by Liz Kessler
It had been really uncomfortable, scrunching up in the trunk of a tree like that, but at least I’d kept myself out of sight. I hated it. Not just because it was a tight squeeze in the tree. Not because of that at all, actually.
I hated that she was in the tree house with Trisha. I know it’s stupid, but I kind of thought of the tree house as our place now. I didn’t want her in there with someone else. I don’t know why she’d want to be friends with Trisha, anyway. I know I’d thought Trisha was my kind of person at first, but she wasn’t. She wasn’t the kind of person I’d want to be, anyway.
I’d rather be like Philippa.
OK, so Philippa wasn’t the coolest girl in the school. Even with the popularity wish! And maybe her hair was a little crazy and her friends were sort of geeky — but she was funny, and clever, and kind. And I was determined to show her that I could be those things, too.
My head was full of all these thoughts as I flew back into the tree house.
I started cleaning up, and that’s when I saw it. The box. It was open. And empty.
No! Where was the envelope? Where was it?
I searched all around, trying to stem the rising panic I could feel from my toes to the tips of my wings. The envelope had to be here somewhere.
But it wasn’t. I searched the whole tree house from top to bottom, three times over. That was it. Definitely.
The final wish was gone.
It was only after Trisha left that I noticed the envelope in the hall addressed to me. I tore it open.
Dear Philippa,
Thank you! It was so great to hear from you. You really made me laugh. Even now, when we’re hundreds of miles apart, you still manage to think of ways to make me laugh. I love it that you remembered us talking about fairies and how much it entertained me. You should go onstage as a comedian!
I couldn’t read any more. She hadn’t believed me about Daisy. I knew she wouldn’t. Would I have believed her if it was the other way around? I didn’t know. Suddenly I felt as if Charlotte and I didn’t know each other at all. And telling me to go onstage just reminded me that I hadn’t even shared the news about the talent show with her either. We used to share everything. Now she almost felt like a stranger. How had it happened so quickly?
I couldn’t answer any of the questions filling my mind. I just knew I had something more important to do.
I was halfway down the yard when I heard something hissing at me.
“Psst. Pssst!”
I looked around. What was it? Where was it coming from? It sounded like a snake!
“Philippa! It’s me, Daisy!”
I looked across to the tree house. The top of her head was poking out of the window as she peeked around to check that no one else had seen her.
“I’m on my way!” I scrambled up the ladder. “Oh, Daisy, I’m so glad to see you!” I said, my words falling out of me in a rush. “I’ve been really unfair to you. You said you were sorry for what you did the other day, and I was so mean about it. I know you meant well, and I do really want us to be friends and to get —”
“There’s no time for that now!”
“Oh.” I felt as though she’d pulled out a plug and deflated me. “I thought you might want us to be friends. I guess I got it wrong — again.” I turned back to the ladder.
Daisy grabbed my arm. “No!”
“I’m sorry I troubled you. I won’t do it again.”
“No! You’re wrong! I mean, you’re right!”
I stared at her. “Which?”
“I do want us to be friends. I really, really do!”
“You do?” I turned back to her. She was smiling. At least, her mouth was turned upward as though she wanted me to think she was smiling. Her eyes were doing something completely different though. They looked pinched and tense.
“I honestly do,” she said again. “But something terrible has happened.”
“What is it?”
Daisy picked up the box with the last wish voucher in it. As soon as she held it out toward me, I knew. Even before I opened it. “She took it,” I said, looking inside the empty box. But how? She’d dropped the box when that branch fell off the tree.
“It must have been when she went back to get her bag,” Daisy said, reading my thoughts, like a best friend would.
How could I have been so stupid? Of course she had taken the voucher. That was exactly the kind of thing Trisha Miles would do. And that was why she’d been so eager to get away. Why had I thought it would be so great to have her as my friend? In all these years of wanting to be in her gang, there was one minor detail I’d forgotten. I didn’t actually like her! And I never had.
“What are we going to do?” I asked.
Daisy chewed on a finger as she started to pace the tree house. “I don’t know yet,” she said. “I’ve already checked the MagiCell and there aren’t any shooting stars tonight. There’s just the one on Tuesday.”
Tuesday. The one I needed if I was going to get through Wednesday’s talent show in one piece.
“But she wouldn’t know what to do anyway, would she?”
“They’ve got instructions on the back, about doing it at the time of the shooting stars and all that,” Daisy said glumly. “They’re scrambled up in code, but she might be able to pick her way through it.”
I remembered the line of strange symbols across the back of the vouchers, and my spirits lifted a bit. “Trisha Miles couldn’t crack a code if she had the answer book in front of her! She doesn’t do things like that. We’ll be fine,” I said. “Anyway, the chances of her making a wish at exactly the right time must be slim,” I added hopefully.
Daisy nodded. There was something else, though, I could tell.
“What?” I asked.
She shook her head. “Nothing. It’s fine.” She tried to smile, but behind the smile, I noticed with a shock how frail she was starting to look. Her face was thin and drawn; her eyes had dark patches below them; her hair was limp and thin. It was even starting to fall out. Just like the petals of the daisy in my bedroom.
