The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Dress

by Shani Petroff

  I didn’t know what to do. Cole was waiting for me to answer him. But I couldn’t. Instead I ran. And I didn’t stop until I got all the way home.

  There was no way I could ever talk to Cole again. Not after what just happened. He wouldn’t want me as a girlfriend. He wouldn’t even want me as a friend. He’d want me to stay as far away from him as possible.

  Which was exactly what I was going to do.

  chapter 2

  Mom sat next to me flipping through Mysticism Monthly as I scarfed down a bowl of Lucky Charms before school.

  “There was supposed to be an ad for aurasrus.com in here.” That’s the website she runs that sells good luck charms, potions, crystals, and all that hocuspocus stuff. I didn’t comment. I couldn’t. There would be no more talking for me. Ever. I didn’t want to accidentally set off any more disasters. Not after what happened at Cole’s house. Who knew what other embarrassing situations I’d create for myself?

  I was better off silent. Mom didn’t even think I was being weird. In fact, she was proud of me. I told her I was doing one of those silent retreats she always goes on and on about. It’s a new age thing where people don’t speak for a number of days in order to get in touch with themselves. I just let her think my teachers were okay with it.

  “This is the second time they left it out,” Mom said, still going on about the magazine.

  There was a quick burst of smoke and next thing I knew there were three of us at the kitchen table. Lou was now sitting comfortably in our big Buddha chair, making himself quite at home. Stuff like that didn’t faze me anymore. I was used to Lou appearing whenever and wherever he wanted. He plucked the magazine right out of Mom’s hands. “Let me fix that for you.” With a wave of his hand, the back of the magazine now had a full-page ad for aurasrus.com. “Every magazine looks like that now.” He gave Mom a wink and a huge grin.

  You’d have thought she would have been ecstatic about all the free publicity, but you would have thought wrong. “Undo what you’ve done this instant,” she said, jumping out of her seat and grabbing the set of energy crystals she kept stashed on top of the counter ever since Lou first reappeared in our lives. Mom supposedly filled them with “good” karma. She placed them in a semi-circle in front of Lou. “There will be no powers used in this house. Not ones that come from evil.”

  She waved her arms around. I think she was trying to stir up the energy from the crystals. With Mom, you could never tell for sure.

  “And what about your daughter?” Lou asked. “Does that mean she can’t use her powers?”

  “Fortunately, for all of us concerned, she takes after me and didn’t inherit your evil genes. She’s just a normal girl.”

  I could feel Lou’s eyes on me, but I chose to study the marshmallow-y goodness of my cereal instead. See, I never told my mom that I had inherited powers. Even though she said it wasn’t a big deal, that it wouldn’t make me evil, and that she’d love me no matter what, I knew she didn’t really mean it. A woman who spent most of her adult life looking for ways to ward off evil didn’t want a daughter who could perform black magic. This conversation confirmed that. I had definitely made the right choice keeping her in the dark.

  “Now, will you please leave?” Mom told Lou. “If you want to come over here and see your daughter again, you can use the door and knock like everybod—”

  Lou didn’t give Mom a chance to finish. In a flash he was gone, and there was a knock at the door.

  Mom shook her head and stashed a few crystals in her pocket, as she went to answer it. “I was going to tell you to call first,” she said as she swung open the door.

  The phone rang.

  “Aren’t you the comedian!” Mom said.

  “Thank you.” Lou adjusted his suit jacket. “I do like to entertain those around me. Now that we’ve gotten those formalities out of the way, may I see my daughter?”

  Mom pursed her lips together before speaking. “That’s up to her.”

  I just stormed into the living room to find my backpack. I didn’t want to deal with my parents’ drama. I had enough of my own.

  Not taking my hint, Lou followed me. “That woman is never going to forgive me,” he said.

  “You got me to come around, maybe she will, too,” I said. I figured it was safe to speak to Lou. If anyone was able to counter any catastrophe I sent hurtling their way, it was him.

