“I got it. It’s mine,” I said, sounding a little too desperate.
“Okay,” he said, raising an eyebrow at me.
I wanted to beat myself with the stupid ball. Cole probably thought I was way too competitive and completely unfriendly. But I couldn’t let him near the ball and risk letting him see my dad’s face. “It’s just . . . umm . . . I don’t want to make you run all the way after it. That’s all.” It was a pretty lame excuse since we were both in grasping distance of the ball, but it wasn’t like I had time to come up with something clever.
“OK,” he said again. I waited for him to turn around, then I picked up the ball. Lou’s features popped back on it. “Get out of here,” I muttered, while trying not to move my mouth.
“I’m going,” Cole said.
“No,” I said, hiding the ball behind my back. “I wasn’t talking to you.”
“Then who?” he asked.
That was a tough one. “Myself,” I said, trying my best to smile as my brain kicked into overdrive. “I was just surprised to see the Spalding logo. Never really looked at it before. Uh, you see, umm . . . my uncle has the same thing tattooed on his arm. I always assumed it was the initial of some girl. But I guess he’s just really into sporting equipment.” Ouch. My lies needed work. But it was so farfetched he had to buy it. At least, I hoped.
“Weird,” he said.
“I know, right?” I said. “Thanks for going after the ball for me,” I added quickly.
“Sure,” Cole said. He just stood there. I figured he was waiting to walk back with me. I had no choice but to follow.
Normally I would have been crazy-psyched, but now it was crazy-frustrating. I had to tell Lou to buzz off, but without my classmates noticing. I dropped the ball and gave it a little kick with my foot. “Oops,” I said. “Don’t worry, I’ll get it.” After the way I acted before, Cole didn’t even try to go after it this time.
I picked up the volleyball, making sure my back was to my teammates. “You have to go. I mean it.”
“Be a sport,” said Lou, who was still merged with the ball. “Why not let me turn you into a pro? You just need to ask. It would be my pleasure.”
“Not interested in anything to do with evil powers,” I whispered.
“Then how about just a friendly conversation? Get to know your Pop. That’s all I want. We can grab some Chinese food after school. We can even eat it in China, if you’d like.”
“No,” I said.
He let out a hearty laugh. “Fine, the Magic Wok in town works, too. No powers, I promise.”
I looked toward my team and then back at the volleyball. “Lou, I’m not doing this here. Go. Before someone sees you.”
“You’re the only one who can tell I’m here right now.”
That didn’t make me feel much better. Anyone watching me must have thought I was a loon standing there talking to gym equipment. “I don’t care. Will you give me a break? Just go.”
“What are you doing? Giving the ball a pep talk?” Reid called out to me.
“Ha!” I yelled back. “Nothing like that. Just have a habit of singing to myself.” My heart started racing. I looked back at the ball. “Please, go.”
“Come on,” Reid said.
I took a deep breath and tossed the ball, Lou and all, to Reid. Only he tried to give it back.
“Your serve,” he said.
I shook my head. “I’m no good at it.”
Reid bounced the ball over to me, anyway. Lou was still on it. “No,” I said sharply. “Cut it out.” Reid thought I was talking to him, but Lou knew what I meant. His face finally faded away.
“It’s okay. Hit it to Big Ben,” Reid said, referring to Max. “He can’t hit for his life.”
Not that I could either. I scanned everyone on the other team. I froze when I saw Cole looking back at me. My eyes caught his, and I quickly looked away. A few seconds later, I glanced back up. He was still watching me. Probably because I had been acting like such a loon. But then he gave me a little wink. Or maybe it was an eye twitch. I don’t know, but it was something.
I served the ball, but didn’t hit it hard enough. It wasn’t going to make it over. My body stiffened. I felt rotten. I let my team down. But then Reid came to my rescue. Right before the ball hit the ground he got it back in play. Nobody even called him out on assisting with a serve or anything.
