“I know who you are,” Jaydin yelled, loud enough for the entire room to hear. “That one over there.” I assumed she pointed at me, but I wasn’t about to turn around and look. “Angie, Bangle, Bagel, something like that.”
I just kept picking at my egg salad sandwich. I needed the bell to ring, but the seconds seemed like decades. If I hadn’t known better, I would have thought Lou cast some slow-down spell to torture me. But he wouldn’t have done that—Courtney was the only one who wanted to make me suffer.
Three centuries later, the bell finally rang. Only it wasn’t much of a relief because it wasn’t over. In fact, it had only just begun. I was going to have to put up with Courtney’s cruelty for the next five years.
chapter 34
Lou flashed me a big smile when I walked in for detention. “Glad you could make it,” he said.
I slammed the door shut. “This isn’t fair,” I yelled.
“Life isn’t always fair.”
I grasped my backpack so tight my knuckles turned white. “You’re telling me. I’m friendless. People are out to get me. My dad is evil. And I’m stuck in detention. With you!”
Lou took a few steps closer to me. “Angel, it’s not so ba—”
“Just stop.” I dropped into the desk closest to the door. “Why are you doing this to me?” I really couldn’t take any more. Not after the last few days.
“I thought we could start working on our relationship.”
“I already told you, until you really quit being the devil, I want nothing to do with you.”
“I’m working on getting out,” he responded, “but you have to give me a little time. There’s a lot of red tape down there.”
“I don’t care. You know what to do. And no more taking over for Mrs. Laurel or any of my teach—” I stopped mid-sentence and rose to my feet. “Hey! Where’s Mrs. Laurel?”
“Vacation.”
“She was here this morning during homeroom. Did you do something to her?”
“Nothing. I swear,” he said, holding up his fingers in the Boy Scout pledge. “Is it my fault that the folks from Publishers Clearing House popped in this morning and told her she won ten million dollars?”
I shook my head. “I don’t believe it. Something like that would have gotten all over school. You’ll say whatever it takes to get what you want. You’re the devil.”
Lou snapped his fingers and something appeared inside his hand. “Take a look for yourself,” he said.
I moved closer to him. “An iPhone? How’s that going to prove anything?”
He raised an eyebrow and smiled. “Ahh. It’s not an iPhone. It’s an hPhone. Much, much more advanced.”
“Huh?” I was kind of lost.
“H, like in . . . ” He pointed downward.
“You mean he—”
“Ut, ut, uh,” he said, wagging his finger. “I prefer to call it Hades.”
“Why would you need something like that?” I asked, not quite buying what he was spewing.
“There are a lot of souls to track. Even I can use an organizational tool. Helps me keep everything straight. You can see better this way,” he said. “Come look.” Lou pushed a key with a halo on it. “That’s my Angel button. For things associated with you.” Then he said, “Laurel.” On his command, the gadget lit up and next thing I knew, I was looking at a bird’s-eye view of Mrs. Laurel in her house, haphazardly flinging clothes from her closet into her suitcase—right there on the screen.
I moved in closer to get a better look.
“Want it bigger?” he asked.
I shrugged, and Lou hit the zoom key. The images flew from the phone to a gigantic, life-sized version smack in front of me—like they were beamed onto a projector screen, only without the screen. I felt like I could walk right in and be a part of Mrs. Laurel’s world, which evidently was filled with tons of cat knickknacks. I heard her on the phone telling someone about her good luck in hitting the jackpot and how she was taking off to Mexico. The whole spying thing was majorly crazy. It would have been pretty cool, too, if it hadn’t been orchestrated by the devil.
Then it hit me. Everything I was looking at could have been an illusion. “How do I know you’re not just making this up, and that she’s not really somewhere screaming for help?”
“Why would I go to all that trouble?” Lou gave me a big smile, showing off his dimples. I knew he was trying to look all innocent, but it didn’t work on me. I’ve pulled that one too many times myself.
