Careful What You Wish For (13 page)

“Oh, please,” I said, my voice dripping with disgust. “Quit kidding yourself. He was never into you, and he never will be.”

Her whole body stiffened. “Too bad for you,” she said with a look that made the little hairs on my arms rise. “He is. And it's going to stay that way.”

“You're going to date Cole?” I screamed. It was more than a little loud. It was an I-should-lock-the-door-so-no-one-can-come-barging-in-to-see-if-one-of-us-has-been-murdered-and-catch-it-on-camera scream.

Gabi sneered at me. “I'm not you, Angel. I'm nicer than that. I don't hurt my friends or drop them to hang out with people like Courtney.”

I thought we were past that. During my brief stint as a popular girl, I hung out with Courtney and Co. even though they had a history of being really mean to Gabi. But I felt awful about it and apologized a million times since then. “So does that mean you're
not
going to go out with him?”

She didn't answer me. She just went for the door. I blocked it.

“Move, Angel.”

“Answer me first,” I ordered.

“NO. Move.”

“Make me,” I said, pressing all of my weight against the door.

“I wish you'd move.”

“Ha,” I said. “Your powers don't work on me.”

Then she reached around me and pushed the door open. Hard. “But that does.” She was strong for a toothpick with a bobble head on top. I stumbled back a few feet. Quickly grabbing onto the knob, I pulled it back shut. She went for it again.

“So that's it,” I said before she could open the door, “you're going to go out and wish for whatever you want without caring who you hurt?”

“
I
know how to use my powers.”

“
Your
powers? I'm the one who gave you the ability to make wishes. Anything you can do is because of me.”

“Great. Because I'm going to keep using them.”

“Look at yourself. You've turned into a power mutant. You need to stop before you do something stupid. Again.”

“This from the expert. I wasn't the one who made a lion come out of nowhere or my shirt vanish in front of the whole school.” She reached for the door again.

I used my powers to send her to the other side of the bathroom. “We're not done,” I said.

“I think we are.” Then a sick little smile flitted across her mouth. “I'm warning you, Angel, let me go.”

“Or what?” I said.

“Or this.” A second later she had a big bottle of ketchup in her hand. She squeezed it all over my shirt.

“What are you doing?” I asked, taking off the mess.

She threw a new shirt at me. It was a T-shirt with a picture of Barney on the front and the words “Fan club president” printed above. “I guess I can find a way to make my wishes work on you. Hope you like your new shirt,” she said. “And from now on leave me alone or that's just the beginning. You'll regret messing with me.”

And that was it. Just like that. The monster in designer couture walked out on me.

“Oh, yeah?” I shouted after her. “You're the one who's going to regret it.”

She couldn't get away with that. She might have had wishes. But I had powers. This was war.

Gabi was going to pay.

As my Barney shirt and I made our way back to class, I devised the best way to get back at her.

A—use my powers.

B—try to mess up her wishes.

C—trick her into wishing for something she didn't want.

As I got closer to the classroom a sweet smell wafted by. It was a combo of roses, lilies, and a bunch of other flowers I couldn't name. When I opened the door, I found out why. The room had been converted into a botanical garden. Some little outdoor fantasy world brought inside. Gone were the science desks, microscopes, and jars of frogs. In their places were white benches, dark green grass, flowers sprouting from the floor, vines of roses covering the walls, and butterflies flying everywhere. And in the middle of it all sat Gabi. And her massage chair. Like a queen on her throne.

“Like it?” she asked when I walked in.

She was
trying
to set me off. My first reaction was to say something obnoxious, but I held back. No need to sling insults. Not when I could use “my gift” instead. But what to do? It had to be something good.

Marc handed Gabi a bouquet he plucked from the ground. “It's almost as pretty as you are.”

“Ha!” I said loud enough for everyone to hear. I mean, come on, it was a lame line. And he didn't even mean it. He only said it because Gabi wished for him to like her.

“Oh, you think that's funny?” she asked, glaring at me. “You don't think anyone could find me pretty? Well, he's not the only one who does. I
wish
Cole would tell me how much he likes me.”

That girl was evil. If I didn't know better, I'd guess she was one of those demons Mara's Daughters said lived on earth.

My whole body stiffened as Cole pushed through a rosebush, cameras, and about six other people to get to Gabi. “Did you get my note?” he asked, picking at some petals. “I've wanted to tell you about it before, but, I don't know, I just didn't. Everything I wrote is true, though.”

“Cole,” I shrieked. What he had written was that he thought she was beautiful and amazing! That he wanted to date her!

“Sorry, Angel.” He gave me a half smile and a little shrug. “I just don't feel that way about you anymore. I like Gabi better.”

It's because of the wish. It's because of the wish. It's because of the wish.
I kept telling myself that, and yet it didn't make me feel any better. Cole didn't even care that he was pulverizing my heart. He only cared about Gabi. The worst best friend ever.

“Would you go out with me?” he asked her. “I've always thought you were really pretty and sweet.”

Always?
Always! No. No. NO. NO. This wasn't happening. I moved to the back of the room. I couldn't watch anymore. This was awful. Worse than that. But I didn't have the words, because there weren't any to describe what it felt like to see the guy of your dreams and your best friend use your heart like a hacky sack.

It just royally stunk.

And I was going to make it stink a little more with the help of my powers. Let's see how lovey-dovey Cole felt when he was stuck in a room that smelled like skunk. It was time to destroy Gabi's little love paradise.

I closed my eyes and thought about an awful smell filling the room. Armpits mixed with cottage cheese left out for a week, and some pickle juice thrown in. Something to totally overpower the roses and lilies and love in the room.

My eyes teared up. And not just because of the Cole/Gabi situation. But because the smell was putrid. It stung the air. It was working.

