When Jakob had first appeared on that sidewalk in the middle of the night, he’d been less than impressed. Even in the dark, he could see the frizzy-haired girl standing there in her ratted jeans and faded sneakers. She looked almost scared when she saw him, and he tried not to sneer at her.
He’d seen her kind before: incredibly average, maybe a little on the shy side. Definitely the kind who could be easily intimidated – even by him. She was probably the kind to wish for someone to like her. If he played his cards right, he could be in charge with this one – finally have a little control over his own life. He worked hard to keep his face neutral; if he gave anything away too early, the girl could get suspicious.
They went through the usual opening – was he real, was he actually going to grant her wishes? At first those kinds of questions used to bother him; of course he was real. And when they asked him things like that, he knew it was going to be an uphill battle. At least all of that had really stopped bothering him a couple centuries ago. Now, he just tried to get the introductions over with as fast as possible. He didn’t even try to hide the fact that he couldn’t lie to them anymore – it seemed to help with their inherent distrust at least. And anything to curb that was always a good thing.
It always seemed like forever before they finally got around to asking for what they wanted. At least after the first one, the rest seemed to come pretty quick.
Of course once she was finally convinced that it wasn’t a trick, the first thing she asked for was to be popular. Figured. Just like everyone else. It was amazing how easy they’d gotten to read. At least maybe he could have some fun with this one.
He was surprised when she actually wanted to wait on her second wish, but he shrugged it off. Not everyone was completely predictable. Besides, this would give him a chance to figure out how to stay ahead of her.
As it turned out, she was incredibly easy to mess with – almost too much so. And every time he got to her – the look on her face! She always looked so surprised, like it was his job to only do exactly what she asked and nothing more.
At first that level of naïveté really got to him. Was she really so arrogant that she’d just assume everything would go her way? But after a couple of days watching her, he began to think maybe it wasn’t a sense of entitlement that made her act like that. He began to wonder if it was more of an insecurity thing. He was still going to try to outsmart her of course – it was too risky otherwise. But it was the first time in as long as he could remember where he kind of felt bad about it.
When he finally saw the opportunity to actually do something, he took it. Sure, it was just school, but it was a lot better than sitting around her house all day. He practically dared her to take him. He knew it wasn’t the nicest way to go about it, but it was the only way that ever seemed to work – asking never got him anything. And he’d gotten so used to it, it was more or less a habit by now.
The first day of school, he was actually a little nervous, which kind of surprised him. It wasn’t the idea of meeting a bunch of new people or going to a place he’d never been to before – he’d gotten over those kinds of worries a long time ago. What he was most concerned about was how she’d actually react. She might have agreed to this, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t just change her mind later if she decided. Still, he wasn’t going to let Megan know how worried he actually was about her feelings.
He’d decided almost instantly that he’d be in all of her classes. And despite what he might have led her to believe, it wasn’t just because he wanted to annoy her. Of course, that was part of it – that and the opportunity to see one of his wishes backfire on somebody was just too good to pass up. He always got to hear about it of course, usually as he was being screamed at for incompetence. But he’d never really gotten to see it in action.
The other reason he’d done it was for practicality. Most people in charge didn’t really like to let him out of their sight, especially in public and definitely if he was going to be surrounded by their friends. So, he figured this was the safest way to keep her happy. Still, that didn’t mean he felt the urge to tell her what he’d be doing.
When he showed up in her first class, she’d been surprised. And her shock only deepened when the teacher announced that Jake had just moved here. Then it happened again in second period, and it was his turn to be surprised. They weren’t going to do this in every class, were they? This could be bad. By the third speech in Spanish, he thought Megan was going to scream.
Jake sat down at a desk near the side of the room. He was just glad it wasn’t too close to Megan. He knew she was starting to hit the limit of what she could tolerate, and he didn’t want to push it.
“Everybody partner up.” the teacher told them. “We’re going to start on our dialogues for this chapter.”
Dialogues? Well, this could be interesting. Jake thought for a split second about seeing if Megan wanted him to be partners with her, but he decided not to check. She was already keeping an incredibly close eye on him, no need for him to make it any easier on her.
“Hey – Jake, right?” the blond kid next to him asked.