“Because you’re the devil,” I said, putting my hands on my hips.
“I promise you—her soul is safe.” He winked at me. “At least, for now.”
With another wave, Lou made the images in front of me disappear and put the lights back on. This whole thing was insane, including the fact that he was now my teacher. “Isn’t the school concerned that some strange man just wandered in to take over?” I asked.
“Actually, they called me. I’m on their substitute list. I was right at the top. How’s that for luck?”
I was pretty sure luck had nothing to do with it. I took the seat directly in front of his desk. “Lou—”
“Please, Angel,” he said softly. “Is it such a crime to want to talk to my daughter? Can’t we just try to get to know each other?”
I looked up. “I think I know too much already. I wasn’t born yesterday. I know what the devil does. Tricks good people to give up their souls in exchange for a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, incredible batting averages, or whatever else they dream of. Then they end up stuck in the underworld forever. I can’t be around someone who would do that. I don’t even know how you can live with yourself.”
His light eyes clouded over. “Sometimes dealing with the despicable gets tiring. I used to be an angel, you know, before I decided I wanted to be my own boss and went out on my own. Is it so outrageous to think I’d like to have some decent people around? I’m really not so bad.”
I doubted all those good souls would agree. I started chewing my thumbnail. “Sounds pretty bad to me.”
Lou jumped up. His eyes were light again and he had a gigantic grin on his face. “Time to change the subject,” he said. “How about letting me help you? That’s what dads do, right?” He reminded me of some cheery game show host. “How about that girl, Courtney? I can help you get back at her.”
It did sound tempting. “Nahhh . . . I can take care of her myself.” I did not want to be responsible for anyone’s damnation.
Lou took the seat next to me and leaned forward. “How about Cole then? I can make it so you two have more time to hang out together. Well, as long as he promises not to get fresh with you.”
I grabbed the back of my neck with both hands. “Don’t do anything with Cole. I mean it.”
“No problem,” he said very casually. “I was just thinking I could give you both detention tomorrow. That way you could have some real one-on-one time.”
Lou was good. No wonder he got so many souls. He knew just how to figure out what people wanted. “I won’t even bother you,” he added. “You could spend the whole hour talking to him.”
I have to admit, I was torn.
Would saying yes really have been that bad? I definitely wanted to spend time with Cole. But I wanted him to want it, too. To like me because of me, not because of some evil spell. “No thanks,” I said.
I glanced up at the clock. “I’m gonna get going. No more detentions or teacher conferences or anything, okay? Not until you . . .” I let my voice trail off.
“But that could take weeks,” he said.
“Then I guess we won’t be seeing each other for weeks.” I walked out without looking back.
chapter 35
When I stepped into the hall, Cole was leaning on the wall right outside the classroom. I did a triple-take and was more than the slightest bit suspicious when he said hello. Why would he still want to talk to me? By this point he had to have heard that Courtney wanted nothing to do with me ever—and that she’d make li
fe miserable for people who did.
“I’m sorry you got stuck in there,” he said. “It was completely my fault.”
If he only knew the truth. “Can you hang on a second?” I asked. He nodded, and I went straight back into the classroom, shut the door, and confronted my father. “Did you have anything to do with this?” I asked, staring at him, my hands on my hips.
He looked a little confused. “With what?”
Yes! “Never mind,” I said. I ran back out to see Cole. He was still there. It wasn’t one of Lou’s tricks. Hopefully it wasn’t one hatched by Courtney, either. “Sorry about that. I left something in there,” I explained.
Cole gave me one of his smiles. It made my stomach all melty. It was so going to stink if he was just there to set me up. “I just wanted to say sorry,” he told me. “If I hadn’t asked for your homework, you wouldn’t have been late.”
“It’s okay,” I said. “It wasn’t too bad.”
We started to walk toward the exit. “Where do you live?” he asked.
“Amity Place.”
“I’m not too far from there,” he said. “I’ll walk with you.”
