PRETTY DEAD GIRLS

Chapter Two

Penelope

"So yeah. They found a...body this morning. Rumors are flying it was a teenage girl."

"Are you serious? How do you know?" Wednesday morning before third period and the halls are packed, everyone trying to get to class. I'm desperate to dump a few books off in my locker so I don't have to carry them around. Bad enough I have to wear the school uniform what feels like every day of my life. Don't need my backpack to stretch out my navy blue cardigan sweater and make it look even worse.

"I just...know. I have sources." My best friend, Danielle Sanchez, is practically whispering as she stands by my side; I can hardly hear her. Not that it really matters, considering whatever she's telling me is most likely pure rumor and speculation. Maybe she's hallucinating. I mean really-a dead body found before eight in the morning in our privileged little community?

No freaking way.

"Who are your sources? And please, speak up. I can't hear you. No one's listening to us anyway." My voice drips with skepticism and I resist the urge to roll my eyes. I'm the realistic one while Dani's the idealist. She's all in, all the time, believing every little thing she hears, from the stupid lies some jock tells her in Spanish class to the rumors buzzing around the quad at lunch.

Me? I trust no one. I've been burned far too many times.

"Cops were on campus first thing this morning. Didn't you see their cars in the parking lot?" Dani frowns when I shake my head. "They showed up at the main office just before first period. A whole bunch of them, too, with serious expressions and looking badass in their uniforms." Only Dani thinks cops are hot. She loves a guy in uniform. "They looked like they were going to a funeral or whatever." Her eyes go wide the moment the words leave her lips. I can read her mind. She's thinking of funerals and murder and dead teenage girls.

"I was at the Larks meeting before first period." And what a worthless meeting that had been, not that I'm telling Dani. Half the girls in our community-service group weren't even there-every one of them seniors. The juniors all show up because they're trying to secure their Larks spot for next year, but they're clueless most of the time.

This is why meetings before school are pointless. No one wants to get out of bed a minute earlier than they have to, not even for their fellow Larks or for the good of the community. "You didn't show up," I remind her.

Dani shrugs. "I gured you'd fill me in, considering you're President Penelope." Ugh, I so hate it when she calls me that, but I say nothing. Just give her a little grin.

She smiles serenely in return. "But back to the cops. Supposedly they wanted to see recent attendance records for all senior girls."

"Please. They might've been looking for a truant senior, and I can think of two right off the top of my head. I seriously can't remember the last time I saw James Fuller or Craig Howe in class." Grabbing my physics book, I slam the metal locker door so hard it rattles before I take off down the crowded hall toward my third period class.

Dani falls into step beside me, the heels of our loafers clicking in time on the concrete oor. "Valid point." She's always saying valid point. Usually because I'm explaining that whatever lies someone fed her were just that-total lies. "But I think you're way off. I heard they only wanted to look at the girls' attendance records. No guys."

"So?" I can't even focus on what she's saying right now. I have that test in physics to study for-Mrs. Emmert said we could use both sides of an index card to write notes to help us, and I want to get a head start. I do well in school. Okay, fine, I do great in school, but this year, physics is tripping me up, and I don't like it. I can't put my future at risk, which means I need to do everything I can to ace this test. My college applications must look impressive. I've got everything mostly covered.