Genie High School

by Meredith Badger

  Poppy was used to seeing amazing things since she’d become a genie. She’d visited genie shopping bazaars that were filled with weird and wonderful things, and she wouldn’t even blink if someone flew around on a carpet or disappeared into a puff of smoke right before her eyes.

  But when Poppy stepped into Genie High School for the first time, it took her breath away.

  She was standing in a huge, orangey-yellow genie bottle with a long, twisted neck. The air was filled with unusual, but not unpleasant, smells – like fruits and flowers that Poppy couldn’t identify. The most overwhelming thing about the place was the noise and the bustle. It was filled with young genies in school uniform, laughing and talking at the tops of their voices. They all seemed to be in a hurry and looked like they knew exactly where to go.

  Everyone looks so grown-up, thought Poppy, suddenly feeling shy.

  ‘Are we the only new ones?’ asked Jake.

  Lexie shook her head. ‘There are some other brand-new Twos just over there.’

  Poppy looked and saw a group of tweenies standing nearby. They were gazing around with the same overwhelmed expressions that she and Jake had.

  ‘How come they’re wearing proper genie clothes?’ Poppy asked, and glanced down at her normie outfit. Except it had somehow been replaced by the same uniform that the other tweenies were wearing. ‘Hey!’ she exclaimed. ‘How did that happen?’

  ‘Your uniform is made from chameleon fabric,’ Lexie explained. ‘It automatically adjusts to whatever situation you’re in.’

  ‘So when we go back to the normie world we’ll look like we’re wearing normie clothes?’ asked Poppy.

  Lexie nodded. ‘Exactly.’

  ‘Does it turn into pyjamas too?’ asked Jake. ‘That’d be great. I’ll never have to get changed again!’

  Lexie rolled her eyes. ‘You do need to wash it occasionally, Jake.’

  ‘What are those other tweenies waiting for?’ asked Poppy.

  ‘For their mentors,’ said Lexie. ‘You see, every Stage Two genie has a Three assigned to look after them. Your mentor shows you around and answers any questions you have. They will be like a big brother or sister to you. It’s an old tradition at this school.’ Lexie looked at her watch with a frown. ‘Actually, where are the mentors? They should be here by now.’

  ‘Look out!’ yelled Jake suddenly. Poppy turned to see the air thick with magic carpets, all flying in formation.

  ‘Ah, finally,’ said Lexie. ‘The mentors.’ One carpet in particular seemed to be making a beeline for them. It came so low that Poppy had to duck as it flew over her head. The carpet screeched to a halt mid-air, and then landed with a whoomp at Lexie’s feet. A boy and a girl jumped off.

  ‘Hi there,’ said the boy, grinning and straightening his turban. ‘I’m Santino.’

  ‘Hello, Santino. I’m Princess Alexandria,’ said Lexie, smiling.

  Santino paled and immediately did an awkward-looking bow. ‘Sorry we’re late, Your Royal Genieness – we had carpet troubles,’ he said. ‘I’m Jake’s mentor.’

  Poppy liked the look of Santino straight away. His face was cheeky but it was also kind.

  ‘And this is Poppy’s mentor, Zara,’ said Santino, gesturing to the girl. Zara had bright blue eyes and glossy blonde hair that fell in curls from her high ponytail. When Poppy smiled at her, she didn’t smile back. In fact, she gave Poppy a very unfriendly look.

  Taken aback, Poppy turned to Santino. ‘How do you know our names?’ she asked, ignoring Zara for the moment.

  ‘Because they’re written on your uniforms,’ he chuckled.

  Looking down, Poppy saw that Santino was right. Her name had suddenly appeared in purple letters on the front of her uniform. The same happened to Jake. ‘I’m sure those weren’t there before,’ she said.

  Lexie nodded. ‘When you first start at Genie High, your name lights up if you meet someone new. Once you all know each other, it fades for good.’

  ‘I would’ve recognised you anyway, Poppy,’ said Santino. ‘You’re Golden, aren’t you?’

  ‘Yep, she sure is,’ said Jake proudly.

  ‘Jake!’ said Poppy. The funny feeling in her tummy came back with a rush.

  Jake shrugged his shoulders. ‘What?’ he said. ‘I didn’t tell him. He already knew.’

  Santino grinned. ‘Everyone knows who you are. You’re totally famous. Lots of people are really excited to meet you.’

  ‘Huh,’ muttered Zara so softly that only Poppy heard her. ‘There’s no way I’m going to get excited about some Golden goody-goody who thinks she knows it all.’