“Cool.” I tried to act all breezy, but let’s be honest, I was completely freaking out. Not only did Cole Daniels wait for me, but he was walking me home from school. This must have been my prize for turning down the devil’s temptations. That, or a setup to the meanest trick ever. I had to find out. “You know Courtney and I are kind of in a fight.”
He shrugged his shoulders. “She’s always in a fight with someone. You just gotta ignore her. That’s what I do most of the time. She can be pretty annoying. I wouldn’t even sit with her at lunch if Reid didn’t beg me. He has a crush on Lana.”
Wow. Big news. Would’ve made Lana so happy. Too bad she was icing me out or I would have told her.
“I heard Mrs. Laurel won the lottery or something,” Cole said as we continued on to my house.
“Someone mentioned that to me, too.”
“Think it’s true?”
“Yeah. She did leave pretty quickly.”
“I know what I’d do if I won a million dollars,” he said.
“What?” I asked.
Cole looked down. “It’s gonna sound stupid.”
“Tell me!” I was super-excited. Cole was going to let me in on his secret wish.
“Okay,” he said, and kicked a rock in his path. “I’d have Mara’s Daughters play at my bar mitzvah.”
“Oh.” My voice got caught in my throat. I had forgotten that that was why he was hanging out with me. He wanted me to hook him up for his party.
“I told you it was stupid,” he mumbled. “That’s why I didn’t say anything before. I know it’s totally out there to want a rock band to perform just for you. I guess, I just thought it would be cool. Crazy, right?”
“No,” I said, trying to give him a smile. What was crazy was thinking that there was a chance Cole Daniels actually liked me.
I didn’t know what to say next. If I told him I couldn’t help him with the band, he would probably have dropped me like everyone else. I didn’t want to be completely friendless. And then, a now familiar thought niggled at me. For a split second I was tempted again to see if I had powers. If I did, and I helped him, then he’d still hang out with me. And maybe when he and Beleth broke up or when he woke up to the fact that she was in a band and therefore didn’t date regular eighth-grade boys, he’d realize it was me he always wanted. It all seemed so easy.
But I couldn’t. No way. It was too risky. Powers were off-limits. A slippery slope to the unspeakable.
“I wish I could help you,” I said. “But my dad is kind of weird about asking the band for favors.” It was a lie. Lou would have jumped at the chance, but that would have required my talking to him. “The concert was a fluke. Vale called me up on stage on her own. I had no idea she was going to do that.”
“No biggie,” he said, but I could tell he was disappointed.
We reached my street. “This is me,” I said, pointing to my house. We stood there for a few seconds.
He gave me a little wave. “See you tomorrow.”
That was it? He was leaving? I bit my lip. I knew I totally ruined my chance. Why hadn’t I just helped him? So what if he only liked me for my contacts, at least I’d have an excuse to get near him from time to time. Uck. Doing the right thing stinks.
I watched him walk away, but after a few steps he turned around. “Hey,” he said. “I’m supposed to see Courtney’s show on Friday. Do you want to come?”
Huh? Was he asking me out? Was it possible? No. Yes. Maybe?
“What?” I needed to hear him say it again.
“Wanna see You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown with me on Friday?”
It was definite. He was asking me out! Or at least asking me to hang out, which was definitely not as good, but definitely not bad. And definitely an opportunity to show him how great it could be if we were together.
“Sounds good,” I said.
“Cool,” he said. “Want to meet up at Goode’s Greatest Pizza before the show?”
Did I ever! “Sure.”
He didn’t say anything else. He just nodded, turned, and walked away. I waited until he was gone before I did a cartwheel. Okay, not quite a cartwheel. I’m really bad at gymnastics, but my reaction did involve flinging myself on the ground. My horrible day had just turned into one of my best days ever.
And Friday was going to be even better.
chapter 36
As soon as I got home, I ran straight up to my room and took every item of clothing that I owned out of the closet. My date wasn’t for a few more days, but I felt weeks away from getting the perfect outfit together. This was where having a friend would have been majorly helpful.
