Free Hit Squad by James Heneghan

Chapter One
    Friday afternoon, ninth-grade art class, final period.
    Two girls spat sunflower seeds at the blue-eyed blonde.
    Birgit Neilsen, the blonde girl, tossed her ponytail. “Cut it out!” She shook the sticky seeds from her hair and spun around to face her tormentors. “Slobs!” Her eyes were like ice.
    The girls at the next bench, ShelleyCrewell and Mona Teasedale, eyed each other in mock horror.
    â€œDid you hear that, Shell?” said Mona, the bigger girl. Black mascara circled her eyes. She looked like a raccoon.
    Shelley acted shocked. “Ooooh, Mona!” Shelley’s dark hair was streaked with a single white skunk stripe across the top of her head from front to back.
    Mona said, “She called us slobs! We’re not slobs, are we, Shell?”
    â€œNo, Mona, we’re not! If anyone’s a slob around here it’s Miss Superior. If you ask me…” Shelley whispered into Mona’s ear.
    Mona’s laughter erupted in a spluttering giggle that sent a spray of wet sunflower seeds into Birgit’s hair.
    â€œYou two animals belong in a zoo,” Birgit hissed. She snatched up her work and moved out of range.
    â€œIt’s not me,” Shelley lied. “I’m eating a Mars bar. Look!” She held up a chocolate bar, still in its wrapper. Her eyes were wide and innocent.
    â€œWhat’s the trouble here?” The art teacher was a big man with a beard and brown hair that fell below his collar. “Shelley? Mona? You planning on working today?”
    Except for their jaws, the two girls didn’t move. They chewed sunflower seeds.
    â€œWell?”
    â€œSure, Mr. Paddock.” Mona eased her feet off the stool and slouched against the bench. Shelley followed suit with exaggerated slowness.
    â€œAnd sunflower seeds are forbidden in here. You know that. Stay behind after class and clean that mess off the floor.” As Mr. Paddock moved away, Mona jerked a finger at his retreating back. Shelley sniggered.
    On the bench next to Mona and Shelley, a girl named Jessie Jones was busy making tiny clay pellets. She fired them through a pen barrel at a boy named Dietrich Mueller, two rows in front of her. She wore a reversed baseball cap and a T-shirt that had
Kill!
written in black letters on it.
    Dietrich turned and grinned. “Who keepsdoing that?” he asked, looking at everyone behind him. He looked at Jessie. “It’s you, isn’t it?” He giggled.
    Jessie looked innocent. “Deet? You talking to me?”
    Dietrich giggled again. “I know it’s you, Jess. I know it’s you.” Dietrich didn’t fully understand why people called him Deet. He thought it was simply a friendly way of saying his name. He didn’t know that it was the common name of an insect repellent. “How are the flies today, Deet?” kids asked him. Dietrich always laughed, thinking they were being friendly. Deet was a friendly boy.
    Jessie answered, “It’s not me, Deet. Must be the mosquitoes, huh?”
    Deet laughed and went back to his clay sculpture.
    Jessie looked at Shelley. “What’s with her highness there?” She nodded in Birgit’s direction.
    â€œYou mean Miss Superior? She thinks she’s too good for the rest of us,” said Shelley. “Called us slobs. Ain’t that right, Mona?”
    â€œWe should teach her a lesson,” grunted Mona.
    â€œYeah, why not?” said Shelley. “We Creekside girls gotta stick together.”
    â€œGet her in the stockroom,” Jessie suggested.
    â€œAnd then what?” asked Mona.
    â€œPaint her pretty colors,” laughed Shelley.
    â€œYou gotta get her in the stockroom first,” said Jessie. “Leave her to me, okay?” She headed for Birgit’s bench. “I saw what they did, Birgit,” she said. “The sunflower seeds, I mean. You’re right. They are a couple of slobs.”
    Birgit didn’t look