A major jolt of adrenaline rushed through me. I didn’t need Lou’s help. I had friends.
chapter 20
Gabi headed to the cafeteria with me but stopped two classrooms away. “I’m not going to lunch. I told Mrs. Torin I’d start using the period to work on the sets and costumes.”
“Cool,” I responded, feeling a twinge of guilt. I was pretty positive she decided to skip lunch because she knew I wanted to be at Courtney’s table. But I’d make it up to her. Once I solidified my spot with the popular kids, I’d totally convince them to bring her in. Then everything would be perfect.
Courtney and Jaydin passed us by. “See you at lunch, Angel,” Courtney said without stopping or acknowledging Gabi in any way.
Gabi didn’t say a word about Courtney’s rude behavior. But she didn’t need to.
“I’m going to get them to see how great you are,” I promised her. “They’ll love you just as much as I do.”
“Doubt it. But I don’t care. I don’t need them, anyway,” she said.
“Okay, but I need you. And I want all of my friends to get along.” Gabi pursed her lips together when I called them “my friends.” I pleaded with her with my eyes. “So when they invite you to eat with them, you have to say yes. Please. Promise me you will,” I begged.
“Fine, whatever,” Gabi said. “It’s not like it’s going to happen, anyway.”
I didn’t bother trying to convince her, I was going to show her instead. Pretty soon, Gabi would be sitting next to me at Courtney’s table. I was sure of it.
We parted ways, and I went to the cafeteria alone. It felt weird. For the first time since sixth grade, I was not going to be sitting at my table in the back corner. I was going to be with the popular crowd. Yeah, I was there yesterday, but only for a few minutes. This was a whole lunch period. Definitely different.
Still . . . I wouldn’t be eating with Gabi. That was also a first.
“You’re going to have to drop that loser,” Courtney said as soon as I sat down.
“What?”
“Don’t act all stupid.” She tossed a chip into her mouth. “You know who I mean. Gabi’s a major dork.”
“You just have to get to know her better,” I assured Courtney. “Then you’ll see she’s superfunny and cool.”
Courtney made a face like she just found out I was having Rottweiler for lunch.
“Anyway,” she said, her eyes extra-bright. “I hear someone has a crush on you.”
My thoughts of Gabi were temporarily pushed aside, and I instantly looked over at Cole. He must have felt my eyes on him because he looked up. Without even realizing it, I began to draw a heart in my mashed potatoes with my spork. I quickly squashed it and started making swirly lines instead. “What are you talking about?”
Courtney cleared her throat. She was about to do one of her imitations. I couldn’t imagine her embarrassing Cole in front of everyone like that. She hunched over and put her elbows out, hitting me in the side. Then her voice became almost a whisper, and she did a goofy chuckle. “I love you, Angel. Please be my gym partner.” She wasn’t pretending to be Cole. She was imitating Max.
Lana and Jaydin and a few other people at the table applauded. I was mortified. At least Cole just rolled his eyes. He must have been used to Courtney’s drama by now. But I didn’t want him to think there was anything going on with me and another guy. “Max doesn’t like me,” I protested.
“Oh, come on,” Lana said. “He was practically drooling during class. I didn’t even want to touch the ball, it was so covered in his slobber.”
I was grateful that Max had math t
utoring during lunch. I could almost picture Courtney dragging him over and forcing him to confess his feelings for me. “Okay. Maybe he likes me a little,” I admitted. Cole was still listening. I hoped he’d get jealous, but he looked normal.
“A little? Understatement of the year,” Lana shrieked, and started laughing. “You’re going to have to do something about him.”
It was true that Max was a little much at times, but what was I supposed to do? “It’s not like I can help who likes me.”
Courtney nodded, her face looking serious. “Welcome to my world.”
I hated to admit it, but I kind of liked the sound of that.
chapter 21
The next few weeks were truly incredible. Well, almost. My outburst in gym must have gotten through to Lou because he seemed to have taken a break from bugging me. And, I was now officially one of the popular kids. The only snag was that I had to be very careful about juggling my new friends with my old one. Gabi was still not on Courtney’s acceptable list.
