I'm With Cupid (6 page)

After dark, Marcus snuck over to Caspar's house and waded into the pond with a flashlight. He held his breath almost the whole time, convinced Caspar was going to come out of nowhere and corner him. But he had to take the risk. If his dad found out what had happened to the phone, Marcus would be grounded until high school.

After he'd succeeded in angering every frog in the pond, Marcus finally found his soggy phone. He shoved it into his pocket and sloshed all the way home. When he got there, he smuggled the phone into his room and put it into a plastic container. Then he dumped a box of Cajun rice on top and coughed at the cloud of spices that wafted into the air. He'd read that uncooked rice could pull the moisture out of electronics that had gotten wet. There wasn't any regular rice in the house, so the spicy Cajun stuff would have to do. He just hoped it worked. Otherwise, Eddie had no way to contact him except through Lena.

Lena. A warm feeling spread through Marcus's chest as he thought of having an excuse to talk to her again. He couldn't believe everything that happened today, but maybe this was finally his chance to “get the girl” as Grandpa Joe's book called it.

He tried to imagine what it would say in this situation.
Have
you
and
the
gal
you
like
accidentally
swapped
powers? Try bringing her chocolates!

He examined his fingers, looking for any hint of the strange purple glow that had been there before. Then he peered at himself in the full-length mirror on the back of his closet. He didn't look any different: same scrawny kid with messy hair and baggy jeans. No one would see him and think “soul collector.” Then again, no one would have looked at him two days ago and thought “matchmaker.” All they would have thought was “dork.” If they'd thought anything at all.

He glanced at the empty terrarium on top of his dresser, and his chest tightened again.

What if Eddie was wrong? What if it wasn't so easy to switch back their powers? He couldn't take people's souls, no matter how natural Lena claimed it was. He couldn't even deal with a turtle dying without turning into a blubbering mess!

There was a knock on the door, making Marcus jump. He shoved the container of rice under his bed right before his dad poked his head in.

“Where'd you go off to after dinner?” his dad asked. “Your sister said you snuck out.”

Figured Ann-Marie would tell on him.

“Oh, um.” Marcus grabbed for any excuse he could think of. “I went for a run.” It was sort of true. He had sprinted a good part of the way home, paranoid that Caspar would come after him.

His dad's eyebrows shot up. Then he leaned against the door frame, smugly crossing his arms in front of his chest. “So you finally decided to man up a little, huh?”

Marcus swallowed.

“How far'd you go?” his dad asked. The fact that his only son could barely run in a straight line had been a sore topic for years.

“N-not far,” Marcus stammered. “Only, uh, a few miles. Three, maybe.”

“Three?” His dad whistled. “Last time I tried to make you run, you couldn't even make it through one.”

Oops. Well, that was it. His dad would call Marcus out on the lie and make him do push-ups as punishment, the whole time telling stories about how much worse his own father had punished him when he was young.

But surprisingly, Marcus's dad shrugged and said, “Maybe next year, we'll try you out for the track team.” He thought for a second and added, “I'll have to time you beforehand though. The first year I tried out for hockey, I fell on my face in front of everyone, and my father said I'd embarrassed the whole family. We don't want history to repeat itself, do we?”

Marcus shook his head, stifling a sigh. The funny thing was, his dad actually thought he was going easy on Marcus. But since Mr. Torelli had been a high school hero back in his day—track star, hockey legend—he didn't seem to know what “going easy on someone” actually meant.

“Anyway,” his dad went on, “your mother wanted me to tell you that we're going to the nursing home to see your grandfather tomorrow afternoon, so be ready after school.”

“I can't. I have a lot of homework to do.” At least this part was true.

“Homework can wait. Family can't,” his dad said. “You're going.” He turned to leave, but then his gaze fell on the moon ship on Marcus's worktable. “You still wasting your time on this nonsense?”

“It's not nonsense,” Marcus said. “It's a hobby.”