  Poppy froze. No-one had ever called her a goody-goody before. It was so unfair, especially as Zara didn’t even know her yet!

  I’m going to show Zara that she’s wrong about me, Poppy decided. I am NOT a goody-goody. She wasn’t sure how she would do this exactly but she was determined to work it out.

  ‘I’ve got to get going,’ said Lexie, giving Poppy a goodbye hug. She tried to give one to Jake too, but he wiggled away.

  ‘No hugs!’ he said.

  ‘OK, then,’ laughed Lexie. ‘I hope you both enjoy yourselves. But work hard, too.’

  Poppy’s heart sank a little as Lexie vanished in a puff of smoke. It was going to be weird without her around. For a moment, Poppy felt like crying, but she forced the tears to stop. She was determined to have a fantastic first day at Genie High.

  ‘So,’ said Santino, while Zara inspected her nails. ‘Any questions?’

  ‘Only about five billion,’ said Jake.

  Santino chuckled. ‘Come on, then. We’re supposed to show you the Turquoise Bottle first. You can ask me questions there.’

  Poppy hoped she could ask Santino questions too. Somehow she didn’t think Zara was going to be very helpful.

  The Turquoise Bottle reminded Poppy of the Stage One Training Centre. It was very comfortable and although Santino told them it was a classroom, it looked nothing like a normie one. Instead of desks and chairs, there were large, comfortable cushions. Small magic carpets flew around, with snacks for whenever the students were peckish.

  Over in the corner, there were two silver rubbish bins whispering and giggling to themselves. Poppy got the feeling they might be rather cheeky.

  ‘This is where you’ll do some of your compulsory classes,’ Santino explained. ‘You have to do them to graduate from Stage Two to Stage Three. Ancient Genie Languages, Advanced Wish Granting and Carpet Control are compulsory – but there are heaps of other classes you can choose to do as well.’

  ‘Like what?’ asked Jake.

  Santino pushed a button on his Dial-Up and showed them a list. Poppy leant over to see. ‘Smoke Painting, Genie Judo, Hover-dance,’ she read aloud, her eyes growing wider and wider. ‘Wow. They all sound so fun! How do you even choose which ones to go to?’

  ‘Your Dial-Up has been programmed with your personality profile,’ said Santino, ‘so when a class is coming up it thinks you’ll like, it reminds you.’

  ‘Hey, boofhead, genie football tryouts are on tomorrow,’ chimed in Jake’s Dial-Up. ‘You might even make the team if you manage to kick the ball straight for once!’

  ‘Hey, that’s Jake to you, button-face,’ Jake growled at his Dial-Up. He looked at Santino. ‘Is there such a thing as genie football?’

  Santino nodded. ‘We play it in the Football Oval Bottle.’

  ‘Wow,’ said Jake. ‘There must be hundreds of different bottles here.’

  ‘There are!’ said Santino. ‘There’s a Theatre Bottle and a Gym Bottle. There’s even a Velodrome Bottle where we do carpet riding. Plus there are a whole bunch of secret bottles that we –’

  ‘That’s enough, Santino!’ snapped Zara. Poppy jumped. She’d forgotten Zara was there!

  ‘Sorry, Zara,’ Santino muttered sheepishly. Then his face brightened again. ‘Come on. I’ll take you to the Carpet Bottle.’

  When he’d turned away, Jake nudged Poppy, his eyes twinkling. He didn’t speak, but Popp
y knew exactly what he was thinking, because she was thinking the same thing.

  They had to learn more about those secret bottles!

  The Carpet Bottle was stacked high with magic carpets of all shapes and sizes. Some of them were quite tiny and covered in delicate floral patterns. Others were very large with intricate swirling designs.

  Santino lead them over to the plainest, heaviest-looking pile. He rifled through them and pulled out two. ‘These are nice slow beginners’ carpets,’ he said, while Zara stood there looking bored. ‘They’ve been sprayed with Go Slow to make them easy to control.’

  ‘Poppy has her own carpet,’ Jake piped up. ‘And she can ride already.’

  Poppy flushed. She knew Jake was trying to be nice, but she really wished he’d stop boasting about her! It would only convince Zara that Poppy was some know-it-all goodygoody.

  ‘I’ve still got heaps of stuff to learn,’ she muttered, tucking the beginner’s carpet under her arm. Rocket wriggled with annoyance in her backpack. Poppy could tell he hated the idea of her riding another carpet.

