Love Struck (2 page)

“About time,” Cole and Gabi said at the exact same time.

That got them to laugh, and they smiled at each other.

I was so relieved, I wasn't even jealous that they made eye contact. “I can't wait until we get to write our own plays and then act them out,” Gabi said.

That was going to be our next English assignment. I wasn't as excited about it as she was, but it sure beat Shakespeare. “Mrs. Torin better let us pick our own groups,” I said.

“She probably will.” Gabi clapped her hands together. “We can even add some songs. Make it a musical.”

Gabi had a great voice.

“I could help write the music,” Cole said, actually getting excited. “I've been working on some things.”

Whoa!
I did not know Cole wrote songs. Sure, he was way into music. But I thought he just liked to listen.

“Like that piece you played for Jason after Hebrew School?” she asked.

Hmmm . . . Gabi, on the other hand, knew all about it.

“Yeah,” he said, kicking a napkin on the floor. “I didn't know you heard that.”

“It was really good,” she said.

He gave her one of his amazing, lopsided smiles.

Okay. Now I was starting to get a little uncomfortable.

She smiled back.

Enough was enough.

It was definitely time to find Gabi a boyfriend.

Her
own
boyfriend.

“Forgot to tell Cole something,” I said to Gabi as we headed to French. “Meet you in class.” I ran off before she could answer.

Okay, it was a teeny lie. I hadn't forgotten anything. I just needed a second alone with Cole so I could talk to him. I wanted him to convince Marc to ask Gabi out. Gabi would have chained me to the trophy case and stuffed my mouth with a sweaty sock before letting me go through with this plan.

“I need you to do me a favor,” I said, meeting Cole at his locker.

“Sure, what's up?” he asked.

When I told him what I wanted, his face got all twisty. “I don't know,” he said.

My stomach felt like someone, someone like Cole, was stabbing it with toothpicks. Didn't he want Gabi to have a boyfriend? Or did he secretly want her to be alone so he could have a chance with her? I pinched my arm. I was being stupid. Cole liked me. “Why not?” I asked, before I could come up with any other scary scenarios.

“Just don't think it will work. They're so different. He's popular and she's—,” Cole stopped himself.

But I wasn't letting him off that easy. I crossed my arms over my chest. “She's what?”

Cole studied his locker, almost like he was debating shutting himself inside instead of finishing the conversation with me. He shrugged his shoulders. “They're just from different groups.”

Bad answer.

“We're from different groups and we go out,” I said, staring him down.

“That's different,” he said.

But it really wasn't. Cole was super-popular. And I was as big an outcast as Gabi. Maybe even a bigger one. “Yeah, how?” I asked. The stabs to my stomach were getting stronger.

“It just is,” he said.

My whole body clenched. “No, it's not. So I guess this means you don't like to be seen with me, either? Am I too embarrassing for you?” Okay, I know that wasn't completely fair, but I was angry.

“No, that's not what I meant. It's just, Marc is different. He's more into what people think.”

“Whatever, Cole,” I said and turned around. “I'll ask him myself.” Marc and I were not exactly buddies. Not even close. But I was going to talk to him, anyway. To help out Gabi. That was the kind of friend I was. Unlike some people . . .

“Wait.” Cole let out a deep breath. “I'm sorry. Don't be mad at me. I'll talk to him.”

“Yeah?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Cole said.

Now was that so hard? Why couldn't he have just agreed to begin with? “Let's do it now,” I suggested.

For a second Cole looked like he was going to say something, but he just closed his mouth and walked over to Marc, who was getting books out of his locker.

I held back my smile.

“Hey,” Cole said as he stood in front of Marc. I hovered behind him.

“Hey,” Marc answered, searching his locker. It was like mine—a total disaster zone.

“Hitting the mall tomorrow?” Cole asked.

“Yeah, I think everyone is,” Marc said.

I gave Cole a nudge. The bell was going to ring any minute. He needed to speed up his pitch.