I held up a ribbed, scoopneck, red T-shirt. No. It made me look too flat-chested. The black button-down with the lace trim? Nope. It totally accentuated my muffin top. The same went for the black-and-white boat neck, only that one made my nose look mongo, too. My eyes skimmed over to Courtney’s green hoodie. Obviously that was out. I held up my checkered, tiered skirt. Cute, but it kind of brought attention to my knees which were way too knobby. I threw it on the floor. Maybe jeans were the way to go. I didn’t want Cole to think I was trying too hard. We were just going to Goode’s Greatest Pizza. The place lived up to its name, but that wasn’t saying much. But what if jeans were too casual? I didn’t want him to think I didn’t care about the date either. I let out a huge groan. “I need help,” I sighed, flopping down onto my heap of clothes.
“And I have just the answer.” Lou was leaning against my door. “How does an outfit from Juicy Couture sound?” he asked—in Lucy the sales lady’s voice, no less.
Before I knew it, Lou was dialing his hPhone. “I need a black jump suit, white shawl, and a nice pair of black, umm, socks?”
He had to be stopped.
“The outfit Lana said would look perfect on me was a black jumper, a white shirt, and black tights!” Okay, I should have made him hang up. What can I tell you? Juicy Couture makes me weak.
Lou handed me the phone so I could talk to the sales lady personally. But when it was time to hang up the hPhone, I must have hit the wrong button because a list of names with photos next to them popped up on the screen.
OPERATION ANGEL
Courtney: Invite A to sit with her at lunch.
Reid: Pick A first in gym
Lana: Plan shopping trip with A
Cole: Ask
Lou grabbed the hPhone away from me and shut it off. I didn’t get to see the rest, but I didn’t need to. I felt numb. I didn’t know whether to laugh, cry, scream, or eat twelve pints of Chubby Hubby. Nothing had been real. It was all only because of Lou. He used his powers to make Courtney and Cole and everyone else do exactly what he wanted. It had nothing to do with me or my great personality. Without Lou, I was nothing. What a horrible thought.
I sank down on the floor. That meant that Cole didn’t really li
ke me either. Lou sat down next to me. “It’s not—”
“Don’t,” I said, trying really hard not to lose it. “I’m not stupid. I get it.”
“No, you don’t.” He put his hand on my shoulder, and I shrugged it off. “I only gave them a push in the right direction. I may have used my powers to get Courtney to ask you to sit with her at lunch that first time, but she did the rest on her own. I had nothing to do with her wanting you by her side the next day, or inviting you to her house and her party.” He sighed. “I wanted to fix things when she turned on you, but you told me not to. So I didn’t.”
“And Cole? You said you wouldn’t get in the middle of it, but you did. I can’t believe you made him ask me to the show.” I wrapped my arms around my stomach. I was afraid I was going to throw up.
“Angel, look at me,” Lou said. “I had nothing to do with that.”
“I saw—”
He cut me off. “What you saw was ‘Ask Angel to be his science partner.’ That was it. I’m telling you, the rest was all him. I promise you.”
I didn’t know what to believe. It wasn’t like the devil was known for his honesty. But then again, he was trying really hard to be a part of my life, and family time wasn’t in the typical devil profile either. I was so confused. “I mean, I knew you were behind pulling me up on stage. But I thought the rest was me. I thought they actually started to like me.”
“They did.”
“No, it was just you shoving me in their faces.” I got into bed and wrapped my comforter tight around me.
“That’s not true. After the concert, they all wanted to know you.”
I let out a snort. “How do you know?”
“I’ve been around a long time. I know these things.”
“If you really believed that they liked me, then why did you even bother doing the other stuff?”
“Huh,” he said. “You have a point. I guess I could have saved on my hPhone bill if I had let nature take its course.”
I pulled the comforter over my head. “I was so much better off before you came into my life.”
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