  ‘So, you’re a natural, huh?’ sneered Zara. ‘I can’t wait to see you in action.’

  ‘You won’t be disappointed,’ said Jake, not seeming to notice that Zara was being nasty. Then he winked at Poppy. ‘You might even pick up a few tips, Zara,’ he added innocently.

  Zara sneered and tossed her blonde ponytail.

  ‘Actually, Zara is probably the best rider at Genie High,’ explained Santino hastily. ‘And she knows almost as much about magic carpets as our principal, Lady Topaz.’

  Poppy’s Dial-Up coughed politely. ‘Speaking of Lady Topaz, it’s time to go to the Velodrome Bottle for your first Carpet Control class. It’s not a good idea to keep Lady Topaz waiting. I’ll take you now, if you like. No hassle at all. In fact, it’d be my honour to escort such a wondrous genie as you.’

  ‘Great, let’s go,’ said Poppy, putting her thumb on the send button.

  A moment later, Poppy found herself standing in a vast green bottle with a huge track in the middle. The track looked a bit like a running track and was surrounded with tiered seating. Other Stage Two tweenies and their mentors had started filling the stands.

  ‘The Velodrome Bottle is where we learn to fly,’ explained Santino. ‘We also have school assemblies in here.’

  Poppy looked up. The top of the bottle seemed so far away. ‘I’d love to fly right up there and then come zooming back down again,’ she grinned.

  ‘That’s against school rules,’ said Zara. ‘And I’m sure you wouldn’t want to break any of those, you know, being all boring and Golden.’

  Poppy frowned. Like all genies, she had a quick temper and Zara kept saying things to fire it up. But it wouldn’t be good if I had a fight with my mentor, thought Poppy. So she took a deep breath. ‘Just because I’m a Golden genie doesn’t mean I’m boring,’ she replied, as calmly as she could.

  ‘Yeah, knowing everything and being perfect sounds like heaps of fun,’ said Zara, rolling her eyes.

  Poppy felt her anger burbling up again. What was with this girl? But before she could say anything, Jake bounded over, full of excitement. He pointed to a television screen hovering against the wall of the velodrome. ‘Have you checked out the moves the genies are pulling on that video?’ he said, shaking his head in disbelief.

  Poppy looked up. The video showed genies zooming around at top speed, sliding up and down the walls and doing dangerous-looking turns. Then a blonde girl flashed across the screen, doing a triple mid-air loop without even slowing down.

  ‘Wow! Was that you, Zara?’ said Poppy, immediately forgetting how cross she’d felt a moment ago.

  Zara shrugged. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘But that clip is old. I’m much better now.’

  ‘The genies in the video are the top riders at our school,’ said Santino. ‘It’s supposed to inspire everyone else.’

  Poppy caught Jake’s eye and grinned. She couldn’t wait for her first proper riding class to start, even if she did have to use a boring beginner’s carpet!

  Then she slipped her hand into her backpack and gave Rocket a tickle. ‘I’ll take you for a ride really soon,’ she told him. It had been ages since she’d gone riding. She’d flown Rocket around her bedroom once, but she ended up knocking all her books off her shelves so she didn’t try it again. It was too risky.

  Rocket tried to wriggle out of her bag in response.

  ‘Did you learn to ride on that thing?’ said Zara suddenly, pointing at Rocket.

  ‘Yes,’ said Poppy. ‘Why?’

  ‘Well, no wonder you didn’t fall off,’ smirked Zara. ‘That old thing probably goes at a snail’s pace. You’re not a natural. You’ve just had beginner’s luck.’

  ‘It wasn’t beginner’s luck,’ Jake said indignantly. ‘Poppy is an awesome rider. She rode for the first time without any lessons at all, and she’s Golden, so she’s can do heaps of advanced stuff. She probably won’t even need to do the beginners’ class, right, Poppy?’

  ‘Shh, Jake!’ muttered Poppy, through gritted teeth.

  But Jake shook his head. ‘I bet you’re as good a rider as Zara,’ he insisted. ‘Maybe even better.’

  The seats were almost full of Twos and Threes now, and they were all staring at Jake and Poppy.

  Zara narrowed her eyes. ‘Is that a challenge, Goldie?’

  ‘Hang on,’ protested Poppy. ‘I never said anything! Listen, Zara, I just want to go to the beginners’ class and –’

  Jake butted in. ‘If you guys had a race, I bet Poppy would win,’ he declared. Poppy glared at him. Was he trying to make Zara hate her more?