  A few weeks ago, he had come through for me and fixed up my mess. In an attempt to get back at Courtney Lourde, the most evil girl in all of Goode Middle School, I made a whole auditorium full of people disappear and accidentally clued them in about my powers in the process. Lou reversed it all in a matter of seconds. That had to count for something. So after that, I let him convince me to give him a chance at being my dad on a probationary basis. Mom was a different story, though . . .

  Before I was born, Lou told her he was done with the devil business. But he lied, and when Mom found out, she took off—with me. So she was less than thrilled when he decided it was time to reappear in our lives.

  Since then, Lou promised he wouldn’t hurt any good people and that he’d find someone to take over his responsibilities watching over the underworld. But so far I hadn’t seen any movement in that direction.

  Lou shook his head. “Your mother likes holding a grudge. I don’t know if there’s any getting through to her.”

  I paused from my backpack hunt and looked right at him. “If you want to get on her good side, you might want to lay off the magic. We’re not fans of powers here,” I said, then went back to my search.

  I checked under the coffee table, the couch, behind Mom’s desk, but I couldn’t find my backpack anywhere. I didn’t have time to play hide-and-seek anymore, I had to get going. My best friend, Gabi Gottlieb, was waiting for me by the old McBrin house so we could walk to school together. I couldn’t be late. There was no way I was facing Goode Middle School alone. Not today. Not after Saturday. “Where’s MY BACKPACK?” I shouted.

  Then mom’s supply closet door swung open and hit me smack in the back of the head. The pain was killer, but there hanging on one of the hooks was my backpack. I didn’t think to look there because there’s never anything in there but stuff for mom’s website. My mom must have put it there in one of her cleaning frenzies, I thought as I tried to rub away the pain. I was definitely going to have a bump. I guess it beat a pair of horns and a tail. But still . . .

  “Ouch.” Lou gave a low whistle. “Looks like somebody needs to learn how to manage their powers.”

  “Shhhhhh,” I said peering into the kitchen. Fortunately, Mom was sitting cross-legged on the counter chanting her mantra: Goodness and happiness follow me wherever I go. When she was in her “zone,” you didn’t have to worry about disturbing her. One perk to having a new age Mom. “I don’t have powers anymore,” I hissed at Lou.

  “Then how do you explain the door flying open?” he asked.

  “Wind.”

  “Angel, you’re going to have to deal with this. Your powers are not going to go away. Let me teach you how to control them before you hurt yourself.” He reached out and touched my head. The pain was instantly gone. “More than you already have.”

  “How did—” I didn’t need to ask. I knew how he did it. Stupid powers. Which I wanted no part of. “I have everything under control. My powers aren’t an issue anymore. Really. I’ve been working on silencing them all weekend. And I have it all figured out.”

  I wasn’t sure who I was trying to convince—him or me.

  “Look, why don’t we sit down and discuss this with your mother, and then I can begin training you.”

  “No and no. There’s nothing to tell Mom because I’ve decided to shut off my powers. They’re as good as gone.”

  He put his hands on my shoulders. “Angel, it doesn’t work like that.”

  I pulled away. “It does now.” It had to. I couldn’t handle powers, I could barely handle a normal day of school without a meltdown over homework, something C
ole said, or the nasty comments from the “cool” kids. I didn’t want to think about how much damage I could do as the devil’s protégé.

  chapter 3

  “Finally,” Gabi said when I rode up to the old McBrin house and chucked my bike behind the bushes. “I wasn’t sure if you were going to show. Why didn’t you call me back? I tried you all weekend. I can’t believe you haven’t told me about your date with Cole yet. Spill! I want to hear everything.”

  I didn’t answer her. I had to keep my mouth shut so there would be no more fireworks, love graffiti, or head bumps.

  “Oh my God—you can’t even speak. That good?”

  I said nothing.

  “Okay, now you’re being weird,” she closely inspected my face for clues. Then did some mental math. “I’m sorry. Do you not want to talk about it? That’s okay. We don’t have to.”

  I could tell she didn’t mean it at all and just said it to get me to talk. She gave her little scheme a moment to work and when it didn’t, she wigged. “What’s going on here? You never not want to talk about it. Are you mad at me? Are you giving me the silent treatment?”

