Social Suicide

by Gemma Halliday

  I paused. “Like another Homepage staff meeting thing?”

  “Not really,” he said, eyes still on the lint.

  “Is this about a story? A new assignment or some-thing?” I pressed.

  “No.”

  “Then what?”

  He shrugged. “I just thought that maybe you’d like to go grab something to eat. You know. With me.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “Are you asking me out?”

  I didn’t think it was possible, but I swear I saw Chase’s cheeks go just the slightest pale shade of pink.

  “Sorta. Yeah. I guess. I mean, if you want to.”

  I paused. Did I want to?

  “What about that girl you were at the game with last week?” I hedged.

  Chase finally lifted his eyes from the lint ball to meet mine, his eyebrows scrunching. “Carly?”

  I swallowed. “Yeah. Carly.”

  “What about her?”

  “Um, don’t you think she’d mind you going out with me?” I asked.

  But my sarcasm was lost on him, his eyebrows still scrunching. “Why would my cousin mind me having pizza with you?”

  I blinked. His cousin.

  Dude, I was so stupid.

  “Your cousin. Carly.”

  Chase shook his head. “So, what do you say? You, me, pizza? Sound like fun?” A lopsided grin broke through the deepening pink in his cheeks, his eyes warm and soft in a way that inexplicably made my insides feel warm and soft, too.

  And I felt myself nodding.

  “Sure. Pizza.”

  Pizza was good, I told myself. Pizza was easy. Friends had pizza all the time. We were good friends having pizza on a Friday night. It didn’t need to mean anything more than that, and I was definitely not reading anything more into it.

  For now.

  Chase grinned wide enough that white teeth showed between his lips. “Awesome,” he said. Then he finally did get up from the desk, taking a step toward the door before he called over his shoulder, “It’s a date, then.”

  Oh, fluffin’ fudge. Was Sam gonna have a field day with this one.

  Acknowledgments

  ALTHOUGH I GENERALLY WRITE ALONE, IN A CORNER OF A coffee shop, with my earbuds in so no one will bother me, there is actually a huge team of people without whom my words would never see the light of day, let alone a bookstore shelf. So I have to give a shout-out to them.

  A huge thanks to my agent-awesome, Holly Root, for always having my back. Thank you to Erica Sussman, Tyler Infinger, and the rest of the incredibly talented editorial team at HarperTeen for all their hard work on this book. And a big thanks to the Romance Divas for being the bestest writing community on the planet.

  Thanks to Nicky for being my go-to guy on all things teen, and for letting me steal him to be a character in this book. You rock.

  And lastly, a huge thank-you to the teachers at the “real” version of Herbert Hoover High, where I went to school. It boggles my mind how anyone can spend that many hours in a classroom by choice and still have a smile. So thanks for the smiles, the hard work, and even for the homework. (Yeah, I said it. Crazy, huh?)

  About the Author

  When GEMMA HALLIDAY was sixteen she wanted to be either a rock star or Marilyn Monroe. Instead, she ended up working as a film extra, a teddy bear importer, a department store administrator, a preschool teacher, a temporary-tattoo artist, and a 900-number psychic before settling on the career of author. Since then, her books have been published in several countries, optioned for television, and have won lots of cool, shiny trophies, including a National Readers’ Choice Award and three RITA nominations. Gemma now lives in the San Francisco Bay area, where she loves watching reality TV shows, eating takeout pizza, and shoe shopping. She is also the author of DEADLY COOL. You can visit her online at: www.gemmahalliday.com.

  Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors.

  Credits

  Cover art © 2012 by Anni Suvi

  Cover design by Michelle Taormina

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  Copyright

  HarperTeen is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

  Social Suicide

  Copyright © 2012 by Gemma Halliday

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

  www.epicreads.com

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Halliday, Gemma.

  Social suicide / by Gemma Halliday.

  p. cm.

  Sequel to: Deadly cool.

  Summary: “Hartley Featherstone’s first big story for the school paper takes an unexpected turn when she discovers the girl she’s supposed to interview dead in her swimming pool”— Provided by publisher.

  ISBN 978-0-06-200332-4

  [1. Mystery and detective stories. 2. Journalism—Fiction. 3. High schools—Fiction. 4. Schools—Fiction.] I. Title.

  PZ7.H15449Soc 2012

  [Fic]—dc23

  2011042111

  CIP

  AC

  12 13 14 15 16 CG/RRDH 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  First Edition

  EPub Edition © MARCH 2012 ISBN: 9780062114501

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