Careful What You Wish For (18 page)

My time with the devil was over.

“It looks like Lou did give back those souls,” I told Gabi as we walked into the cafeteria the next day. “It was all over the Web. That baseball player got kicked off the team. A billionaire business guy went bankrupt. A NASCAR racer got his driver's license taken away. The list goes on and on.”

“So are you going to forgive him?” she asked as we sat down at our table.

“Yeah . . . eventually. I just need to see that he's really given up trading souls. Once I'm convinced I'm sure I'll feel differently.”

“But you do forgive me, right? We're okay?”

I nodded. “We're more than okay.”

“Good,” she said, looking into her lunch bag. “In that case, any chance you want to give me back those wishes? Today I have tofu pastrami on seven-grain bread with a side of dried apples. Yuck. That cheeseburger was a lot better.”

“Not a chance,” I said. But I did hand her one of my Oreos.

Gabi twisted it open. “I figured as much. I guess I sort of went overboard at the end there.”

“You think?”

“I'm sorry I got all crazy,” she said.

“Don't forget mean,” I told her.

“And mean.” She bit her lip. “You're never going to let me forget this, are you?”

“Probably not.” I threw my napkin at her. “But we're even now. You forgave me after I was stupid enough to pick Courtney over you, now it's my turn to hand out the forgiveness.”

I was just glad to have Gabi back. We were even able to joke about things that didn't seem so funny yesterday (i.e., that small island that was growing out of my chest). I knew people were going to be trash talkin' me about it for years to come.

“Hey,” Cole said, taking a cautious step toward me. I had been avoiding him again. It was all so humiliating.

He looked at me, then Gabi, then back at me. “Did you get my messages?”

Cole had called and left about a dozen voicemails apologizing over and over again. He even left a corny note taped to my locker—which didn't seem so corny because it was addressed to me—begging me to forgive him.

“Yeah,” I said.

“I don't know what came over me. I don't know why I sent those notes to Gabi or that cupcake or any of it.” Cole's head dropped down.

I kind of wanted to make him sweat it out. After all, he did pick my best friend over me. Even if it wasn't really his fault.

“I'm so sorry,” he said, lifting only his eyes, “to both of you.”

He kicked a napkin on the floor. “Angel, do you think—” He paused. “Do you think you can forgive me?” It seemed everyone was asking me that.

Cole looked genuinely sad. And to be fair he only chose Gabi because of my powers. That didn't make it hurt any less. But I said yes because the thought of losing him hurt a lot more.

He looked up and smiled at me. One of those cute, lopsided grins I thought I'd never see again. At least not directed at me. “I'll make it up to you. I promise,” he said. “You still want to go see
Zombie Zone Four
with me tomorrow?”

I'd had my fill of zombies. Enough to last me the rest of my life. But I could definitely deal with another hour and a half of them as long as Cole was sitting by my side.

“Yeah,” I said, smiling back at him. “But, I have to warn you, zombies make me scream.”

“I'll be there to protect you,” he said.

My stomach did a few jumping jacks.

Gabi made a gagging noise. “Just kidding,” she said. “It's sweet.”

Cole blushed. “I told Reid I'd sit with him today,” he said, looking back at his friend. Cole was definitely looking for an escape. The whole situation was still a little weird. He didn't seem quite sure what to say to Gabi. Not after what happened. And not with me sitting right there. “Is that okay?”

“Of course,” I said.

He put his hand on mine and left it there for a second. “Wait for me after lunch. We'll walk to next period together.”

I nodded.

Then he walked away. But he smiled at Gabi first. I wasn't going to let it make me jealous. It was just a smile. A smile at someone he had said he always thought was pretty. But that didn't really bother me. Gabi
was
pretty.

“Hey,” I said once Cole was gone, “have you talked to Marc?”

“He won't even look at me now that the wish wore off.” Gabi picked at her sandwich and tried to smile. But it looked forced. My next project was totally going to be finding her a boyfriend. She deserved to find someone awesome like Cole—just not Cole himself!

“He's nuts. You're going to find someone better, I promise.”

“Too bad Elena left before she introduced me to Lance Gold. Now that would have been cool!”

“Totally.”

But I would take Cole over Lance any day. I couldn't keep myself from sneaking a few extra glimpses at him during the rest of lunch. He was back at his old table. D.L. caught me looking over, but instead of making fun of me—he actually smiled. But it's possible he was just thinking about how ridiculous I looked the other day. I quickly turned back to Gabi.

We had another visitor a moment later. Courtney. I should have known I wouldn't make it through lunch without having a run-in with her. Life was definitely back to normal.

“Hi,” she said. “I think . . .” Then she lifted one hand to her nose and pretended to sneeze. “Double-A choo,” she said, while flinging a handful of tissues at me with her other hand. She picked one of them up by two fingers and held it in the air so everyone could see. “You're leaking, Angel. The bathroom's restocked, if you need to freshen up your bra.”

“Ha-ha,” I said. I was going to be the school laughingstock forever.

Courtney turned to go back to her table. But we both were surprised by what we saw. Max—the nerdy version—had taken her seat.

“What is
he
doing?!” Courtney yelled, and stomped back to her table.

“Committing social suicide,” Gabi answered more to herself than anyone else.

My whole body tensed up. “Did we mess up? Does he think he's still welcome there?”

“I don't know,” Gabi said.

We both watched, waiting for the worst.

“Why are you here?” Courtney hovered over him.

“I told you,” Jaydin answered for him. “I'm his new tutor.”

Courtney put her hands on her hips. “Why?”

Jaydin shrugged. “I don't know. I said I would. And it'll look good on my transcript. You know my mom is bugging me about doing more extracurricular activities.” For a second she reminded me of Gabi.

“Well, he's in my seat,” Courtney fumed. She gave Max a disgusted glance. “He's not welcome at this table.”

“Fine,” Jaydin said, getting up. “We'll work over there.”

Courtney's jaw dropped. “You're picking that
thing
over sitting with me?!”

“It's for school,” Jaydin practically screamed. “Besides, it's only a couple of days a week. He's going to work with his other tutor the rest of the time. So lay off. Let's go, Max.”

Jaydin moved to an empty table and Max followed her. And it might have been my imagination, but I was pretty sure he was standing a little straighter.

“Whoa,” Gabi said.

“Tell me about it. Maybe we did some good after all.”

And as I watched Max take his seat and actually smile, I was sure of it. Which made the whole big mess 150 percent worth it.

Shani Petroff is a writer living in New York City.
Bedeviled: Careful What You Wish For
is the third book in the Bedeviled series. She also 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
.

LOVE STRUCK

Will Angel's powers ever stop
getting her into trouble?

 

Find out in the next
installment of Bedeviled:
Love Struck