Monday at lunch, Megan sat down at her usual table. As always, she tried her best not to look across the cafeteria to where Jake, Greg, and Drew sat with their soccer friends. It had been hard at first, but she was starting to get pretty good at ignoring them. She never would have thought it, but Jake’s being there hardly bothered her at all anymore. Maybe she really could get used to him going to school with her.
“Hey, did you guys see Luke today?” Tara asked.
“Who?” Megan looked at her blankly.
“You know, the senior.” Jen said, sounding like she couldn’t believe she’d have to remind Megan of who he was.
Megan just shook her head.
“Tall? Dark hair?” Stacey added.
“On the track team with you?” Danielle sighed, shaking her head sadly at Megan.
“Oh! Him?” Megan asked. “Homecoming king, right?”
“Yeah.” Tara nodded dreamily. Why hadn’t they said that in the first place?
“What about him?” Megan asked, trying to figure out why she should care.
“He’s just so cute!” Tara gushed. Megan blinked; wasn’t Tara fawning all over Jake just yesterday?
“I know!” Jen said excitedly. “Too bad he’s already dating someone.”
Megan just stared at Jen, wondering what was wrong with her. Why was she encouraging Tara like this? And since when did Jen even know any of the senior guys enough to gossip about them?
“Why is he with her anyway?” Tara pouted.
“Who knows? He’d be much better off with you.” Jen told her seriously. Megan couldn’t even suppress her snicker.
“What?” Jen asked, shooting Megan a look.
“Isn’t he dating that one girl?” Megan asked. What was her name again? “You know, that homecoming queen?”
“Homecoming queen runner up.” Tara corrected. “And yeah – but so what?”
“Uh, nothing I guess.” Megan raised her hands in surrender.
She fought the urge to point out that whatever her name was – Homecoming queen runner up – was probably the nicest girl at school. As much as Megan liked Tara, it was hard for her to say anyone would be better off with her.
“At least you have Greg.” Tara said, turning pointedly back to Jen. “I don’t have anybody.” Tara sighed wistfully as she said, “I wish I had a boyfriend.”
“Me too.” Megan said without really thinking.
She didn’t know why she said it – it wasn’t even true. But as soon as she did, she knew it was a mistake.
Suddenly, there was a flash of blue light, and she felt a kind of tingling sensation in her fingers. Oh, no – that didn’t count, did it? She’d been so agonizingly careful, not wasting her wishes on stupid stuff. And she hadn’t even made this wish – all she’d done was agree with her friend!
“What are you talking about?” Tara blinked. She looked like she thought Megan might have lost her mind. “You have Jake!”
“Yeah – if I dated juniors, Jake would totally be at the top of the list!” Stacey told her, nodding.
“What?” Megan tried to keep the panic out of her voice. She never agreed to this – wasn’t that kind of thing supposed to be a mutual decision? She couldn’t be dating him. Or could she? Was that what that blue light meant?
“Of course you are! Hasn’t it been practically since he got here?” Tara asked.
Megan didn’t say anything. How had he managed to do this? She glared around the cafeteria, desperately scanning for Jake. She found him sitting with his friends – including her little brother. Seeing him sitting there like he actually belonged, Megan just about lost it. Who did he think he was? And to carry on whatever conversation he was having – acting like he hadn’t done anything wrong!
“Megan?...You ok?” Jen looked kind of worried.
“I’ll be right back.” Megan said as calmly as she could. She got slowly out of her seat, eyes never leaving Jake.
As soon as she was out of her chair, Megan’s thin veneer of calm evaporated. She stormed up to him, interrupting whatever story he was in the middle of.
“Can I talk to you for a second?” she asked testily.
“Oooh, someone’s upset.” Kurt said, grinning wolfishly at Jake.
“Oh, shut up Kurt.” Megan snapped.
Jake gave him a quick, appreciative grin before looking back at Megan. “Sure, what’s up?” he asked, as he casually stood.
Megan just fumed; she didn’t say anything until they were safely outside the cafeteria doors. Then, she turned on him, eyes flashing.
“I didn’t make a second wish.” Megan snapped at him.
“You didn’t?” the genie blinked. A pretty good impression of shock passed over his face. “I’m pretty sure you did.”
“No I didn’t, and you know it.” she told him haughtily. “I was just talking to my friends.”
“And you wished for a boyfriend, remember?” he nodded patiently. “So...ta daa.”
“But that’s not what I wanted.” she told him.
“Then why did you wish for it?”
“I didn’t.” she practically yelled.
