Daddy's Little Angel (12 page)

I was at a loss. He was going to quit? For me? I felt little prickles form all over my skin. Lou wanted to be my dad. “I can’t believe you did that.”

“You’re my daughter. I’d do anything for you.”

It was a lot to absorb, but in a good way. I was going to have a dad.

“So does this mean now you
will
give me a shot?” he asked.

How could I say no? He had just given up his whole profession for me. “Yes,” I said, trying not to let him see how excited I really was. I didn’t want him to think I needed him all these years. I did just fine without him, thank you very much.

“So what are you going to do now—for work, I mean,” I said, trying to keep the conversation going.

“I’ll find something after I tie up some loose ends.”

“Loose ends?”

“Nothing to worry yourself about,” he said, giving me a huge grin. I didn’t trust it one bit.

“What kind of
loose ends
?”

“Well,” he said slowly. “I have to find a replacement before I give up my responsibilities.”

I couldn’t believe this. “So you’re still the devil?”

“Just until I find someone to take over.”

I started walking again.

“Angel, wait,” he called out to me.

I refused to slow down, despite the fact that my feet were on fire. “You said you quit.”

“I did, but it’s not so easy. My job is important. I keep evil in check. I can’t just leave the underworld unmanned. You have to understand that. Please, why don’t you get in the car, and I’ll give you a ride home. I can explain everything.”

“No.”

“I’ll leave as soon as I can. I promise. You have to trust me.”

I wanted to believe him, but I couldn’t. “Nothing changes until you actually quit,” I said. “
Then
you can be a part of my life. Only then.”

“But—”

“I’m serious,” I told him, while picking at the skin around my thumb. I remembered what Mom said. Lou had promised her he’d leave his work for her all those years ago, but he lied. This time I wanted to make sure he did more than just talk about it.

I let Lou continue to drive alongside me for the rest of the trip home, although I didn’t say another word and neither did he.

Mom was up reading
Mysticism Monthly
when I got home. She flung it down on the couch and raced over to me when I walked in. “Why are you home so early? Did something happen? Is it Lou? Did he do something to you?”

“No, I’m just not feeling well,” I lied.

“In that case,” she said, holding her hands out five inches from my body and sweeping the air, “let me work on your chakras.” She was always talking about chakras. The Third Eye Chakra, the Heart Chakra . . . Supposedly they were energy centers in the body. “You’ll feel better in a jiffy.”

“I just need sleep,” I said, taking several steps away. My night had been bad enough. I couldn’t take any more of her mumbo jumbo.

“Let me work on you first,” she said. “There’s bad energy floating all around you.”

That was all I needed to hear. “What do you expect from the devil’s daughter?” I shouted. Then I ran upstairs and slammed my bedroom door behind me.

I tried Gabi all weekend on her cell phone and at home, but I never got through. Monday morning I waited by the old McBrin house for her, but she didn’t show. I ended up walking to school by myself. I had a feeling I’d be doing a lot of things by myself from that point on.

It turned out Gabi never came in. She must have been crazy angry to skip school and, more importantly, play rehearsal, with her show coming up on Friday. She was
never
absent.

I managed to get through the first few periods without any major problems. Courtney probably hadn’t gotten around to spreading her hate yet. And right as I was about to walk into science class, Cole called out to me. “Angel, wait up.”

He seemed friendly. Obviously he hadn’t spoken to Courtney yet. “Hey,” I said, trying my best to be cheery. It was only a matter of minutes before he’d learn that talking to me would be a major pimple on his popularity. I had to make the most of the time I had left.

“Did you finish the science homework?” he asked.

I told him I did. Ever since I offered to help him out with it, I made it my number one school priority. I wanted to come off as exceptionally smart when—and if—he actually took me up on it.

“I didn’t get a chance to do mine,” he said. “Mind if I look at yours?”

I’d wanted to help him, not give him the answers. I had pictured us working side by side as he finished his work. But it was so cute the way he put his thumbs in his pockets and shrugged his right shoulder. How could I refuse? “Sure.”

“Thanks. I owe you one.”

Cole Daniels owed me one! At least someone didn’t hate me—yet, anyway. I searched my bag for the assignment.

