. Thank goodness.

Ten minutes till my next cla.s.s, she thought as she sprinted down the hall. Just enough time for a stop at my locker.

She spun her combination, opened the door-and cried out in surprise.

A huge spider hung inside the locker. It dangled from a web stretched across the opening.

Hazel took a deep breath and looked more closely. It's a fake spider, she realized, courtesy of the PLDs.

A drawing was stuck in the center of the spider's web. It looked like a skull and crossbones, only this was a hockey mask with two chain saws crossed beneath it. WE PRANKED HAZEL! was written in jagged letters above the mask.

Those guys. She giggled and rolled her eyes.

"You have the nicest laugh," said a voice behind her. A voice with a deep, southern accent.

Hazel smiled. Matty.

He had been hanging around nonstop since that first PLD party-e-mailing her and talking to her at every opportunity. Still, he hadn't asked her out. Hazel sensed that he was waiting for the right moment. She hoped he wouldn't wait too long.

"Thanks," she said as she folded up the web and the picture.

"What was that?" he asked, pointing to the items.

"Oh, just a little love note from Sylvia and the other PLDs." She hauled out her books and slammed her locker shut.

"Oh yeah." He grinned. "I forgot. You're one of the bad babysitters now."

"That's right. The baddest."

Matty leaned against the nearby locker. "I don't believe that. You're more angel than devil."

"Shh! Don't tell the others," Hazel joked. "They think I'm as rotten as they are."

The bell rang. Matty groaned.

"I gotta take off. My cla.s.s is at the other end of the school."

"Run. Run like the wind," Hazel told him. She turned away, playing a little hard to get.

"See you at lunch?" he asked her.

"I'll be there."

"Cool." He looked like he was about to say something more. Too late. The second bell sounded. Matty sighed and took off.

"We are completely ignoring her," Sylvia informed the PLDs at lunch.

"Who?" Hazel asked. "What's going on?"

"Over there." Megan nodded toward the cafeteria entrance. "Check it out, but don't be obvious."

Hazel turned and saw the entire varsity cheerleading squad striding into the cafeteria. There were fifteen girls total-and Breona Wu was among them!

She walked in the center of the group, her best friend, Jenna Babc.o.c.k, by her side. All the girls wore kelly-green-and-gold uniforms, their hair and makeup flawless, like an army of glam.

Breona sat down at her usual place, about eight tables over from the PLDs. Jenna took the chair next to Breona. All the others filled that table and the two surrounding it.

"How'd she get back in?" Megan demanded. "What about the zero-tolerance policy?"

"Zero tolerance, my b.u.t.t," Carolyn growled.

"Stay calm," Sylvia said sternly. "We'll figure something out."

The PLDs settled in, everyone refusing to look in Breona's direction. Hazel stole a glance at the jock table, which was to her left. Josh, Brandon, and Stephan were already wolfing down hamburgers. But Matty hadn't shown yet. Where was he?

"Tonight you're sitting Charlie, Hazel." Sylvia's voice interrupted her thoughts. "That would be the little boy with the cat. From the last party."

"Right. Isotope." Hazel tried to build up her nerve to tell Sylvia that she really had to stay home, but before she had a chance, Sylvia continued.

"I was talking to Josh between cla.s.ses. He brought up your Mr. Mattise. Josh says he is very aggressive on the field."

"Ooh la la," Carolyn drawled. "Hot-blooded."

"Mmmm. Tres bien, Mattise!" Sylvia smiled at her own cleverness and stabbed a piece of lettuce.

All Sylvia ate was salad, Hazel noticed. Maybe it was the secret behind her awesome complexion.

Hazel sneaked another peek at the jock table to see if Matty had arrived.

Ellen glanced over too, obviously mooning over Brandon.

Sylvia noticed, and her expression went grim. She rapped her fist in front of Ellen's tray.

"Pardon moi, what are you doing?" she asked.

Ellen blinked, as if waking from a daydream. "I-I was just-"

Sylvia sighed. "Ellie, we've been over this. Brandon is an a.s.shole, okay? He has hanging-out privileges, but he is not nice."

Ellen shifted. "I don't know, Sylvia. He seems nice."

"They all seem nice," Carolyn said.

"Even Stephan seemed nice," Megan muttered.

"Well...he's nice to me," Ellen whispered.

Sylvia touched her fingers to her chest. "Don't be so naive, El. Brandon is a user. If you let him, he will chew you up and spit you out. Trust me on this."

Hazel thought about the girl in geometry. "She's right, El."

Everyone looked startled. Sylvia raised an eyebrow. "And how would you know?"

Hazel blinked. Had she overstepped her bounds somehow? "He-he totally humiliated this girl in my geometry cla.s.s last year. He pretended to ask her out and then he laughed at her when she said yes."

"No way," Ellen protested, stricken.

"It's true," Hazel insisted. "I was there."

"Well, thank goodness," Sylvia breathed. "For a moment, I thought you had firsthand experience with the matter."

"No, no," Hazel protested. "It's nothing like that."

"Good. Because that's the kind of thing PLDs share." Sylvia leaned forward, locking her electric blue eyes on Hazel. "I would hope that if you had been with any of the guys in our circle, you'd tell us about it."

"Of course," Hazel confirmed.

Of course, I would. Don't go getting so intense about it.

Ellen turned her head in Brandon's direction-again.

"Jesus, El," Sylvia hissed. "Did you not just hear what I said? Show some pride. If not for yourself, then for us."

Ellen opened her mouth to answer.

"Uh-oh," Megan cut her off. "Trouble, two o'clock."

Hazel glanced up and saw Jilly Delgado-one of the cheerleaders-sidling up to their table. Sylvia shot her a withering glance.

"Can we help you?" she asked.

"Breona knows it was you," Jilly said, glaring at them. "There will be payback."

She turned and walked back to Breona's table.

"G.o.d! We're terrified!" Megan called after her.

"Tais-toi," Sylvia snapped at Megan. "Don't give them any satisfaction. They're not even on our radar."

"Right," Ellen said. "Beneath our notice."