Nobody Likes Megan McGowen

15. Jen's Just Worried

Megan tried not to be unhappy at the sight of her friend standing there, but really – she knew anything Jen had to say would only be bad news.

"What's he doing here?" Jen whispered, eyeing students as they walked by, as if Jake would appear at the mere mention of his existence.

"I might have gotten that test changed after all." Megan said, hoping to change the subject. Jen blinked.

"I thought you got in trouble for that." she said finally. "Like for going against the teacher or something."

"Nope – she wasn't even mad."

"So what happened?"

"She just asked me if I thought it'd really be helpful." Megan told her.

"Just like that?" Jen looked pretty skeptical – especially for someone who knew about the whole everybody-loves-me thing Megan had going on.

"Yeah, basically." Megan said. "I mean, she didn't actually say yes – just that she'd think about it. But no one's actually said no to me so far."

"So is that why you brought him here? To make sure it works?"

"Well, not exactly." Megan admitted slowly. Jen's eyes narrowed.

"Then why?"

"Well, he wanted to come to school." Megan shrugged.

She might have spent the entire day regretting her decision to let him do this, but she wasn't quite ready to admit that to Jen yet. Especially since it was obvious that Jen thought it was the kind of mistake only a complete moron would have made.

"So you just let him?" Jen's disbelief was written all over her face. Actually, she seemed way more shocked than Megan thought was really necessary.

"Sure, why not?" Megan asked defensively.

"Why not?" Jen repeated, aghast. "Because now he can make your life miserable at school."

"What are you so upset about?" Megan tried to keep from snapping. "I thought you liked him."

Wasn't Jen the one announcing how cute he was to his face and telling Megan how she should thank him for getting her that date with Greg? Besides, as far as Jen knew, there hadn't really been a downside to their popularity, so what was the big deal?

"I do like him – when he's at home, granting wishes like he should be. But letting him actually come to school with you?" Jen shook her head. "It just seems like you're starting to lose focus here."

"Trust me, I'm not."

Megan didn't think she needed to explain how carefully she'd been watching him all day. Besides, that would mean explaining that he had managed to insert himself into every one of her classes. Somehow, Megan didn't think Jen would be all that impressed with that bit of information.

"Just tell me it's only for today." Jen sighed. Megan winced.

"Well..." she trailed off.

"Really?" Jen looked exasperated. "And you don't see a problem with it?"

"Well, why not?" Megan asked defensively. "Besides, I got a free paper out of it."

Sure, Megan knew it might not have been the best idea. Actually, she'd been pretty sure she'd be telling him tonight that he wouldn't be coming back. But now, she wasn't so sure; she didn't like the implication that she didn't know what she was doing. It might have been true, but that didn't mean she wanted to hear it so condescendingly from Jen. And the more Jen talked, the more sure Megan was that she was going to let that genie – Jake – come as long as he wanted, just to prove Jen wrong.