After the show, we went to the parking lot. Cole’s mom was waiting there to drive us home. If I had any leftover doubts about whether or not Cole liked me-liked me, they were cleared up in the car ride. He didn’t even get in the backseat with me. He got in the front seat with his mom.
The more I thought about everything, the more I just wanted to cry. How could Cole not remember our kiss? It was really good. I thought it was, anyway. I squeezed my thumb tight. I hoped the pain from that would keep my mind off of the sinking feeling in my stomach.
When we got to my house, Cole turned around and looked at me. He gave me a half-smile. “See ya in school tomorrow. Bye.”
Bye was right. Bye to any chances of having a boyfriend, bye to making everything right with my best friend, bye to getting back at Courtney, bye to everything. My life was over. I waved and slowly made my way into the house.
“What’s wrong?” my mother asked from her seat at the kitchen table. She was eating a Good Humor bar. I walked right by her without saying a word, but she followed me into the living room.
I didn’t want to freak her out with a recap of my evening, but I had to tell her something. “It’s just this whole Lou thing. I don’t know what to do.”
Mom put her arms out. Great. Another exorcism or a Sanskrit blessing. I really wasn’t in the mood.
Only Mom surprised me. She wasn’t giving me a blessing. She was giving me a hug. “I love you,” she said. “I understand if you want to let Lou into your life, and I’ll be here for you no matter what.”
“You wouldn’t hate me?”
Mom held me tighter. “I could never hate you.”
As I got ready for bed, I thought about my crazy day. I’d been through so much and I couldn’t even tell anyone about it. I felt so alone.
“I have no one,” I whimpered and threw myself on my bed.
“You have me.” Lou was leaning up against my dresser. “Why don’t you let me help you?” he asked.
“You already did.” I sat up and looked at him. “But that doesn’t mean I’m giving up my soul or becoming some kind of devil-in-training or asking you to grant all my wishes from now on. You did me a favor. It was a one-time deal. I’m done with special powers. They mess everything up.”
“Understood,” he said. “How about some advice then? Can I give you that?”
“Sure,” I said. I was too tired to fight.
Lou moved and sat on the edge of my bed. “Things aren’t as bad as they seem. Cole likes you, trust me. A dad knows. Even a new dad. I saw the way he looked at you. And I must say I don’t approve. But he wouldn’t have ki—”
He cleared his throat. “Well, he just wouldn’t act the way he’s been acting if he didn’t like you.”
Was the ruler of all things evil afraid to talk to me about a kiss?
“When you orchestrated the do-over, the situation changed,” Lou said. “But believe me, he’ll try again when the opportunity presents itself.”
My mind was racing. “Do you really think he’ll try again?”
“Not if I can help it,” he said.
I was about to object, but Lou held up his hand. “Hey, I am still your father.”
He gave me a lot to think about. I guess it made sense that Cole wouldn’t kiss me during the show or with his mother in the car. I mean, I wouldn’t have wanted my mom to see us kiss either. It was bad enough Lou seemed to know all about it.
“As for your Gabi situation,” Lou continued. “You need to sit her down and make her listen. But that’s not all. You keep telling her you’re sorry for the movie night incident and that you had nothing to do with it, but Gabi’s not only upset about last Friday. She’s been hurt for a while. Once Courtney started paying attention to you, you chose her over your best friend. You owe Gabi a big apology for that, too. But if you can see how your actions were wrong and hurt her, she’ll probably forgive you.”
He made a lot of good points. I never should have let Gabi skip out on lunch or put Courtney ahead of her. And while I didn’t mean to, I guess I kind of did avoid going out in public with her. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to be seen with her. It was just sort of easier not to. That way I didn’t have to answer to Courtney about it. I had been an awful friend. I owed her a giant explanation and apology. And I also owed Lou something.
“Thank you.”
“Anytime.” He paused for a minute before speaking again. “So does this mean I can be a part of your life?”
I gripped my comforter in my hand, and kept my focus on it, instead of on Lou. “You’ve been great. But . . . but, I can’t do this again.” I could feel him staring my way.
“Why?” he asked. “Being the devil is not a job you can just walk away from unless you find the right replacement. I keep evil in check. It’s noble work.”
“But what about when you tempt good people to trade their souls?” I met his eyes.
He nodded. “You’re right. And that ends this second. It was just becoming a personal challenge anyway—seeing how many good ones I could rack up in a week. It helped pass the time. But now I’ve got something much more important. I’ve got a daughter.”
Neither Lou nor I said anything for a while. I stood up and turned away from him. “Before I was born, you told my mom you quit taking good souls. You lied then. How do I know you’re not doing it again now?”
“Because look at what it cost me. I lost your mom. I lost you. I don’t make the same mistake twice.”
He walked behind me and turned me around. “Please, Angel. I want to know my daughter.”
I studied the Poltergeist DVD lying on my floor.
“Please,” he said softly.
I slowly exhaled. “Okay, but only on a trial basis.”
Maybe Lou wasn’t such a bad guy after all . . .