Jake remained frustratingly unmoved. Megan sighed, forcing herself to calm down. It didn’t look like he was going to take it back just by her yelling at him, and she couldn’t afford to get so angry she gave him the upper hand. If intimidation wouldn’t work, she’d have to try something else.
“Fine, then. Whatever.” she grumbled, deciding to let the wish part of her problem go – for now. There was still something else that was bothering her at least as much about the whole situation. “So why you?”
“Why not?” he shrugged. Megan thought she saw a hint of a smirk on his face.
“Well, I thought I’d at least get a boyfriend who liked me.”
“Yeah? Like who?” Jake asked, sounding genuinely curious. Megan ground her teeth.
“I don’t know – Mike or Aaron or...someone. Pretty much anyone other than you.”
“Remember? I can’t make someone fall in love with you. So you wouldn’t end up with someone who really liked you anyway. Unless one of the guys at this school has a secret crush on you.”
“Really? You think one of them might have a crush on me?”
Despite her firm intention to stay mad at him, Megan brightened. She wondered if she could trade in her new pretend boyfriend for a real one.
“Eh, probably not.” Jake shrugged, dashing Megan’s hopes. “You’re the most popular person at this school. If they did, they’d have told you about it by now, right? Or at least, someone would have.”
“Gee, thanks.” Megan said, all of her anger returning full-force. What was the use of having a genie if he talked to her like that anyway? “So that means I’m stuck with you?”
“Sure, why not? Besides, this way you can take me home like a normal person.”
Great. ’Cause that was just what she wanted. Megan found herself clenching and unclenching her fists.
“So when do I get to meet you mom?” he grinned, acting completely oblivious to her impending rage.
“Never!” Megan snapped. “You tricked me. And don’t think for a minute that I’m going to forget it.”
“That’s not how it looks to me – you made a wish, and I granted it. I helped you out.”
“No you didn’t! All you did was make it so I can’t date anyone at this school!”
“So what was preventing you before?” he asked slowly. Megan would have almost thought it was a genuine question if she didn’t know him better.
“Nothing was preventing me!” she yelled. Some kids in the courtyard turned their heads, but Megan didn’t care. “I was just fine before. And now I’m stuck with you!”
“Well, if you’re going to be so negative about it…” Jake shrugged. Megan saw a gleam in his eye that made her want to scream.
“Just – don’t talk to me right now.” Megan told him. She was so mad – there was nothing she wanted to hear from him, nothing that could fix this.
What she really wanted to do was tell him to crawl back into his bottle and never come out, but she stopped herself in time. She wanted to get revenge, and she was sure she could do better than that.
Besides, if her new boyfriend suddenly disappeared, that could make things really awkward. And not just at school, either; if she couldn’t convince Drew that he’d run away or something, there was a chance he’d tell on her for that whole ditching thing. If he wasn’t hanging out with Jake, what reason would he have to keep quiet? And if it meant the rest of the group ditched him too, he’d probably get her in trouble out of spite. She really should have kept her mouth shut about that whole thing back at the arcade. Why didn’t she realize he’d hold it over her head like this?
Jake raised his eyebrows at Megan after her last comment, but he did as he was told. For once, he didn’t have some smart-alecky comment to make. Actually, he kind of looked like he regretted pushing her this far. Well, good – he should be sorry.
Finally, he gave a short nod. That was all Megan needed to see before she spun around, storming back to the cafeteria. Jen caught up with her as she reached the doors.
“You ok?” Jen asked.
“Fine.” Megan told her sharply; she was still too mad to hide it completely.
“You took off so fast, I didn’t have a chance to talk to you. What happened anyway? As soon as Tara mentioned you were going out with Jake...” Jen trailed off. She thought for a minute before her eyes got real wide. “You weren’t, were you? Did that count as a wish?”
“Apparently.” Megan said. Her anger and initial shock were dying down, and she finally allowed herself to pout.
“Really? Can you unwish it?”
“I doubt it.”
“Well, what’d he say when you asked?”
“I didn’t ask.” Megan confessed. “I was so mad, I didn’t even think of it. Besides, I’m really sure the answer’d be no anyway.”
“So what are you going to do about it? I mean, you can’t really go out with him, can you?” Jen sounded insulted by the very idea.
“Of course not.” Especially not after the way he did that – it felt like way too much of a trick. “I guess I have to live with it for now. At least until I can figure out what to do.”
“Well, good luck with that. I’ll try to think of a way to get out of it.” Jen promised, but she didn’t sound too optimistic.
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