“What is that?” I heard one person yell out. “Where's it coming from?” another said. When I opened my eyes, I saw a few people sniffing around, trying to locate the source. Ha! Maybe Cole would think about the odor every time he thought about asking Gabi out.

“Uck,” Max said, his nose near my head. “It's Angel.”

He was such a jerk. “No, it's not. It's the whole room.”

“No, it's definitely you.” He stepped back while covering his nose with one hand.

I lowered my face to my shoulder and took a whiff. Gross. It was me! I messed up. Big surprise. Why couldn't anything ever go my way?

“As president of the Barney fan club,” he said, pointing to my shirt with his free hand, “are you in charge of cleaning up after him? Did you bring the pooper-scooper to class with you?”

First of all, Barney was not a dog. He didn't poop in the park. And second. OMG. I reeked. Bad.

“Cut it out, Max,” Courtney said, coming up to me. “It's all right, Angel. A lot of people suffer from BO, but it's okay. Maybe you just need a stronger deodorant. I have some in my gym locker if you want to use it.”

“I do not have body odor,” I shouted, hoping to activate my powers. It wasn't working. “This is a science class.” At least it used to be. “All sorts of smelly things are stored here. Something just exploded.”

“Yeah, onto you,” Max said.

“I can't take the rotten-egg smell,” Elena said. “Let's move to another room. Angel, you can stay here.”

“The odor is going away,” I said. As I spoke, I concentrated on the smell disappearing. Finally it did. But the teasing remained.

“Thank God,” Max said. “But maybe instead of Double-A we should call her BO.”

“Leave her alone,” Courtney told him.

Lana and Jaydin backed her up, nodding like crazy.

Gabi walked over and whispered in my ear. “Nice. I guess it doesn't matter that my wishes don't work on you. You take care of your own payback. So stop trying to mess with me.”

Me with her!? Try the other way around. I wasn't the boy-stealing, wish-crazy egomaniac. She was!

My world had shifted a hundred and eighty degrees.

Courtney and Co. were the ones coming to my rescue while Gabi was the one trying to destroy me.

This was not over.

Gabi needed to be stopped. She wished to be a star. Well, I was going to make sure she got the full star treatment.

“Elena,” I said, flashing my dimples. “I'm sorry I've been so difficult. I really do want to help Gabi be a star.”

“Good,” she said.

“Just tell me what I need to do. Oh,” I added, putting my plan into motion, “how important is it for stars to stay in shape? Should I get Gabi to the gym?”

“You know, exercise
is
very important.” I could see her wheels turning. “Gabi, let's get you to do a few laps around the track, some sit-ups, crunches, yoga.”

Ha! Gabi hated to exercise. About as much as I hated math. Which was a lot.

“No,” she protested.

“It's part of being a star,” Elena said.

“Since when?” she asked.

Since I put it in Elena's head.

“You could always just give up what you have.
Give it all up
,” I said. “Then you wouldn't have to spend hours working out.”

The corners of Gabi's mouth slowly turned upward until she had a big grin on her face. I knew her well enough. She was up to something. Something big. “Elena,” she said, “don't some stars get their exercise from dancing?”

Elena nodded.

“Great,” Gabi said. “I wish I could do it that way.” Hip-hop music started pumping through the intercom in the class. “Works for me,” Elena said.

“You can't beat me,” she whispered to me. “Hey, Cole,” Gabi said. “Want to dance?” She made sure to send me a big, old smirk.

“Absolutely,” he said.

Once they started, the whole class turned into a dance party. Everyone was shaking their hips and moving their bodies to the music. At least it was a fast song. Still, I didn't like Cole anywhere near Gabi.

“Marc,” I said, nudging him. “How can you let some other guy dance with Gabi? Go cut in.”

“I don't know,” he said, shrugging his shoulder. “She asked Cole. Not me.”

“Trust me.” I gave him a push in her direction. “I'm her best friend. She likes
you
. She's only trying to make you jealous. Now go.”

“Really?”

“Yes!” I practically pushed him three feet toward Gabi. “Dance already.”

He did. And he even managed to wedge his way between Cole and Gabi. My work was done. Until Gabi opened her mouth again.

“Cole, don't go away. I can dance with you both.”

With them
both
? Who did Gabi think she was? I wasn't letting her have two guys. Especially when one of them was mine.

With a wave of my hand, I sent Gabi flying backward. At least that was one power I knew how to control. “Oops, what happened, Gabi?” I acted all innocent.

“Nothing,” she said, doing some stupid move back to Cole and Marc where she pretended to throw out a fishing line and reel them in.

I sent her backward again. Nobody even thought anything about it. They probably figured she was just making the most of the space—showing off on the dance floor.

“Amateur hour,” she said to me, and gestured for the guys to come closer. “I wish it was a slow song. Cole, I'll dance with you first.” The music changed, and Cole reached out to put his arms around Gabi.

“No!” I sent her flying again. Or I tried to. But I wasn't fast enough. Cole already had his arm around her and instead of sending her away, I sent them both tumbling to the ground.

He fell right on her!

“Sorry,” Cole said, standing up. His cheeks were all pink, and he put out his hand to help her up.

She took it. And he actually interlocked their fingers and gave her one of those cute, lopsided grins of his that always made me all melty. I hadn't meant for that to happen. I wanted to keep them apart, not push them closer together.

“I'll help her,” I said, cutting in, trying to nudge my way between them. They needed to be separated.

“That's okay,” Cole said, not taking his eyes off Gabi. “I like helping her. I like everything about her.”

It didn't matter to him what I thought, how I felt. All that mattered was Gabi. I couldn't take it anymore.

“Where are you going?” The cameraman chased after me as I booked down the hall.

“Bathroom, now leave me alone.”

“You just went to the bathroom.”