Pretty Little Devils by Nancy Holder Page B

surprise.
    Hazel thought she and Matty were alone in the hall. Had Lakshmi been watching? God. What was that about?
    â€œYou—you are so lying, Lakshmi!” Breona screeched. Her face drained of color.
    â€œNo, I saw it,” Lakshmi insisted. “He gave it to her.” She turned to Ms. Carpentier. “It’s Hazel’s.”
    â€œBut…” Breona’s face crumpled. She covered her mouth with her hands and ran into the hall. The entire class watched her go.
    There was silence. Then Brian Palmeri, the slacker in the back of the room, piped up. “Dude, what’s her deal?”
    â€œShe’s on drugs,” Hazel shot back, furious and embarrassed. Her statement was greeted with hoots and laughter from the rest of the class.
    â€œHazel! Would you care to visit Mr. Clancy?” Ms. Carpentier snapped.
    â€œNo. Sorry,” Hazel apologized, carefully scooping up the carnation. Petals dropped from the ruined flower.
    â€œAll right. Then let’s get back to work.”
    Carpentier got them started on a mixing exercise—adding copper sulfate and sulfur to water. Then she left the room, no doubt to deal with Breona’s diva moment. As soon as she was gone, the class got rowdy.
    Lakshmi leaned over her lab table. “By the way, Haze, that’s so cool about you and Matty. Way to go!”
    â€œThanks,” Hazel said. She tried to focus on her experiment, adjusting her heavy goggles as she held a test tube of blue liquid over a Bunsen burner. But she couldn’t help wondering—how did Lakshmi know about her and Matty in the hallway?
    Lakshmi leaned closer. Behind her own goggles, she was blinking excitedly. “I was trying to find you at lunch. Did you hear about Jilly Delgado’s horse?”
    â€œYeah,” Hazel said coolly. “Something happened to him.”
    â€œSomething happened, all right. He was killed! Some psycho murdered him and cut him into little chunks!”
    Hazel turned from her experiment. “What?”
    â€œSomeone hacked him up,” Lakshmi repeated eagerly. “They found one of his eyes ten feet away from his body. His tail was missing.”
    Hazel shook her head. “Oh my God. How awful!”
    â€œThere’s going to be a police investigation,” Lakshmi added. “They need to find the perpetrator right away. They’re clearly crazy—and you never know what someone like that will do next.”
    Hazel understood. She watched CSI too.
    Footfalls sounded in the hall. Various conversations died away as Ms. Carpentier returned—without Breona.
    â€œUh, Hazel?” Lakshmi whispered. “We’re all getting together tonight to watch a movie. I thought, if you’re not busy…”
    â€œSorry.” Hazel turned away. “I have plans.”
    Lakshmi sighed. “Yeah. I figured you would.”
    Â 
    Hazel’s last period was a study hall that met in the media center. She set her heavy backpack on the table before her and opened it.
    She wanted to study, but her mind was whirling. So much was happening. And it was all so confusing.
    Breona’s meltdown, Jilly’s horse, her first football game as a PLD…and as Matty’s girlfriend. Sylvia, Ellen, Brandon. What did it all mean?
    She shook her head. Now was not the time to figure it out.
    Focus, she coached herself.
    She cracked open her econ book. Supply, demand…she could do this.
    After a few minutes, she felt someone standing just behind her. She turned her head to find Matty, smiling down at her and waiting to be noticed. She gave him a little grin and raised her brows.
    â€œHey,” he said softly.
    â€œHey. I didn’t know you had study hall,” she replied.
    â€œActually, I’m in Photo II,” he said. “I came in to do some research.” He held up a magazine titled Digital Photographer that had a bunch of cameras on the cover.
    â€œYou’re into