The bell rang, and Megan slowly got out of her seat. This was it – her big day. In just half an hour, track tryouts would start. Megan tried not to be nervous, but she couldn’t help it. She just hoped this went a lot better than her drama club debut.
Of course, Jake caught up with her at the lockers.
“Bus to your house again?” he asked, falling into step beside her.
“Not today.” she told him. Ben was going to pick her up on his way home from school.
“Really? Why not?”
“I have plans today.” she shrugged, hoping he’d take the hint and leave.
“You ready?” Karen asked, coming up behind them.
“Yeah, I think so.” Megan said.
“Ready for what?” Jake asked. Megan silently wished he’d just go away.
“Track tryouts.” Karen told him.
“Running?” Jake asked Megan, grinning.
“Yeah, why?” She narrowed her eyes. He had that look on his face that told Megan whatever he was going to say would be good.
“Reminds me of when we first met.” he grinned wickedly.
Megan’s jaw fell open – he did not just say that! See, this was why she hadn’t wanted to tell him! As Megan struggled for something to say that wasn’t “I’m going to kill you”, Karen looked at him closely for a minute.
“You’re that new kid, aren’t you? We saw you at the arcade that one time – Jake, right?” she asked.
“I am.” he grinned.
As Karen grinned back, Megan caught herself trying to keep from scowling. Since when did Karen ever talk to Jake? They only had one class together, and she hadn’t actually talked to him yet. And if she had, Megan would have put a stop to that! She couldn’t afford for him to start sabotaging her fake friendships.
“Actually, you’re in our English class too, aren’t you?” Karen asked him, as if picking up on Megan’s thoughts.
“You want to get going?” Megan asked, before Jake had time to respond.
Megan had already seen that look in Karen’s eye. And the last thing she needed was for any of her friends to start developing a crush on her genie. Besides, didn’t Karen already have her own boyfriend?
“Uh, sure.” Karen said slowly. But Megan could tell she really wanted to wait around a little longer.
“Can I come with you?” Jake asked brightly. Apparently he’d noticed Karen’s look too.
Megan opened her mouth to say maybe next time, but she never got the chance.
“Sure!” Karen practically gushed.
“Great.” Jake said, giving Karen his most charming smile. Since when did he ever look like that? Megan only ever seemed to see his surly, sarcastic side. He eyed Megan, and she could tell he was waiting to see if she’d go along with this. It suddenly occurred to her that if she said no, he probably would have to leave.
“I guess.” she mumbled finally.
She didn’t really want him to be there, but she couldn’t figure out a way to uninvite him that wouldn’t make Karen suspicious – or at least seriously disappointed. Not to mention the fact that it would make Megan look like a jerk for no reason – what was she supposed to say? That she didn’t want her genie to watch her possibly trip over her own feet? So, the three of them walked out to the field behind the school together.
“Are you trying out too?” Karen asked Jake.
“No, I think I’ll just watch.” he told her.
“Great.” Megan mumbled under her breath. Just what she was hoping for.
She was nervous enough without having him there taking notes on just how bad she was. She knew he didn’t have much respect for her, but she figured even that small amount would vanish if she ended up flat on her face. As they neared the track, Megan saw about forty students wandering around. She hung back, signaling Jake to stay behind with her.
“What’s up?” he asked casually.
Megan couldn’t help but think how different he acted from when he first met her. Back then, she wasn’t even sure he had a personality; he was always so disinterested, so overly formal whenever he bothered to say anything. But when she commented on it, he just shrugged.
“I thought this would be better for school – less obvious. But I can be more formal if you’d like.” He took a deep bow. “Oh, Miss Megan, what is it you wish f–”
“Stop that!” Megan practically screamed, grabbing his arm. She looked around frantically, trying to see if anyone else had noticed.
“You worry too much.” Jake told her, laughing. “No one’s going to actually take it seriously.”
“You sure about that?”
Megan didn’t think she was willing to risk it herself; she was surprised he didn’t seem more worried. As bad as it would be for her, it’d be even worse for him if anyone found out.
“Positive.” he told her. “I mean, would you?”
Megan shrugged but didn’t say anything. She guessed he did kind of have a point.
“So what’d you want to talk about?”
“Megan! Come on!” Karen yelled at her.
She was standing with the rest of the tryout group a few yards away. Megan waved at her guiltily; she almost forgot that Karen had come with her to this thing. Karen hurried back over to where Megan and Jake were still standing.
“Don’t wimp out on me now! It’s about to start!” Karen told her. She pointed back to where Coach Danby was talking to the group.
“Everybody here who wants to try out?” Coach asked loudly.
“Almost! Wait for us!” Karen called out. She grabbed Megan’s arm. “Come on.”
Megan hurried over with Karen, but she was relieved to see that Jake was still by her side.
“If it looks like I’m going to mess up real bad…” she started. She was trying to figure out how to phrase it, especially with Karen right there. “I mean, if it looks like I’m not going to make the team, or if I’m going to make a fool out of myself…”
“Don’t worry.” Jake told her. “You’ll be fine. Promise.”
“No matter what?” she asked, hoping he understood what she was hinting at.
“No matter what.” he repeated.
“I mean, if I need help or something…” she tried to give him a meaningful look that wasn’t too pleading.
“Megan, it’s ok – I get it.” Jake told her, looking exasperated. “You’re covered.”
“Thanks.” Megan breathed a sigh of relief. He gave her a short nod before letting her go off with Karen to join the rest of the group.
“Nice pep talk.” Karen told her as they slid in behind the last kids in line. “You guys sure are weird.”
