Brilliant Hues Read Online Free PDF Page A

know why we were treating her that way. I mean she might guess, but it might not be enough to stop her from lying about someone else, or even about Alice again.”
    Pips tossed the pillow aside and started pacing around the room. Higgins came over to nuzzle my hand. I scratched his ears, waiting for the rest of Pippa’s story.
    “And then at the mall, in the candy store, we saw Jaylia slip a bag of candy into her pocket. Her back was to us. We followed her out of the store, and Juliet had her cell phone—it does video recordings. Anyway, we forced Jaylia to admit she’d stolen the candy on video. She didn’t want us to call the security guard over right then, obviously. So, she did what we asked. And we told her if she ever lied about anyone else, we’d show the video.”
    I frowned. “Isn’t that like blackmail?”
    Anger flashed in Pippa’s eyes and her voice was hard when she said, “It worked, Sadie. And Jaylia hasn’t done anything mean since.”
    “So that’s the secret? That you’re blackmailing this girl?”
    Pippa glared at me. “Since we managed to stop Jaylia from bullying people, we realized we could do it again, you know, to stop other bullies. Alice, Bri, Juliet, and I swore we’d never tell anyone, that it would be super top secret.”
    I sighed and sat on the window seat. “So, who’s Margo?”
    “You know how Juliet is sensitive about her weight. Margo’s been teasing her all year, making mean comments the teachers never seem to hear. And Margo edged Bri out of the lead part in the spring play. And I told you she beat Alice by three votes to be school secretary. But all the teachers think Margo’s perfect, of course.”
    “So Margo’s your new target?”
    Either Pippa didn’t hear the sharp tone in my voice or she chose to ignore it.
    “Sadie, you have to help us with this.” She grabbed my hand, giving me one of her believe-me-or-else looks. “You’ll see how great it feels. To stop someone from picking on other people—really stop them. It’s amazing.”
    “But …” I pulled my hand away. “Aren’t you just treating them the way they’re treating other people?”
    She gave me an incredulous look. “Sadie, we’re not lying about them.”
    “No, but … You can’t just do whatever you want as long as it ends up okay, Pips.”
    “We’re not just doing whatever we want, Sadie.” Pippa had raised her voice, and we both glanced toward the stairs.
    Neither of us wanted my parents to hear this conversation.
    Pips shook her head. “You don’t understand.”
    I didn’t want to fight with Pippa. And right now, I wasn’t exactly sure why I was so uncomfortable. Maybe, hopefully, because their secret club was all-wrong, but what if I was just angry about being left out?
    “Sadie, we’re trying to do a good thing. I swear.” Pips walked over to my paintings again, her back to me. “It’s like what you said about these paintings—how you can feel God with you?”
    She turned to look at me, her expression totally sincere. “It’s like that. When we’re standing up to someone, it feels so right, Sades. I promise. I know it sounds a little …”
    When her voice trailed off, I realized I must have been giving her a totally disbelieving look. I couldn’t help it. She didn’t really think God wanted her to gang up on people, did she? I knew I should say something, tell her how wrong I thought this was, but the words stuck in my throat. What if I said something and made her truly angry? Already my friends felt so far away. Pippa might still be Pippa in lots of ways, but she was totally different in others.
    “Girls?” Mom’s voice called up the stairs. “Pippa’s mom is here.”
    Neither of us said anything as Pippa picked up her bag and went to the stairs.
    “See you tomorrow, Sades,” she finally said.
    “Okay. Yeah,” I answered, wishing my voice didn’t sound so small and sad.
    “Okay,” she said and walked slowly down the steps.
    I should have followed,