  I shook my head no.

  “Then why won’t you say anything?” she pressed on.

  I wanted to assure her that I wasn’t angry, but I couldn’t. My silence was for her own good. Anything I said, even kiddingly, had the potential to backfire. A statement like “I’m afraid I’ll accidentally set off a natural disaster,” could actually cause a natural disaster.

  “Welllllllllll?” she asked, her hands on her hips. I could tell she was getting annoyed.

  I just shook my head.

  “Fine, Angel,” she said, and began to walk off. “If you don’t want to talk to me, then I don’t want to talk to you, either. You just wait. When I have big news, you’ll be the last to know.”

  Great, now my powers were getting me in trouble with my best friend. There was absolutely nothing good about being half-devil. I caught up to her, looked her right in the eyes and emphatically shook my head no again. I tried gestures, drawing pictures in the air, and even prayed she’d figure out what I meant.

  It still took her a while, but when she threw both hands over her mouth, I knew she figured it out. “Ooooooooh! I get it!” she said, slowly lowering her hands. “It’s your powers, isn’t it?”

  Finally! I put my finger on my nose and started tapping.

  “Hmm,” she said, “then you’re too embarrassed to speak because you . . . you . . .”

  I nodded and then signaled an explosion.

  “. . . cause an explosion when you do?”

  Thumbs down.

  “. . . a disaster?”

  Ding. Ding. Ding. I tapped my nose again.

  “That’s ridiculous. You’re being insane. You’ve had your powers for a while now, and random conversations have not set them off.”

  Except for Saturday. And that was enough to keep my lips shut.

  “Besides,” she continued, “can’t your thoughts activate them, anyway? And you can’t shut those off. You’re thinking right now. So you might as well say something.”

  “It doesn’t work like—” My hand shot out over my mouth.

  “Ha!” Gabi said sticking her arm out and pointing at me. “You spoke.”

  Shoot. The non-talking thing was going to be harder than I anticipated.

  “And,” she went on, “I know you’re thinking. You can’t stop that.”

  But Gabi had it wrong. My thoughts weren’t my problem. They could only influence my powers once I had already summoned them with something I said. But thoughts alone were harmless.

  “You know you want to talk. You know it.” Gabi danced around me, repeating herself over and over again.

  I did want to speak. I wanted to tell her to be quiet and stop bugging me. But I was afraid I’d permanently silence her or turn her into an ant or something, so I just went to the bushes and checked on my bike instead.

  “Just think how hard it will be not to talk to anyone,” Gabi said, changing her tactic. “What happens when Mrs. Torin calls on you in class?” Mrs. Torin was our English teacher and also directed the school play. “Are you just going to ignore her?” Gabi paused. I could feel her eyes on me. But I stayed silent.

  “What about when she finally sends you to the principal’s office. I’m sure your mom won’t like hearing that you’re misbehaving in school,” she continued. “And what if you see someone in danger? Are you going to let them walk in front of a bus because you’re afraid to yell, ‘Watch out’? Besides, you’re never going to be able to keep this silent thing up. I’m going to keep hounding you. It will be super annoying. You’ll cave eventually. You might as well spare yourself the drama and talk now.”

  She had a point. I didn’t know how much more of her convincing I could take. “Fine,” I conceded. “But you don’t know what I’ve been through.” As we headed to school, I filled her in on everything from when my nerves got all jittery when Cole was about to kiss me, to the horrible tree incident, to getting whacked in the head with the closet door this morning.

  “Wow, that stinks,” Gabi said.

  “Tell me about it. I’m not going to even be able to look at Cole anymore without reliving that moment.”

  “Why don’t you just take Lou up on his offer to teach you how to control your powers?”

  That wasn’t an option. “I can’t. He’s already too involved in my life. Besides, he is the devil. I know he seems to be all good and semi-reformed now, but I can’t take any chances. What if he’s secretly plotting to turn me evil? It’s too risky. I’m just going to have to get by without speaking.”

  “But that’s impossible.”

