That afternoon, however, she linked her arm through Poppy’s and led her through the door. ‘What would you like?’ she asked Poppy. ‘Pick anything from the menu. We’re celebrating!’
‘Really?’ said Poppy. Normally her mum wouldn’t let her eat ice-cream this close to dinner time.
‘Of course!’ beamed her mum. ‘Get something large and covered in chocolate syrup.’
Poppy shrugged. ‘OK,’ she said, and chose one called a Chocolate Avalanche. It was something that her old mum would have never let her have.
The first few mouthfuls tasted amazing. But halfway through it, Poppy started to feel sick. She pushed the ice-cream away.
‘I can’t finish it,’ she admitted.
Usually Poppy’s mum would’ve been cross with Poppy for ordering something too big. But today, she just shrugged. ‘No problem, honey-bun,’ she said affectionately. ‘Let’s buy a tub for tonight, shall we?’
‘I don’t think I’ll have room,’ said Poppy, her tummy gurgling. Just the thought of eating more ice-cream was making her feel queasy.
‘There’s always room for ice-cream!’ laughed her mum, selecting an extra-large tub of triple chocolate chip. ‘You can finish it off for breakfast if you don’t get through it all tonight. Come on. Let’s go to the pet shop now and get that bird-eating spider you’ve always wanted.’
‘Maybe we should forget about that, Mum,’ said Poppy, hurrying along beside her mother. She wasn’t sure that she wanted a bird-eating spider after all.
‘Forget it?’ exclaimed her mum. ‘Certainly not. I won’t rest until you have that spider snuggled safe in your arms. It will make a wonderful pet. I’ve heard they grow as large as dinner plates!’
Poppy shuddered. ‘Where would I keep it?’
‘Just let it run around in your bedroom,’ her mum chuckled. ‘It can sleep on your pillow.’
‘Oh,’ said Poppy, biting her lip. ‘Right.’ She’d actually suggested this herself once. But she didn’t think her mum would ever agree to it. She did not want a huge spider sleeping on her pillow!
The pet shop was closed when Poppy and her mum arrived. ‘Come on,’ said Poppy, relieved. ‘Let’s go home.’
But Poppy’s mum started banging on the door until a man appeared. ‘Sorry, we’re shut,’ he said politely.
‘I want to buy a bird-eating spider,’ said Poppy’s mum loudly, completely ignoring him. Poppy wanted to sink through the ground with embarrassment. Her mum was never normally this rude.
‘Well, I do have one of those available at the moment,’ said the man slowly. ‘Come back tomorrow morning and you can buy it.’
He started to close the door, but Poppy’s mum put her foot in it. ‘Not tomorrow,’ she said petulantly. ‘Now.’
Poppy tugged her mum’s arm. ‘Come on, Mum,’ she said. ‘I can wait.’
But her mum folded her arms. ‘I’m not leaving until this man sells us that spider,’ she said, sticking out her bottom lip in a pout.
Finally the man rolled his eyes. ‘OK, fine,’ he said. ‘Wait one moment.’
He went back into the shop and came back a few minutes later with a clear plastic box that had holes in the side. There was a large ball of shredded paper in the middle, which the spider was hiding beneath. The pet shop man handed the box to Poppy. ‘Her name is Bertha,’ he said. ‘She needs fresh meat twice a day and make sure you tickle her tummy bristles occasionally. She loves that.’
Poppy’s mouth went dry. The last thing she wanted to do was tickle a spider! In fact, she didn’t want to do anything with the spider except give it straight back to the pet shop.
But before she knew what was happening, her mum had paid the man and Poppy found herself the not-so-proud owner of Bertha the bird-eating spider.
On the way home, Mrs Miller insisted on stopping at a DVD shop and choosing a big pile of DVDs for Poppy. They were all ones that Poppy had pestered her mum to let her watch in the past, but which she was always told were too scary or too grown-up. Poppy walked around carrying Bertha’s box very carefully. She didn’t want to do anything that would cause the spider to come scuttling out.
By the time they got home, Poppy was exhausted – but her mum was full of energy. She bounded off to the living room with the stack of DVDs. ‘Let’s stay up late watching these and eating ice-cream,’ her mum yelled over her shoulder. ‘How about some popcorn for dinner?’
Usually Poppy would have loved to watch a DVD with her mum. But this strange lady wasn’t her mum. This person was behaving more like an annoying little kid!