“Yeah.”
“Need a partner?”
“Sure.” Well, that was easy. And Megan thought going to school was hard.
There was some kind of commotion in the back, so of course Jake turned to see. Apparently, Megan had already picked a person to partner with, and almost half the class was sorely disappointed by the fact.
Jake watched as her expression went from surprise, to disbelief, to annoyance. And even though he’d promised himself that he wouldn’t antagonize her any more today, he couldn’t help smirking. He wiped it off his face as quickly as he could when he saw her look at him exasperatedly.
Megan stuck by her decision, and the class quieted down. Of course, that wouldn’t be the end of it for Jake. Really, he should have known better. At this point it was probably a provable fact that he was the unluckiest person in the world.
“You’ve studied Spanish before, Jake?” Mr. Clarinval asked.
“A little.” Jake told him, even though studied wasn’t exactly the word he would have used.
Apparently, Mr. Clarinval wanted to get a feel for just how much Jake had studied, because he decided to conduct the rest of the interview in Spanish.
“So where are you from?”
“Walnut Creek.” he said instantly. It was the place he was most recently from at least.
“Any brothers or sisters?”
“Two younger brothers.” he said without stopping to actually think about it. The teacher seemed surprised.
“You’re very good. How long have you been studying Spanish?”
Now Jake did have to think. How long had he been in Spain? It felt like centuries, but he knew it wasn’t. Sixty years? Still too long a time to admit to.
“Maybe three years?” That sounded reasonable, right? The teacher seemed to be expecting more, so Jake added, “In Spain – I move around kind of a lot.”
“Really?” Now Mr. Clarinval was impressed. “Where at?”
“…In the south. It was kind of a small town.”
Jake really didn’t want to give a name, especially since the place had stopped existing a couple hundred years ago. About a week after Jake left, coincidentally.
“Well, we look forward to having you in class.” Mr. Clarinval said in English, giving Jake a kind of nod of approval.
“Thank you.” Jake said, glad that was over.
He didn’t even bother to turn around to see Megan’s reaction; he was sure he didn’t want to know. People in charge never liked it when they found out he knew how to do something – especially if they didn’t know it. And Jake had seen Megan’s last test.
“That was really great.” the kid next to Jake – his partner – said.
“Really?” Jake asked.
He’d never actually had someone be impressed with him before. Even back when he was trying to grant wishes right, the best he ever got was a kind of mild approval.
“Yeah. Hey – I don’t think I ever introduced myself. I’m Greg.”
“Nice to meet you.” Jake told him.
“Same here.” Greg grinned.
The rest of the class passed by pretty quickly. Of course, writing the dialogues out took almost no time since Jake already knew everything in this chapter. That meant he had time to actually talk to this kid. He was a little nervous, especially since this was the first person in as long as Jake could remember that talked to him and didn’t know what he was. He had to admit, it was nice.
Apparently, Greg felt the same way because as the bell rang, he leaned over and asked, “So, you wouldn’t happen to have lunch next, would you?”
Greg had to make a stop by his locker. Of course, Jake didn’t have a locker and wasn’t anxious to admit that, so he went on ahead. He picked one of the tables in the cafeteria and sat down. Greg joined him a few minutes later, followed by a group of kids Jake didn’t know.
“Guys, this is Jake.” Greg told his friends. They nodded their hellos as Greg added, “This is Kurt, Ralph, Mark, and Mike.”
“Nice to meet you.” Jake said.
“So you just move here?” Mike asked.
“I did.” Jake said.
“You should have seen him in Spanish.” Greg told the group. “You learn that at your last school or something?”
“Why? You any good?” Kurt wanted to know.
“He’s great.” Greg laughed.
“Good. Wanna tutor me?” he grinned.
“Sure.” Jake was used to helping people. But this time, he was actually being asked instead of told.
“So how’d you do that anyway?” Greg asked.
Jake found himself telling the group how he’d lived in Spain – minus all the parts about the people he’d served of course. It was nice, actually. He didn’t have to worry about saying anything that would get him in trouble, and he was able to relax and enjoy himself for once. He decided then and there that he would do whatever he could to make sure he got to come back.
