Be Careful What You Wish For

by Notabot

  Louis gave me a look. It was one of those looks that said “You and I are not only close acquaintances but also friends so this subtle gesture implies that I am going to strike up a conversation with you.”

  “Hey,” Louis said.

  “Hey,” I replied. And now we were deep into discussion.

  “Did you hear about the party at the K house?” he said, dropping his voice some.

  “I didn’t know there was one,” I shrugged. “It’s not like I get Facebook invites to these things.”

  Louis gave a little laugh and shook his head. “I heard it was like a non-stop sex party over there, dude.”

  “Isn’t that…the point?” I said. The K house was a nearby fancy house that rivaled a mansion and, for whatever reason, the owners were young guys who threw parties on a pretty regular basis. I had never been but I heard stories.

  “This sounded different. The girls were wild. And they were from all over, not just our school. Even college girls were there,” Louis said. “Seriously, it sounded like some Roman orgy Caligula shit.”

  Louis was the last person I’d expect to make a “Caligula” reference. I gulped, picturing the scene for a moment, before turning back to him. “Were you there?”

  “Me? Nah,” Louis said, shrugging as the enthusiasm in his face died down.

  “Then what’s the fun in talking about other people having sex?” I said with a chuckle, closing my locker door and heading out with the rest of the boys.

  The gym teacher had us all jog around the gymnasium to warm up, which was tricky since the place was packed. The volleyball team was warming up on one side, preparing to get on a bus and head to an away game. On the other side, some members of the women’s basketball team were shooting hoops and practicing with one another. The basketball season was over but our women’s team were district champs and came close to being state champs last year so they were given year-round time to practice.

  In the mix of basketball players was Lori. As I jogged around the ring, we caught sight of each other. I gave a little wave and Lori smiled and returned the favor. She picked on me a lot, but when Tori wasn’t around, she softened up.

  Another corner of the gym was taken up by the step team, who had long surpassed our cheerleaders in popularity but still didn’t get the same amount of resources.

  Between the volleyball, basketball, and step teams, the gym was filled with predominantly attractive women. Jogging around the gym floor gave me enough cover to check them out without really being noticed but once my class gathered up with the coach to go over our workout for Phys. Ed., I had to put a stop to that. It might have been one thing if I had any history of asking classmates out on dates but without it, looking them over just seemed creepy and that wasn’t a title I needed.

  After Phys. Ed., the rest of my day got pretty slow. I had the good luck of having my free period as my last one of the day so for me, school ended a full hour earlier than most people. Or, it would be good luck if I didn’t have to stay an extra two hours. Lori still had her basketball practice so Tori and I had to wait around for her to finish for the three of us to drive back home together.

  I mostly stayed in the library, getting through whatever homework I had and getting in a little studying. But I was never too bored since Natasha worked at the library after school and had plenty of time to talk. See, Natasha’s talent with math also led to her having a good technological mind and she worked for the school’s IT department. It counted as college credit plus she got paid so it was a terrific deal on her part.

  “Still here, huh?” Natasha said as I walked up behind her while she sat at the library’s computers. Some in this particular pod had been unresponsive and she was hot on the case.

  “You’re the one who’s here until 6,” I said, watching her running some sort of diagnostic and getting utterly lost within seconds of trying to read the screen’s messages. “Lori should be done soon anyway.”

  “Where does Tori go during the wait?” Natasha asked.

  “I dunno, she has lots of friends,” I said with a shrug. “She’s probably hanging out in the parking lot smoking or something.”

  “Yeah, something tells me she won’t be smoking,” Natasha chuckled as she hit the “return” key with a flourish. A loading screen popped up and she got up from her chair. “I have to go do some cleaning. Keep me company?”

  On top of her IT work, Natasha also had the less glamorous job of organizing and cleaning the back area where the library and tech staff kept things. There were plastic bins full of wires, shelves of damaged books, and all sorts of other equipment. Natasha may have been brilliant but she was still just a high schooler so these tasks were put on her without a second thought.

  “Reconnecting the computers to the school’s network is going to take some time so I figured I’d knock this out of the way while I’m at it,” Natasha said, pulling out one of the bins and sorting the cables. I looked around the room and saw one dusty shelf in the back.

  “What’s this?” I said, getting closer. There were books, clothes, glasses, knick-knacks. All kinds of junk. “Lost and found?”

  “Yeah but that’s been there forever,” Natasha said, looking over her shoulder. “Some of that stuff has been there since the early 90s.”

