Pretty Little Devils Part 23

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. .h.i.t-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 br.i.m.m.i.n.g 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 a.s.sembly, 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."

"G.o.d, 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 G.o.d, 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 cla.s.s 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 b.l.o.o.d.y 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 G.o.d, 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 fas.h.i.+on.

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 rea.s.suring 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 c.o.c.ked 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 s.h.i.+t 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 rea.s.sured 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 h.e.l.lo. 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 sweats.h.i.+rt, Hazel sat down at her computer. She powered it up and logged on to her e-mail.

From: [email protected] To: Subject: I THINK YOU NEED TO READ THIS Hazel took a breath and clicked on the subject line.