1: Run Away
Megan stood at the bus station, staring at the schedule. She was trying to figure out how far she could get on $6.42. It was past eight, and she should have been home hours ago, but she didn’t care. Tonight she was running away.
Megan had told her mom she’d be late – she was trying out for the drama club. But it hadn’t gone the way she’d planned. She forgot her lines, was way too quiet, and when the agonizing three-minute speech was finally over, she nearly tripped getting off the stage. It was so embarrassing! And it wasn’t just the snickers as she left the auditorium that had brought her to the bus stop this evening. It was the fact that she never managed to do anything right. She was always late, she could barely pass half her classes, and she never even got to sit at an actual table at lunch. She felt like she was doing everything she could just to stay in the middle of the pack.
Megan sighed to herself. Actually, trying out for the drama club had been a real step for her – it was supposed to be her big chance! She was going to be in a club and have things to do after school for once. But she blew it. Again. It wasn’t that she didn’t like hanging out with Jen – Jen was her best friend. It was just that Jen was kind of a dork, just like Megan herself was.
She waited impatiently for the next bus. It wasn’t exactly late, but the place was pretty deserted. Maybe she should have gone down to the bus depot instead. The next bus didn’t even come to this stop for another forty minutes. Megan sighed dejectedly, wondering how it was even possible that she didn’t have a car yet. She’d been convinced that the instant she turned sixteen, she’d be driving everywhere she could. But just like everything else, it hadn’t worked out the way she’d expected. Her parents couldn’t afford to just give her a car, and she didn’t have the money to buy one herself. If she did, she wouldn’t have had to scrape together couch-cushion money to ride the bus out of town.
It wasn’t that Megan wanted to run away exactly; she was just tired of being a loser. She wanted to be liked by people, to have more than one friend. Was that too much to ask for? Last year had been bad enough, but she’d promised herself that junior year would be different. So far, it was the worst year she’d had in high school. No one talked to her except Jen, and the two never even got a decent spot in the cafeteria. Which, of course, meant that even lunch was a constant reminder of her loser status at school. There weren’t enough tables for everyone, so people either ate outside or on the floor. Mostly, it was freshmen who couldn’t manage to snag tables. And her and Jen, of course. Even if they did manage to get one, someone bigger, stronger, more popular always managed to kick them out. She was sick of it. She lifted her head up, staring down the street into the darkness. Where was the bus that would take her away from her horrible life?
A car drove by, nearly splashing water all over her; she only just managed to pick her feet up in time. At least she managed to do that right, she thought glumly to herself. It was bad enough that she had to run away – she didn’t want to spend hours on the bus soaking wet. As the car sped away, something clattered to the curb. It looked like some sort of old bottle. Curious, Megan walked the few steps over to inspect it. She still had over half an hour to kill, and it wasn’t like she had anything better to do.
The bottle was actually kind of interesting; it was one of those old-fashioned things that bulged out at the bottom and tapered off into a narrow neck at the top. The lip was ringed in what was probably gold paint, and the same gold color twisted down the sides of the neck before crisscrossing the bottom part. An old cork was stuffed into the top, looking completely out of place on such an ornate bottle.
She thought for a minute about tossing it back in the gutter. After all, how many times had her mom told her not to pick up trash? Megan sighed; she wasn’t going to have to worry about listening to her mom anymore. Besides, it was a pretty nice-looking bottle. Megan wasn’t sure she’d really have a use for it out on her own, but she never knew. Maybe she would just keep it as a reminder of the last thing she ever got before she ran away. Yeah, she nodded decisively to herself; that sounded good to her.
Megan absentmindedly wiped a bit of dirt off the side, trying to spruce it up a bit. Then, she decided pull that stupid cork out of the top – it was really ugly anyway. Gently, she pulled on it, almost afraid she’d break the delicately sculpted neck. The cork didn’t budge. She tried again with the same result. She struggled with it for what must have been fifteen minutes without success, getting more and more frustrated. Still, did she have anything better to do? Of course not; if she did, she wouldn’t be sitting here at the bus stop, would she? So, she kept working at it. And when she finally did get that stupid cork out, Megan couldn’t believe what she saw.
A thick, bluish smoke started to pour out of the bottle. It reminded her of dry ice, except that it was Cool Raspberry-colored. The stuff seemed to just keep coming, and really, Megan couldn’t see how it had all fit into that tiny bottle in the first place. But it only seemed to cover an area of about a square foot before stacking on top of itself in a giant blue pile a little over six feet high. Finally, the smoke condensed, shaping into a boy about her own age.
The boy had thick black hair, a rich complexion, and no shirt – just some silver bracers and a pair of weird pouffy pants that looked like they cost more than Megan’s entire outfit. She found herself glancing down self-consciously at her frayed jeans and scuffed shoes. Then, realization sank in, and she was back to staring at the boy. Where had he come from?
Megan glanced frantically around, desperate to catch someone’s eye. Someone else had seen this too, right? She really needed that confirmation, to know she wasn’t going crazy. But of course, no one was there. Figures, Megan thought. There never was anyone around when you really needed to prove to yourself that you weren’t insane. Finally, Megan stared back at the boy.
“...How did you get there?” she asked, once it became obvious that he wasn’t going to be saying anything; he was just standing there casually, staring her down – like somehow she’d done something wrong.
“Because you opened the bottle.” he said, as if that explained anything at all. Megan thought she saw a scowl on his face for just a second.