“What is it?” I insisted.
“It’s just — I’ve only got a couple of days,” she said.
“Then what happens?”
“If you haven’t made your three wishes, the assignment won’t be completed in time. I simply have to get the wish back to you.”
“And what if you don’t?” I asked, my words fighting to get around the stone in my throat. I knew the answer. I just wanted her to tell me I was wrong. She didn’t.
Daisy looked straight at me. For a moment, I thought I saw fear in her eyes — but I must have been wrong. I couldn’t imagine Daisy being afraid of anything. I thought again of the daisy in my bedroom. It would die soon; I knew that.
“That just isn’t an option,” she said eventually. Then she got out her MagiCell, and I knew the subject was closed. It was better that way.
But as she punched buttons and jotted down notes, I felt the determination growing inside me, rising up like a volcano, building up and growing and bubbling away. “Daisy,” I said calmly, “we’ll get it back.”
She looked up and gave me a brief smile. “Let’s just get to work,” she said.
Tuesday started the same way as the day before. I was practically mobbed from the moment I got out of the car.
In class, even Miss Holdsworth seemed to be acting differently toward me. “Now, let’s have everyone sitting up straight, nice and neat and quiet, and showing me you’re ready, just like Philippa,” she said, smiling at me.
Everyone turned to stare at me. I could feel my cheeks burn up, but it wasn’t like it had been in the past. I didn’t want to disappear on the spot. I still felt embarrassed by the attention, but it was nice attention. As I waited for my cheeks to stop burning, I realized that being the center of attention didn’t have to be all that bad. For the first time ever, it crossed my mind that perhaps I could get over what had happened all those years ago — and maybe even put it behind me one day.
In fact, while I was looking around at the class, I noticed something else. At least five of the girls had changed their hairstyles. They all used to have long, silky straight hair, but they’d clearly been messing with mousse and cream so their hair had fuzzed up and was sticking out at all sorts of angles. Just like mine! I’d spent years wishing that my hair would behave and look straight and normal like everyone else’s, and now they’d all gone out and spent money on products to make their hair look like mine!
At morning break, Daisy pulled me over to one corner of the playground.
“Have you got a plan yet?” I asked, looking around to check that no one was listening.
“If we can find some way to distract her for long enough today, we can check her bag and desk. Maybe you can take her off somewhere with you, and I’ll search her things while you’re gone.”
“OK — but what if I can’t distract her for long enough?”
“Then you’ll have to go over to her house tonight, and we’ll do it there.”
“Oh, no! I don’t think I could stand another evening in her company!”
“It’s the only thing I can think of,” Daisy said.
“Well, we’ll have to try our hardest to do it before school finishes.”
“OK.”
That was all we had time for before a band of fourth-grade girls crowded around, asking me questions and laughing at the slightest thing I said that could possibly pass as a joke. Daisy and I soon got separated.
At lunchtime, we were walking down the hallway together, trying to figure out a way to get Trisha away from her bag.
I was surrounded again as we went into the cafeteria.
“Phil, I’ve saved you a seat!”
“Phil, over here.”
“Phil, do you want to sit with us?”
“Phil, you can share my chips, if you like.”
My neck was aching from swiveling around to smile at everyone who spoke to me. I almost wanted to walk out. I mean, yes, I wanted to be popular. I wanted to be liked. I wanted to be in with the in-crowd. But something about all this attention was starting to feel weird, and kind of wrong.
The truth was, I wanted to be liked because of who I was, not because I’d made a wish. These people didn’t really like me for myself. They just liked me because of some fairy magic that made them like me.
And there was something else. I was starting to get sick of being called Phil. It wasn’t me. It was some fantasy of who I thought I could be. But whatever happened because of a wish, and whatever I might have thought I wanted, the truth was that I was no different from who I’d been before. If people couldn’t like me for who I was before I made the wish, what was the point of making them think they liked me now?
For the first time since I’d made this wish, I began to think I’d made yet another mistake. Having three wishes just wasn’t turning out to be all that easy to get right.
“There she is!” Daisy whispered, nudging me and nodding her head over to the opposite side of the cafeteria where Trisha was sitting with her gang. Even they waved and smiled when I looked in their direction. “You join them,” Daisy said. “I’ll head back to the classroom.”
“But has Trisha got her bag with her?” I asked, craning my neck to see what was on the seat beside her.
“I can’t see it. But even if she does, I’ll look in her desk.”
“OK, but be careful. Don’t let Miss Holdsworth catch you in the classroom. We’re not allowed in there at all during lunch.”
“I know. I’ll be OK.”
Then I had a thought. “Daisy, why can’t you just use your MagiCell to get it back?”
Daisy shook her head. “I’ve tried that. The wish vouchers are more powerful than a single fairy’s magic. If they’re out of my possession, my MagiCell is no use in tracking them.”
“But what about your boss? 3WD or whatever they’re called? Can’t they do something?”
“You’re joking! They’ve nearly taken me off the case already! If they knew I’d messed up again, I’d be off this assignment before you could say, ‘Sprinkle me with fairy dust and throw me to the bees.’”