“A hobby is something useful, like collecting bottles and cans or getting a job. This…” He held up a lunar module that Marcus had finished painting last week and sighed. “This is a waste of time. What happened to doing Boy Scouts or joining the debate club? You never gave those things a chance.”

Marcus swallowed. Over the years, he'd tried every sport and club his dad had come up with, and he'd failed miserably at every single one. He didn't want to think about the one—and only—Boy Scout camping trip he'd been on a few years ago when he'd gotten up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night and wound up lost in the woods until dawn. But his dad couldn't accept that his son was bad at those things. He thought Marcus only had to try harder.

“Grandpa built models when he was my age,” Marcus said weakly.

His dad shook his head. “I know you and Joe get along, and that's fine. You should respect your elders, but that doesn't mean you need to be like them. Do you know what I'm saying?”

Marcus kept his lips tightly shut. Of course, his dad meant that he should grow up to be just like
him
. But the truth was, if Marcus could become half the man Grandpa Joe was, he'd be happy, no matter what his dad said.

“Did you go running in those old shoes?” his dad asked suddenly.

Marcus glanced over at the sneakers he'd worn every day since last year, still wet from this evening's trip to the pond. “Um, yeah.”

“We can stop on the way home tomorrow and get you some proper running shoes.”

“But—”

“If you're going to run, you're going to do it right,” his dad said. Then he shut the door behind him.

Marcus sank down on his bed. Just when he'd finally fallen off his dad's sports radar, he'd put himself right back on it again.

If only his dad could know his secret, maybe he wouldn't be disappointed in him all the time. But as soon as he had the thought, Marcus realized how stupid it was. His dad would never be proud of a son who was a matchmaker. He'd think it was all “girlie hogwash.”

And even now that Marcus literally had the power of life and death in his hands, it still wouldn't matter. To his family, he would always be a disappointment.

Lena couldn't wait to get to school in the morning. Her dad had spent all of breakfast singing show tunes and shuffling around the kitchen doing some kind of dance, all because of his date with Marguerite. He hadn't said much about it, but it had clearly gone well. The “zap” Lena had given him seemed to be going strong.

Ugh. She'd thought about sending Eddie a message and telling him what had happened, but he probably had his hands full trying to figure out how to undo their swapped powers. She didn't want to get him into bigger trouble. And if she was being honest, she didn't want to get herself into trouble either.

But maybe Marcus would be able to help. After all, he'd had this job a lot longer than she had.

As Lena waited in front of his locker, she spotted her friend Hayleigh lugging a sequined duffel bag down the hall. In truth, Hayleigh was more Abigail's friend than hers, but Lena liked her most of the time. As long as she didn't rope Lena into helping her with her crazy art projects.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Hayleigh asked. Not surprisingly, there was a streak of pink paint on her dark forehead. “Isn't your locker in the other hall?”

“I have to talk to Marcus for a minute.”

Hayleigh gave her a knowing smile. “I still can't believe you guys kissed the other night!”

“Shh!” Lena said, glancing around. “The whole school doesn't need to know about it.”

Hayleigh laughed. “Don't you think Connie Reynolds already told everyone?”

Lena covered her mouth, mortified at the thought of kids gossiping about her first kiss. The whole point of having her checklist was to avoid that kind of drama! Then again, if she hadn't started the stupid list, her dad wouldn't be cawing show tunes and flapping his arms and legs around the kitchen like a crazed bird.

Just then, she spotted Marcus rounding the corner. When he saw her, his whole face lit up. She couldn't help smiling back at him. She'd never met anyone else with such an infectious smile.

“Hey, Lena!” he said, a little too loudly. “How's it going? Your, um, your hair looks nice today.”

“Oh, thanks,” she said, touching her ponytail. Why was Marcus always doing that? She couldn't let herself get distracted by compliments.

“Hey, Marcus!” Hayleigh chirped.

He jumped, as if he hadn't realized she was standing right there. “Oh, um, hi,” he said, suddenly looking uncomfortable. “Wow, that bag is really shiny.”