“Well, Angel and I are going. And Gabi, too. You should come with us.”

“Maybe,” Marc said, still rummaging through his locker.

“Cool,” Cole responded.

Cool? It wasn't cool. A maybe was halfway to no. It stunk. It was time for me to step in. “You know, Gabi is pretty amazing. Not only is she killer smart, but she's so much fun. You used to like her, right?” There was no time for subtlety. “I don't blame you. She is the prettiest girl in the whole eighth grade. How could you not?”

Both Marc and Cole were looking at me like I was nuts. Like a windup doll that just kept going and going and going even when no one wanted to play with it anymore. But I didn't care. I was on a mission.

“Looking for your homework?” I went on. There really was no stopping me. “If you can't find it, you should just ask Gabi. She's great at homework. I'm sure she'd be happy to help you. She's a whiz. She's good at everything. Don't you think?”

This time it was Cole's turn to nudge me.

Fine. Maybe I wasn't handling this the best possible way, but I was on a time limit. The bell was going to ring.

Marc didn't say a word.

“Well,” I said, “can't wait to see you at the mall tomorrow. I know Gabi can't, either.” She would have killed me if she knew what I was up to.

“Gabi?” Courtney Lourde said, walking over to us.

Figured. She had a knack for butting her nose in at the worst possible times. At least her little followers, Jaydin and Lana, weren't with her.

“Marc is going to be hanging out with
me
and
my
friends,” she said, flipping her long, blond hair over her shoulder.

Gabi and I definitely didn't fall into that category.

“You're welcome to join us, too, Cole,” she said, resting her hand on his arm.

“I'm going with Angel,” Cole said, acting like he didn't notice what Courtney was doing.

“Too bad. If you decide to ditch Double-A—or is it Double-D now?” (She calls me Double-A because that's my bra size. But when I accidentally used my powers to turn my nonexistent chest into monster boobs, I was Double-D for a minute.) “Either way, if you change your mind, Cole, let me know.”

Her hand was still on his arm.

I bet her boyfriend, D.L. Helper, would have loved that as much as I did.

The bell rang and Courtney turned her attention to Marc. “Let's go before we're late.”

He didn't even say good-bye to me—or Cole. He just followed Courtney like an obedient little puppy dog. No way was I going to accomplish anything with Courtney in the picture.

“What happened to
me
talking to Marc?” Cole asked when they were out of earshot.

“I got a little carried away.”

“A little?!”

“I know! Did I blow it completely?”

The sound of the late bell saved Cole from answering. But I knew what he would have said. I messed up. Again.

I didn't even need to use my powers this time.

“We are about to meet Lance Gold!” I was just short of shouting as we walked through the mall. “This is so cool.”

“It's not that big a deal,” Cole said as he held my hand a little tighter. “He's just an actor.”

I wasn't positive, but I thought I detected a little jealousy in Cole's tone. It was better when he was the one all nervous over nothing than when it was me.

“
Just
an actor. Are you nuts?” Gabi asked, throwing her hands into the air. “He's so much more than that. Not only can he act, but he can sing, play the drums, hit a fastball, and rock climb.” She clearly had his
Teen Wow
bio memorized. “Plus,” she went on, “he does tons of charity work. He's always helping people. Last week alone he raised tens of thousands of dollars for the Heart Association and did the Walk for the Cure race. He's even nice to his enemies. The other day, he made his limo pull over to help some paparazzi guy who had fallen off his bike. Most stars would have just left the guy there. But not Lance. He checked to make sure the photographer was okay and even posed for a picture.”

“A regular saint,” Cole said.

“Aww, come on,” Gabi said. “You wouldn't be here if you didn't want to meet him, too.”

“I just came for Angel,” he said. But he wasn't fooling either one of us. We both knew he was excited to meet Lance. After all, wasn't he the same guy who wanted his (and my) favorite band, Mara's Daughters, to play at his Bar Mitzvah? The same guy who snuck peeks at my magazines when he thought I wasn't looking? He was just as—okay,
almost
as—celebrity obsessed as Gabi and me.

