Pretty Little Devils

  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 class 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 Babcock, 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 butt,” 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 classes. He brought up your Mr. Mattise. Josh says he is very aggressive on the field.”

  “Ooh la la,” Carolyn drawled. “Hot-blooded.”

  “Mmmm. Très 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 asshole, 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 class 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.

  “God! 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.”

  “Exactement.” Sylvia looked hard at each of them. “Now is the time to show them who we really are. PLDs act. We don’t react. Breona’s going to try to get to us all today. You have chem lab with her, don’t you, Haze? Don’t let her pressure you. She’ll try to tell you that she’s the victim in all this. It’s a lie. I want you to know that.”

  “But why would she—”

  The others looked straight at Hazel, and she remembered that she was still on probation. Not officially one of them.

  Maybe she’d be able to ask questions later.

  “I’ll be fine,” she promised.

  When Hazel got to chem lab, she found Breona waiting at her table. She shifted slightly when Hazel approached.

  “Hey, Hazel,” Breona said, pasting on a big smile. “Do you have the notes I missed while I was out?”

  “No. Sorry,” Hazel said coolly, navigating around her.

  “I’m a little behind, you know,” Breona continued. “I don’t know if you heard, but I was kicked out of school when someone planted drugs in my locker!”

  Hazel shook her head. Sylvia said Breona would play the innocent victim. She balled her fists inside the pockets of her black hoodie and looked away.

  Breona rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on. Did they tell you to diss me? You aren’t really a PLD, are you? You’re just hanging out with them, under the mistaken impression that they’re nice people. Right?”

  Hazel kept her voice calm and steady. “Actually, I am a PLD.”

  “Oh my God! Hazel, do not hang out up with them. They are totally evil. I know you didn’t have anything to do with what happened to me, but—”

  “I’m sorry, Breona,” Hazel said. She pulled out her lab stool. Case closed.
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  “Okay,” Breona muttered, her eyes flashing with anger. “But if you stick with them, you have signed on for some serious trouble, girlfriend.”

  Lakshmi hurried into the room. She glanced over at Hazel and gave her a little smile. Then she set her pack down and clambered onto her stool one table away.

  “How’s it going?” Lakshmi asked.

  Before Hazel could reply, Breona leaned over. “Don’t bother, Lakshmi. Hazel’s just like the rest of those bitches. She’s not allowed to talk to anyone who isn’t a PLD.”

  Lakshmi blinked. “Oh?”

  “That’s not true,” Hazel countered quickly. “I can talk to whoever I want.”

  “Oh. That’s right. It’s not that she can’t talk to you. It’s that she just doesn’t want to talk to you. She thinks you’re a loser. And so do all her little friends.”

  Lakshmi’s mouth dropped open. “Hazel? That’s…not true…is it?”

  “No,” Hazel said.

  She tried to make the word believable, but her face gave everything away.

  Tears brimmed in Lakshmi’s eyes.

  Then Ms. Carpentier looked up from her desk. “All right, people. Take your seats.”

  Everyone fell mercifully silent, but Lakshmi shot Hazel a dirty look before turning to the front of the classroom.

  Hazel sighed. I knew I’d make friends as a PLD, she thought. I hadn’t really counted on making enemies.

  When Hazel arrived for her sitting job at Charlie’s, Mr. Pollins, a chubby, middle-aged man, was rushing around getting ready for a night shift.

  “Charlie will show you around,” he said as he went into his study.

  She suppressed a grin. Clearly Mr. Pollins was unaware that she had been in his home before—along with about twenty other high school kids.

  Pale little Charlie was clad in pajamas and a bathrobe. He led Hazel into the kitchen. “Hey. Matty didn’t send me the jpeg yet.”

  “I’m sure he will,” she promised, hoping it was true.

  She noticed an open can on the counter and a pot on the stove. “Do you want some SpaghettiOs?”

  “No,” Charlie answered. “I’m not really all that hungry.”