Jake’s good mood lasted all the way until chemistry. He’d told Greg he’d sit next to him in class. He figured Megan might not like it, but it was a chance he was willing to take. Besides, how bad could it really be?
What he didn’t realize was that Greg sat at a table with Megan and Jen. Megan didn’t seem too bothered by it – she looked like she had other things on her mind. But Jen looked furious. Jake realized very quickly that he was going to have to watch out for her. Maybe making her aware of Megan’s situation wasn’t the best idea after all.
Other than that, he was pretty happy with how his first week of school went. And just like he’d thought, it was pretty easy.
He could tell that Megan had been waiting every day for something to trip him up, but he knew the answer to every question he was asked. He didn’t see why Megan was so surprised by it – he’d actually lived through the French Revolution – a very tricky time for someone who’d just wished to be rich – and he remembered when Pythagoras was just coming up with that whole triangle thing. But of course all of that would surprise Megan; she never thought of him as being a real person – not that it really bothered him. It was annoying, sure. And it did make things a little more complicated for him. But he was used to it by now; really, it was how everyone treated him. It had been fairly hard the first couple of times, but that had been years ago. Now, he would have been surprised if someone didn’t treat him that way.
Megan still didn’t seem all that happy he was there, but she wasn’t saying anything. Still, Jakob knew he’d have to be careful. He might really enjoy bugging her, but he didn’t want to make her mad enough to take away the limited freedom he had. If he made her too upset, she could do so much worse than forbid him from going to school; she could lock him away for an excruciatingly long time. He’d had that happen to him more than once – sometimes for things he’d actually done. And each time he vowed that would be the last time he’d let it happen. That’s why he was trying to figure out just how far he could push Megan.
“Are you going to eat with Greg again?” Megan asked as the bell rang.
She tried to say it like she didn’t care, but Jake knew better. He wasn’t sure why, but his being friends with Greg really bothered her. Still, he pretended not to notice; if she wasn’t going to mention it, Jake didn’t see why he should. And the fact that it bothered her so much was exactly why he would make sure to stay part of that group.
“If that’s alright.” he told her. They might be near-equals here at school, but he still needed to show her the proper respect.
“Of course.” Megan said stiffly. “Drew too?”
“Yes, I think so.” Jake nodded. Her brother had been eating with them almost since the beginning.
“Why are you friends with them anyway?” she blurted out suddenly.
“Greg and Drew?” Jake asked.
Megan nodded.
“Well, Greg was one of the first people I talked to here.” Jake told her, leaving out how he loved to watch her jaw clench anytime they were within five feet of each other. He might not be able to lie to her, but that didn’t mean he had to tell her the whole truth.
“And it has nothing to do with the fact that he’s dating Jen?” Megan narrowed her eyes at him.
“Is he?” Jake blinked.
Now that was interesting – how had he missed it? This could actually work out even better than he’d planned; if he could get Jen’s boyfriend to like him, it would be a lot harder for Megan to lock him up if she got mad.
“You didn’t know that?” Megan sounded incredulous.
“I did not.” he told her, giving that habitual dip of his head before he could stop himself. Now that he was going to school, he was going to have to watch that.
“So, of all the people at this school, you just happened to start hanging out with him?”
“Lucky coincidence.” Jake grinned. He tried to look reassuring, but judging from Megan’s face he wasn’t sure he succeeded.
“And Drew?”
“Drew’s on the soccer team.” Jake shrugged.
“Yeah, but he never ate lunch at that table until you showed up.”
“He introduced himself to me. Seemed kind of nice, so I asked him to join us.”
He didn’t see the need to mention that Drew had introduced himself because Jake had arranged to bump into him in the hallway.
He’d had Drew eating with him and Greg since about day three. It was actually surprisingly easy to arrange – he knew exactly who Drew was, living in Megan’s house and all. And he was already on the same soccer team as Greg and his friends. All it took was one little suggestion and the whole thing was done.
Jake’s plan had always been to get her younger brother to like him. That way, there’d be someone in Megan’s life who would notice if something happened to Jake. And now that he had both Drew and Greg, Jake was actually in a very good position. This was the most power he’d had since becoming a jinn.
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