Genie In Training

by Meredith Badger

  ‘In honour of our incredibly famous student, we are declaring today Astrid Day! Normal classes are cancelled. Instead, please come to the multi-purpose hall for an all-day tribute assembly in Astrid’s honour.’

  Poppy groaned and shook her head in dismay. The wish might only work at school. But it was working way too well! Everyone in the whole place had gone completely crazy. Everywhere Poppy looked she saw students wearing ‘I ♥ Astrid’ T-shirts and ‘Astrid is Awesome’ wrist bands. The school choir had gathered in the quadrangle and was singing songs about Astrid. The basketball team had started calling itself the Astrid Avengers and the arty kids were painting an enormous portrait of Astrid on the outside of the hall. It was at least three metres tall!

  Is there one sane person left around here? wondered Poppy. Then she turned a corner and bumped into her teacher, Ms Kelly.

  ‘Poppy, I’m glad to see you,’ Ms Kelly exclaimed. She had something rolled up under her arm.

  ‘Hi, Ms Kelly,’ said Poppy, relieved. If anyone would be unaffected by the wish, it would be Ms Kelly. She was a very sensible person and not at all the sort to go ga-ga over someone famous – especially not Astrid!

  ‘I have a job for you,’ said Ms Kelly. ‘Can you help me put this sign up, please?’

  Ms Kelly undid the scroll and Poppy’s heart fell to her toes when she saw what it said.

  ‘We’ve renamed the school in honour of your sister!’ Ms Kelly explained excitedly. ‘This sign is going across the old school sign out the front. What do you think?’

  ‘I’ll tell you what I think,’ said Poppy crossly. ‘I think it’s the most stup–’

  But Poppy was interrupted by the sound of cheering. Ms Kelly let out a high-pitched squeal.

  ‘Astrid must be coming!’ she said, jumping up and down. ‘I just have to get her autograph! See you at the tribute assembly, Poppy.’ Then she ran off.

  There was absolutely no way that Poppy was going to an all-day Astrid tribute assembly. Even a five-minute tribute would have been too long. But she knew that this might be her big chance to get her bottle back. So while everyone else was hurrying in to the hall, Poppy hid behind a tree. Once everyone was inside, she sneaked up and watched through a window.

  Astrid was up on the stage, sitting on the special chair that was usually reserved for the principal. Beside her was an enormous screen. Everyone else was sitting in front of her, totally spell-bound. Astrid-mania was showing no signs of lessening. In fact, the crowd seemed even more captivated than before. Every time Astrid did anything – anything at all – the crowd went wild. When she waved, they cheered. If she smiled, they screamed. When she tried to speak, they roared with excitement at the tops of their voices. At one point, Astrid sneezed and several students (plus two teachers) fainted!

  Right, decided Poppy. Time to put a stop to this!

  It was then that she spotted Astrid’s school bag, sitting next to her on the stage.

  I just need to get my genie bottle out of there, thought Poppy, looking at the bag. There must be a way!

  Principal Smith took to the stage, beaming joyfully. ‘I have such a treat for you all!’ she announced. ‘We have put together a film about Astrid’s time at our humble school. Sadly, it’s only four hours long. But once it’s finished, we can watch it over again.’ Then she dimmed the lights and shut the curtains.

  Outside the hall, Poppy’s heart leapt with excitement.

  This is my chance! she realised. The room was dark now, and everyone would be so caught up with the Astrid film that they wouldn’t notice Poppy sneaking in and grabbing something out of Astrid’s bag.

  Stealthily, Poppy sneaked around to the door at the back of the hall. The door creaked slightly as she opened it. Poppy froze, but noone turned. They were all far too engrossed in the film. Poppy could dimly make out Astrid, sitting up next to the screen, craning her head so she could watch the film, too.

  Poppy padded quietly up to the front of the hall, hiding herself in the shadows. When she got to the front, just below the stage, she paused. This was the tricky bit. To grab Astrid’s bag, she would have to leave the safety of the shadows, and sneak across to where Astrid was sitting. It would only work if no-one happened to look away from the screen. Poppy scanned the audience. Everyone was transfixed by the Astrid film.

  OK, thought Poppy bravely. Here goes!

  With a pounding heart, Poppy crept across the room until she was right next to Astrid’s bag. Then she reached out and felt her fingers close around the smooth glass of the bottle.