“We on for Sunday?” Gabi asked, catching up with me at my locker Friday after school.
I tried to ignore the looks Courtney and Lana were giving me from down the hall. “Yep. Come over whenever.”
“We always go to your house. Let’s go shopping instead,” she said.
I picked at my nails. I had been trying really hard not to bite them. Jaydin even made me wear gross-tasting nail polish, so I wouldn’t want to chew them. “I have no money.”
“So? We can window shop.”
“I hate doing that. I’ll come to your house, and we can watch a movie. I’ll even let you pick.”
“Fine,” she said, shoving her hands in her pockets. “See ya then.”
As soon as she left, Courtney and Lana made their way over. “How many times do I have to tell you?” Courtney demanded.
“I know. You hate her. But please, give her a chance. For me?” My thumbnail instantly went in my mouth. The taste was putrid, but I couldn’t help myself.
Courtney closed her eyes and shook her head. It looked like she was doing everything in her power to keep her cool. “We’ll talk about it tomorrow,” she said, her voice irritated.
Then she reached into her bag and pulled out her green cashmere hoodie and handed it to me. “Here,” she said. “You can borrow this. It’ll bring out your eyes.”
“Thank you so much.” I couldn’t believe it. Courtney never let anyone wear her clothes—not even Jaydin. Lana opened her mouth to say something, but stopped herself.
“That’s the way it works,” Courtney said, half of her mouth curling up into a smile. “I do something for you. You do something for me.”
She looked almost devilish.
chapter 22
“Tell me something you never told anyone else,” Courtney said, sitting beside me on her kitchen counter, picking the raisins out of her oatmeal cookie.
“There is nothing,” I said, stuffing cookie number one trillion into my mouth. Well, nothing except the fact that there was a good chance I inherited powers from Lou. But I was keeping that to myself.
“Come on. You can tell me.”
The truth was, there wasn’t anything else I never told anyone. Gabi knew all of my secrets.
Courtney jumped off the counter. “I thought we were friends. Best friends.”
She considered me her best friend!? “We are,” I said, accidentally spitting some cookie on her shirt.
“Uggh,” she barked. “Now you have to tell me something to make up for this.” She took a fork out of the drawer and flicked my food gob onto the floor.
“Okay, but you’re not going to tell anyone anything, right? About what just happened or my secret?”
“I promise,” she said, hopping back up on the counter. “Spill.”
“What do you want to know?”
She didn’t even hesitate. “Which guy do you like?”
I picked up another cookie and studied it. I didn’t want to tell her about Cole.
“You tell me your crush, I’ll tell you mine,” she offered. I bit my lip. “It’s a good one,” she promised.
“Fine. I like Cole. Your turn.”
“I knew it!” she shouted.
I felt like she had just caught me wearing my favorite pajamas, the fluffy Barney ones that had the feet attached. It was crazy embarrassing. “Your turn,” I said, trying to change the subject.
“Lana likes Reid.”
“No way,” I said. Lana never mentioned a thing, and I’ve never seen her speak to Reid.
“Yep, for, like, forever.”
I didn’t get why Lana didn’t just tell him. Any guy would die to go out with her—she was popular and majorly pretty. “Does he have any id—Hey,” I interrupted myself. Courtney had totally sidetracked me with the Lana scoop. “You were supposed to tell me who you like!”
She rolled her eyes. “Everybody knows I like D.L. Helper. The guy I met in camp. It’s on my Facebook page.”
“Oh, right.” I said. But the truth was that I didn’t have a page. I never needed one. Up until recently I only had one friend. “Is D.L. coming to Charlie Brown?”
Her face got all scrunched up. “I told him I got the lead, but he never even asked when the show was.”
“Why don’t you just ask him to come?”
She gave me a look that signaled I was clearly missing several thousand brain cells. “Hello! That would look desperate. There’s no way I’m asking him. I shouldn’t have to.”
I could tell she really wanted him there. “What if you sent a mass e-mail to all of your camp friends telling them the date of the show, and saying that they should come? Include D.L. on the e-mail. That way you wouldn’t be singling him out, but he’d still have the information.”