  “Is there something else you’d rather have?” she asked.

  “No.” He rubbed his forehead. “I’m a kid. We eat stuff like this.”

  Hazel chuckled at Charlie’s matter-of-fact delivery. He continued to rub his temples.

  “Headache?” Hazel asked sympathetically.

  “Tension,” he replied.

  “Tell you what. Why don’t you go on to your room and I’ll bring you dinner in bed. Sound good?”

  He nodded. “Thanks.” He shuffled off to his room like a little old man.

  Hazel dumped the can into the pot and lit the burner. While the SpaghettiOs were heating, she got some two percent milk out of the fridge and found an Incredibles cup in the cupboard.

  Mr. Pollins came into the kitchen. “I’ll be home very late. Please feel free to nap. And if you wouldn’t mind answering the phone…”

  “Of course. Whatever you say.”

  “Lock up after me, all right?”

  She followed him to the door and secured the dead bolt.

  As she returned to the kitchen, the phone rang.

  “Pollins residence,” she said, picking up the wall unit.

  “You are a bad babysitter,” whispered a muffled, obviously disguised voice.

  “You guys,” she said calmly. “I know this is a prank.”

  “I’m outside. I’m watching you.”

  “The drapes are shut,” she replied, glancing at the window over the kitchen sink. “You must have x-ray vision.”

  “Maybe I do. Hey, here’s a thought: do you think the door to the study is locked?”

  “Because you left me a present in the study?” she asked.

  “Check it.”

  She moved the pot off the burner and wandered down the hall to Mr. Pollins’s study. She tried the knob. It didn’t move.

  “Yes,” she announced. “It’s lockay-vous.”

  “I mean the outside door, bad babysitter. The one that leads from the backyard into the study. You know about that door, right? No, of course you don’t. Because you are a bad babysitter.”

  She cocked her head. “The outside door…”

  For all you know, I let myself into the study and I’m behind that door right now. And when you’re not looking, I could sneak out of the study and creep up on you. I could kill you—and the kid.”

  “That would be pretty, um, drastic.” She tried for a light tone, but her voice shook a little.

  It’s a prank, she reminded herself. Don’t let them get to you.

  “That’s right, I’m behind that door…. I’m in the house right now!”

  “You guys?” Hazel said shrilly. “This isn’t funny, okay?”

  “Hey, we’re just seeing if it’s all good over there,” Sylvia’s voice responded coolly.

  “Oh God,” Hazel breathed

  “Chill, Haze,” Sylvia said. “You knew it was us, right?”

  “Yeah. Well, kind of. Everything’s fine.” Hazel stumbled, fiddling with the knob to the study door again. “But the door…it is locked, and…”

  “Sometimes Charlie’s dad locks it before he leaves,” Sylvia explained. “You can’t get back in without the key. But there is a door that leads into the study from the yard, and we always make sure that’s locked.”

  “Well, I’ll certainly never forget that again!”

  “Good, ma petite. So anyway, next subject. We had a thought about Ellen’s hair. Obviously she needs some guidance on this matter. Tell me, where do you go? Because your hair works and her hair is the same texture, so maybe your person could do hers.”

  “Does she know we’re discussing this?”

  “Don’t worry, it’s not like she’s here, so you can speak freely. We have been trying to explain to her that her hair is, you know, a problem, but she’s just not getting it.”

  “It is kind of bad.” Hazel thought for a moment. “Yeah, I’ll help. It’s just—she’s sensitive. Let’s be subtle about it, okay?”

  “Absolutely. Thanks, Haze.”

  YOU HAVE ENTERED

  The Pretty Little Devils Chat room

  THIS IS A PRIVATE CHAT ROOM FOR INVITED MEMBERS ONLY

  Members in chat room:

  PLDSLY

  PLDEL

  PLDCARO

  PLDMEG

  PLDSLY: We’re on the line with Hazel now. She sez UR hair’s bad. Every1 staring at U, El.