Considering he was the devil.
chapter 43
The next day, I went over to the Gottlieb’s house and rang the bell. Gabi’s mom answered the door. “Gabi is busy right now,” she said. “She can’t come out.”
“Please, Mrs. G, let me talk to her,” I pleaded. “I have to make her understand.”
“You can talk to her at school on Monday.” She shut the door on me.
I refused to take no for an answer. I rang the bell again—four times. “Hi,” I said, when Mrs. G opened the door.
She did not look pleased. “Angel, enough. I said you can see her at school on Monday. Now go, before I call your mother.” She closed the door again.
I knew it meant I’d probably get clobbered, but I kept pushing the doorbell until she returned. I ignored Mrs. Gottlieb’s glare, folded my hands in a steeple, and begged. “Please, please, please tell Gabi to come outside. I’m not going to leave until she does. I need her to know how sorry I am for everything.”
For a second I thought she was going to call the cops. But then she shouted, “Gabi, will you please come down here so I can get some peace?”
A few minutes later Gabi was standing in front of me. “What?” she asked, her arms crossed over her chest.
The look she was giving me was pretty fierce, so I turned my eyes to the ground and kicked an imaginary pebble with my boot. “I’m so sorry for everything. I totally screwed up, but you have to forgive me. I was so stupid to pick Courtney over you. That will never happen again.”
She didn’t say anything, she just stared right at me. So I kept talking. I apologized about the cafeteria, not being there for her when she needed me, and I explained what happened at the movie theater, and how since then whenever Courtney saw us together she pretended to be my friend to get back at me. Everything just spilled out of my mouth.
Finally, Gabi dropped her arms to her side. “You really picked calling me over going to the movie with them?”
I nodded. “I’ve been trying to tell you. I’m done with Courtney. I can’t be friends with someone who’d do that to you. Do you forgive me?”
This time she was the one to nod. “But only if you promise never to ditch
me like that again.”
I gave her a big bear hug. “I promise. Girl Scout’s honor.”
“You’re not a Girl Scout.”
“True,” I said, finally letting go of her. “But I’d join if you really wanted me to.”
Gabi shook her head and sat down on her step. “You’re nuts.”
I sat down next to her. “And that’s why you love me.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” she said.
“Hey!” I gave her a light punch on her arm and we both laughed. It felt so good to finally talk to her again. I almost forgot how much I needed her.
We filled each other in on everything we missed over the past week, and I even told her about Cole and that I discovered I had powers.
“You have powers!” she screamed, jumping in the air. “That’s—”
“Shhh.” I jumped up and put my hand over her mouth. “Had. Past tense. Then Lou turned back time which means I never set them off.”
“You can still do it now, though,” Gabi said, her eyes lighting up.
I shook my head. “No way. I am so done with magic.” Then just to make sure she didn’t start getting any crazy ideas, I told her about my plan to have her take over the part of Lucy and the whole play fiasco. With all the gory details.
She was dumbfounded. “I can’t believe I survived it all!”
I felt bad all over again for putting her in harm’s way. “I know pandas are supposed to be dangerous, but the one in the cage with you looked completely harmless.”
Gabi had a major LOL moment over that one. “I wasn’t talking about being locked in a cage with a panda; I was talking about being in a locked cage with Courtney!” Then she told me that she wasn’t faking it about enjoying being assistant director—she actually really liked it. She preferred it to acting, in fact.
“And it’s way more in line with my mother’s ‘long-term goals’ for me.” She rolled her eyes. “See, everybody’s happy.”
And for a moment, it really did feel like everyone was happy.
chapter 44
Cole and I barely spoke in school on Monday. Or Tuesday. Or the whole week. There wasn’t much to say to a guy who was only being nice because he felt sorry for you (and possibly also because your devil father had used his special powers on him). I didn’t need a mercy friend. I had a real one. Everything was great with Gabi, and we were back to having our private lunches again. Who needed boys, anyway?
The following week, though, I got stuck in the lunch line behind him.
“Hey,” he said, giving me that crooked smile which I no longer loved.
“Hi,” I said, focusing on the Jell-O tray, carefully examining each cup to see which had the most whipped cream.
“Did you hear Mara’s Daughters has a new song out?” he asked.
“Yep.” I plopped a red Jell-O cup on my tray and waited for the lunch lady to hand me my sloppy joe.
“I downloaded the video,” he said.
“Good for you,” I said, not meaning for it to sound snippy—it just came out that way. Cole didn’t say anything else as he paid for his lunch, but he didn’t go anywhere, either. He just stood there while I checked out and then followed me to my table.
Eleven centuries passed and then he finally spoke up. “I was wondering if maybe you wanted to come over and watch it with me this weekend. We can order pizza. With pineapple.”
Was he asking me out? I stopped to inspect his face, but as usual I couldn’t get a read. But I needed a read. I needed a read that said yes. I needed a read that said yes so badly, and finally I couldn’t take not knowing any more and I just came out and asked. “You mean like a date?”
“Yeah.” He fumbled with a straw. “I mean, if you want.”
