Psycho Killer by Cecily von Ziegesar Page A

left
.
    Shit, my head itches. I think I have lice
.
    Let me know about the money
.
    Love
,
    Serena v.d. Woodsen
    Blair, Rain, and Kati giggled noisily.
    “Shhssh,” Mr. Beckham whispered, glancing at Vanessa sympathetically. Blair turned the note over and scrawled a reply.
    Sure, Serena. Whatever you need. Text me from jail and I’ll wire you the money… NOT. I hear the food is excellent in prison. Nate and I will visit you whenever we’re free, which might be… NEVER
.
    Sorry about the lice. I hear mayonnaise under a shower cap gets rid of them. That’ll go great with your outfit today
.
    Love
,
    Blair
    Blair handed the note back to Kati, feeling not the tiniest speck of remorse for being so mean. There were so many stories about Serena flying around she honestly didn’t know what to believe anymore. Maybe some of it was true. Maybe some of this stuff had really happened. After all, Serena had admitted to accidentally engineering Jeremy’s death while intending to kill Nate. Who knew what else she was capable of? Besides, passing notes distracted everyone from Nicki’s rather abrupt disappearance this morning.
    And passing notes is much more fun than taking them.
    “Attention, ladies and faculty,” Mrs. McLean’s voice sounded over the school-wide sound system. “Due to an earlier incident, the auditorium will be closed for maintenance for the remainder of the day. Drama and dance classes will be relocated to the gymnasium. Thank you.”
    So Nicki’s body had finally been discovered. Blair wondered if Serena had killed anyone yet today. For every person Serena offed, she planned to off someone too.
    Vanessa cleared her throat. “I’m going to be writing, directing, and filming. I’ve already cast my friend Daniel Humphrey from Riverside Prep as Mickey Knox.”
    Her cheeks heated up when she uttered Dan’s name. He didn’t talk much and was very morbid, but he’d let her in out of the cold when she was locked out at a party two years ago and she’d been bossing him around ever since. Dan was her only friend in the entire city, although she would kill for them to be more than just friends.
    “I still need a Mallory. I’m casting her tomorrow on the middle of the Brooklyn Bridge at dusk.” Secretly she wanted to don a wig and play Mallory herself, but then there’d be no one to hold the camera. The original Mickey and Mallory Knox had been played by the hugely muscular bald cowboy Woody Harrelson and the gangly doe-eyed Southern teen bride Juliette Lewis. Dan and Vanessa couldn’t have looked more different. But that was the fun of an adaptation—she could use the story and fuck with it.
    “Anyone interested?” she asked. The question was a private little joke with herself. Vanessa knew no one in the room was even listening.
    Blair’s arm shot up. “I’ll be the director!” she announced. Obviously she hadn’t heard the question, but Blair was so desperate to impress the admissions office at Yale, she was always the first to volunteer for anything.
    Vanessa opened her mouth to speak.
Direct this
, she wanted to say, before firing a bazooka and blowing up Blair’s perfectly coiffed head.
    “Put your hand down, Blair,” Mr. Beckham sighed tiredly. “Vanessa just got through telling us
she
is directing and writingand filming. Unless you’d like to try out for the part of Mallory, I suggest you focus on your own project.”
    Blair glared sourly at him. She hated teachers like Mr. Beckham. He had such a chip on his shoulder because he was from Nebraska and had finally attained his sad dream of living in New York City only to find himself teaching a useless class instead of directing cutting-edge films and becoming famous. One day Mrs. McLean would probably make an announcement over the loudspeaker that Mr. Beckham had crawled into the space-saver oven in his pathetically tiny studio apartment and had never come out.
    Or maybe Blair should just kill him herself and put him out of his