All throughout practice and even when she got home, Megan kept going over and over what Jake had said. Why would someone care about making her less popular? It just didn't make any sense. Surely whoever had taken that bottle would have better things to worry about than Megan's status at school.
She went to bed thinking about it and woke up thinking about it even more. But she still wasn't any closer to an answer. She decided to give up on that line of thought; it wasn't getting her anywhere anyway. She really should focus more on getting Jake back. But even though she'd planned on spending the first half of the school day trying to figure out who even knew about Jake, she hadn't gotten any farther down that avenue either. And all of this was starting to give her a headache. She headed out to lunch, deciding to take a small break and promising herself that she'd give all of this some more thought later.
She was the first one at the table. And even though she'd just promised herself that she'd take a break, she thought about getting her lists out again. But as soon as the thought crossed her mind, she dismissed it. Ever since Tara had seen them, Megan was too afraid to get them out again at lunch. But she still found herself going over all of it again. She guessed she could still try to figure out what Jake had been talking about. And she still had time before everyone else would show up.
As far as Megan was concerned, someone wasting a wish on ruining Megan's own wishes was beyond pointless. Why would they bother? Was it spite? But who would really be so concerned with what Megan was doing that they would even care? Unless it was just part of something else they'd done. Actually, that made a lot more sense to Megan. She wondered what that wish could have been.
Or maybe it because they were jealous? Megan wouldn't have been jealous of her situation personally, but from the outside, it might have looked like her life was a lot easier than it really had been. After all, she did have a genie, and had become the most popular person in school by far. Maybe that was the real reason someone had done this to her.
"Everything ok?" Tara asked, sitting down next to Megan.
Megan jumped. She hadn't realized that Tara was there. She must have been in deeper thought than she'd realized.
"What's going on?" Tara asked when Megan didn't respond right away.
"It's nothing." Megan said. Then she added, "It's just Jake."
Megan hadn't really meant to say anything, especially to someone who didn't know what Jake was. But this whole thing had really been stressing her out.
"I thought you two broke up." Tara said. She seemed surprised.
"Yeah." Megan said glumly.
"Why does it bother you so much?"
"Because I didn't actually break up with him." Megan told her. She still didn't see why Jake had done that.
"You didn't?" Tara asked.
"No, he just told everyone that." Megan said.
"Are you talking to him?" Tara asked, raising her eyebrows.
"Well, no." Megan admitted. "He's not actually talking to me at the moment."
Tara nodded, seemingly in understanding. Megan thought Tara looked a little surprised, and it occurred to her that maybe what she'd said was a little weird. Maybe she needed to explain this a little better. The last thing she needed was for Tara to get suspicious. Megan had every intention of getting Jake back. And when she did, she didn't want Tara to suspect anything.
"I mean, he's not talking to me, but it has to be him who told everyone, right?"
Tara nodded in understanding. Then she solemnly placed a hand on Megan's shoulder.
"You'll find someone better, don't worry – someone who won't break up with you like that."
"Thanks." Megan said.
She knew that Tara was just trying to be supportive, but Megan was surprised to realize that she actually didn't want another boyfriend. Even if Jake was just being his usual, obnoxious self when he'd wasted her wish, that was almost ok with her. She might not have liked Jake like that when he'd actually done it, but that didn't matter so much anymore. What was important was the fact that she liked him now. And if she ever did get him back, she realized that maybe she would actually ok with keeping him as a boyfriend for real.
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