‘I’m too tired tonight,’ Poppy said, yawning. ‘I’ve got school tomorrow, remember?’
‘Oh, don’t worry about silly old school,’ said her mum, who was now jumping up and down on the sofa. ‘I’ve been thinking – how about we change things around so that you go to school two days a week and have a five-day weekend?’
Poppy shook her head. ‘I like my new school, Mum,’ she said. ‘I’m going to bed. Maybe we can watch a DVD tomorrow.’
Finally, after twenty minutes of her mum trying to make her play board games, Poppy managed to escape to her room. But even though she was worn out, Poppy couldn’t sleep. She had placed Bertha’s box on the far corner of her desk, and she could hear the spider moving around.
Maybe she’s trying to escape, thought Poppy nervously. She could imagine the bird-eating spider crawling out of the box and creeping up onto her bed, and …
After an hour of tossing and turning, Poppy sat up. This is silly, she thought, throwing the covers off. I’m going to go sleep in my bottle.
Her house had been fitted with an Excuse Generator so it wouldn’t matter if she wasn’t there in the morning. Excuse Generators were designed to make up excuses for those times when genies were in the genie realm and normies were looking for them. So Poppy put her toe at the entrance of the bottle and thought watery (if sleepy) thoughts.
Poppy’s genie bottle was such a comfortable, calm place to be. As soon as she arrived, Poppy looked at the mood dial on the wall and selected ‘tropical beach at night’. Instantly, the lights dimmed and tiny, twinkling stars appeared. Palm trees seemed to grow from nowhere, and they were so realistic that Poppy was sure she could hear their leaves rustling. A gentle breeze blew around the bottle, scented with exotic flowers.
Yawning, Poppy climbed into her bed, which now looked like a hammock. Next time I might try ‘space float’, she thought, as she drifted off to sleep. Or maybe ‘mermaid world’…
Poppy woke up to the sound of someone humming one of her favourite songs. It was her Dial-Up.
The digital face gazed adoringly at her. ‘Sorry to wake you, Oh Sleeping Tweenie of Extreme Marvellousness,’ it said, ‘but there’s a Genie Judo class on in fifteen minutes. I thought you might like to go. Your Ancient Genie Languages class isn’t until ten so you’ve got heaps of time.’
Poppy liked the idea of genie judo, but she was hungry too. ‘It’s a breakfast session,’ added the Dial-Up, seeming to know what she was thinking. ‘There will be plenty to eat.’
Poppy sat up in her hammock and stretched. ‘Sounds good,’ she said, pressing send on her Dial-Up. Then she suddenly remembered how she had left her mum the night before. I wonder if Excuse Generators can reverse wishes, she thought hopefully.
When Poppy arrived in the Judo Bottle, she looked at her clothes. Sure enough, they had transformed into a white judo jacket, pants and a white belt. The bottle was already full of other Twos, including Nathan and Alyssa from her Wish Granting class. Alyssa was munching on a delicious-looking pastry.
‘Where did you get that?’ asked Poppy, her tummy growling.
‘From the buffet carpet,’ explained Alyssa, pointing. Poppy looked over to see a large carpet, flying slowly around the outside of the room, laden with food. There were pastries, juices, fruit salad and even pancakes.
Poppy was just getting herself a blueberry pancake when Jake appeared. ‘Hi, Jake,’ she said. ‘Did your Dial-Up sugg
est this class too?’
‘I didn’t suggest it,’ snapped a nearby voice. ‘I ordered him to go.’
Poppy raised an eyebrow, and Jake pulled a face. ‘I changed my Dial-Up’s voice profile to “bossy” by accident,’ he said. ‘And now it won’t let me change it back.’
‘That’s right,’ barked the Dial-Up. ‘Bossy suits me just fine.’
Poppy snorted with laughter. ‘Well, at least it’s not being cheeky anymore,’ she pointed out, and took a big bite of her pancake.
The Genie Judo instructor was called Sensei Kicks. ‘Genie judo is similar to normie judo,’ he explained. ‘But there’s one important difference. It takes place in mid-air.’
Jake put up his hand. ‘Will we get to throw each other over our shoulders?’ he asked eagerly.
Sensei Kicks shook his head with a smile. ‘You’re not quite ready for that yet,’ he said. ‘Today we’ll just do some exercises. We’ll start on throwing in a few weeks.’
