Double Trouble

by Miranda Jones

  At least if I'd gone to school, I could have gone Outside at recess with Mary, Ali thought glumly. As it was, she would be stuck inside all day.

  “I think I'll go up to my bedroom and read,” she decided out loud. She was just on her way upstairs when a sound at the front door made her freeze. She turned around very slowly.

  Someone was standing on the doorstep.

  Ali could make out a blurry shape through the door's glass panes. Was it the mailman? If she kept very quiet, perhaps he would just go away.

  But then she heard the sound of a key in the lock.

  “Noooo!” Ali cried, panicked. Had her mom come back home? Maybe she'd forgotten something. Or maybe she'd found out that the Ali she'd taken to school wasn't the real Ali!

  Before Ali could turn and run upstairs, the door was pushed open. A woman stepped into the hall, carrying a shopping bag.

  Ali gasped. “Gran!”

  Gran took off her sunglasses, looking just as surprised to see Ali. As usual, she was flamboyantly dressed. She wore a Hawaiian-print yellow shirt and striped pants. “Ali! What are you doing here?”

  Ali opened and closed her mouth. Think! she ordered herself. “Well, Mrs. Jasmine said I could come home to change my clothes,” she babbled. “I spilled paint on myself in class this morning.”

  “You came home by yourself?”

  “It was a lot of paint,” Ali fibbed, trying to look normal.

  “Oh.” Gran stared at Ali's bathing suit. “Are you wearing that to school?”

  Ali said the first thing that came into her head. “I couldn't find any clean T-shirts.”

  “Can I help you look?” Gran offered.

  “No, that's okay,” Ali said quickly. “I think I know where Mom put them.” She took a deep breath. “Anyway, what are you doing here, Gran?”

  “I popped over to drop this off for your mom.” Gran reached into the bag and pulled out a brightly patterned lamp shade. “I bought it at the thrift shop. I thought it would look really nice in your living room. Give it a bit of color”

  Ali couldn't help laughing. She called her gran the Junk Queen because she loved finding bargains at garage sales and flea markets. Sometimes Ali liked the stuff her gran bought, but her mom was less enthusiastic. And the lamp shade was a million miles from anything Ali's mom would choose. It was made of orange and purple satin^with long pink fringe, Ali could just imagine her mom's face when she saw it Genie would probably love it It would match her outfits, Ali realized with a grin.

  “Come on, I'll give you a ride back to school,” said Gran, putting the lamp shade on the hail table.

  Ali gulped. “Okay,” she agreed. She couldn't very well say no! She sped upstairs and changed into her clothes. This was all going wrong! What would everyone at school say if two Alis turned up? She'd just have to hope no one spotted her before she could sneak back home.

  As Gran drove them down the road in her battered little can Ali began to feel more and more worried. When they reached Montgomery Elementary School, she slumped down in her seat, so she couldn't be seen through the window.

  “Sit up, Ali,” said her gran, pulling alongside the playground. “You'll give yourself a bad back Here we are.”

  “Thanks, Gran.” Ali took a quick look out the car window Thank goodness it wasn't recess, she thought. Everyone was inside. But there was always a chance that someone might look out and see her.

  “Have a nice day!” Gran called as Ali climbed from the car Luckily, she didn't wait for Ali go inside. She just drove off with a toot of her horn.

  Ali breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay,” she mumbled. “Time to walk back home again.” At least she didn't live too far away. Before she set off, though, she couldn't resist peeking in her classroom window. There was Little Genie, sitting in Ali's place by the window, next to Mary. Even though she knew Genie had taken her place, Ali still got a shock at seeing someone who looked exactly like her sitting in her seat! It felt very strange.

  Little Genie had hef head down and was scribbling away like mad. Ali guessed that the class was in the middle of the science test She wondered how Genie would do. She was sure Genie knew even less about science than she did! Maybe Genie would use magic, Ali thought as she hurried off down the street She'd told Genie not to use magic at school, but it might be worth it if it meant Ali got a good grade on the test And maybe Mrs. Jasmine would get a nice surprise when she marked Alis paper!

