After Jen made her first wish, the three of them finished their food and headed out. Jake had promised that none of them would get in trouble for ditching the last half of the school day. Megan wasn’t completely sure how he was going to do that, but she decided that she really didn’t care. As long as he actually did it, that was good enough for her. As they walked out to the parking lot, Megan turned back to Jen and Jake.
“So, who’s taking me home?” she asked.
Jen and Jake actually exchanged looks. Megan felt like that couldn’t be a good sign.
“I’d kind of forgotten about that,” Jen admitted.
“I didn’t,” Jake told Megan, grinning. But Megan noticed he hadn’t actually said it to Jen – the one he couldn’t lie to. Maybe it was because they both really had forgotten about her. After all, she was the only one of the three of them who couldn’t drive.
“I mean – I just forgot that Jake wouldn’t be going home with you,” Jen clarified. Well, Megan guessed that was a little better at least.
“Ok… so does that mean you’re taking me?” she asked Jake. “Or are we all going together? …Or am I just taking the bus?”
Jen started snickering, and Jake was smirking. Well, that was just great.
“Of course we’re not going to make you take the bus,” Jen rolled her eyes. “Jake can take you.”
“Really?” Megan had to admit, she was relieved.
“Of course. I told you, I’m not a lunatic like Tara.” Jen sounded insulted.
“Yeah, I know…” Megan told her. And she did know it. “It’s just been a long day.”
“Yeah, I can see that,” Jen nodded, seemingly pacified. Then, she turned to Jake. “Just text me or something before you come over to my place.”
“Will do,” Jake promised, grinning.
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The next morning, Jake walked into class, just like he always did. Megan had to admit, she was relieved. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Jen, it was just that she was still a little shocked about being betrayed by someone so recently. And when the bell rang, he didn’t look even the slightest bit worried about being seen with her in the hall. So yeah, this was a definite improvement. Maybe she really could stop worrying quite so much.
Everything went smoothly, and Megan was actually pretty relaxed. Until lunch. As she walked towards the cafeteria, she couldn’t help but be a little nervous about what would happen. Would Tara be there? Would she say anything to Megan? But she couldn’t know that it was Megan who was responsible for stealing that bottle, could she?
Megan sat down at the table, and Jen followed soon after.
“Do you think Tara’s going to show up?” Megan asked quietly.
“Who knows?” Jen shrugged. “Hopefully, she’ll just stay away.”
Danielle showed up not long after that. She sat down, glancing quickly back and forth from Megan to Jen.
“Hey – you guys weren’t here yesterday, right?” she asked, even though she obviously already knew the answer.
“Yeah, we had a… science project to work on,” Jen said.
Megan didn’t think it sounded all that convincing, but Danielle just waved her hand, dismissing it. Apparently, she had much more important things to worry about.
“So, I just wanted to let you know – Stacey broke up with Heath yesterday.”
“She did?” Megan asked. Didn’t Jake say he was going to undo all of Tara’s wishes? So why were Stacey and Heath still broken up?
“Yeah – it was pretty crazy. Actually, all of lunch was really weird...” Danielle said, thinking.
“Yeah? What happened?” Jen asked.
“Well,” Danielle said, shifting in her seat and leaning forward. She looked like she was getting ready to tell them the best story she’d heard in months.
“So, I got to the table a little late, right? And when I get there, Tara and Karen are sitting there like normal. So I sit down, too. And like two seconds later, Stacey comes barreling up to the table – straight for Tara.”
“Are you telling them what happened yesterday?” Karen asked, coming up behind Megan. Megan nearly screamed.
“Yeah,” Danielle nodded. “I was just getting to the part where Stacey got to the table.”
“Well, Stacey’s going to be here in like thirty seconds,” Karen said, sitting down. She pointed across the room. Stacey was walking towards them. “So if there’s any part of your story you don’t want her to hear, better say it quick.”
“Meh – she’ll be fine,” Danielle shrugged. “After all, she seemed to be doing pretty good in history this morning.”
“Well, I’m glad about that,” Karen said. Megan nodded her agreement as Stacey sat down.
