by Rose David
I’m Condiment Chic, I thought, smirking down at myself as Sean and I headed back to the soccer stadium.
I had just gotten used to the silence between us when cleared his throat and said, “So, I’m really sorry about today.”
“Sorry? What do you mean?”
“Well, for throwing up on you and stuff.”
“Oh, right, the puke.” I shook my head. “It wasn’t your fault.”
“I just want you to know that I don’t puke on people all the time.” He frowned. “Or, you know, any time. Aside from this morning, I mean.” Sean smiled a little, and, like a reflex, I did the same.
From where we stood, with the sun almost set, the stadium looked like a hive of lights an activity. My camera was tucked inside my back pocket, ready to snap a quick shot, but I felt weird about taking it out in front Sean. He had puked on me, which was kind of an equalizer, but still.
“I was going to grab some of those cow cookies,” he said. “They look really good. Did you make ‘em yourself?”
“Actually, it was Natalie.” Off the clueless look on his face, I added, “You know, Natalie Whitmore?”
...super-talented, looks like a pixie, been in love with you for three years?
Sean’s face tensed with thought, but not with recognition. “Natalie, yeah. Sure.”
I felt my jaw go tight. Of course he wouldn’t know who Natalie was--never mind that she had tons more personality in her pinky finger than someone like Diana Bukowski had in her svelte, blonde body.
We were halfway through the parking lot when I stopped and pulled out my camera. I snapped a quick shot, one that probably wouldn’t turn out, but it was the principal of the thing.
“Cool,” said Sean, lingering beside me. “Can I see the picture?”
“It’s probably nothing,” I told him, my voice crisp. “Don’t bother.”
“Oh,” he said, looking down at his sneakers.
Unexpected regret thumped in my chest, though I didn’t know why. It wasn’t as if I owed Sean my everlasting devotion for breaking into someone’s car for me. It was nice of him to come out and help, but I wasn’t about to let myself get too chummy with a guy who didn’t even know my best friend existed, let alone had a monster crush on him.
I looked into Sean’s clouded face, wishing I could be more annoyed. It was like he had some kind of superpower: if he broke out the sad puppy-dog eyes, it was hard to dislike him. Most of the class had probably fallen head over heels in love with him after his stomach malfunction this morning.
Holding my camera out to him, I sighed. “Here. It’s just a regular point-and-shoot. Nothing special.”
He took the camera and turned it around in his hands. “This is cool.”
“I don’t know,” I said. “I mean, yeah, I guess.”
I expected him to lose interest and hand it back to me, but instead, he lifted the camera to his face and squinted at me through the viewfinder. “Smile.”
“Knock it off.” Like a celeb dodging the paparazzi, I held up my hand in front of my face. “I don’t like taking pictures.”
Sean lowered the camera to his side, his eyebrows raised. “You could have fooled me.”
“Pictures of myself, I mean. I’m sort of a behind-the-camera type. Can I have it back now?”
He shrugged. “Sure. Whatever.”
As I reached for the camera, our fingers accidentally brushed, leaving a lick of warmth on my skin. My fingers fumbled a little, and so did Sean’s. The camera slipped out of both our grips, and each of us dove for it at the same time, bumping heads like two cartoon characters.
Despite the ringing in my brain, I swept out my arm, hoping to catch my camera. On the way, something thin and metallic caught between my fingers, leaving a sting.
I felt my ring fly off, even before I saw it soaring off the broken necklace chain. I caught a wink of the stone as it spun away from me and then vanished somewhere underneath a row of cars.
Sean rubbed his forehead with one hand and picked up my camera with the other. “Sorry. If it’s broken, I’ll--Hey, what’s wrong?”
I trotted forward, trying to suck in all the details as I scanned the ground. “My ring! Ugh, it’s got to be here somewhere.” Growling, I got down on my hands and knees and squinted underneath the cars, praying for a glint of red.
What if I don’t find it?!