I couldn’t quite imagine why I’d be likely to say, “Sprinkle me with fairy dust and throw me to the bees,” but I did get her point.
“Meet me at the playground in fifteen minutes,” she said.
A minute later, she was gone, and I was heading over to Trisha’s table with my sandwich and chips.
“Hey, Phil, sit next to me,” Trisha said, shuffling along the bench. As she did, I noticed her bag by her side. Daisy would have to hope there was something in her desk. “Move over, Jacqui.”
Jacqui looked slightly miffed to be demoted from her position next to Trisha. But when she realized it meant I’d be sitting next to her, too, she gave me a beaming smile. I stared at her. She’d never smiled at me — ever. I couldn’t smile back. It was all starting to feel too fake. “Hey, Phil, you can have some of my chips if you like,” she said.
“It’s Philippa,” I said quietly.
“What?” Trisha turned to me.
“I don’t want to be called Phil anymore,” I said, my hands clenched under the table. Was I really talking back to Trisha Miles? What did I think I was doing? I was going to be the laughingstock of the school all over again. “If that’s OK with you,” I added quickly.
“Cool,” Trisha said. “Did you hear that, everyone? It’s Philippa from now on, and anyone who calls her Phil will have me to answer to!”
I turned to see if she was being sarcastic. She gave me a wink and a nod. “Done,” she said.
I stared down at my lunch. This was all getting too bizarre. When I looked up again, I noticed Lauren and Beth sitting down at the next table. They both gave me a quick, shy wave. I was about to wave back when Trisha burst out laughing.
“Look at the geeks. They think they can be your friends — as if!” she said. “Go crack a code!” she called over to them. Then she nudged me, which I guessed was my cue to laugh along with her and say something mean about Lauren and Beth.
No, I couldn’t. I wouldn’t. I just wasn’t going to do what Trisha wanted. I wasn’t! I felt as though I were standing on a wobbly floor. Trisha had always made my insides quake with worry and doubt. But for once, instead of trying to scramble away to somewhere that didn’t wobble, I stood still and firm and waited for the quaking to stop. I wasn’t going to let her make me do anything.
After a while, she shrugged and got back to her lunch.
I’d done it! I wasn’t exactly sure what had just happened, but I knew it was important.
“Hey, that’s a thought!” Trisha said through a mouthful of chips. “I might have a quick word with them, after all. You don’t mind, do you, Phil — I mean Philippa?”
“No, of course not. Go ahead,” I replied as she disappeared to Lauren and Beth’s table — taking her bag with her.
I polished off my lunch, trying to join in the conversation around me — especially as it mostly seemed to center on me. My hair, my clothes, my shoes, the hilarious things I said in class, the brilliant story I’d written yesterday.
But as the conversation went on, I was more interested in what was going on at the next table. Trisha had taken something out of her bag. A piece of paper. She was giving it to Lauren and Beth and asking them something. They all looked really serious, studying the paper and nodding intently.
“End of the day,” I heard her say as she got up and came back to join us.
What did she want them to do by the end of the day? Something told me it wasn’t a good idea to ask. But Lauren and Beth? Trisha Miles didn’t bother asking anything of them. Unless it was something she couldn’t do herself. Like her science homework, or math tests or —
Oh, no!
No! She couldn’t have!
“Just getting a bit of help with spelling for tomorrow’s test,” she said with a smile.
“Sorry, got to go,” I said, edging out of my seat as Trisha sat back down. “Bathroom break.” My voice must have been about as convincing as her lie about the spelling test. I didn’t care. I had to get away and take care of this before it was too late. I had to get Lauren and Beth on their own. More importantly, I had to talk to Daisy.
I didn’t hang around for a reply. Just gave a quick, apologetic look to Trisha and the others and made a speedy exit.
Once out of the cafeteria, I ran down the hallway, back to the classroom.
“Daisy!” I said, bursting through the door so hard it made her jump. She was standing by Trisha’s desk, rummaging around inside the drawer, and slammed it shut as I came in the classroom.
“Nothing here,” she said as I closed the door and joined her by Trisha’s desk.
“I know. She must have it in her bag. She’s got it with her.”
“We’ll have to think of —”
“Daisy!” I interrupted her. “She’s been talking to Lauren and Beth.”
“Really? I didn’t think she liked them.”
“Exactly! She gave them a piece of paper with something on it.”
“What kind of piece of paper?” Daisy said slowly.
“I don’t know for sure, but look — she knows they like cracking codes. She even made a joke about it in the cafeteria.”
“You think she’s given them the wish?”
I shook my head. “It was just an ordinary piece of paper, but I think she’s written down the code from the back of it and asked them to unscramble it.”
Daisy breathed out. “We’ll have to stop them,” she said.
“I know. And we’ve only got till the end of the day.”
Daisy pulled out her bottle of water from her bag. “Philippa,” she said after taking a huge glug. She sounded breathless. “I’m running out of energy.” She sat down on Trisha’s seat. She looked so frail. Her school uniform seemed to be hanging off her, as if it were four sizes too big.
I was about to reply when I heard the classroom door open. I spun around to see who it was.