  Ali arrived back home feeling hot and tired. She couldn't wait to get inside and have a cool drink. But when she reached the front gate, she had to dodge behind a tree to hide from Mrs. Garten who was coming out of her house with a shopping bag over one arm. Ali held her breath and stood very still until she heard Mrs. Carter walk off in the opposite direction.

  “This is too much,” Ali said gloomily as she finally let herself into the cool, air-conditioned house. Her wish to have Little Genie take her place at school had seemed like a good idea at the time, but as usual with genie magic, things weren't as simple as they seemed! And Ali wasn't looking forward to a stuffy afternoon stuck indoors with no TV. She decided to make some lunch to cheer herself up.

  Ali went into the kitchen and poured herself a glass of lemonade. Suddenly, there was a flash of pink smoke and a loud bang! Ali nearly jumped out of her skin. The smoke cleared quickly, and there was Genie, beaming, and still looking exactly like Ali.

  “Genie!” Ali gasped. “Please don't do that!”

  “Do what? Oh, that. It's the best way to travel, you know. And I've been having a great time!” Genie exclaimed. “Have you enjoyed yourself too?” Then she looked closer at Ali. “Hey, you changed out of your pajamas and you're sweating. You haven't been outside, have you?”

  Ali explained how Gran had turned up unexpectedly. “The TV's not working, I can't go outside, and I'm really bored,” she finished grumpily. “Anyway, what are you doing here? You're supposed to stay at school for lunch.”

  “I know,” Genie said. “But I wanted to come home and tell you all the great things I've been doing.”

  “Like what?” Ali asked, feeling a bit jealous. It sounded like Genie had been having.a much better time than she had!

  “Well, we had that science test,” Genie began. “And it was easy peasy!”

  Ali frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “Mrs. Jasmine said it was a multiple-choice test,” Genie explained. “You had lots of different answers to choose from, and you had to check the right box.”

  “And you thought that was easy?” Ali asked doubtfully. She always thought that having more than one answer to a question just made it harder to know which one was right!

  Genie nodded her head vigorously “Oh yes,” she said. “I checked all the boxes, so I know I got the right answer every time, Mrs. Jasmine corrected the papers just before lunch, and she's so pleased, she wants to see you every night after school next week!”

  Ali groaned. Genie had really got her into trouble this time. Mrs. Jasmine must have thought she wasn't taking the test seriously, and now she'd got a week of detention! “How do you like Mary?” she asked, feeling even more jealous.

  “She's hep,” Genie said breezily. “But she keeps looking at me in this really funny way. Like this.” She glanced sideways at Ali with such a big frown that she was almost cross-eyed.

  “You haven't done anything to make her suspicious, have you?” Ali demanded.

  “Of course not,” Genie said. “Everyone believed that I was you. Even this girl with long blond hair that I don't think likes you very much. She looked at me like I was a bad smell or something!” Genie sounded very indignant.

  Ali nodded. “That's Tiffany Andrews.” Tiffany was the class snob. Her family was rich. She was always bragging about all the things they bought her. And she seemed to think that Ali and Mary weren't good enough to be her friends—not that Ali and Mary wanted to be her friends in the first place.

  “Well, I'd better be going.” Little Genie beamed at Ali “I'm really
looking forward to drama. See you later!” She held up her hand, ready to snap her fingers and make herself disappear.

  “Wait, don't go yet” Ali said quickly. She stared at the hourglass watch on Genie's wrist Genie had turned it around so that the hourglass part was hidden on the inside of her wrist Hardly any sand had trickled through. “I've still got two wishes, left There must be something I can wish for to make my afternoon a bit more fun.”

  Genie thought for a minute. Then her face lit up. “Hey, why don't you use your second wish to make yourself tiny?” she suggested. “I could take you to school with me in my backpack!”

  “That's a great idea!” Ali could listen to the teacher; but she wouldn't have to do anything embarrassing! She took a deep breath.

  “My second wish is, I wish I was tiny!” she said.

  As soon as she made her wish, Ali began to feel dizzy. The room spun and she closed her eyes, feeling a bit sick.

  “Ali?” Genie's voice suddenly sounded very loud. “Where are you?”

