Megan was almost ten minutes late to English, which surprised Jake – especially since Karen had made it on time. Of course, Mrs. Boyd barely even noticed. Or if she did, she didn’t say anything to Megan about it.
Jake wasn’t surprised by their teacher’s reaction. Not only was Mrs. Boyd pretty spacey even at the best of times, but when Jake had undone Tara’s wish, he’d arranged it so that Megan’s was almost the same as it had been originally. That meant that even teachers loved Megan at school – enough that they let her get away with almost anything.
Really, the biggest difference was the fact that the students weren’t in absolute awe of everything she did. They still adored her, of course. He wasn’t about to change that; it was way too much fun to watch. But at least they wouldn’t be disrupting class to ask Megan’s opinion all the time. He figured that was the least he could do for her.
While Mrs. Boyd barely seemed to notice anything that happened in her class, Jake did notice things like that. And he was curious. He wouldn’t have thought anything of it, really. But Megan tended to walk in with Karen more often than not. So why was she late?
When Megan finally did come through the door, she seemed pretty agitated, and Jake wondered why. He quickly waved his hand, sending a message to her phone. She glanced at it but didn’t answer. Jake was a little worried about that. Had he done something to upset her? He didn’t think so – especially not since yesterday. But as a jinn, these kind of considerations were always in the back of his mind, and he couldn’t figure out why else she’d be acting like that. In his experience, when humans were upset, he was usually the cause. He texted her again.
Is something wrong? he asked. Megan glanced at her phone.
Tell you later, she texted back.
Jake nodded to himself. He didn’t want to wait, but he didn’t have much choice.
When the bell rang, he caught up to Megan. He noticed that she’d calmed down a bit during class, and he was almost afraid to ask what had made her so annoyed in the first place. But he really did want to know – especially if it was because of something he’d done.
“So, why were you late?” he asked as they started walking towards chemistry.
“I talked with Tara,” Megan told him.
“You did?” he asked, surprised.
He knew Tara hadn’t eaten lunch with Megan’s group today – he’d checked as soon as he’d walked into the cafeteria, waiting to see what her reaction to all of this would be. He’d been almost disappointed that she hadn’t been there.
Jake could tell that just thinking about it was starting to get Megan mad all over again. Well, at least it meant that whatever was wrong almost definitely wasn’t Jake’s fault.
“Well, me and Jen,” Megan amended. “Tara came up to me after lunch and Jen saw, so she came over too.”
“And what did she want?” Jake asked. He tried to say it neutrally, but he was pretty sure he failed – especially with the look Megan was suddenly giving him.
“Well, she started out by saying she make a mistake. But she finished off by trying to blame everything she’d done on Jen.”
“She did?” Jake could only imagine how Tara could have managed that. He tried not to grin as he pictured the expression Jen must have had.
“Yeah – I couldn’t believe it!” Megan told him. “She actually tried to say that Jen took that bottle from my room. Can you believe that?”
Well, it actually did make sense. If Tara wanted to blame someone else, Jen was a very good candidate. Especially considering she was Megan’s best friend and had been in Megan’s room a lot more than any of her other friends. And of course, Tara knew that that was where Megan had kept the bottle. Megan looked at him, clearly waiting for a response.
“It actually sounds like the Tara I know,” he told her.
“Well, it’s not the Tara I knew,” Megan told him as she stormed down the hall. “The Tara I knew was nice, and helpful, and definitely not a thief!”
Jake fought the urge to point out that the Tara Megan knew had only become her friend in the first place because of magic. And even then, it had only been a little over three months ago. How would Megan really know what Tara was like? It wasn’t as if she’d had anything to do with Megan before then.
“How long have the two of you gone to school together?” Jake asked her.
“Who? Me and Tara?” Megan asked.
“Yeah,” Jake answered. Who else would he be asking about?
“I don’t know… a while, I guess,” Megan said, thinking about it. She slowed down as they neared the classroom door. “Since at least second grade, I think. She was actually in my class then.”
“Really?” Jake raised his eyebrow. “I thought she was a year ahead of you.”
“She skipped a grade – fourth, I think… maybe fifth.”
“I see,” Jake said. “And in all that time, what did you think of her?”
“…She seemed fine,” Megan said. But she didn’t sound very sure about that.
Jake opened the door, letting Megan go first before walking into the room himself.
“Did she really?” he asked, following her down the isle to their chairs.
“Well, I guess I didn’t talk to her much in second grade,” Megan admitted.