“Here you go.” At that moment, my klutziness kicked in and the crumpled paper slipped out of my hands. I quickly scooped it up, and when I looked back at Cole, we made eye contact. His eyes were almost as dark as his pupils. Was he admiring my eyes, too? After a few seconds, I looked away. But only because I felt my cheeks turning hot. I didn’t want him to see me blush. Pink was so not my color.

When I handed him the paper, our hands totally grazed. It was like, well, like he sent my whole body swirling out of control. Unfortunately, the bell rang, bringing everything to a halt. Not that he even noticed, but I certainly did. I wanted to stay out there forever, where it was just the two of us and he was still oblivious to my descent into the land below nerdville.

Cole walked into Mrs. Laurel’s room. I followed, but just as I was about to step inside a gust of wind pushed me back and slammed the door shut—right in my face.

I tried to get in the classroom, but the doorknob wouldn’t work. Cole was trying it from his side, too, but the stupid thing wouldn’t budge. I could see him getting frustrated, which I secretly enjoyed. He was getting worked up over me.

The bell finally stopped ringing, and I saw Cole go flying. The door had swung open while he was yanking on it. When I got inside, I could see why.

“You’re late,” the teacher said to me. “Detention.” Only it wasn’t Mrs. Laurel. It was a sub. And not just any sub.

It was Lou.

Whoa. This was really too much. Lou standing in front of my classroom for everyone to see. How dare he! My whole body started to shake.

“Report here straight after school,” he said.

“That’s not fair,” Max chimed in. “It wasn’t her fault.”

“I’m sorry,” Cole whispered to me.

I heard Courtney snicker.

“Quiet,” said Lou. He turned to me. “What’s your name?”

“Angel,” I told him.

“Well, Angel, I’m Mr. Cipher. It looks like we’ll be getting to know each other a lot better today.”

Not fair was right! He was the absolute last person in the world I wanted to spend time with, and just because he had special powers, I had no choice in the matter. “But I was here,” I pleaded. “The door was stuck!”

“Sorry, but late is late.”

“Who better to know about
late
than you?” I spat back. I don’t even know why I bothered. Like anything I said made a difference. What did he care if I thought it was too late for us to have a relationship? What I thought obviously didn’t count. He could just turn himself into a substitute teacher, or president of the United States, or king of the world, for that matter, and force me to do whatever he wanted. I took my seat and didn’t make eye contact with him for the rest of class.

When the bell rang, I raced to gym class. Not only did I want to get away from Lou, but I needed to change into my uniform before Lana and Jaydin made it to the locker room. Changing in front of them was just opening myself up to a more painful level of ridicule.

But there was only so much I could control by way of harassment. I
still
got picked last in volleyball. Then Jaydin threw the ball right at my stomach, Bronwyn snatched the last towel right out from under me in the locker room, and Lana tripped me in the hallway. All of which led up to the ultimate humiliation—eating lunch alone.

I had considered skipping the cafeteria altogether, but I didn’t want Courtney to think that she had won and scared me off. But it was brutal. I could feel everyone’s eyes on me as I sat down. They had to be talking about me. And probably making up awful lies. I never felt more alone. I guess I finally knew how Gabi felt when she thought I was going to leave her for Courtney.

I had no one. Not Gabi, not Cole, not even Courtney and her friends. Eighth grade was officially the worst year ever. I wished I were invisible again. At least then I had Gabi by my side.

I didn’t dare turn around when I felt something smack the back of my head, but I saw it hit the ground. A slice of bologna. I heard the laughter from Courtney’s table. I hoped Cole wasn’t part of it. But I also hoped my mom would pull me out of school, and I knew that wasn’t going to happen.

As I concentrated on keeping the tears from brimming over my lids, I heard Courtney saying those six horrifying words. “Okay everyone, guess who I am.” That sent the droplets cascading down my cheeks. “I thought I was so supercool,” she announced in a voice that sounded way too familiar. Not that I wanted to admit it, but she kind of had my voice down. “I mean, I totally got to go onstage with Mara’s Daughters. Don’t tell, it’s kind of a secret, but they just did that as part of their
Help a Spaz
program. It’s, like, supernew, and I was the spazziest loser to write to them.”

“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.

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?”