  PLDEL: Haze sez so?

  PLDSLY: Oui. Real bad. Sez U can go to her place.

  PLDEL: OK. Plz thank her.

  PLDSLY: We’re here 2 help. Friendz!:)

  PLDCARO: Friendz!:)

  PLDMEG: Friendz!:)

  PLDEL: Friendz!:)

  PERSONALBLOG

  HAPPY2BME

  THE PLDs THINK THEY’RE SUCH GOOD FRIENDS. NONE OF THEM HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT REAL FRIENDSHIP IS. TOO BAD I’LL HAVE TO TEACH THEM…THE HARD WAY. I JUST HOPE I CAN HOLD ON.

  THE CAT WAS GOOD, BUT IT’S NOT ENOUGH. I NEED MORE!

  NO. NO. I HAVE TO HOLD ON. JUST A LITTLE TINY BIT LONGER.

  The next day at lunch, Hazel sailed into the cafeteria. She joined the serving line just as Sylvia and Josh sauntered in. They walked with their heads held high, completely aware that all eyes were on them, like a pair of movie stars. Sylvia’s hand was tucked into the back pocket of Josh’s jeans, her hair was up in a French twist, and shiny chandelier earrings dangled above her shoulders. Josh was wearing aviator sunglasses and a white Lacoste shirt. On anyone else, it would look like trying too hard. On them, it just looked perfect.

  Before parting, Sylvia pulled his sunglasses down his nose and he bent to kiss her.

  Hazel sighed. Maybe someday she’d have a boyfriend. And together they would look as amazing as Sylvia and Josh.

  She grabbed her tray, and someone tapped her shoulder. She turned
her head, hoping…and there he was. She smiled calmly, though her insides were jangling happily.

  “Hey, pretty girl,” Matty said.

  “Hey.”

  “Tell me what you think.” He pulled out a stack of printer paper. “They’re my posters for Isotope.”

  There was the sketch Matty had drawn, Charlie’s contact information, and above it all a single line—REWARD: $100.

  “A hundred dollars?” she said.

  He shrugged. “I figure the kid is good for a loan.”

  “That is so nice of you,” she said sincerely.

  He put his finger to his lips. “Don’t need to spread it around, remember. School gossip can get so out of hand.”

  “No kidding,” she said.

  They got their food. Matty walked Hazel toward the PLDs’ table.

  “You coming to the game tomorrow night?” he asked.

  Hazel brightened. She set her tray at her place and opened her mouth to respond, but Sylvia beat her to it.

  “The PLDs go to all the games,” she said, smiling. “We always sit together.”

  Hazel shrugged. “I’ll be there, then.”

  “Cool,” Matty said. “I’ll look for you in the stands. I’m sure you’ll be easy to spot.” He looked directly into Hazel’s eyes, and she worked overtime not to blush.

  “We are hard to miss,” Sylvia cut in again.

  “Well, then,” he said with a suppressed grin, “guess I’ll catch you later.” He gave a final wave before making his way over to the guys’ table.

  Hazel settled into her seat. “He’s sweet,” she said with a sigh.

  “I guess. But here’s something really sweet,” Sylvia replied. She placed a cell phone with a neon purple cover plate on Hazel’s lunch tray.

  “Oh my God,” Hazel murmured. “Thank you.”

  Sylvia took the phone from Hazel’s hands. “You’re welcome, but it’s not a gift per se. Let me run you through the functions. First, here’s your ring.”

  She pressed a button and Alicia Keys’s “Karma” trilled.

  “Sylvia, that’s the ring I wanted!” Ellen moaned.

  Sylvia shook her head. “It’s easily acquired. You can download it. Now, I programmed in all our numbers. I’m one, Megan’s two, Carolyn’s three, and Ellen is last but certainly not least at four.” She smiled at Ellen. “Oh, and be sure to give our little El the name of your salon.”