“So what are you guys talking about?” Stacey asked.
“Danielle was reliving yesterday for Megan and Jen’s benefit.” Karen told her.
Megan suffered a momentary panic. What if Stacey didn’t want to relive breaking up with her boyfriend? After all, Megan knew that it hadn’t even been Stacey’s idea.
Megan remembered when she and Jake had broken up. That hadn’t been Megan’s idea, and she’d been pretty upset about it. Megan hadn’t even really been dating Jake at the time when they broke up. And Stacey and Heath had been going out for at least two years now.
“It was a pretty weird day,” Stacey said, nodding.
“Are you ok?” Megan asked her.
“Actually, yeah. I mean, I would have thought I’d be more upset, but I’m really not. To be honest, I’m kind of glad.”
“Really?” Jen asked. And she looked like maybe she was also having a hard time believing that could really be true.
“Yeah. I mean, what did he ever do anyway?” Stacey shrugged. She looked like maybe she really didn’t care.
“So what happened?” Megan asked.
“Well, he broke up with me just before third period yesterday – he had some stupid reason that didn’t even make sense,” Stacey rolled her eyes. “And I know it was a stupid reason, because like four hours later, he was calling me, asking me to take him back.”
Megan and Jen both nodded knowingly; if Megan’s calculations were correct, that was right about the time that Jen had made her wish.
“So, I thought about it, and I realized that I didn’t want him back. I was just too tired of the whole situation.”
“Well, I’m glad you’re ok…” Megan said slowly. She still wasn’t completely sure if Jake had done something to make her not want to take Heath back. She might have to ask him.
“I really am,” Stacey beamed.
“So then can I tell them what happened?” Danielle asked tapping her fingers on the table. She looked like it might have been hard for her to keep quiet as long as she had.
“Sure – go ahead,” Stacey shrugged.
“So Stacey comes over to the table and starts yelling at Tara.” Danielle said.
“I didn’t yell at her,” Stacey interrupted. “I just asked her a question.”
“Yeah, you asked her what was wrong with her,” Danielle said.
“You did,” Karen confirmed. Then she added, “But it wasn’t actually yelling, so…”
“And then I asked her if she was happy,” Stacey said. She said it like it could have been a genuine question, but Megan was pretty sure she’d used a different tone yesterday.
“Well, anyway,” Danielle rolled her eyes. “Stacey came in and told us that Heath had broken up with her.”
Megan looked over at Jen, wondering what she was thinking. But Jen was focused pretty intently on the story.
“So what did Tara say?” she asked.
“Actually, that was the weird part,” Karen told her.
“That was the weird part?” Megan asked.
She thought that Stacey screaming at Tara in the middle of lunch sounded kind of weird. Especially since Megan knew that Stacey and Heath had broken up more than once before. And sure, maybe Stacey was upset by it, but she’d still never yelled at any of her friends before. But Megan was pretty sure she knew exactly why she’d been so upset – Jake must have wanted to make a scene for Tara’s last wish.
“Yeah – Tara looked like she was going to have a heart attack,” Danielle said.
“She really did,” Stacey grinned at the memory. “She just sat there for like a minute.”
“Until she bolted straight out of the room,” Karen added.
“Yeah – like her hair was on fire,” Danielle nodded.
“Ok, I can see why you’d think that was strange,” Jen told them. “I’m kind of sorry I missed it.”
The whole time her friends were telling their story of what had happened yesterday, Megan had been kind of wondering if Tara would walk in behind her. But she shouldn’t have worried – it turned out that Tara never did show up to lunch. As the bell was ringing, Megan finally commented on it.
“Who knows why she didn’t show up today?” Stacey shrugged. “All I know is that with the way she looked when she took off out of here yesterday, she must have done something. Why else would she look like that?”
“I thought you didn’t care about breaking up with Heath,” Megan said. She seemed pretty annoyed for someone who didn’t care.
“I don’t – at least not about that,” Stacey told her. “But if she did something behind my back, then yeah. I do have a problem with that.”
“Yeah, I know exactly what you mean,” Megan said as they headed out the door.
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and then Add to home screen.