  Cautiously Ali opened her eyes. She was standing next to a huge, shiny tree trunk Then she took a closer look It was the leg of the kitchen table. She really had shrunk!

  “I'm down here,” Ali called. Her voice sounded tiny too. She stared up at Little Genie, whose face loomed over her. “This is really weird.”

  Little Genie laughed. “You'll get used to it,” she promised. “After all, I'm that size most of the time.” She bent down and carefully picked Ali up. “Don't worry, I'll look after you.”

  She put Ali down on the table while she retrieved her backpack. Ali stared at the pepper grinder next to her. She wasn't much bigger than that! She hoped it didn't fall on her—it looked heavy.

  “You'll be quite safe in here,” Little Genie said, unzipping one of the backpack pockets. “You'll be able to see and hear everything that's going on.”

  She slid Ali gently into the pocket. Ali ducked her head through the zipper and looked around. At the bottom there were a bunch of empty candy wrappers, paper clips, old papers, and some sticky pieces of grime. It was about time she cleaned her backpack, she thought, wrinkling her nose.

  “Okay, Ali,” she heard Little Genie say. “We're off now Hold tight!”

  The pocket was zipped up, and Ali was plunged into darkness. She felt the backpack being lifted off the table, and then there was a loud fizzing noise followed by a whoosh!

  Ali's heart thumped with excitement This was traveling Genie style! The backpack began to bounce all over the place, and Ali clung to a pencil to stop herself from being thrown around too much. She began to feel sick all over again. She crouched down and hugged her knees, hoping they'd get to school very soon.

  There was a bang, and the backpack came to a stop. A tiny wisp of pink smoke drifted through the pocket.

  “We're here,” whispered Genie.

  There was the sound of the zipper being undone, and then bright daylight flooded into the pocket Ali jumped to her feet Blinking, she carefully popped her head out They were in the school playground, behind one of the oak trees at the edge. The playground was full of kids.

  “Genie!” Ali groaned. “What if someone had seen us?” How on earth would Genie, looking like Ali, have explained arriving in a puff of glittering pink smoke?

  “Don't fuss,” Genie told her “No one's noticed a thing. Come on, let's go and find everyone.”

  Ali watched from the half-open pocket as Genie walked across the playground. It was very strange to see everyone looking so huge while she was so small. She couldn't see Mary anywhere, but Tiffany Andrews was shooting hoops with her friends. As usual, she spent most of the time bossing them around and shouting at everyone who got in her way.

  “Hey, that looks like fun!” Genie said as Tiffany took a shot at the hoop. “I bet I could do that.”

  Ali shook her head fiercely. “No way! Tiffany and her friends always get to the basketball court first,” she said through clenched teeth. “And they never let anyone else play with them.”

  To Ali's alarm, she suddenly noticed that Tiffany was walking toward them, glaring at Genie. Quickly she ducked down inside the empty pocket.

  “What are you looking at, Ali?” Tiffany demanded. “I suppose you want to show us how good you are at hoops!”

  Tiffany's friends laughed.

  Ali had to bite her lip to stop herself from replying crossly that she was good at basketball.

  “Well, yes,” Ali heard Genie say cheerfully. “Thanks.” Ali felt Genie slip the backpack off her shoulder and put it on the ground.

  “No, Genie!” Ali whispered in a panic. “Tiffany wasn't really asking you to play!” What would all her friends think if they saw her shooting hoops with Tiffany Andrews? But when Ali popped her head out of the pocket, she was just in time to see Genie grab the ball from Tiffany and aim a shot at the hoop at the far end of the court.

  “You'll never score from there,” Tiffany scoffed as the ball sailed through the air. “You're too far away.”

  Genie shrugged. “We'll see,” she said.

  Everyone stopped and watched as the ball flew in a graceful arc toward the hoop. It fell straight through the net and bounced onto the court.

  Tiffany's face was red. “That was just a fluke,” she snapped. “You couldn't do it again.”

  “Sure I could,” Genie said, sounding surprised. “It was easy!”.

  Ali couldn't help laughing at the sight of Tiffany's outraged expression.

