Love Struck (17 page)

“‘To the world's most beautiful girl and a rising star. Look forward to working with you one day. Love, Lance.'” I had come up with the wording myself. I knew Courtney would flip when she saw it. I hated her, but I owed it to D.L.

“You did it!” he said. “I didn't think you'd pull it off, Garrett.”

“I guess you just need a little more faith,” I said.

“Angel,” a voice called out.

I turned around to see Cole and Gabi headed for me.

“What's going on?” Cole asked, looking back and forth between me and D.L. He was biting his lip and looked a little uncomfortable.

“Nothing,” I said. “Where were you two?” I said, turning the question back onto him. I tried to block out the image of them listening to a romantic song together. “What were you guys up to?”

“Honestly,” he said, shifting back on his feet. “I'm not quite sure. This whole day is kind of muddy.” Cole pulled out a CD. It was the new Mara's Daughters single. “But I do remember getting you this. The name made me think of you.” He didn't look at me as he handed it over.

My skin went all tingly. “Thank you so much!” The song was called “Beautiful Wonder.”

He smiled at me. One of those great, lopsided smiles. “Gabi told me you didn't have it yet.”

So that's what they had been doing at the music store . . . picking out something for me! It really was time for me to stop suspecting everyone around me. I was always wrong! “It's weird,” Cole said. “Some things I remember, and others are so hazy.”

“Yeah,” Gabi added, giving me a look like she knew I had something to do with her memory lapse. “It's a blur.”

“Really?!” I asked. Maybe Gabi forgot all the stuff I said about her to Lance and Marc. “So you don't remember waiting to see Lance or what happened before that?”

“No, all of that is burned into my memory,” she said.

Figured. The spell stuff didn't happen until after I humiliated her. I took Gabi's arm and pulled her away from Cole, D.L., and my dad.

“Are you mad at me?” I asked her.

“Well, I'm not exactly happy.”

“I'm so sorry, Gabi. I'm going to make it up to you. I know it didn't work with Marc or Lance, but I'll find you someone.”

“Angel!” Gabi threw her hands in the air. “Don't you see? I don't want your help.”

“But don't you want a boyfriend?”

“Of course I do,” she said. “But not like that. Not because you use your powers or beg someone to go out with me. I want them to
really
like me. Because of
me.
”

“I totally get it,” I said. And I really did. Having all those people wanting to hang out with me just because of a love spell wasn't fun at all. “I won't try to make a match where there isn't one. But I
was
just trying to help, you know.”

“I know.” She linked arms with me and we walked back to the group. We were going to be just fine.

“Want to grab some ice cream?” Cole asked Gabi and me.

“Definitely,” I said. “I'm starving.” One mouthful of vanilla soft serve earlier in the day was definitely not enough.

Lou cleared his throat. “We need to get going.”

“But Lou—”

“Angel,” he said in a no-nonsense voice.

“Fine. Sorry, guys,” I said.

We said our good-byes. I thought Cole was going to kiss me, but he looked at my father and gave me a fist bump instead. A fist bump!?

“You want to come with us?” Gabi asked D.L. before she headed off with my boyfriend.

“Yeah, why not?” he said, and gave her a smile. One of his melty ones.

“No way,” Gabi said, looking at what he was holding. “You got an autograph? I'm jealous.”

D.L. looked from the photo to Gabi. “You can have it,” he said and handed it to her.

“Really?” she asked. I was thinking the same thing.

“Yeah,” D.L. said. He looked back at me and shrugged his shoulders.

Maybe what I said to D.L. before hit home. Maybe he was ready to give pretty
and
nice a try. How cool would that be? Courtney would flip!

“Let's go, Angel,” Lou said.

“Coming,” I said as I watched my friends walk off. I couldn't help but notice Gabi giving D.L. a shy smile. It looked like I wasn't going to be the only one with a juicy story to tell.

Mom bit at her nails as Lou filled her in on what she missed. Mom never bit her nails. She even yelled at me when I did it. That couldn't have been a good sign.

I dropped down in the big Buddha chair, but it couldn't protect me. My parents were prepared for punishment.

I thought about reminding them that this was how we got in the mess in the first place, that if they had just understood what it was like to be younger, I never would have accidentally turned them into teens. But I bit my tongue. Chances were that would just make them angrier.

Mom studied my face. “I can't believe you didn't feel you could tell me about your powers.”

Really? She shouldn't have been so stunned. She totally freaked out when Lou told her the truth this morning. Why would I have wanted to go through that? “I didn't want to get you upset.”

“I wouldn't have been.”

I didn't say “yeah, right,” but apparently the look on my face did.

“It's true,” Mom said. “It's not the powers that bother me. I'm making potions and protection spells all the time. Your gift is just a little stronger.” I hadn't thought about that. Mom was fascinated with otherworldly things—especially powerful, life-altering ones. She might have actually thought what I could do was cool.

“But,” she said. Ahh. I should have known there'd be a
but
. “It's how you used your powers that bothered me.”