The thought jabbed at me like a hot poker, raising nervous sweat along my back. “I wish...” There had to be an easy way to do it. I screamed at my brain to hurry up and think already. “I wish... I wish...”
Sean hunkered down on all fours, glancing around. “I think I see it.”
I spun around in time to see him get down on his belly and reach under a car. “No, don’t--!” I cried, but the air left my lungs and I couldn’t finish. Suddenly, I felt warm all over, like I had just stepped out of a hot shower. I sank against someone’s SUV, my head buzzing.
Sean got up and walked toward me, smiling as he held out my ring. When he saw my expression, his face clouded. “Layla? Are you all right?”
I don’t remember exactly what I said, but it probably shouldn’t be repeated.
CHAPTER FOUR
My ring shimmered in Sean’s palm, and without thinking, I scrambled to my feet and snatched for it. I didn’t know what I was trying to do. Maybe I hoped that, if I took my ring back fast enough, I could cancel out my stupid mistake.
When my fingers closed around the band, a shock of electricity crackled up my arm. “Ow!” I jerked my hand back.
“Are you okay?” Sean asked.
I cradled my still-buzzing fingers against my chest. “Do I look okay, Fabry?”
Sean seemed thoughtful. “I don’t think I should answer that. It’s always a trick question.”
I groaned and eyed my ring, still wanting it, but suddenly wary.
My mother’s voice piped into my head, What if he asks for a billion dollars? What if he wants something even bigger? There’s no way that wouldn’t attract attention!
I wrapped my arms around myself, shaking at the possibilities.
And then my dad spoke up, You’ve got to learn to be more responsible, Layla.
“Ugh,” I groaned, “I know, all right?!” Sean raised his eyebrows, and I shook my head as I added, “Nothing. Never mind.” Biting my lip, I looked up into Sean’s puzzled face. He obviously had no idea what he had done, or that he had three wishes to blow.
“Umm, okay. You want your ring back now?”
“No! Keep it away!” I shook my head, my eyes growing moist. I never thought I would be afraid of my own ring, the thing I used to sleep with as a baby.
But then a new idea popped into my mind.
“Okay,” I said, hoping my voice didn’t sound too frantic. “So, you’re offering to give my ring back... Right?” If I were Diana Bukowski, I would have batted my eyelashes and done some kind of pouty thing with my mouth, but I settled for pinning on a smile.
“Of course I am.” His forehead wrinkled above his guileless blue eyes. “It’s your ring. I just found it for you.”
At that, my smile turned genuine. Of course it was my ring--Sean hadn’t taken it by force or even by tricking me. In the old stories, brave boys had fought through magical caves or solved impossible riddles to get control of a genie. There was no way Sean Fabry had earned three wishes just by reaching underneath a car.
...although I guess there might have been glass on the ground. And it had been pretty nice of him to come out to help me in the first place.
No more thinking! I (ahem) thought. I shoved my doubts away, focusing on the task at hand.
“That’s true,” I said. “It is my ring. That’s exactly what you just said, right?”
Sean looked like he was two seconds away from telling me to double my dosage. “Layla,” he said slowly, “did you hit your head again or something?”
“Did I hit--? No, of course not,” I said, feeling the color rise to my face. “I’m just clarifying: you say t
hat it’s my ring, not yours, and that you’re giving it back to me?”
Sean glanced around. “Are you playing a prank on me or something?”
“Just say it!”
“Say what?”
I growled. “Say, ‘yes’!”
“Yes, okay?”
A relieved sigh whooshed past my lips. I reached for my ring, already happy to have it back.
I yelped again as it bit my hand harder, like it was trying to teach me a lesson. Well, lesson freaking learned.
Sean held my ring between his thumb and index finger, squinting. He put a careful finger on the stone, as if he expected to be burned. He looked surprised when nothing happened.
Seeing him touch my ring like that was just wrong, like he had reached out and run his hands through my hair, or tried to kiss me, or something. As Sean let my ring slide down his over his thumb, another shiver tingled across my body and my face grew even hotter.