‘Boring,’ Jake muttered.
Sensei Kicks told everyone to sit down cross-legged on the ground. Then they levitated until they were a metre off the ground. ‘Now let’s do our stretches up here,’ said Sensei Kicks.
But when Sensei turned around, Jake nudged Poppy. ‘Come on,’ he whispered. ‘Try and throw me over your shoulder! I bet you can’t.’
Poppy hesitated. It would be fun to try, but Sensei Kicks had said they weren’t ready yet. ‘I’d better not,’ she said.
‘Why?’ teased Jake. ‘Because you’re Golden?’
Out of the corner of her eye, Poppy saw Nathan and Alyssa, watching and listening. Poppy frowned. ‘Yeah, right!’ she said. Then, before she really knew what she was doing, Poppy grabbed Jake’s arm – and a moment later he was sailing through the air above her head.
Jake was just as surprised as Poppy was when he found himself flat on his back … but still floating in mid-air!
‘Hey!’ said Sensei Kicks, coming over. ‘What do you think you’re doing, Poppy?’
‘Sorry,’ said Poppy innocently. ‘I was … I was just shaking Jake’s hand and I got a bit carried away.’
Alyssa and Nathan snickered. Sensei Kicks raised an eyebrow. ‘That’s some handshake you’ve got, Poppy,’ he said.
Poppy grinned. ‘You should see what happens when I wave!’ she said.
‘Show us!’ giggled Alyssa.
But Sensei Kicks shook his head. ‘No waving and no more hand-shaking either, thanks,’ he said. His voice was stern, but there was a small smile at the corner of his mouth.
The sudden blast of an alarm made everyone jump. It was Jake’s Dial-Up. ‘Football tryouts start in five minutes,’ it barked. ‘Get a move on!’
Jake groaned. Sensei laughed. ‘You’d better go,’ he said. ‘You wouldn’t want to upset your Dial-Up.’
‘That’s right,’ growled Jake’s Dial-Up. ‘You wouldn’t.’
When the Genie Judo class finished, there was still an hour to go before Ancient Genie Languages. Poppy consulted her Dial-Up. ‘You could go to Levi-dance,’ it suggested, ‘or try Astro-blading. You would be magnificent at both of them, Oh Most Excellent Tweenie with the Strong Muscles and Perfect Balance.’
‘What’s astro-blading?’ asked Poppy, ignoring the compliment.
‘It’s like rollerblading, but you do it upside down,’ her Dial-Up said eagerly. ‘And levidancing is levitating and –’
‘Or you could come to the Bottle Hop meeting,’ said a voice behind her. It was Zara. She looked at Poppy with one eyebrow raised. ‘But maybe you’re afraid of getting into trouble, Goldie?’
Poppy frowned. ‘I’m not afraid!’ she said crossly. ‘Where’s the Bottle Hop meeting?’
Zara smirked. ‘It’s in the Quartz Bottle. See you there.’ Then she disappeared.
Straight away, Poppy scrolled through her Dial-Up’s menu to find the Quartz Bottle.
‘Excuse me,’ said the Dial-Up nervously. ‘I don’t mean to doubt you, Oh Wise One, but is this really a good idea? Bottle Hopping is strictly forbidden at Genie High. And as a Golden genie, you’re supposed to set a good example.’
Poppy sighed. The Dial-Up was starting to annoy her. ‘It’s just a meeting,’ she said, pressing send. ‘Don’t worry.’
‘If you say so,’ said the Dial-Up doubtfully.
A few seconds later, Poppy found herself in a dimly lit bottle with a huge, dusty old chandelier hanging from the roof. The floor was so smooth that the glass glistened like a gemstone. Flying around the bottle were some Threes. They were going very fast and pulling off complicated-looking stunts with ease. Poppy spotted Santino among them, doing tricky loops.
Wow, thought Poppy. These guys are amazing.
Zara glided up beside her on a super-sleek carpet. ‘You came, Goldie,’ she said, with mock surprise. ‘I thought you’d chicken out.’
Poppy tilted her chin up. ‘I never chicken out,’ she said firmly.
‘Good,’ said Zara, her eyes gleaming.
Another Bottle Hopper with red hair flew over and looked at Poppy suspiciously. ‘Isn’t she that Golden kid?’ he said. ‘Why did you bring her, Zara? She’ll probably blab to Lady Topaz about this.’