“Excuse me?” I had been ready for this one. I knew she'd say something about how I wasn't responsible. “This from the woman who wanted to use powers to get back at her old ‘friend' Kristin? Is that how I'm supposed to use my special gift? For revenge?”

Pretty sure I saw Lou stifle a laugh. One point—Angel.

“Is Kristin okay?” Mom said, turning to Lou. “I completely forgot about bringing her to the mall.”

“She's fine,” Lou said. “I took care of everything.”

Mom let out a little breath. “I was under some sort of spell,” she told me. “Otherwise I would
not
have done that.”

“The spell only turned you back into a teen and made you understand powers. It didn't mess with your younger self's morals,” I argued.

“You can't hold me accountable for what I did,” she said. “I was only a kid.”

“And so am I! If that's the case, then you can't hold me accountable, either!”

“It's not the same thing, Angel,” Mom said. But it certainly sounded like the same thing to me. “I was very different when I was younger.”

“No kidding.”

Mom lowered her head a little. “I had a lot of growing up to do. I'm not proud of the way I acted back then, but people change. I changed. But this isn't about me, it's about you.”

“Oh, I see,” I said, crossing my arms. “You could do whatever you wanted when you were a teen. But me? One little thing and I'm grounded for life.”

“Believe me,” Mom said. “I got my share of punishments, too, and I didn't think I deserved them, either. But I did.”

She wasn't letting me out of this.

“But,” she said, with a surprising lilt to her voice, which gave me a little bit of hope. “Powers are a big responsibility. One you need training in so they don't accidentally go off and you don't cause any more accidents. So maybe if you actively work on controlling them and promise not to try anything advanced without supervision, we can let this go—this time.”

Yes! I was off the hook. I was feeling awesome until I saw Mom look at Lou. Her lips curled up into a little smile. And her eyes were sparkling. No way! Even without the adoration spell, my mom was still crushing on him. Hadn't she learned her lesson all those years ago? Yeah, Lou had his moments. But you could NOT trust the devil. Especially with your heart. Maybe Harmony knew a nice angel she could hook my mother up with. There was no way I'd let Mom get back together with Lou again. Talk about disaster.

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Lou said, catching my mother's eyes.

This was bad.

“Fine.” I stood up, trying to direct the attention to me. “If I agree, then am I in the clear?”

“You also have to promise not to use your powers for any more personal gain, like to play cupid.”

“Promise,” I told her. But I had my fingers and toes crossed, so it didn't really count. Because let's be honest, there was no chance I'd be able to do that. Especially not when I had Gabi and D.L. to think about. Their romance might need a teeny push from me. After all, I had only promised Gabi not to make a match where there wasn't one. And there was clearly something going on between her and D.L. “Now can I go?”

“Not so fast,” Lou said.

Shoot. Had he seen my fingers? Or was he just trying to spend more time around my mother? Neither was good.

“What?” I asked cautiously.

“I just want you to know I'm glad you're safe. You're the most important thing to me, Angel. I love you.”

I just stood there. I felt tears forming in the back of my eyes. It was nice having him back in my life, but what if he did something evil again? What if he didn't mean all the things he said? It was too risky to let him into my life.

Mom interrupted the silence. “Why don't you stay for dinner, Lou?”

He looked at me, waiting for my approval. I shrugged my shoulders. I guess he could stay if he wanted to.

“I'll barbecue,” he said, making a little flame appear in the air. “It is my specialty.”

“Perfect,” Mom said, pulling some vegetables and chicken out of the fridge.

Lou grabbed the ingredients and began to juggle a few tomatoes.

But Mom wasn't watching where she was going and walked right into the path of Lou's flying salad. I couldn't help but laugh as a tomato nailed her in the head. She picked up a pepper and threw it at Lou. Then they both looked at me, and baby carrots started coming my way. I ducked for cover.

For a second we actually felt like a real family. A real, messed up family, but a family all the same.

I looked at Lou. Maybe Mom was right. Maybe people really could change.

And while I didn't necessarily like everything my father did, I knew he was trying and that I loved him.

And for now, that was enough.

Shani Petroff is a writer living in New York City.
Bedeviled: Love Struck
is the fourth 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
.

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Mickey thought she was hired to sweep up all the hair. What she hadn't bargained for was picking up all the dirt . . .

“Countdown to gorgeous!” cheered Megan as she passed me in the salon chair on her way to the back room. Megan, a college student with cascading blond hair and full, pink cheeks, was the receptionist at Hello, Gorgeous!, which happens to be my mom's salon and one of my very favorite places to be in the entire world. It was Sunday—my thirteenth birthday—and the salon wasn't open yet. Everyone was here special, just for me.

For as long as I can remember, my birthday presents have centered around hair. It started with my Barbie Princess Styling Head when I was four. I thought it was the greatest present ever invented. From the moment I got Barbie's head out of the box, I brushed, braided, curled, and clipped her hair within an inch of her princess-head life.

For my tenth birthday, my parents kicked it up a notch when they surprised me with a smoky blue vanity desk with a three-way mirror. It came complete with matching containers filled with new brushes, combs, and clips. That's when I started styling my
own
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