Daddy's Little Angel by Shani Petroff Read Free Book Online Page A

you know them, anyway?” Jaydin Salloway asked, joining our little group. Jaydin was Courtney’s first best friend, and just the tiniest smidge less popular than she. If she did cheerleading or field hockey or something, she’d probably be number one. But she was too into painting, and spent a bunch of time in the art studio by herself. Courtney always put herself in the spotlight, which gave her the edge when it came to social rankings.
    I stalled. How was I going to answer that one? My dad is the devil, and he hooked me up?
    Luckily, I was saved by the sound of a shrieking banshee. “Jaydin, Lana, get over here now.” Courtney was standing outside of Mrs. Torin’s classroom with one hand over her eyes and the other pointing to a piece of paper taped to the wall.
    Gabi gripped my arm as the color drained from her face. She looked more nervous than when she met Lou. “They must have put up the cast list for Charlie Brown .”
    “Let’s go find out.” I practically had to drag Gabi over to look at the list.
    “Read it to me,” Courtney called out. “Wait.” She took a deep overdramatic breath. “Now.”
    Lana ran up to the list and stared screaming. “You got it, you got it, you got it!”
    I walked up to the sheet to check for myself. Ugh . Lana was right. Gabi didn’t get the part of Lucy. Courtney did. I went back to Gabi. “I’m sorry,” I said quietly. I felt awful. I wanted to do something, but there wasn’t anything I could do.
    Gabi gave me a tight smile. I could tell she was holding back tears. “No big deal. I didn’t want it that much, anyway.”
    I searched inside my bag to find her a tissue. There had to be one in there. Why was I such a slob? My phone, iPod, and social studies book fell to the floor as I dug through my junk. Both Gabi and I reached down to pick them up.
    “Mrs. Torin doesn’t know what she’s doing,” I told her. “You would have made a much better Lucy.”
    “Puh-lease,” a voice cackled.
    I looked up to see Courtney looming over me. I hadn’t meant for her to hear that. I bit my lip and cringed. So much for my newfound fame. Courtney would make sure no one ever spoke to me again.
    Only she didn’t ream me out. Instead she smiled. “You’ve obviously never heard me sing,” she said, “but I’m just as good as your friends.”
    I quickly stood up. “Well, Gabi is—”
    “I said friendzzz , not friend,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I meant Mara’s Daughters .”
    I didn’t know what to say, so I kept my mouth shut. It had to be better than saying the wrong thing to Courtney. She had many talents in addition to singing. She was a genius at being mean, and also a gifted mimic. Her routines were pretty funny—as long as you, or your friends, weren’t at the butt of them. Poor Max was one of her favorite “characters.” Gabi was a close second.
    Thankfully the bell rang, saving me once again from my tied tongue. Courtney smirked at Gabi and then looked at me. “You’ll sit at my table for lunch. We’ll celebrate my part.”
    There was no way I could leave Gabi. Especially not right after she found out that she wasn’t in the musical. And it wasn’t like she’d want to sit with Courtney or that Courtney would let her anyway. “I can’t—” I started to say. But Courtney was already halfway down the hall.
    Mrs. Torin popped her head out the door. She told me to get to homeroom and asked Gabi to stick around a minute. She wanted to ask her something. I was dying to follow Gabi into the room, but I didn’t want to get in trouble for being where I wasn’t supposed to be, so I left. As I made my way to class, I couldn’t even keep track of all the people who said hi to me.
    School was certainly getting a lot more interesting.

chapter 14
    Everyone turned to look at me as I walked into homeroom. Even Cole. I swear it was just like I dreamed it. He stopped working on whatever homework he didn’t bother finishing last night and watched me as I made