Pretty Little Devils Read Free Page A

crying and insisting that Hazel thought she was ugly. She wasn’t ugly, but her skin could definitely use some help.
    Lowering her voice, Lakshmi leaned forward and added, “Sylvia’s got to go to anger management classes. Court-ordered.”
    Lakshmi’s face was flushed with excitement: the thrill of having serious information—the coup of being in the know—was almost too thrilling for her.
    â€œWho told you all this? Your mom?” Hazel asked. Mrs. Sharma worked in the school’s office and told Lakshmi all kinds of privileged information. It was wrong and tacky, but Lakshmi and her mom thought it was a way to raise Lakshmi’s social Q, and it gave the rest of the group something to talk about.
    Lakshmi nodded and Hazel shifted her attention to Sylvia’s table.
    There they were, the PLDs—the Pretty Little Devils—rivals of the cheerleaders as the most popular, stylish, lucky girls at Brookhaven. Party rumors aside, the PLDs got it . They talked about universities and internships and summers abroad. They made appearances at school events but weren’t all “rah-rah” about it. They were just the right combination of interested and too-cool-to-care. Hazel would have given anything to be friends with them—if only she knew how.
    Sylvia was dressed all in black, and she looked incredible. Her blue-black hair fell in long, sexy waves down her back. Regal as a queen, she sat in the middle of three chairs. Megan Williams and Carolyn Bosch sat on either side of her. Megan was all girlie-girl in a tan corduroy blazer and light green pleated skirt. Carolyn was serious fashion in black-and-white check. Ellen Schmidt sat across from them in a soft pink poncho (not over?), like a contestant from The Apprentice . She was touching her hair, which was pretty bad, actually: a poorly streaked, hacked-off kind of a bob thing. Hazel wondered if the PLDs were getting on her about it. If they were, they were doing her a favor.
    Lakshmi picked up her fish taco and took a big bite.
    â€œWe’ll ask Breona about it in lab,” she said, her mouth full of cabbage, cod, and mayonnaise.
    â€œI wish I had a class with Breona,” LaToya said to Hazel and Lakshmi. “It must be nice.”
    Hazel shrugged, at the same time that Lakshmi said, “Oh, it is .”
    Hazel stifled a laugh. It wasn’t as if she, Lakshmi, and Breona actually spoke . But bragging like that was Lakshmi’s style. Unlike Hazel. Hazel didn’t remind the others that she was on Breona’s radar, that now and then Breona actually said hi to her and complimented her on her clothes, little things like that.
    â€œWhat’s Breona like?” Ginger asked Lakshmi.
    â€œShe’s very nice.” Lakshmi gazed over at Breona’s table. She started blinking, the way she did when she was all wound up. “She looks like Alicia Keys.”
    â€œNot even,” LaToya said, snorting. “Breona is, like, half Korean.”
    â€œChinese,” Lakshmi corrected her. “And she does look like her.” That triggered something else, and Lakshmi smiled at the others without taking her gaze off Breona. “Ooh, did you guys see Orli Bloom on People’s Choice last night?” She picked at her face, and Hazel had to force herself not to bat her hand away. “Hot.”
    â€œHot,” Jamie agreed.
    Lakshmi had five Orlando Bloom posters in her bedroom. Jamie had two. LaToya was an Usher fan.
    Hazel agreed that Orlando was good looking, but she didn’t fawn over him like he was a boyfriend. She tended to live in the real world.
    Talk of Orlando continued. Hazel was frowning down at her meal, trying to stay out of the conversation, when a bizarre, discordant drone wheedled into the cafeteria. Heads turned, then people began laughing and applauding and getting to their feet. Hazel’s table did the same, but all Hazel could see were craning necks and