“Wait, what?” she asked dumbly. How was that possible? But as she continued to stare at this guy, a few things stuck out in her mind: she’d opened a strange bottle, a kid appeared, and he was wearing fluffy blue pants and weird pointy shoes.
She way too old to believe in fairy tales, but she just couldn’t help herself; could this guy really be a genie? It sure seemed to fit. She almost felt like an idiot for asking, but she really needed to know. Besides, if she was wrong, what did it matter? She was running away in about thirteen minutes, and she’d never have to see this weirdo again.
“So, are you like a genie or something?” It sounded even dumber out loud than it had in her head.
“I am.” the guy said neutrally. Megan felt like he was sizing her up.
“Really?” She tried not to sound too incredulous.
“Really.” He sounded bored with her, but Megan didn’t care; if this guy was telling the truth, she had her very own genie. Talk about having her luck turn around!
“So, you’re really going to grant me wishes?” Megan asked skeptically.
“Forgive me if I seem rude,” the genie said cautiously.
Great. Megan figured any sentence that started out like that wasn’t exactly going to leave her feeling like a genius.
“But do you not know how this works?” he finished.
And there it was – even this genie thought she was an idiot.
“Yeah, I know how it works, I guess.” she told him. “I get three wishes, and you grant them, right? No matter what they are.”
Take that, genie, she thought triumphantly.
“Close.” he told her.
“Close?” Megan repeated. How was she just close? What was she missing?
“I can’t grant you any wish.” he told her. “I can’t bring someone back to life, for example. Or make someone fall in love with you.”
“Yeah, ok – fine.” Megan grumbled.
Of course she knew that – she’d seen enough movies when she was a kid. Guess that kind of blew a hole in her plan to get people to magically like her. Or did it?
“So what if I wanted to be really popular?” she asked. “Could you do that?”
“I could.” the genie nodded. “Will that be your first wish?”
He folded his arms over his chest, looking like he was just waiting for her to say the word before doing something dramatic. But Megan hesitated.
“How do I know you’re not just messing with me?” she asked.
She didn’t think any of the kids at school were pulling some kind of prank – she wasn’t well-known enough for anything like that. Besides, that trick with the smoke would have been pretty hard to fake. No, her real concern came from the genie himself.
“I can’t lie to you.” he said simply. He shrugged, like he’d had this conversation so many times that he was beyond caring.
“Seriously?” Megan asked.
“Seriously.” he repeated, looking just a little annoyed.
“And you wouldn’t be lying about that, would you?” She narrowed her eyes.
“I just told you, I can’t lie to you. It kind of... evens the playing field.”
“And anyone who says they can’t lie must be telling the truth.” Megan nodded, but her voice was dripping with sarcasm. “How do I know you’re not lying?”
For the first time that night, Megan thought she saw the trace of a smile on his lips. “I guess you just have to find a question that I should lie to, and see if I do.” he told her.
“So helpful.” Megan muttered.
She acted like she didn’t believe him, but deep down, she kind of did. But she still didn’t want him to know that, on the off chance that he really was just messing with her.
“So, about that first wish,” the genie prompted. “Were you still planning on using it to become popular?”
He somehow managed to keep that slightly bored tone, even though this was a huge deal. This was Megan’s potential for popularity they were talking about; it could literally change her life. And if people at school liked her enough, maybe she wouldn’t have to run away after all.
“Yeah.” she said decisively. “I would like to be popular.”
She knew she’d already said it, but she decided to say it again. Just to make it official.
“I wish for everyone at school to like me – really like me. Actually, I want every kid who goes there to think I’m the greatest.” If she was going to make a wish for this, she may as well go all out, right?
“Very well.” the genie said.
He didn’t sound particularly impressed, but what did Megan care? It was his job to grant wishes, not judge them. Besides, if this really worked, she was about to have the only thing she ever really wanted. The genie made a kind of complicated gesture with his hand.
And that was it.
She opened her mouth to ask if anything special was supposed to happen, but she never got the chance. A strange blue light flooded her vision, and she got a kind of tingly feeling that spread throughout her limbs. Then, the feeling was gone.
“Anything else?” the genie asked.
“Wait. Is that it?” she asked.
The whole thing had only lasted for a second before Megan felt completely normal again. Did that mean it didn’t work?
“That’s it.” he confirmed. “When you go to school tomorrow, you’ll be the most popular person there. So, what’s your second wish?”
“Um... can I think about it?”
“If you’d like.” the genie shrugged.
“Great.” Megan said. “So then, let’s go home, shall we?”
Megan opened the bottle and put the genie back inside. He didn’t seem that thrilled about the idea, but what was she supposed to do? There was no way she’d be able to get him upstairs to her room otherwise – especially wearing that. Her mom would put a stop to it before they even made it past the door. And there was no way Megan could tell her how she’d just gotten a genie; her mom would probably have both of them locked up!
Once Megan was back safely in her room, she put the bottle in a place of honor on her desk and laid down on her bed. Her parents had gone out with some of her dad’s work friends, so they weren’t even home yet. And both her brothers were gone – soccer practice, or friends, or something. Thankfully, it meant Megan wouldn’t have to admit she’d been about to run away. It also meant that she could have a little time to herself for once.
Megan really wanted to see if she’d be popular tomorrow. Even though it was a little hard to believe that she could really just wake up and instantly be the most liked kid in school, she was still pinning her hopes on exactly that. And if that genie really had lied to her – well, she could always run away tomorrow.