But I didn’t have time to feel embarrassed right now, even if Sean Fabry was giving me the genie’s equivalent of... Well, I didn’t know what, but from the way my face was turning scarlet (a hard feat for someone with a tan), I didn’t want to know.
“No offense,” said Sean, “but you’re acting kind of weird.”
I forced myself to look up again. “We’ve got a problem here, Fabry. A big one.”
“What do you mean?”
“Okay, so when you picked up my ring, you don’t think you, umm... earned anything, do you?”
“Uh... I don’t think I get it.”
“You heard me. Like, a reward.”
“A reward? No, of course not.” He shook his head vigorously, like a dog trying to shed water. As I took a step forward, Sean took a step back and thrust the ring out at me. “Take it, Layla. It’s yours.”
Why did he look so weird all of the sudden? “Fabry, I know it’s mine. I can’t take it right now.”
“Yes, you can!”
“Not unless I want to deep-fry my arm,” I said. “Why are you yelling at me?”
“I don’t want a--” He almost stumbled as he took another step back. “I mean, I do want-- I just don’t think--” He sounded like a broken toy. Sean’s eyes were wild as they met mine.
“Fabry, what the hell--? Why are you--?” Oh great, now I was doing it, too. I took a deep breath. “Okay, obviously I’m missing something.”
He stopped, confusion darkening his face. “Sorry, did you not want to...? I mean, not that I wanted to, but...”
I stiffened. “What reward did you think I meant?”
Suddenly Sean seemed very interested in the license plate of a truck parked nearby. “Nothing.”
Had he seriously thought that I--?
“Ew! How conceited are you?” I demanded.
“Hey, I’m not conceited.”
“Oh, okay,” I said. “So you expecting a ‘reward’ for finding my ring is totally normal behavior? Give me a break.”
“It wasn’t just for finding your ring,” he said. “I walked you back to school, too.”
I shouted an expletive a little too loudly, and he flinched. “I wasn’t expecting anything,” Sean said. “You were the one who started talking about rewards.”
Groaning, I pinched the bridge of my nose between my index finger and thumb. “This is great. I can’t believe how pervy you are.” What would he wish for first, a lifetime supply of skin mags?
I sank back against a dusty pick-up truck, the energy draining out of me. Now all I could muster was a sense of defeat.
I owed Sean Fabry three wishes.
Sean Fabry, who would probably wish for a hundred Hooters girls in his bedroom, instead of, say, world peace.
You should have listened to your parents, I said to myself. I would probably have to turn in my Teenager Card for that, but I couldn’t deny how right they had been, especially about locking up my ring somewhere safe.
“Listen, I’m sorry.” Sean took a cautious step toward me. “I don’t know why I thought... Never mind.”
Slowly, I shook my head. He still didn’t know he had three wishes. I had to tell him (if he didn’t understand the new importance of the words, “I wish,” who knew what could happen?) but I wasn’t sure what the protocol was. In the stories I had read, the genie usually made some big speech, but I wasn’t sure I had one in me. It wasn’t like I had any note cards prepared.
I glanced around to make sure the lot was still empty. “Sean Fabry, welcome to the best day of your life,” I said. “And the worst day of mine.”
“Layla, I told you I don’t want--”
“Oh my gawd, do you have sex on the brain or something? Wait, don’t answer that,” I said. “Here’s how it is: I’m a genie, and now that you have my ring, you’ve got three wishes. Any questions?”
Sean’s face went slack. “I... Huh?”
“That’s nice, master. So, what’s your first wish?”
He stared at me, baffled, until one corner of his mouth flicked up. “Is this for the yearbook or something? Are you videotaping this?” He glanced around. “Hello? Who’s out there?”
“Fabry--”
He shook his head, still smiling. “Of course it was you. They knew...”
I straightened. “Knew what?”
“Griffin?” he called. “Did you put her up to this? You better give her at least twenty bucks.”
Like a kid, I stamped my foot. Here I was, a genie who could give him almost anything he wanted, and he didn’t believe me. What the hell?