‘No, she won’t, Louis,’ said Santino, flying down to join them. ‘Being Golden doesn’t make her a dobber.’
Poppy glanced at Santino gratefully. It was nice that someone was sticking up for her.
‘Does she even know how to ride?’ asked someone else.
Right, thought Poppy, her annoyance taking over. That’s it! Without saying a word, she pulled Rocket from her bag and jumped on. Rocket’s tassels twitched with excitement, and Poppy only had to tap him lightly to make him zoom off at top speed around the room, expertly dodging the other genies.
‘Go, Poppy!’ cheered Santino.
As she flew, Poppy felt her anger evaporate. Flying made her feel so good, especially when she was riding Rocket. ‘Faster,’ she urged, and her carpet obliged.
Poppy glanced around the room. She needed to do some kind of trick or stunt – something that would totally impress all these genies, and especially Zara. But what?
‘Poppy!’ shouted Santino. ‘Look out!’
Poppy whipped her head around – just in time to see that she was headed straight for huge chandelier in the middle of the bottle. There was no time to swerve around it. All she could do was jump off Rocket and hope for the best!
For a moment, Poppy was falling through the air. Then, as she fell past the chandelier, she managed to grab hold of a dangling tearshaped crystal with one hand.
Rocket kept zooming forward as Poppy clung there, swinging from side to side. I wonder how strong this thing is? she thought nervously.
Even as she thought it, the crystal she was clinging to came loose and Poppy found herself plummeting once more. But not for long! She felt Rocket slide underneath her, breaking her fall.
Instantly all the Bottle Hoppers began cheering. Feeling a little shaky, Poppy brought Rocket down to the ground and gave him a pat. ‘Thanks for saving me,’ she whispered, as the Bottle Hoppers surrounded Poppy, chattering with delight and amazement.
Louis shook her hand. ‘Great flying,’ he said with a grin. ‘That stunt you did with the chandelier was awesome. I really thought you were going down.’
‘Um, thanks,’ said Poppy. She wasn’t going to admit that it had been a mistake!
‘You should definitely do the next Bottle Hop,’ said Santino, clapping her on the back. ‘You’ll give Zara a good run!’
‘That sounds great,’ said Poppy, ‘except that I have no idea what a Bottle Hop is.’
Then Zara stepped through the crowd of Bottle Hoppers, and everyone went quiet. All eyes turned to Zara, and she nodded. ‘Welcome to the club, Goldie,’ she said. ‘You’re ready to know now.’
‘Remember how Santino told you that there were secret bottles at this school?’ said Zara, shooting Santino a withering look.
Poppy nodded. Of course she remembered!
‘Like this Quartz Bottle?’ asked Poppy.
‘Exactly,’ said Zara. ‘Which is why we Bottle Hoppers meet here.’ Then she lowered her voice. ‘But there are other bottles too. The most interesting ones aren’t on the list at all.’
‘Why aren’t they on the list?’ asked Poppy, her eyes opened wide. She could feel the excitement bubbling up inside her, and it occurred to her that Zara wasn’t being quite so awful as usual.
‘They’re ancient bottles that’ve been totally forgotten,’ said Zara. ‘Some of them haven’t been visited for hundreds of genie years, maybe even thousands. Bottle Hopping is a game that explores all those ancient places.’
‘So how do we find them,’ asked Poppy, ‘if they’re not even on the Dial-Up list?’
Zara leant forward and placed something heavy and cold in Poppy’s hand. Poppy examined the object. ‘It looks like a lid from a Location Lamp,’ she said, ‘except it has weird symbols instead of proper locations.’
Zara nodded. ‘It’s the lid from an ancient Location Lamp – one that the old tweenies at this school used to use to move from place to place. All those symbols indicate the ancient bottles. The lids are really rare, but we have managed to find two of them. They’re the only way to get into – or out of – the ancient bottles. Here, pass me your Location Lamp.’
Poppy took her lamp from her backpack and handed it over. Zara removed the lamp’s lid and clipped on the ancient lid instead. Then she looked at Poppy coolly. ‘Now it’s ready for Bottle Hopping,’ she said. ‘If you’re ready, of course. We could do it this afternoon.’
Poppy nodded, her eyes sparkling. ‘I’m ready,’ she said. ‘Tell me how the game works.’
Genie High School Page 4