“That’s not bad,” she said, slightly nodding. “I could even get Kelly to call everyone and make sure they all show up.”
Yes! She liked my idea. I was making myself pretty invaluable. Soon, she wouldn’t be able to function without me. She’d have no choice but to accept Gabi then. “What does D.L. look like?” I asked.
“I told you. Look at my Facebook page.”
“I don’t have one yet,” I admitted, but I was definitely going to create an account when I got home.
“Well, you better not friend Gabi when you do. You should have seen her in rehearsals the other day. She was totally bashing me to Mrs. Torin just because she’s jealous that you and I are friends.”
“Gabi wouldn’t do that.”
Courtney shot me a death glare. “Are you calling me a liar?”
“No,” I quickly answered. “You just probably heard her wrong. She told me she thinks you’re becoming an amazing actress, and that you really did deserve to be cast as Lucy. She said she’s learning a lot from watching you and hoped you’d give her some singing pointers.” Okay, so none of that was true, but I needed Courtney to like Gabi. And a little flattery never hurt, especially not where Courtney was concerned.
She studied my face. “Whatevs.” She jumped off the counter. “Come on, I’m sick of eating. Let’s go play Guitar Hero.”
That was fine with me. I would have played Hungry Hungry Hippos as long as it meant the conversation about bashing Gabi was over.
chapter 23
Jaydin and Lana walked up to my desk after social studies class. “Want to go to the mall with us after school?” Jaydin asked.
“Definitely.”
“Cool. Meet us at the front steps,” she added as she and Lana left.
Once they were out of earshot, Gabi jumped up from the seat next to me, slammed her book on the table, and hissed at me. “I thought you had no money to go shopping.”
“I don’t. I’m just going to look around.”
“But you couldn’t look around with me when I asked you the other day?”
I pretended to look for something in my bag. I didn’t want to look Gabi in the eye. “I wasn’t in the mood then. We still hung out, though.”
“Yeah, at my p
lace,” she said, her lip starting to tremble. “Just admit you don’t want to be seen with me in public.”
“That’s not true.” I don’t know why I was so opposed to going to the mall with Gabi. I just hadn’t felt like it. I started stuffing some papers into my bag as hard as I could. “You can come with us today, if you want.”
“I have rehearsal.” She was still glaring at me.
“That’s not my fault,” I said meekly. But we both knew that I was fully aware that she wouldn’t be able to go before I asked. We walked to our next class together, but neither of us said a word.
chapter 24
Lana handed me a black jumper. “Try this on,” she instructed. “It will look killer with a white blouse, black tights, and pair of heels.”
I loved the clothes at Juicy Couture, but there was no way I could buy any of them. I had a whole twenty-one dollars and fifty-six cents to my name. “I’m just looking around.”
“Don’t be so lame,” Jaydin butted in. “Try it on and see how it looks.” She waved the saleswoman over.
“Can I help you?” the lady asked, looking straight at me.
She looked sort of familiar. “No thanks. I was—”
Jaydin cut me off. “Yes. Can she get a dressing room, please?”
It wasn’t worth arguing, so without another word, I followed the saleslady to the fitting room. As I was about to step behind the curtain she told me to hold on a second. “Lucy,” at least according to her nametag, held up her hand. “I have a little surprise,” she said.
She waved her hand across her face and as she did her features started morphing. The deep creases in her forehead smoothed out, her big blue eyes turned light green, her rounded jaw became squared, the overall softness in her face hardened, and to top it off, she developed two massive dimples. I dropped everything I was holding.
I was no longer looking at Lucy. I was looking at Lou.
Well, sort of.
It was Lou’s head on Lucy’s body. I stuck my head around the corner. No one was around. I then looked under every dressing room door. They were empty, too. “What are you doing here?” I asked, gawking at him. He made kind of a crazy sight. It was like I plucked the head off of my old Ken doll and plopped it on Barbie’s body instead.
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