Sean slipped my ring off his finger. “Here, take it.”
I recoiled. “Keep it. Really.”
He shrugged and shoved it back down his thumb. “It’s fake, right? No way this thing’s real. It’d be worth a million bucks.”
A million, a billion, maybe a trillion. It all depended on what he said after, I wish... “Yeah,” I said, my voice flat, “something like that.”
“I gotta get back to the game.” As Sean ambled closer, his smile softened. “You’re a really good actress, you know that? You should audition for a play or something.”
All I could do was stand there and watch as Sean Fabry, my new “master,” walked back to the soccer fields with barely a glance back to me.
CHAPTER FIVE
I didn’t trust myself to walk home, not at first. For a long time, I just stood in the parking lot, my thoughts bleary.
I wondered what Sean was doing now. Had he finally figured out that I wasn’t joking? If not, I hoped he would accidentally wish for another plate of nachos or some other totally easy and irrelevant thing.
So far, I knew Sean hadn’t wished for anything. It had been a long time, but I could still remember what it was like to have an un-granted wish on my shoulders. When I was little, my parents and I had tried to see if I could resist granting a wish (we found out later that you only get one chance to control a genie, so no more wishes for Mom and Dad). No matter how I tried, I could never hold myself back for long. A part of me always needed to grant the wish, like it was the right thing to do.
Oh, and the splitting headaches and vomiting helped motivate me, too.
I shook my head. Why hadn’t I just tied the damn ring into the ribbon in my pocket? It would have taken two seconds. I couldn’t believe how idiotic I had been.
I didn’t know how much time had passed by the time I was finally clear-headed enough to head home. As I trudged forward, I thought about the expanding the distance between my ring and me. I had been away from it before, when we had stowed it away in a safe deposit box in preparation for my first day of kindergarten. After about five minutes, I had cried so much about missing it that Mom and Dad had let me take it back.
But now, I was surprised not to feel the same terrible craving. I felt normal, kind of. At least, as normal as you can feel when you know you’re at the mercy of some idiotic jock.
When I got home, Mom and Dad were kissing on the living room sofa. It’s always gross to find your parents making out, but this time, I was to
o distracted to care.
“Hey, kiddo. Did the game end early?” asked my red-faced dad.
Oh, right. The game. I had forgotten to tell Nat and Raj that I had left. I counted that as yet another important detail I had overlooked today.
“Umm, sort of,” I said.
Mom frowned. “You look kind of pale. Are you feeling all right?”
I managed to shrug. “It’s just my stomach. I guess I ate a bad burrito or something.”
“Oh. Well, why didn’t you call us to pick you up?” said Mom.
I mumbled something about not wanting to ruin their date night. They nodded, satisfied, and I trudged upstairs to my room. Once there, I sank onto the bed and stared up at the ceiling, following the blades of the fan around and around as I thought about all the things that could go wrong.
For one thing, Sean might tell all his stupid friends about my secret, and then I’d spend the next few years zapping up beer and pot. The thought of it made me want to crawl under the covers and smash a pillow over my head, but I couldn’t let myself go catatonic just yet. There had to be some way out of this.
I still had magic powers, damn it. That had to count for something. I took a deep breath. “I wish...”
I sat up, biting my lip. This would have to be phrased perfectly; otherwise I might create some kind of weird time loop when I wished that Sean hadn’t found my ring. I didn’t know if I was powerful enough to screw up the universe (I am only half genie) but I didn’t want to take any chances.
I grabbed a notebook from my bedside table and started jotting demands and conditions, trying to think of all the possible contingencies.
I had just written out a pretty decent wish-draft when someone knocked on my door. For a freaky second, I imagined Sean Fabry on the other side, coming to demand his wishes.
“Layla?” Mom called. “Can we talk for a second, please?”
As relief splashed through me, I shoved the notebook under my pillow and answered, “Go ahead.”
Mom stepped inside and sat on the edge of my bed. “How are you feeling?”