We weren't the only ones. The mall was packed. I had never seen it this busy. Not even the day after Thanksgiving.

“Let's try to get closer,” Gabi said, grabbing my free hand and pulling me toward the stage area. The three of us squirmed through the crowd. It was so tight, we got pressed up between strangers. At one point, the back of one guy's sweaty T-shirt rubbed up against my face, I got an elbow to the side, and some tall girl's stinky armpit was pressing up against my nose—all within moments of one another.

“Watch it,” some guy said as I smashed right into him.

“Sorry.” I didn't mean to hit him, but I didn't really avoid him, either. My new strategy for the event? Face down, forge ahead, and anyone that got in my way would get head-butted.

“Angel?” the guy I bumped into asked.

I looked up. “D.L.? Didn't expect to see you here.”

“Courtney dragged me,” he said, letting out a deep breath.

“Know the feeling,” Cole said. I didn't correct him. If he wanted to tell people the only reason he was there was because of me, I had no problem with it. I actually liked it. My boyfriend didn't care if people—even the popular ones—knew he did things just to make me happy.

“Aren't you going the wrong way?” Gabi asked D.L. “The stage is that way.” She pointed to the direction he'd just come from.

“I'm over it. Courtney made us all get here three hours ago just to hear the guy sing. He's an actor. What does he know about music?”

“A lot,” Gabi answered. “He's singing in his next movie, and he's planning on releasing his own CD. He can do everything. He's incredible.”

“Whatever,” D.L. mumbled. “I'm done waiting. I'm gonna go get a piece of pizza,” he said. “Reid and everyone are over there,” he told Cole and nodded his head behind him.

Reid was Cole's best friend. “Thanks,” Cole said.

“Good luck getting there,” D.L. said and then fought his way against the crowd.

I used to think he was just as awful as Courtney, but lately he had been acting a lot nicer. I was beginning to think he wasn't so bad—well, except for his taste in girlfriends.

“Let's go,” Cole said. “I see Reid. He's not too far away.” Gabi and I just stood there. Because while I didn't have any real issues with Reid, his girlfriend, Lana Perkins, was another story. She was one of Courtney's best friends. And spending the afternoon around her and Courtney was not something Gabi or I wanted to do. But I didn't want to tell Cole he couldn't hang out with his friends, either. That wasn't fair.

“Come on,” Cole said again, this time leading the way. He squeezed my hand. “Don't worry about Courtney. She's all talk. She won't care if you're there. Besides, someone else might be over there, too.”

He mouthed the name Marc. But he was not exactly discreet. Gabi caught the whole thing.

“You told him I liked Marc!” she whispered as we made our way toward Courtney and Co.

“Not exactly . . . kind of . . . okay, yes.” I caved as she stared me down. “But only because they're friends,” I whispered back. “I wanted to know if he thought Marc would go out with you.”

“And?” she asked.

Her voice sounded so excited. I didn't want to be the one to bring her down, so I fudged the truth. A lot. “He thinks you guys would be awesome together.”

“Really?” she asked.

“Really,” I echoed. Gabi looked like she was going to combust with happiness.

“Hey,” Cole said as we approached his friends.

A couple of them called out his name and Reid even fist-bumped him. For a whole second I thought everything was going to be fine. That Courtney and I could be within a small radius of each other without insults flying. That we could ignore each other and go on with our lives. But who was I kidding? It was Courtney Lourde we were talking about, and she took her mean-girl status seriously.

“Well, look who's here,” Courtney said in her singsong voice. “Cole and his community service projects.”

“Courtney!” Cole warned.

“What?” she asked, opening her eyes superwide and trying to look all innocent.

“Lay off,” he said. I liked that he was coming to my defense.

“Sorry,” she said, giving him an almost angelic smile. “But I just don't understand why you like her. Is she blackmailing you? Offering you money to hang out? Did she pull some elaborate trick?”