  I’ve got it! she thought excitedly. But just as she was about to slide the bag towards her, it was yanked out of her grasp. Then, before she knew what was happening, someone had grabbed her arm and pulled her outside.

  It was, of course, Astrid who had pulled Poppy outside.

  ‘If you think I’m going to let you steal back that genie bottle, you can think again,’ Astrid snapped, pushing her bag firmly onto her shoulder. ‘Especially now I’m ready to make my next wish.’

  Poppy looked at her sister nervously. She hated to think what Astrid would wish for now!

  ‘Maybe you should wait a bit before making your next wish, Astrid?’ she suggested.

  But Astrid shook her head. ‘I’m not waiting,’ she insisted. ‘I’m totally sick of all these people following me around. I can’t even go to the toilet without them trailing along! I’m sick of them taking photos of me all the time – especially as they won’t get rid of the bad ones. But most of all I’m sick of them not actually listening to me!’

  ‘Really?’ said Poppy, pretending to look surprised. ‘They don’t listen to you?’

  Astrid shook her head gloomily. ‘I know. It’s unbelievable. I thought they’d all be fascinated to hear my thoughts and stuff. But whenever I try to talk they just cheer right over the top of me. It’s so annoying. You know what I wish? I wish that no-one knew who I was anymore.’

  ‘Wish granted!’ Poppy grinned, promptly starting her wish routine before Astrid could change her mind. This time Poppy ended it by twinkling her fingers. It felt like a pretty good move, but there was no puff of smoke.

  ‘I hereby grant Astrid’s wish,’ she said dramatically. ‘No-one will know who she is anymore!’

  Poppy tried to act like she was sure this wish was going to work. But inside she felt very jittery. The last wish seemed to have worked, but it might also have been a total fluke!

  ‘I don’t feel any different,’ said Astrid flatly. ‘It hasn’t worked.’

  ‘Look!’ said Poppy. ‘Everyone is coming out of the assembly.’

  Sure enough, the crowd had started filing out of the hall, looking as though they weren’t at all sure why they’d been in assembly in the first place. And they walked right by Astrid without paying her the slightest bit of attention.

  One girl had an ‘I ♥ Astrid!’ banner in her hand. She turned to a boy and said, ‘Do you know why I’m carrying this banner?’

  ‘No,’ replied the boy. ‘And I have no idea why I’m wearing this T-shirt either. Who is Astrid, anyway?’

  Astrid beamed. ‘I’m not famous anymore!’ she said delightedly.

  Then Ms Kelly walked past. She stopped beside Poppy and Astrid.

  ‘Hurry to class please, Poppy,’ she said. ‘We have wasted a lot of time today on an assembly for someone that no-one seems to know.’ Then she looked at Astrid. ‘Are you a new girl? You should report to the front office.’

  Astrid winked at Poppy. ‘Ms Kelly, it’s me, Astrid,’ she said. ‘I was in your class last year, remember?’

  ‘You certainly were not!’ responded Ms Kelly indignantly. ‘I’ve never seen you before.’

  ‘Astrid is in Miss Kennedy’s class,’ said Poppy, grabbing Astrid by the arm. ‘I’ll take her there.’

  Astrid didn’t seem at all bothered by suddenly being completely unknown. ‘This is going to be so fun!’ she giggled. ‘It’s almost like being invisible. If Miss Kennedy can’t remember who I am, then I gue
ss she’ll forget that I’m supposed to be on yard duty today.’

  It definitely looked like this next wish had worked. But Poppy suspected that it probably wasn’t perfect either. I wonder if this wish only works at school, like the last one?

  She soon had a chance to find out. Astrid’s friend, Nicole, had just been dropped off out the front of school. She saw Astrid and waved.

  ‘Hey, Astrid!’ Nicole called. ‘I had to go to the dentist this morning. Have I missed much?’

  Astrid laughed. ‘Wait till I tell you!’

  But as Nicole stepped in through the school gates, she frowned and shook her head. Then she looked around, slightly dazed. ‘Hi, Poppy,’ she said. ‘Who’s your friend? Is she new?’

  ‘Nic, it’s me!’ giggled Astrid.

  Nicole shrugged. ‘Sorry, I don’t know who you are,’ she replied politely.