  I stopped walking and stared at the ground. “Then what am I supposed to do?” I hissed. “Never show myself in public again? Run off to the woods and make friends with the squirrels?”

  No sooner had I said that than two squirrels scampered up to me and rubbed against my ankles. I jumped away so quickly you’d have thought there were hot coals under my feet. Yuck. Gross. Eww. Snow White, I was not. When I looked over at Gabi, she was laughing hysterically. “This is not funny.”

  “You’re right,” she said, erupting in another fit of laughter. “But at least we know for sure what sets off your powers.”

  “What are you talking about?” I was now jogging in place. I hoped the movement would scare away any other rodent-type creatures that decided to come my way.

  “You already know your powers tend to go berserk when your emotions are in overdrive. You were annoyed when you summoned the squirrels, angry when the closet hit you, and superexcited and nervous about kissing Cole when the fireworks went off. So, you don’t have to stop thinking or talking, you just have to stop getting worked up. But that’ll probably be hard, since you’re the most emotional personal I ever met in my life.”

  “Am not!” I protested, crossing my arms in front of me. Okay, maybe she had a teeny, tiny point. I have, on occasion, been known to overreact. And some of what she said made sense.

  As we continued to school, I kept thinking about it. Gabi was right. The answer to my problem was simple. I could control my powers. I just had to stay calm and not let my emotions get the best of me.

  Although, that looked like it was going to prove easier said than done. Because, standing right on the steps to school was Courtney and her band of followers looking ready for a fight.

  chapter 4

  “This school really should have a back entrance for the ugly people,” Courtney said as I hiked up the steps. “Between that,” she pointed at me, “and the ginormous wart that follows her wherever she goes,” she gestured toward Gabi, “this school is going to get a bad reputation.”

  “Seriously.” Lana Perkins, Courtney’s pseudo-bodyguard, nodded in agreement.

  “Aww, look,” Jaydin Salloway joined in. She was Courtney’s BFF and one of those girls who made guys stop and stare when she walked by. Even I had to admit Jaydin was super-pretty. But she was
also super mean. “I think we’re making her mad,” she said with a smirk so condescending, I wanted to—

  No, I had to stay calm. I took a deep breath. I couldn’t think about how I wanted to make her nose hair grow all the way down to her kneecaps. I needed to play nice. This was the perfect test to keep my powers in check. If I could handle Courtney and company, I could handle anything.

  “It’s a good thing I’m not as hideous as Angel or as nerdy as Gabi,” Courtney blabbed on as she moved over to stand in my way. “Otherwise, D.L. never would have noticed me. Then we never would have gone out and he never would have kissed me yesterday. He wouldn’t want to put his lips near a freak show, no one would.”

  “Please,” I spat back at her. “How pathetic. Is that your way of telling me D.L. finally got sick of all your stalking and gave you a mercy kiss? Like I care if you kiss some troll.” Okay, I know I should have ignored her all together, but I couldn’t help it. Someone had to stand up to Courtney. Besides, I kept my emotions in check through it all so it was good practice.

  “D.L. is not a troll.”

  “Right,” I said, trying to be as sarcastic as I could. D.L. Helper was some guy Courtney met at camp. When we were friends for a whole millisecond not too long ago, she told me they went out over the summer, but he stopped paying attention to her once school started. I saw his Facebook picture. He wasn’t that special. Unless you went for the floppy blond hair, big blue eyes, tanned look. Okay, fine. He was cute. But Courtney didn’t need to know I thought so.

  “Just because Cole has made you his charity case and is being nice to you, does not mean you are special,” Courtney said, her voice steady and dripping with venom. “You are still a pathetic wannabe, and no one is ever going to truly want to be around you. Not me, not Cole, not anyone. Got that, loser?”

  I could feel the blood rising inside of me. “I’m so sick of you. I wish someone wou—”

  “Let’s go,” Gabi said, dragging me with all her might into the building. “We’re going to be late.” When we were a safe distance away from Courtney, Gabi reprimanded me. “What were you thinking? Do you know what could have happened? I thought you were going to stay calm!”