If I want? If I want he asks? “I wa-a-a-a-a-a-n-n-n-n-t-t-t,” I said, tripping over my own two feet and sending the sloppy joe, container of grape juice, Jell-O, spork, straw, and napkins flying through the air. It was so typical of me and my klutzy ways. This was the moment I’d been waiting for since the beginning of time—or at least since I started liking boys, and I’d managed to ruin it.
My breath got caught in my chest and I was about to be covered in Jell-O and ground beef. “Do not make a mess, do not make a mess, do not make a mess,” I muttered. And whaddya know? Someone answered my call. All the food fell back perfectly in place on my tray, not a drop of spillage anywhere.
“Wow, so we’re on for Friday night?” Cole asked. Almost as if he didn’t notice what had happened.
“Yeah,” I said.
“Good, cause when we weren’t speaking before I wasn’t sure if you were mad at me or not,” he said in a low voice. Who would have ever thought Cole Daniels would be worried about me? He smiled, and we caught each other’s eyes. I felt a rush go through me. Cole and I were going on a date!
I dropped my tray off by Gabi and, restraining my urge to scream, whispered, “Guess who I have a date with!!”
“No way!” Gabi shouted, causing a few people to stare. Courtney was one of them. She rolled her eyes at me and then turned away. I couldn’t believe I used to be so concerned about her liking me.
Gabi gave me a giant hug and then needed to excuse herself to the bathroom. I took the opportunity to get in touch with Lou. He saved my butt and I needed to thank him for it. “Lou?” I called under my breath. That was the beauty of sitting at the loser’s table—you definitely had your privacy.
“You paged?” I heard him say. I searched around for him. “Down here,” he said. He had shrunken himself again, this time to fit in the Jell-O cup where he was floating in the whipped cream. I have to admit, it looked kind of fun.
“Thanks for stopping me from making a huge mess before.” I said.
He raised an eyebrow. “That wasn’t me.”
“Oh, come on. I’m not mad. I know I said no more spying or powers, but that was an okay exception.”
He shook his head. “I had nothing to do with whatever happened.”
“There’s no way everything would have landed perfectly on the tray if powers weren’t involved,” I protested.
“Hmm,” he said, smiling. “Then I guess powers were involved. Just not mine.”
Now I was confused. “What are you talking about?”
“You must have done that all on your own.”
What?! “That’s impossible,” I stammered. “I don’t have my powers any more. You reversed everything.”
“Not everything,” he said. “You still remember activating your magic and everything else from that night, don’t you?”
“Yeah,” I said hesitantly.
“Then that means the evening’s events still happened for you—even if everyone else forgot them. That includes unleashing your powers.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head wildly. “If I had them, they’d be going out of control like at the show.”
“That’s not necessarily true. Until you learn how to control your powers they’re going to be wacky and unpredictable. You must have called on them without realizing it,” he said, smiling with what looked like pride. “Don’t worry, I’ll train you to use them. You’ll get the hang of everything in no time.” And with that he disappeared, leaving a mini-Lou shaped dent in my whipped cream.
I couldn’t believe it. I felt numb.
“What happened to Happy-Going-On-a-Date-With-Cole girl?” Gabi asked when she came back from the bathroom.
I slunk lower in my seat. “I . . . I . . . still have my powers.”
“Awesome,” Gabi said. “Eighth grade just got way cooler.”
chapter 45
“Having my powers isn’t cool,” I told Gabi. “I don’t want them.”
“But just think about all you can do. Save a third world country, the environment, our social lives. Pretty much anything you can think of.”
“Yeah, until my powers go haywire and I end up causing some kind of natural disaster,” I said, making a sweeping gesture with my arm, and sending my juice flying off the table.
“See,” Gabi said. “You can fix that. Just make the mess disappear. Start small. We can build up to the bigger things.”
As much as I didn’t want to sop the spill off of the floor or get the janitor and call more attention to my clumsiness, I knew it was better than the alternative. Knowing my magic, instead of making the juice disappear, I’d make the whole cafeteria vanish. “No. I’m done with powers. I’m letting them go dormant.”
“Nooo,” Gabi whined.
“I have to.”
“You don’t have to decide right now,” she said. “Keep an open mind. After all, wouldn’t they be helpful on your date with Cole? You wouldn’t have to worry about anything. Mess up and just do it over.”
Okay that was a little tempting. But it didn’t matter. “No. I saw what magic could do. I’m off of it. Seriously. One hundred and fifty percent never touching the stuff again.”
There would be no powers for me in the future. It caused way too many problems. And all because I tried to get revenge on Courtney. I should have never stooped to her level. Being bad has too high a price.
From here on out, the devil’s daughter was going to be the perfect angel.
Well, Angel, anyway.
And that’s good enough for me.
Shani Petroff is a writer living in New York City. Bedeviled: Daddy’s Little Angel is her first book. She writes for news programs and several other venues. When she’s not locked in her apartment typing away, she spends a whole lot of time on books, boys, TV, daydreaming, and shopping online. She’d love for you to come visit her at www.shanipetroff.com.
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