  “I could show you how I did it if you like,” Genie offered. She looked down at Ali in the backpack and winked. “Look,” she instructed Tiffany, speaking very slowly. “You hold the ball like this….”

  Ali winced. Genie was being quite funny, but Tiffany was getting really mad. Ali was sure Tiffany would try to pay her back sometime. And knowing Ali's luck, that would be when her wish was over and she was back at school as herself!

  “Genie, stop it!” Ali whispered as loudly as she dared, but Genie didn't hear her.

  “Ali?”

  Ali jumped when she heard Mary's voice behind them.

  “What are you doing?” Mary asked, looking very surprised “You're not playing basketball with Tiffany Andrews, are you?”

  “Not exactly,” Genie said, grinning broadly as Tiffany flounced off across the court with her friends, “I offered to give her some lessons, but she said no.”

  Ali peered out and saw Mary give Genie a very strange look. “Are you okay?” Mary asked. “You've been kind of weird today.”

  Ali squeezed her eyes shut. Mary was obviously getting very suspicious.

  “I'm fine,” Genie said breezily “Never felt better”

  “And where did you go at lunch?” Mary went on. “I saved a seat for you but you didn't show up.”

  “I—I had to go to the office,” Genie stammered.

  “Why?” Mary wanted to know.

  “Well, I—I forgot my math book.”

  “But we don't have math this afternoon,” Mary pointed out, looking more confused than even “We've got drama.”

  Genie shrugged. “Oh, well, at least I'll have it ready for tomorrow!”

  Ali was beginning to feel a bit anxious. What if Mary didn't want to be friends with her anymore because Genie was being so weird? She had to tell Mary what was going on. Without thinking, Ali waved at her friend. “Mary! Over here!” she called in her tiny voice.

  Genie glanced down and frowned. Quick as a flash, she zipped the pocket right up. Ali had to duck out of the way to stop herself from being caught in the zipper as it whizzed shut.

  “Genie, let me out!” she yelled. But Genie ignored her.

  Ali sat down on a scrunched-up candy wrapper; feeling fed up. She knew she shouldn't have tried to attract Mary's attention. She'd only done it because she didn't want to lose her best friend. “But if I told Mary everything, Genie would have to go back into the lamp. And then I wouldn't be able to have any more wishes,” Ali mumbled. Although looking at how the wishes had turned out so f
ar, maybe they weren't worth all the trouble!

  When the bell rang, Ali felt the backpack swing up into the air. She bounced around as Genie walked. At last the backpack was put down with a thud, and the zipper opened.

  “Where are we, Genie?” whispered Ali. She could hear a lot of voices. “In the classroom?” She was too nervous to pop her head out and look.

  “No, we're in the hall,” Genie told her, bending down low. “We're about to start drama class. I can't wait! Sorry for zipping you up like that But I couldn't let you tell Mary!”

  “Are you talking to your backpack?” Ali peeked out with one eye and saw Mary standing there, staring at Genie.

  “Who, me?” Genie joked. “No way! I was just talking to myself.”

  Ali was very relieved when Mary burst out laughing. “Oh, that's all right then. That's completely normal!” she teased.

  “Okay, people.” Ali's drama teacher; Mrs. Harvey, clapped as they filed into the large room that was used for drama as well as gym class. “Get into groups of five, please.”

  Little Genie propped the backpack against the wall so Ali would have a good view of all the action. Then Mary grabbed her hand, and they ran into the center of the room.

  Ali watched as the class began to divide itself up with a lot of noise and bustle. Genie and Mary were in the same group, but there were, six of them, and only four in Tiffany Andrews's group.

  “Ali, will you join that group, please?” Mrs. Harvey called, pointing to Tiffany and her friends.

  Bad luck, Genie, Ali thought as she saw Tiffany and her friends making faces at each other Genie didn't look bothered, though. She bounced across the room to, join the other group, ignoring their glares.

  “Today we're going to imagine that we're at sea and a huge storm has blown up,” Mrs. Harvey told the class. “Imagine what it would be like to be tossed around on the waves with the rain beating down and a gale-force wind blowing in your faces, sea spray everywhere.”