Wicked by Sara Shepard Read Free Book Online Page A

asked, slowly lowering herself into a chair.
    Her dad shifted uncomfortably. “Spencer, your grandmother died this morning.”
    Spencer blinked. “Nana?”
    “Yes,” Spencer’s mother said quietly. “She had a heart attack.” She folded her hands in her lap, clicking into business mode. “Her will reading is tomorrow morning because your dad needs to fly to Florida to take care of the estate before her funeral next Monday.”
    “Oh my God,” Spencer whispered faintly.
    She sat very still, waiting for the tears to come. When had she last seen Nana? They’d just been to Nana’s house in Cape May, New Jersey, a couple months ago, but Nana had been in Florida—she hadn’t come up north in years. The thing was, Spencer had struggled through so many other deaths lately, and of people much younger. Nana had lived a rich, happy ninety-one years. Plus, Nana hadn’t always been the warmest of grandmothers. Sure, she’d generously built Spencer and Melissa an enormous playroom in her Cape May manse, outfitting it with dollhouses and My Little Ponies and big trash buckets of Legos. But Nana always used to stiffen when Spencer tried to hug her, never wanted to see the sloppy birthday cards Spencer made for her, and grumbled about the Lego airplanes Spencer carried out of the playroom and left on top of Nana’s Steinway baby grand piano. Sometimes, Spencer wondered if Nana even liked children or whether the playroom had just been a way to get Spencer and her sister out of her hair.
    Mrs. Hastings took a big swig of her Starbucks latte. “We were in a meeting with Appleton when we got the news,” she said after swallowing.
    Spencer stiffened. Her parents had already been here? “Were you meeting about me?”
    “No,” Mrs. Hastings said tightly.
    Spencer let out a loud sniffle. Her mother closed her purse and stood, and her father followed. Mr. Hastings checked his watch. “Well, I’ve got to get back.”
    An ache rippled through Spencer’s body. All she wanted was for them to comfort her, but they’d been acting cold to her for months, all because of the Golden Orchid scandal. Her parents had known Spencer stole Melissa’s work, but they’d wanted her to keep quiet about it and accept the award anyway. Not that they were admitting that now. When Spencer confessed the truth, her parents had pretended to be shocked by the news.
    “Mom?” Her voice cracked as she spoke. “Dad? Could you maybe…stay a few more minutes?”
    Her mother paused for a moment and Spencer’s heart lifted. Then Mrs. Hastings looped her cashmere scarf around her neck, grabbed Mr. Hastings’s hand, and turned for the door, leaving Spencer all alone in the office.

5
    THE CHANGING OF THE GUARD
    At lunchtime on Monday, Hanna sauntered down the arts hall toward her advanced fabrics classroom. There was nothing like starting off a new semester looking absolutely fierce. She’d lost five pounds over the break and her auburn hair gleamed, thanks to the ylang-ylang deep-conditioning treatment she’d charged to her father’s for-emergencies-only credit card. A group of boys in matching Rosewood Day ice hockey jerseys leaned up against their lockers, ogling her as she passed. One of them even whistled.
    That’s right, Hanna smirked, giving them a three-finger wave. She could still bring it.
    Of course, there had been a few instances when she hadn’t quite felt like she’d returned to fabulous Hannadom. Take right now: Lunch was the time of the school day to see and be seen, but Hanna wasn’t sure where she should go. She’d assumed she would eat with Lucas, but he was at debate team practice. Back in the day, she and Mona used to camp out at Steam, sipping Americanos and critiquing everyone’s handbags and shoes. Then, after they’d scarfed down their Splenda yogurts and Smart Waters, they would claim prime spots in front of the mirrors in the English wing’s bathroom to touch up their makeup. But today she’d avoided both of those