  I turned over some of the pile, seeing just how much was in there. “So it’s up for grabs?”

  Natasha smirked. “I can’t tell you it’s okay to take anything. That’s against library policy.” She walked over, standing so close I could feel her breath on my neck, and peered inside. “But I can tell you that we have a statute of limitations of missing items and no one can complain if it’s been gone for more than a year.”

  “And how long has everything in here been missing?”

  “More than a year,” she said with a smile. “You know that bracelet I wore to the homecoming ceremony?” Natasha nodded toward the bin and giggled.

  “I don’t think I’m going to find a bracelet in here,” I said as Natasha got back to work. Honestly, most of the items in there were trash. But as I gave one last look, I noticed something that caught my eye.

  It was a little plastic pod with a small, smiling man on top dressed like a cartoon genie. Most likely, it was some sort of bootleg Aladdin toy you’d find at a dollar store. I thought it was kinda funny and I put it in my pocket. My desk in my room had weird little toys I’d found over the years on it and this seemed like as good an addition as any.

  As soon as I pocketed the toy, my other pocket buzzed as I got a text from Tori telling me we could go. “Alright, see you tomorrow,” I said, waving to Natasha.

  “Yeah, later,” she said, giving me a wide smile and waving back. I slung my other bag strap over my shoulder and walked out to the parking lot, spotting Lori and Tori walking from the gym toward their car.

  “Oof, these long days are killing me,” Tori whined as she got into the passenger seat. “I’m exhausted.”

  “I’m the one running around and working out,” Lori scoffed, backing out of her parking spot. “You don’t hear me complaining.”

  “Yeah but when you’re practicing, you’re at least engaging your mind. I’m just bored,” Tori said.

  “You could always study,” I chimed in.

  “Sure, that’ll solve my problem. Reading about chemistry,” Tori said with a laugh. “How about you? Spend your whole time flirting with Natasha again?”

  I blushed and crossed my arms. “I don’t flirt with Natasha,” I grumbled, unable to think of a good retort.

  “That’s probably for the best. Preserve the friendship,” Tori said.

  “Don’t be rude. Natasha would let him down easy,” Lori laughed. “She’s nice like that.”

  “Let’s change the subject, please,” I said.

  Back home after dinner, I stayed up in my room, playing around on my computer and listening to music. There was a knock at my door and I paused everything. “Yeah?” I said.

  Samantha came in, some papers in her han
d. “Hi Alex,” she said, a small smile on her lips. “I wanted to give this to you.”

  Confused, I took the sheets and saw a number of questions and charts on them. “Is this…a practice packet?”

  She nodded and sat on the corner of my bed. “I know you’ve been a little unsure about your biology final so I wanted to help you study. This is something I know something about, after all.”

  “Right,” I said with a chuckle. “Um, thanks Samantha. I’ve been studying a lot so I should be doing better.”

  “I know you are but I want to make sure you’re taken care of,” Samantha said. “I skimmed your textbook so these should all be the kinds of subjects you’ll be asked about. If you can get it to me by the weekend, we can work together Saturday and Sunday for any areas you need help on.”

  “Thank you,” I said, nodding and looking through the questions. Just by a cursory glance, it was clear that I would definitely need help with these. “This is nice of you.”

  “You’re my step-son. I can’t just leave you on your own,” she said. “How are you feeling overall? You were quiet at dinner tonight.”

  I shrugged. “Lori and Tori were just teasing me a lot on the drive over so I was a little moody.”

  Samantha sighed and walked over to me, putting one hand on my shoulder. “I’ll talk to them about that.”

  “No, don’t,” I said. “It’s fine.”

  “They’ve always had a bit of a nasty streak, Tori in particular,” Samantha said. “But you know, they like you a lot. Both girls have told me they were worried when they heard they were getting a brother but that you turned out to not be that bad.”

  “’Not that bad,’” I repeated. “What a compliment.”

  Samantha laughed and patted me on the shoulder. “I don’t think you’re that bad either. I never knew what it would be like to raise a son but you’ve been pretty great. And who knows, maybe I’ll get another shot at it.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked but she was already looking down at my desk and picked up the little genie toy.

  “Where did you get this?” Samantha asked, turning it over in her hands.

  “Oh, I found it at school. I thought it was neat, I dunno,” I said with a shrug.

  “Hmm, these words are really faded,” Samantha murmured.

  “Words?” I said, standing up to read along.