“I am not!” Megan said, but her cheeks still turned pink.
“Now listen up!” Coach Danby said before Karen could say anything else. “We’re going to do a 50-yard sprint, a half-mile run and a set of hurdles. Everybody will go in groups of five. First group, let’s go.”
Megan watched as group after group sprinted down the track. Megan fidgeted nervously. Some kid near the front dropped down to his knee to tie his shoe. Megan almost checked her own shoes – until she realized Danielle hadn’t let her wear sneakers to school since she bought all that junk at the mall. She’d come to school in a pair of boots she would have thought were impractical only a few weeks ago. It was only then that Megan realized she’d forgot to dress for this, and her eyes widened in horror. Well, that probably settled it for her right then and there.
“You go without me.” Megan mumbled to Karen.
“What? Why? I thought we agreed to go together?”
“I can’t try out in this.” Megan gestured towards her outfit. Today had obviously been a bad day to try out that new skirt.
“Why not?” Karen asked, confused. “You look fine.”
“I do?” Megan looked down at her clothes. To her surprise, she was wearing a somewhat baggy green t-shirt over a pair of running shorts. She didn’t even own a shirt that looked like that.
She looked back at Jake, pointing at the shirt and raising her eyebrows. She couldn’t quite tell, but she was fairly sure she saw him grin.
***
Megan was actually surprised at how well she did. She never thought of herself as a particularly good runner, but she actually managed to turn in some fairly respectable times. And she didn’t even trip once – not even when they did the hurdle lap! She wasn’t exactly the fastest runner on the team, but she was definitely in the top half. And really, that was all she could hope for. After everyone had finished their final sprints, Coach Danby announced that she’d post a list of who made the cut on the gym doors by the end of the week.
Megan didn’t realize it until she was walking back across the field, but Jake actually stayed and watched the whole tryout session.
“I’m impressed.” he told her once she was within earshot.
Megan stared at him for a minute to see if he was just messing with her again; she didn’t think he’d ever said anything nice about her before, so why would he start now? But as she watched him, she got the feeling that he might actually be serious.
“I think I did pretty good…” Megan agreed slowly.
“You did. You’ll definitely make the cut.”
“…Because of you?” Megan could barely bring herself to ask the question, but she just couldn’t stand not knowing for sure.
“You think I did something?” Jake asked.
He gave her that look he usually had when he thought she should already know the answer. And of course, Megan noticed instantly that he didn’t actually say no.
“So, that doesn’t count as a wish, does it?” Megan asked.
“What?”
“I mean, I didn’t actually wish for anything in particular, so I was just wondering if it still counted.”
“What exactly do you think I did?” he asked her.
“Oh, come on.” Megan rolled her eyes. Wasn’t it enough they both already knew he helped her – did he really want her to say it out loud too?
He stared at her for a minute, like he was waiting for her to figure it out on her own.
She thought about it, but couldn’t come up with anything. She didn’t think he made her faster. Did that mean everyone else was slower? Could he really do that? But Megan thought for sure everyone would have noticed something like that. So what did he do?
“What?” she asked finally. If anything, his stupid grin just got wider.
“I didn’t actually do anything. You know that, right?” he told her.
“Really?” Somehow, she had a hard time believing that she really managed to beat that many kids on her own.
“You might want to have a little more confidence in yourself.” Jake told her.
“You really didn’t do anything?”
“No, I didn’t.” he told her again. She opened her mouth to protest, but he didn’t give her the chance. “And before you ask, I don’t think anyone else helped you out either.”
“Like who?” she asked. She tried to sound skeptical, but she had to admit the idea had crossed her mind. Last year, if she’d been really good, and one of the popular kids had needed a little extra help, she might have slowed down just a bit.
“Like anybody.” He looked at her closely for a minute, and Megan found herself leaning back. “You really don’t think much of yourself, do you?”
Megan just glared at him.
“So does that mean you never were going to help even if I did need it?” she asked, deciding to ignore his other comments.
“I would have. You didn’t need it.”
“So, just to be clear, I still have two wishes left, right?”
“You know, you’re really obsessed with what counts as a wish and what doesn’t.”
“Well, I only get three – I don’t want to waste them on stupid stuff if I don’t have to.”
Jake gave a short laugh. “You can be really weird sometimes.” he told her.
“You wouldn’t understand.” she said, thinking back to how hard she used to try. And how it never got her anything.
Last year, she spent hours on homework every night and still barely managed to pass half her classes. She spent every dance hoping she’d be asked and never was. She didn’t even manage to get partners in Spanish until like a month ago! Jake, on the other hand, had just shown up one day and was instantly liked by everyone.
“I don’t get to just use magic to make my life easier like you.” she told him.
“Really?” Jake asked coolly.
Suddenly, his face was neutral, blank; Megan could actually see him shut down.
“I assure you, my life is not easier.” he said stiffly.
“Sorry.” she mumbled, embarrassed. “I didn’t mean for you to take it like that.” But how many ways were there for him to take it?
“It’s fine.”
He shrugged like it didn’t bother him, but he still had that carefully emotionless expression on his face. They stood around in awkward silence for a few minutes. Megan tried to think of something to say, but there didn’t seem to be anything acceptable after something like that. She was never so relieved as she was when Ben pulled up in the back parking lot.
“See you at home?” Megan asked quietly before heading to the car. Jake nodded.
“Of course.” he told her.
“Ok.” she said before heading over to Ben.
“Who’s that?” Ben asked, nodding at Jake as he pulled out of the parking lot.
“Oh…he goes to school with me.” Megan told her brother.
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