  ‘But we’ve been best friends since grade one!’ said Astrid, looking a little anxious all of a sudden.

  ‘No,’ said Nicole, walking off briskly. ‘I’ve never met you.’

  Astrid went very pale. It was like she’d only just realised exactly what she’d wished for. ‘I’ve got to go,’ she muttered, hurrying off after Nicole.

  Wow, thought Poppy, watching her go. Normies do make terrible wishes!

  Astrid’s second wish made things at school go back to normal – for Poppy at least. It felt like any other ordinary school day, except that she had lots more things than usual to think about.

  She sneaked her Genie Culture and History book onto her lap during class so that she could study it when Ms Kelly wasn’t watching. But even when she got a moment to read a few lines, the words seemed to make no sense. At the end of an hour, she’d barely finished a page. And she couldn’t remember what it had been about!

  I may as well read it backwards! thought Poppy crossly. She flipped the book upside down and the words suddenly made a lot more sense. Even better, the book suddenly seemed a lot quicker to read. Half an hour into her English class, Poppy had finished reading three thick chapters.

  I’m not sure what’s going on here, thought Poppy happily, but I wish all my textbooks were like this.

  When the bell rang for the end of the day, Astrid was waiting for Poppy out the front of her classroom, looking really annoyed.

  ‘This wish has turned out even worse than the last one,’ she complained. ‘It doesn’t matter how many times I tell people who I am, a minute later they’ve forgotten again. I had to enrol as a new student fifty times today!’

  ‘So, are you ready to make your third wish?’ asked Poppy hopefully. Once Astrid had made her third wish, she would have to return the bottle.

  ‘Yes,’ snapped Astrid. ‘I wish that I’d never found that stupid bottle in the first place!’

  Poppy nodded, trying not to grin. She couldn’t have come up with a better wish herself. But would she be able to grant it? She wanted it to work properly this time. Properly and completely.

  ‘OK, I’ll grant your final wish,’ Poppy said.

  Twist, snake hands, side step. Poppy paused. What was that missing move? It had to be something really obvious. Something she’d done a thousand times before …

  There was one move she hadn’t tried. But surely it was just way too ridiculous! Then again, it couldn’t hurt to try. Cautiously, Poppy touched her nose with her tongue.

  The effect was instantaneous. Whoomph! A cloud of silvery smoke puffed up around her feet. Poppy nearly burst out laughing. She’d finally found it! The missing move.

  Astrid raised an eyebrow suspiciously. ‘What are you up to?’ she said. But even as she spoke, a vague expression came over Astrid’s face.

  Then a moment later, she grinned at Poppy in her old, familiar, annoying way. ‘Hi Poppy,’ she said, like she’d just seen her. ‘Did you find out what your special talent was today? Don’t tell me you don’t have one, because no-one could be that ordinary!’

  Poppy rolled her eyes, pretending to look annoyed. But secretly she was overjoyed. The final wish had worked! Now there was just one more thing to do.

  ‘Hey Astrid, let me carry your bag home for you,’ Poppy said sugary-sweetly. ‘It would be my honour.’

  ‘Sure thing!’ said Astrid, swinging the bag right into Poppy’s arms.

  The bag was really heavy, but Poppy didn’t mind. The instant Astrid’s back was turned, Poppy quietly unzipped the bag, took out her genie bottle and safely stashed it away in her own backpack.

  Jake, Hazel and Rose were already at the Training Centre Bottle when Poppy arrived that evening.

  Jake gave her a puzzled look. ‘What happened to you this morning?’ he asked. ‘You left in a huge hurry. And you looked pretty green.’

  Poppy shrugged. ‘I was just keen to get back home,’ she said. She was pretty sure she could trust Jake now, but she didn’t really want to talk about her wish-granting adventures.

  ‘Ready for your exam, tweenies?’ asked Lexie. ‘It’s tomorrow night, don’t forget!’

  ‘Yes, Lexie!’ chorused the tweenies.

  ‘Let’s do some revision then,’ said Lexie. ‘Hopefully you all figured out the proper way to read your Genie textbooks.’

  Poppy was glad to see the others all nodding. She didn’t want anyone to fail the exam.

  ‘Right, who can tell me why genies live in bottles?’ asked Lexie.