  “See, here along the bottom,” Samantha said, pointing to some text that was written in old, fading paint. “‘Make a wish and give me a tap.’”

  “Weird toy,” I said.

  Samantha nodded with a smile. “Well, I wish you three all do well on your finals,” Samantha said. She clicked down on the genie and a little piece of paper popped out of the pod it was standing on. “Oh, look at that,” she said, taking the paper out and putting the genie back on my desk. “It says, ‘How nice. Wish granted!’”

  “Definitely a weird toy,” I said, picking it up and turning it over in my hands to read the inscription better.

  “But don’t rely on some weird toy. Study!” Samantha said, walking out of my room and closing the door behind her. I looked at the base of the toy, trying to figure out who would have made it. There was no logo or other information provided.

  I wish there were more pregnant women around, that’s for sure I thought to myself as I glared at the toy. “Okay, I wish for world peace I guess,” I said, pressing the genie in. It clicked and a little piece of paper popped out of the bottom.

  “Only one wish per person. Try again!”

  “Huh,” I said, tapping the genie in one more time. There was a click but no paper. I repeated it a few more times but nothing came out. I turned the toy over again and saw the connecting joint that kept it all together. Taking it apart, I saw where the roll of paper would have been loaded in but it looked like I had just taken the last one. And I doubt the store that sells replacements would be around anymore.

  That was fine with me. The last thing I needed when I was trying to study was a constant distraction of making funny wishes and seeing what messages came with the toy. I put it back together and placed the genie back on my desk next to other trinkets and got back to work. And by work, I mean XCOM.

  The next day at school, things were quiet. No one was talking much, and if they did, it was scurrying little whispers that I couldn’t make out. Even Natasha wasn’t saying much in our pre-calculus class together.

  It was a Friday so our math class was right before lunch on the schedule. Ms. Briggs was taking the day to answer questions from students. She may have been nervous and scatter-brained but she could tackle complex calculus, algebra, and physics with ease and even had some credits on proofs being considered at Oxford. She was writing out formulas and mapping out problems on the whiteboard when the intercom clicked in.

  “All students, there is a mandatory assembly at 12:30. Attendance will be closely monitored and there will be serious penalties for absence. All other clubs and meetings during this time are suspended,” the school clerk said before clicking out. He sounded like he was restraining his frustration.

  “Guess it’s serious,” I said to Natasha, who just chuckled and looked back down at her textbook.

  “Right…everyone, um, get that?” Ms. Briggs said, turning back and forth between us and the whiteboard.

  “Do you know what it’s about?” one student asked.

  “Not...off the top of my head,” Ms. Briggs said, scratching her head. “I may have gotten an email about it but I, uh, haven’t checked in a while.” She checked her watch and sighed. “Oh, I guess that’s it for the day’s class. Just…go ahead and email me any questions I didn’t get to.”

  “Didn’t you just say you don’t check your email?” another student said with a laugh as everyone stood up.

  “Haha, right,” Ms. Briggs said, her voice wavering. “No, I’ll take some, um, time this weekend to get on that.”

  At lunch, the room was split by sex. All the guys were eating like normal but the girls were either eating nothing or going to town on massive piles of food. As I went to wash my hands afterward, two girls were walking by me, one with a sandwich.

  “Debbie, seriously, don’t hold that near me,” the girl without a sandwich said. “Just smelling it makes…ugh…” She darted past me into the women’s bathroom and I could hear her vomiting. Glad I already ate.

  As expected, the auditorium was packed as everyone in the high school sat down, chattering with one another. There was so much noise that I couldn’t really hear any of the conversations. The most I picked up on was a few words exchanged between two girls sitting behind me.

  “Do you think they know?”

  “How would they know?”

  “Yeah, you’re right.”

  My first thought went to drugs. In middle school, I remember some kids on a class trip brought weed and our whole grade had to have a meeting so maybe this was something similar. I couldn’t think of anything else that would warrant the kind of intense tone of the assembly, though it didn’t look like there were any police around.

  Finally, the head of the school came on stage, microphone in hand. The room went silent. “I know this meeting was sudden but the school faculty has come to learn about a disturbing trend going on in the area and, distressingly, in this school.”

  Chatter started up again and teachers lining the sides of the auditorium snapped at students, telling them to focus on the talk.

  “There has been talk of an…” the school head’s voice trailed off as he gathered himself, “an organized attempt by young women in the high school to become intentionally pregnant.”