  Santino whistled. ‘A Two racing a Three? And not just any Three, but Zara,’ he said. ‘That’s brave.’

  ‘Brave or totally stupid,’ said Zara, shaking her head. ‘But hey, Goldie, if you want to race, how about we –’

  Before Zara could finish, there was a puff of bright orange smoke nearby and a grandlooking genie appeared before them. She was seated on a gnarled old wooden chair with lion’s feet, which seemed to be purring.

  The genie was dressed in what looked like leaves and flowers woven together in intricate patterns. It was the most beautiful dress Poppy had ever seen. The genie seemed old, although her face was very young and her dark brown hair didn’t have a single streak of grey in it.

  It’s her eyes, thought Poppy. She looks like she’s seen heaps of incredible things.

  ‘That’s Lady Topaz,’ whispered Santino. ‘She’s been the principal here for about a thousand years and she likes to be obeyed. Better find a seat quickly.’

  Poppy hurried to a chair. It wasn’t that Lady Topaz looked mean, but she definitely looked like she was used to tweenies paying her their full attention.

  Once everyone was sitting, Lady Topaz’s chair bounded quickly on its wooden feet until it was positioned in front of the seated tweenies. Then it stood there, purring quietly while Lady Topaz spoke.

  ‘Welcome, new tweenies, to Genie High,’ said Lady Topaz, in a voice so rich she almost seemed to be singing rather than speaking. ‘I’m sure you’re all very excited about your first day at Genie High, and I hope your mentors have made you feel welcome.’

  Poppy suppressed a snort. Her mentor had done exactly the opposite! Maybe I could change mentors? she thought, glancing around her. All the other Threes looked so nice!

  ‘And now it’s time to begin your very first class at Genie High,’ Lady Topaz went on. ‘I see that you’ve all been assigned your very first magic carpet, and I’m sure you’re all keen to start flying – so in a moment I will ask your mentors to take you through some basics.’ The room started buzzing with excitement. Everyone clearly liked this idea a lot!

  ‘Excuse me, Lady Topaz,’ said Zara suddenly. All the tweenies turned to stare, and Poppy looked at Zara nervously. What was she going to say?

  ‘What should we do if our Two is too advanced for the beginners’ class?’ said Zara loudly. ‘Poppy says that she can
already ride and she’d rather use her own carpet than our slow beginner ones.’

  Instantly a murmur rippled through the crowd. ‘That’s Poppy Miller – the Golden genie!’ whispered someone behind Poppy.

  ‘I heard she was nice,’ muttered someone else. ‘But maybe she’s a show-off.’

  Poppy’s face burned with embarrassment. She didn’t want to be the centre of attention like this! She glared furiously at Zara, who smiled back smugly.

  Lady Topaz frowned. ‘All our carpets have been personally selected by me,’ she said. ‘They go at exactly the speed they are supposed to go. And I’m sure there are some things you can learn from the beginners’ class, Poppy, even if you are Golden.’

  Poppy nodded. ‘I know there are heaps of things I can learn,’ she said loudly, hoping everyone heard her.

  Then Lady Topaz’s face softened. ‘Why don’t you and Zara come out the front first?’ she suggested. ‘You seem eager to learn how to fly. Zara, you can show Poppy some of the basics.’

  Poppy grabbed her beginner’s carpet and followed Zara down to the centre of the velodrome. She felt very nervous, knowing that everyone was watching her.

  Barely disguising her boredom, Zara told Poppy to lay the carpet down and then showed her how to sit so she was properly balanced. Poppy had worked out how to do these things already, but she pretended she didn’t know.

  ‘Now, tap the carpet lightly in front of you,’ instructed Zara, ‘and say up.’

  Poppy did what Zara said and sure enough, the carpet rose up. All the tweenies clapped.

  ‘Wonderful, Poppy,’ said Lady Topaz. ‘Now bring it down again and everyone else can have a try.’

  But just then, a violent shiver rolled through the training rug and instead of sinking to the floor, it rose higher. Poppy only just managed to grab hold before the carpet took off with a whoosh.

  ‘Down, carpet, DOWN!’ commanded Lady Topaz.

  But Poppy’s carpet didn’t take any notice. It whizzed wildly around the velodrome, seemingly intent on shaking Poppy off. She held on tightly and, once she’d recovered from the surprise of the carpet’s sudden departure, she felt a grin creep across her face.