Monday morning was the first time that Jake was allowed back to school. He walked cautiously down the hall, towards first period. He was actually feeling almost as nervous as he had when Megan had let him come on a trial basis over a month ago. Of course, this time his nervousness had nothing to do with keeping someone in charge happy. That was still a factor, of course – he needed her to still let him come if he ever wanted to have any chance to extricate himself from this. But his main worry this time was about how he was supposed to face Megan.
He felt really bad about what he knew he'd have to do. And first period was going to be especially hard. At least after this, she'd know. He just wished he could explain it to her instead of having her find out by watching him ignore her.
Jake took a minute at the door to gather his nerves. He never would have thought that seeing someone who used to be in charge could be so hard. But then, he'd never actually cared about any of them before.
As soon as he walked through the door, he saw Megan getting up out of her seat. She looked even more relieved than Jake had expected. Great. As much as he wanted her to care about whether or not he was ok, it was only going to make this part that much harder. She tried to say something to him, but he wasn't really paying attention. Instead, Jake was thinking about how he was feeling; it almost felt like his ears were burning. What was this? It wasn't just his typical nervousness. Was it embarrassment? Well, whatever it was, he didn't like it. As soon as she paused for breath, he decided to take his leave.
He brushed past her like she didn't even exist. And as horrible as he felt doing that, the look on her face had only served to make him feel even worse.
At least she wasn't as shocked by it when he did it again in second period. And when she came up to him and Greg at the end of Spanish, she didn't even seem surprised when he excused himself. Actually, the only really awkward part had been chemistry.
It turned out that sitting directly across from a girl he had been dating and was now forced to ignore was even harder than he would have imagined. He vaguely wondered if humans had to deal with this sort of thing. But maybe they understood each other well enough that these situations never came up. Or they were handled in a different way when they broke up with each other, though Jake couldn't imagine what that could possibly be.
Jake sighed to himself, wondering just how much about human interaction he really had missed out on for all of these years. He'd known his relationship with humans had always been a little different since his curse. But he'd never thought it was this different.
Megan tried to act like she wasn't hurt, but of course he could see that this whole thing really bothered her. Jake found himself staring down at his notebook so he wouldn't have to make eye contact with her. Besides, if he wasn't allowed to talk to her, eye contact would probably only make this whole situation even more awkward. Maybe he really shouldn't have arranged it so everyone thought she'd broken up with him, but it had seemed like a great idea at the time. He'd hoped it would give her the hint that it wasn't his idea. And maybe she would realize that he wasn't exactly looking forward to the prospect. But it looked like she wasn't taking it quite the way he'd hoped she would.
Jake sat there in class, only barely listening to the teacher. He knew he really should be paying attention, especially since chemistry was definitely his weak point. But he had more important things to worry about than how all of these atoms were supposed to be arranged; he had to figure out how to get his life back – before this new girl got rid of him for good.
Jake thought about the restrictions this new girl had placed on him. He hated to admit it, but she'd been surprisingly thorough. But Jake didn't let that bother him; he'd been getting out of annoying rules for centuries. Still, this one was going to be tough. And he couldn't just learn to live with it – there was too much at stake this time. So what were his options?
It was pretty clear he wasn't going to be able to explain any of this to Megan – that was the whole point of the rules in the first place. But what about Jen? Jake grinned to himself at the thought. That girl had said nothing about Jen – only Megan; she probably didn't even know that Jen knew about him. For the first time since this whole thing started, Jake felt like he might actually have something good going for him. Who would have guessed that Jen knowing what he was could ever work to his advantage? He flipped to an empty page in his notebook and started writing.
Of course, he addressed the note to Jen – he wasn't allowed to write it to Megan, after all. But if Jen decided to show it to Megan, there was nothing she could do about that. Jake found himself almost grinning as he wrote his note. When he finished, he looked it over.
It wasn't as long as Jake would have liked, but it was the best he could do; he really wasn't used to expressing honest feelings, and it was surprisingly difficult. It was even harder knowing that Jen would be reading it before she even considered giving it to Megan. And was it too formal? He couldn't tell. If it had been a note he'd scribed for one of his former masters, he would have said it was perfectly fine. But for Megan? Maybe it should be a little more personal. Maybe it should say something nice about her. But what? What could he say to her that she didn't already know? He was already much more transparent with her than anyone he'd known in centuries; surely she knew that.
He'd planned on giving his little note, sorry as it was, to Jen after chemistry was over. Then, he'd have her give it straight to Megan. But that wasn't going to work. Megan got Ms. Harle to agree to let her go early, so that plan was immediately ruined.