  Jake’s hand shot up. ‘Originally genies lived in bottles because the normies used to catch us and keep us in them,’ he said. ‘But now genies choose to live in bottles because they are a good way of disguising where we live. We can live in normie houses without them even knowing we’re there.’

  Lexie nodded in approval. ‘Good. OK, who can tell me three ways to spot a genie in the normie world?’

  Hazel put her hand up. ‘They are always wearing at least one bangle,’ she said. ‘And they are usually wearing one really bright piece of clothing – even if it’s just socks – because genies love bright things.’

  ‘Going well,’ said Lexie. ‘And one more?’

  Hazel thought for a moment. ‘Oh yeah,’ she giggled. ‘Genies never eat sandwich crusts. And I totally understand why. Yuck!’

  ‘Very good,’ said Lexie. ‘Who can tell me when we’re meant to say your wish is my command?’

  ‘Trick question!’ responded Rose quickly. ‘We never say that, not any more. Genies said that ages ago, back when we still called normies ‘master’ and ‘mistress’, but we definitely don’t say it these days. It would just make the normie think they were the boss of us.’

  ‘And aren’t they the boss of us?’ asked Lexie, pretending to look surprised.

  ‘No way!’ chorused all the tweenies together. ‘We’re the boss of ourselves.’

  Lexie laughed, and then she looked at Poppy. ‘One for you now,’ she said. ‘Can you tell me the genie wish-granting motto?’

  Poppy thought hard. She remembered reading this motto. What was it again?

  ‘No swerving, if the normie is deserving,’ she blurted out.

  ‘What do you think that means, Poppy?’ asked Lexie.

  ‘Um,’ said Poppy slowly, ‘I guess it means that if the normie really deserves to have their wish granted, then genies shouldn’t try to get out of it.’

  Lexie smiled. ‘Yes, exactly,’ she said. ‘We genies have a reputation for being a bit tricksy. This might be true, but genies are also able to recognise a good wish, or an important wish, if we come across it.’

  Then Lexie looked around. ‘Time for something a bit more uplifting now,’ she said. ‘Levitation!’

  A ripple of excitement ran around the class. Jake nudged Poppy and gave her a cheeky grin. ‘Race you to the ceiling!’ he whispered.

  ‘You’re on!’ Poppy whispered back confidently. Who knew – maybe levitation would turn out to be her special skill?

  When the floor was clear, Lexie got everyone to sit cross-legged on the floor, with their eyes shut and their hands on their knees.

  ‘Now, the k
ey to levitation is to think light, airy, cheerful thoughts,’ Lexie said. ‘Clouds are a good thing to focus on. So are hot air balloons. In fact, all balloons are good, except popped ones.’

  Poppy tried to picture a kite, flying high in the air. But for some annoying reason, her imaginary kite kept getting tangled in an imaginary tree.

  ‘The second step,’ continued Lexie, ‘is to imagine there’s a piece of string attached to your head that’s pulling you up towards the sky.’

  Poppy tried it, but she didn’t feel like she was moving. It felt like there was a rope across her lap, tying her down.

  Maybe I’ve moved and I just haven’t noticed, she wondered, opening one eye to check.

  No. She was definitely still on the ground. But the rest of the class – including Lexie – had disappeared! Then Poppy looked up. Lexie and the other tweenies were all floating, cross-legged, near the top of the Training Centre Bottle!

  Poppy felt a wave of frustration pass over her. Why did she find all the genie stuff so hard?

  ‘Try wiggling your nose,’ Lexie called down to her. ‘Sometimes that helps.’

  So Poppy tried wiggling her nose. Then she wiggled her mouth, her tongue, her toes, even her ears! But nothing helped.

  ‘I’m never going to get this!’ she said in frustration.

  ‘OK, back down to the ground, everyone,’ commanded Lexie.

  Poppy watched enviously as the other three tweenies descended, laughing and joking with each other. They made it look so easy. Why couldn’t she do it?

  ‘Well done, tweenies. You can have the rest of the night off,’ said Lexie.

  Everyone stared at her in surprise.

  ‘It’s up to you how you choose to spend this time,’ Lexie continued. ‘Go to the Emerald Bazaar, if you like, and choose an outfit to wear to the Graduation Ball tomorrow night. Your outfits are a gift from the Genie Royal Family, so choose whatever you like. But don’t spend all night there. You should spend at least a little time revising.’