Hayleigh held it up proudly. “That's the point! Plus it fits all my art supplies. Do you like it?”

“Yeah…it's like a big mirror. But a bag. A mirror bag. I bet you could send messages into space with it.” He chuckled softly, but Hayleigh only gave him a puzzled smile.

Lena couldn't stand the awkwardness for another second. “Marcus, I need to talk to you,” she said.

“Well, I have to go bring this stuff to the art room,” Hayleigh said, slinging the duffel bag back over her shoulder. “See you two later!” She gave them a little finger wave and then hurried away, giggling to herself.

Lena was relieved to see her disappear down the hall. “Come on,” she told Marcus. “Let's go to the auditorium.”

“Wait, I have something for you.” He dug around in his backpack and pulled out a wilted rose, the end of its stem covered with aluminum foil. Then he held it out to her. “I wrapped the bottom in a paper towel, so if you rewet it later today, it should be fine until you bring it home.”

Lena stared at the rose for a long moment. Even though its petals were crinkled, it was still beautiful. It was also the first flower any guy had ever given her. “Wow, th-thank you,” she said, carefully taking it in her fingers. Her chest seemed to tingle with sudden warmth, and for some reason, she had the weird urge to hug the flower like some giddy girl in a movie might do.

“Sorry it's kind of in rough shape,” Marcus said. “It was the craziest thing, but I think I accidentally killed the whole bush when I touched it.”

Lena's eyes snapped up, the warm feeling in her chest vanishing.

“What do you mean you killed the rosebush by touching it?”

He shrugged. “It must be your powers. Or, um,
my
powers now, I guess. My fingers started glowing for no reason, and then the entire plant wilted right in front of me.”

“But that's crazy! You shouldn't be able to do stuff like that.” Lena sucked in a breath. Then again, she shouldn't have been able to make her dad randomly fall in love with someone, but it had happened. “I think things are even more messed up than we realized. Come on.” She waved Marcus toward the auditorium, which was always empty this time of day.

“What's wrong?” he asked when they were perched in the back row.

Lena slumped in her musty seat and told him all about what had happened with her dad the day before.

“Whoa,” he said when she was done. “So you gave him a love boost?”

“Don't call it that. It sounds so cheesy!”

“Call it what you want, this is serious. There's no way to undo it.”

“Are you sure? What about the manual Eddie gave you? There has to be something in it.”

Marcus shook his head. “The only thing you can do now is wait for the spark between them to fade on its own. If they're not an actual love match, it shouldn't take long.” He gave her an examining look. “But this woman sounds kind of perfect for your dad. Is it really so bad if he's happy?”

“He's not happy! He only thinks he is. He was fine before I did this to him.” Even as she said the words, Lena wasn't sure they were true. After all, she'd felt all that loneliness coming from her dad yesterday. But his whole personality had changed since she'd zapped him. That had to mean this love stuff was a scam, right? Some kind of hypnosis? Once she had her regular dad back, then she could find a way to make him less lonely. Maybe they could get another dog or something.

“Have you heard from Eddie?” Marcus asked.

Lena shook her head. “Nothing yet. You?”

“Um, my phone's out of commission right now.”

“We should let him know what's going on. Our powers are obviously out of control. And just in case, we should avoid touching other people.”

“Even each other?” Marcus asked.

“Probably, just to be on the safe side.” The homeroom bell rang, making Lena jump. “Oh no! I was supposed to meet Abigail to practice for auditions!”

“Right, that's today. What do theater people say? ‘Break a leg' or something?”

“You can wish me luck. All that superstition stuff is—”

“I know! I know!” Marcus said, and for some reason, he was smiling. “You don't believe in love, ghosts, or superstitions.”

“What, are you keeping a list?” Lena asked.

Marcus's smile grew wider. “Maybe. How else am I going to unravel the mysteries of Lena Perris?”

She couldn't help smiling back. “I'm pretty sure that besides the whole secret identity thing, I'm the least mysterious person at this school.”