Jake tried not to be disappointed. He figured Megan wouldn't wait around for him – why would she? After all, he had been ignoring her all day. Still, now that he actually had a plan, he was kind of sorry to see her hurry out of the room as fast as she did. It was almost as if he had the plague. He shuddered, putting those times out of his mind; he'd lost his third best master during that.
He left when the bell rang. He still had that note in his hand, but he wasn't sure how he was supposed to give it to Jen when she looked as mad at him as she did. It was a pretty big risk; maybe she wouldn't actually give it to Megan. What if she just read it and then threw it away? Besides, he didn't think it'd be a good idea to give it to her with Greg still sitting right there. Jake might not know a ton about humans, but he did know about jealousy; it was practically what he traded in. And he was pretty sure that giving Greg's girlfriend a note after just breaking up with his own would only cause problems.
He packed slowly, not actually sure what he was supposed to do. He didn't want to go back to that awful girl's house, but he couldn't see how he could stay and watch Megan's practice like he usually did – certainly not after the way he'd been treating her today. He had just decided that maybe it would be best to go back and wait for that new girl after all when Jen caught up to him in the hallway.
"I need to talk to you." she told him.
She looked incredibly mad – even more so than she had in chemistry. It kind of reminded him of that time at the movie theater not long ago where she'd tried to get him to essentially admit in front of everyone he knew that he was just a jinn living at Megan's house. Suddenly, he wondered if it was such a good idea to confide in her after all. She didn't really like him anyway – would she actually help him? Or would she see this as more of an unexpected opportunity for herself?
Ever since he'd met her, he hadn't quite trusted Jen. Sure, he'd helped make her aware of Megan's first wish. But at the time, he had hoped that after Megan was done with him, Jen might be next. It might not have been ideal, but it was definitely better than sitting alone in the dark waiting for someone else to show up. But sometime after her second wish, Jake had started to actually like Megan. And Jen had always been adamant that Megan not see him as anything more than just a jinn.
Once Jake remembered where he really stood with Jen, he wasn't sure how much he should let her know. Even if she was Megan's best friend, he wasn't sure if he could actually trust her. What if she used it against him? She could tell Megan whatever she wanted to, and Jake wouldn't even be able to contradict her. And Jen would know it.
Or, Jen could say something to her friends at lunch about him. She wouldn't even have to say much, and even worse, she wouldn't even have to do it on purpose. And depending on what she said, with just the right accidental words, it could make everything even harder for him. But what else could he really do? He'd spent long enough trying to get around orders like these that he knew it would never work; there really was no point in trying to fight it.
Besides, it wasn't like he had a lot of other options; Jen was literally the only person who knew about him that he could actually speak with at the moment. Maybe he would feel her out first, see if she really would help him if he told her what was going on. He just hoped she wouldn't be secretly glad that Megan wouldn't have to worry about him anymore.
"What's going on?" he asked. He said it casually, but deep down, he really needed to know. Maybe this way he could get a better sense of what was going on in Jen's mind.
"You tell me." she replied. Jake could hear a note of disgust in her voice.
He knew what she was asking, of course – he wasn't an idiot. But it was kind of a habit with him to be cautious, especially with someone who looked as mad as she did.
"...You first." Jake said after a moment or two.
"You know exactly what I mean." If anything, she looked even more upset. "You disappear randomly and don't show up to school for two days. Then you come back like everything's perfectly normal – well, except for breaking up with Megan and then refusing to talk to her. And you don't think any of that needs at least a little bit of explaining?"
"Of course it does." Jake told her. Then, against his better judgment he added, "Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that."
"Me?" She looked shocked by the very idea. "Why would you want to talk to me? Shouldn't you be talking to Megan?"
"Well, that's the problem." he started.
He was trying to figure out the best way to explain this to someone who didn't actually have any experience with it, but Jen cut him off before he got the chance.
"Yeah, it is a problem – 'cause you broke up with Megan and aren't speaking to her." Jen sounded impatient. "So you want to tell me why you did that?"
"It wasn't my decision." Jake shrugged. He just hoped she understood his meaning. She was smart, wasn't she?
"Oh, right – I forgot. You made it seem like she broke up with you."
The sarcasm wasn't lost on Jake. This really wasn't going the way he'd planned. He decided that maybe he should start over. But before he even got the chance, Jen was staring at him once again.
"You know, she was actually convinced you liked her." Jen said. She still had that same contempt-filled tone.
"Actually, I do like her." he snapped. What would Jen know about it anyway?
"Then tell me what's going on." she said, crossing her arms.
"If you'd stop talking, I would." he told her.
"Fine." she said. Then, "I'm waiting."
"I didn't want to break up with her."
