The Bling Ring by Nancy Jo Sales Page A

students, resides at the back, in several prefab buildings, like the ones used as offices at construction sites. It has as its logo the uncomfortable image of an Indianhead, and, hidden at the back of the compound as it is, it has the feeling of being stuck on a reservation.
    The two girls I met in the parking lot were seniors at the school. They said they’d rather not use their real names, as they “didn’t want to get involved.” They chose the names “Monica” and “Ashley.” They were wearing low-slung jeans, tight long-sleeved Ts and a lot of dark eye makeup. Monica was smoking.
    We went and sat on the bleachers of the playing field, which was empty except for a couple boys running around the track. Monica said she was sent to Indian Hills for “drugs”; Ashley because “I have trouble learning.”
    â€œShe was toootally into herself,” said Monica.
    â€œOh, I liked Rachel,” said Ashley. “She could be sweet.”
    Monica raised an eyebrow. “Sweet? You mean mean, ” she said.
    They said they knew Rachel Lee, Nick Prugo, and Diana Tamayo, having gone to school with the older kids before they graduated in 2008. “Everybody knew what they were doing”—that is, burglarizing the homes of celebrities, said Monica.
    â€œThey bragged about it. At parties and stuff,” said Ashley.
    â€œMost people didn’t believe it,” Monica said. “People thought they were just talking shit.”
    I asked them why no one ever reported it to the police.
    Monica made a face. “You don’t do that. They would wear like, Paris Hilton’s stuff, and say they were wearing it. I would have sold that shit.”
    TMZ would post a picture of Nick wearing a “P” necklace allegedly belonging to Hilton; across the picture Nick had scrawled, Perez Hilton–style, “Hey Paris, look familiar?”
    â€œRachel had really nice clothes,” said Ashley. “Everyone else would be dressed, like, casually, in jeans and shorts, and she would be wearing like some designer top and heels. She looked like a celebrity. She looked like someone in a magazine.”
    â€œYeah, Burglars’ Magazine ,” said Monica.
    â€œPrugo stated that Lee was the driving force of the burglary crew and that her motivation was based in her desire to own the designer wardrobes of the Hollywood celebrities that she admired,” said the LAPD’s report.
    I asked the girls if they knew how Rachel afforded her stylish wardrobe. “A lot of people in this area have money,” Monica said, shrugging.
    â€œShe acted kind of spoiled,” said Ashley. “I heard she didn’t get along with her mom but then she would have all this really nice stuff so I thought maybe her mom was trying to win her daughter by giving her stuff—I don’t know. I heard she didn’t like her stepfather. She had a really nice car, an Audi A4.”
    â€œRachel’s a mean girl,” Monica said with a click of her tongue. “She was backstabby. When people say Nick was the ringleader, I don’t believe it, ’cause he could never do that by himself. He was too nervous.”
    I asked them about Diana Tamayo. “Always getting into fights,” Monica said. “She used to, like, yell at the Agoura Hills kids ’cause they act like we don’t exist.”
    The boys running around the track ran by.
    â€œIt’s not all bad here,” said Ashley after a moment. “Heather Graham,” the actress, “went to Agoura.”
    â€œAnd Brad Delson, the guitarist from Linkin Park,” Monica said. They seemed almost proud of it.
    â€œWe’re a very small group,” said Ashley said, “but Rachel and Diana definitely ruled.”
    â€œThey thought they were The Plastics”—the popular clique in the movie Mean Girls (2004), said Monica.
    â€œOnce Rachel told me she liked my