“That's exactly what you want people to think,” he said. “It probably means you collect human skulls in your basement. Or worse, stuffed unicorns.”

Lena laughed. Ever since Connie Reynolds had shoved them into that closet, Marcus had seemed different, more sure of himself. She wished other people could see this side of him. Then maybe her friends wouldn't call him a weirdo anymore.

“Wait, I know!” Lena cried, something clicking in her brain. “We need to get Connie Reynolds involved.”

“With your audition?” Marcus asked, his brow crinkling.

“No! She was there the first time we kissed. Maybe she needs to be there again, so that our powers switch back.”

Marcus seemed to think this over. “But does that mean we have to re-create the whole party too? Maybe it all has to be exactly the same as the first time. That's pretty much impossible.”

He was right. “I'll keep thinking about it,” Lena said, getting to her feet. “Oh, and Marcus. Um, thanks again for the flower. That was really nice of you.” Then she rushed out of the auditorium without looking back.

Even though she was already late, Lena stopped at her locker and carefully tucked Marcus's rose inside. She didn't want it to get more crushed in her bag. For some reason, she had the urge to wave good-bye to it before she shut the locker door, like it might be sad all alone in the dark. But she told herself to stop being ridiculous. She couldn't be one of those girls who got all mushy the minute a guy did something nice for them.
I'm not going to be weak like that
, she told herself as she slammed the locker door shut and hurried down the hallway.

When Lena got to homeroom, Mrs. Lo looked up from her desk and gave a disapproving shake of her head before marking something down in her book. Lena blushed as she slunk to her seat. She'd never been late for anything in her life. Her dad liked to remind her that she'd even been born early.

“Where were you?” Abigail asked over the dull roar of the other kids laughing and talking around them. “I waited at your locker.”

“Sorry, I had to, um, talk to someone. Oh! I forgot!” Lena fished around in her bag and took out the quilted purse she'd made for Abigail the night before. She was careful not to brush Abigail's hand when she handed it over. If her fingers could flare up at any second, she had to be extra cautious. The last thing she needed was Abigail going gaga over some guy.

“Wow, thanks. What's this for?” Abigail asked.

“It's a thank-you for dragging me to Connie's party. Otherwise, I would have never gotten my first kiss.” Granted, if she hadn't gone to that party, none of the other stuff would have happened, but that wasn't Abigail's fault.

Should she tell Abigail what was going on? Eddie had made her swear not to reveal her soul collector identity to anyone, not even her best friend, but this situation was so insane. It would be a relief to tell someone.

“You know, Marcus is kind of cute,” Abigail said. “Even if he is pretty awkward. I could see why you like him.”

“I don't like him,” Lena insisted.

“Well, Hayleigh and I were talking last night, and if you're not interested in him…do you think he might like one of us?”

Lena gawked at her. “What are you talking about?” Is that why Hayleigh had been so friendly to Marcus in the hall?

Abigail shrugged. “I mean, if he's your property, that's fine. We'll back off.”

“I…” For some reason, Lena couldn't form words. Why should she care if her friends liked Marcus? Sure, only two days ago, they'd been laughing at her for kissing him, but what did it matter to her if they were suddenly interested in him? Her friends could do whatever they wanted.

But when she tried to tell Abigail that, the words still wouldn't come out.

“Okay, never mind,” Abigail finally said, probably getting tired of watching Lena gulping air like a fish. “Obviously you like him.”

“I don't like him!” Lena cried. Everyone in the room turned to look at her. Lena felt her cheeks go bright red, but she ignored the other kids' stares and said in a loud voice, “Are we running lines or not?”

Abigail shrugged and fished out a copy of the monologue. “People have crushes on other people, you know. It's totally normal.”

Lena didn't answer. Instead, she pretended to read over the audition scene. So much for telling Abigail about what was happening with her. Her friend clearly wouldn't understand. It seemed that when it came to this whole supernatural mess, the only person on Lena's team was Marcus.