“And in later grades?”
“…Not really,” Megan said. She turned away from him, digging through her backpack.
“What about this year? Did she talk to you this year, before your wish?” he asked.
Megan thought about it for a minute. Something seemed to dawn on her, and she looked slowly back up at him.
“…Actually, I kind of used to hate her,” Megan told him. “I mean, she never once talked to me, and she didn’t actually treat people who weren’t her friends all that nice.”
“So maybe you didn’t know her quite as well as you thought you did,” he told her.
Jake would have thought it was obvious, especially with the way she’d been treating him for the past few weeks. But maybe it had taken her lying directly to Megan’s face for Megan to finally see it.
“I guess I just got a little wrapped up in this whole ‘being popular’ thing,” Megan mumbled to herself. She seemed a little upset about that. Her shoulders slumped a bit, and she looked down at the desk.
“I didn’t mean to upset you,” Jake told her. That really hadn’t been his intent. Clearly, he’d let his own hatred for Tara influence what he’d said to Megan; he’d almost forgotten that for the past three months, she had been Megan’s friend.
“It’s not your fault,” Megan shrugged. But really, who else was he supposed to blame?
Jen walked in the door and headed towards the table. Jake was almost glad for the distraction.
“What’s wrong with you?” Jen asked, looking over at Megan.
Jake noticed that Jen seemed to be pretty irritated herself. He was just glad Megan had told him the reason for their moods. As bad as it was to have an upset girlfriend, it was terrifying when the person in charge of him felt that way.
Megan just shrugged.
“She was telling me how the two of you talked to Tara after lunch,” Jake told Jen.
“Yeah – we did. I can’t even get over her,” Jen said. In just that short time, she’d gone from irritated to possibly furious. “I actually kind of even liked her!”
“I did, too,” Megan told her glumly.
“Did you tell Jake what she said about me?” Jen asked, eyes flashing at the memory.
“Kind of,” Megan said. Jen turned to Jake.
“She said that I stole that bottle,” Jen scoffed. “So what’s that supposed to mean? Did I get invited over to Megan’s and just steal it when she wasn’t looking? Or did I break in like she did and take it later?”
“She also blamed Stacey and Heath breaking up on Jen,” Megan chimed in.
“Did she really?” Jake asked.
It was unfortunate for Tara that Jen already knew what he was. If she hadn’t, that could have worked out very well for Tara – she certainly seemed to have an excuse for everything, at least.
“Hey – why are they still broken up anyway?” Jen asked suddenly. “I thought you said you were going to undo all of Tara’s wishes.”
“I did,” Jake told her. He saw Greg coming through the door, and he knew he wouldn’t have to discuss this very much longer. He tried not to be relieved, but he never did like discussing other people’s wishes.
“So what happened?” Jen asked; she hadn’t seen Greg yet. Jake sighed to himself.
“I undid everything Tara wished for. But I can’t do everything.” They both seemed to think he had a lot more power than he actually did. Lowering his voice, he added, “I can’t make anyone fall in love, remember?”
“Yeah, but they already were in love,” Megan said, as Greg sat down. Megan jumped when she saw him and immediately starting to look incredibly guilty.
“Are you sure about that?” Jake grinned. He might not know much about humans, but he wasn’t an idiot.
“Who?” Greg asked, looking around the table. Neither of the girls answered right away, so Jake decided to. As long as they didn’t ask him anything obviously wish-related, he really didn’t see the harm in letting Greg in on the conversation.
“Stacey and Heath,” Jake told him. Greg snorted.
“Those two?” he asked. “You think those two were in love?”
“Well, why else would they be together so long?” Megan asked defensively. “What would you call it?”
“Inertia,” Jake said, grinning.
“Exactly,” Greg nodded.
Megan really looked at Jake like she wanted to ask him something, but didn’t want to do it with Greg there. Even Jen didn’t look particularly convinced.
“Look,” Jake said. “They did break up. Heath broke up with her yesterday.”
“Yeah, we heard that,” Jen said. She said it in a way that was closer to we know that.
“But just because he changed his mind and tried to get back together with her, it doesn’t mean she had to agree to it. She can do whatever she’d like to.”
“Really?” Megan asked, looking thoughtful.
“Of course,” Jake told her.
Ms. Harle started class. But before she got too far into it, Megan set Jake a quick text.
That’s nice of you, I think.
I’m always nice, Jake replied.
ns216.73.216.98da2
and then Add to home screen.