"Really?" Jen was obviously not buying it. "Because it seems to me that the whole school thinks you did."
"I didn't want to." Jake told her. He could only hope she understood the difference between wanting and doing. That was pretty easy, wasn't it?
Jen just rolled her eyes.
Jake sighed, realizing he'd have to be much more direct with her. He'd seen some of his masters in the past with that look; if he didn't tell her in the next minute or two, there was an excellent chance he'd never get another opportunity. He was obviously going to have to abandon this cautious approach if he ever wanted to get out of this mess he was in. He just hoped that telling Jen some of his more restrictive rules didn't make everything even worse for him.
"I'm not allowed to talk to Megan." he said finally.
"You're not allowed to?" Jen asked. Her eyes widened for a second before narrowing again in suspicion. "And why's that?"
"So I don't tell her who took the bottle."
"Oh, that's convenient." She rolled her eyes.
Was it? He thought it was pretty inconvenient himself. Jake thought for a minute that she was going to walk away for sure. Then, she shrugged.
"So you can tell me? And why would that be?"
"I can't tell you who." Jake said. "But I can talk to you in general – the person in charge doesn't know that you know about...any of this."
"Well, that's good for you then."
Jake shrugged; he didn't think it was that good.
"So what can you tell me about whoever it was – or should I say is?"
Jake thought about it for a minute. He knew exactly who it was and what she looked like. She was blonde, fairly tall – a couple inches taller even than Jen. But he couldn't explain any of that; he just couldn't quite put his description into words. Silently, he cursed the rules he had to live by for what must have been the thousandth time. Finally, he spoke up.
"Nothing." he told her. He hoped he didn't sound as frustrated as he felt. Although, if he did, that might not be so bad for once.
"Wait – what?" Jen asked. "What do you mean nothing?"
Jake really didn't want to, but he knew he was going to have to be at least somewhat honest. The next thing he knew, he was giving her a quick explanation of his rules.
He tried to give Jen just the basics – hardly more than he'd given Megan when they'd first met. After all, he didn't see how it could really help him if Jen knew even more than Megan did; as far as Jake was concerned, Megan knew all the important stuff anyway. But Jen was persistent.
After three or four minutes of relentless questioning, Jake found himself giving Jen an explanation of what his new master had commanded. At least he'd made it sound like it was part of a deal he'd made to go back to school instead of rules he had to obey no matter what. It was close enough, and Jake really didn't want to give Jen any more information about this than he absolutely had to.
She was surprised at first, especially about the fact that he couldn't lie to whoever was in charge. Had Megan never mentioned that part to Jen? But she listened to every word he said.
Finally, he finished. He expected her to say something. Instead, she just stood there in thoughtful, infuriating silence.
After what felt like almost more silence than even Jake could withstand, she finally started nodding slowly. Then, she looked him straight in the eye.
"Is any of that true?" she asked.
Jake wanted to be insulted – to snap at her that of course it was true. But he didn't. He saw the look in her eyes. For once, she didn't seem to be challenging him. So instead, he just nodded, hoping it wouldn't come back to haunt him if he ever did get back to Megan.
"Well...I guess that changes some things..." she said finally.
Jake wasn't completely sure what she meant, but it almost had to be a good sign. Maybe Jen would finally trust him now. And even if she didn't, if she'd get a message to Megan, then it would still be worth the price he was sure he had just paid.
"So will you help me?" he asked. And then he added the word he hated saying second most of all. "...Please?"
Jen hesitated a second before nodding. It might not have been the most enthusiastic reception that Jake could have hoped for, but it was still an excellent sign; he'd never had a human actually agree to help him since he'd been cursed.
Jake was still nervous, but he decided that this was his best chance. Slowly, he produced the note that he'd written.
"You'll give it to Megan?" he asked.
He really didn't want to hand it over, but it did seem to be the only way of getting some sort of information to Megan. So as much as it pained him, he was going to have to trust Jen with this.
"I will." she told him. She glanced down at the note for a second before looking up at him quizzically.
"It says 'Jen' on the front." she told him. This time, Jake didn't even try to suppress his sigh.
"I'm not allowed to talk to Megan, remember?" he said. "I have to pretend that she doesn't exist."
Jen nodded, still clearly thinking. Jake tried not to get his hopes up – there was an excellent chance that she was lying to him; that had happened to him often enough that he hardly expected anything else. But finally she looked at him and said, "Give me that note."
Almost reluctantly, Jake handed it to her. He knew this was his best chance, but it still made him worry. He only hoped she'd give it to Megan soon. And since there wasn't any more that Jake could do, he reluctantly went back to where that cursed bottle was to wait.
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