Free Sweet Little Lies by Lauren Conrad Page B

whathe did.”
    “The only one who’s covering up is you, you scheming—”
    “Hey!What’s going on?”
    Scarlett jerked around at the sound of Jane’s angry voice. Jane and Hannah, that girl from her office, were standing there. Scarlett wasn’t sure what to think of Hannah. Was she friend or foe? She had met her only once, at Jesse’s twenty-first birthday party at Goa. But she had seen Hannah on severalL.A.
    Candy episodes, giving Jane encouraging advice about Jesse. Which was bizarre. Didn’t Hannah know about Jesse’s messed-up past? Had she ever even talked to him? Or was she too mesmerized by his (even Scarlett had to admit) gorgeous face to care?
    At the moment, Hannah looked anxious as her brown eyes shifted between Scarlett and Madison. Jane looked…well, pissed off. But she would get over it once Scarlett forced Madison to come clean.
    “Janie, I’m so glad you’re here! Madison and I were just talking about why she likes to ruin the lives of her ‘friends,’” Scarlett said, jabbing a finger in Madison’s direction.
    “You’re insane,” Madison shot back. “Jane, she’s insane.”
    Jane frowned at Scarlett. “Scar, cut it out. Please just drop it.”
    “I amnot gonna drop it! Madison’s lying to you! She’s trying to hurt you, and I’m not gonna—”
    “Hey, what’d I miss?” Gaby pranced up to the group, patting her smooth light brown updo. “You all seem kinda stressed. Did they run outta gift bags or something?”
    “Hi, Gaby, I’m Hannah.” Hannah spoke up quickly, clearly trying to defuse the situation by acting as if nothing were wrong. “I don’t know if you remember me, but we met at Goa.”
    Gaby nodded. “Oh, yeah. At Jesse’s birthday party. Aren’t you that girl he was flirting with?”

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    Hannah blushed. “Um, no. I’m Jane’s friend from work. In fact, we’re all gonna be working on the Crazy Girl party together.”
    “Cool,” Gaby said, her gaze wandering to a passing waiter who was carrying a tray of Cosmos.
    “Ohhhh!” She reached over and took two.
    “I really like Mika’s designs,” Jane said, her own attempt at changing the subject. “Especially her dresses. I love that one with the beaded neckline.”
    “You would look soooo pretty in that,” Hannah said eagerly.She’s just trying to help Jane steer the topic away from Madison, Scarlett thought, annoyed.Which at this point puts her in the “foe” category.
    “So would you!” Jane exclaimed to Hannah. “And what about the shirt with the yellow—”
    Jane stopped abruptly. The color drained from her face as she stared over Hannah’s shoulder at something—or someone—across the room.
    Scarlett followed Jane’s gaze to see what had thrown her, and saw Jesse Edwards posing at the step-and-repeat with some brunette hanging all over him. Behind the official photographer were several other photographers, jockeying for position to get a clear shot of Jesse and his date.
    Hannah and Madison took note of Jesse’s arrival, too. Hannah looked worried and whispered something in Jane’s ear as she reached down and squeezed her hand. Madison looked…Whatwas that expression on her face? Panic? Scarlett allowed herself a brief moment of satisfaction. She knew she was right about Madison. The girl was terrified that Jesse was going to tell everyone the truth about what had happened. In front of Jane. On camera (not that Trevor would let it make it onto the air…).
    Finally,Scarlett thought.
    As for Gaby, she was oblivious to what was going on around her. “Ohmigod, look at that pretty dress!”
    she said, pointing to the piece of sea green dental floss wrapped around Jesse’s date. “Do you guys think I could pull off that color?”
    “Excuse me,” Jane mumbled. She started pushing through a crowd of people, toward the ladies’ room.
    She was obviously upset. Scarlett started to follow her, except that Madison