Nobody Likes Megan McGowen

24. Megan's Mistake

Monday at lunch, Megan sat down at her usual table. As always, she tried her best not to look across the cafeteria to where Jake, Greg, and Drew sat with their soccer friends. It had been hard at first, but she was starting to get pretty good at ignoring them. She never would have thought it, but Jake's being there hardly bothered her at all anymore. Maybe she really could get used to him going to school with her.

"Hey, did you guys see Luke today?" Tara asked.

"Who?" Megan looked at her blankly.

"You know, the senior." Jen said, sounding like she couldn't believe she'd have to remind Megan of who he was.

Megan just shook her head.

"Tall? Dark hair?" Stacey added.

"On the track team with you?" Danielle sighed, shaking her head sadly at Megan.

"Oh! Him?" Megan asked. "Homecoming king, right?"

"Yeah." Tara nodded dreamily. Why hadn't they said that in the first place?

"What about him?" Megan asked, trying to figure out why she should care.

"He's just so cute!" Tara gushed. Megan blinked; wasn't Tara fawning all over Jake just yesterday?

"I know!" Jen said excitedly. "Too bad he's already dating someone."

Megan just stared at Jen, wondering what was wrong with her. Why was she encouraging Tara like this? And since when did Jen even know any of the senior guys enough to gossip about them?

"Why is he with her anyway?" Tara pouted.

"Who knows? He'd be much better off with you." Jen told her seriously. Megan couldn't even suppress her snicker.

"What?" Jen asked, shooting Megan a look.

"Isn't he dating that one girl?" Megan asked. What was her name again? "You know, that homecoming queen?"

"Homecoming queen runner up." Tara corrected. "And yeah – but so what?"

"Uh, nothing I guess." Megan raised her hands in surrender.

She fought the urge to point out that whatever her name was – Homecoming queen runner up – was probably the nicest girl at school. As much as Megan liked Tara, it was hard for her to say anyone would be better off with her.

"At least you have Greg." Tara said, turning pointedly back to Jen. "I don't have anybody." Tara sighed wistfully as she said, "I wish I had a boyfriend."

"Me too." Megan said without really thinking.

She didn't know why she said it – it wasn't even true. But as soon as she did, she knew it was a mistake.

Suddenly, there was a flash of blue light, and she felt a kind of tingling sensation in her fingers. Oh, no – that didn't count, did it? She'd been so agonizingly careful, not wasting her wishes on stupid stuff. And she hadn't even made this wish – all she'd done was agree with her friend!

"What are you talking about?" Tara blinked. She looked like she thought Megan might have lost her mind. "You have Jake!"

"Yeah – if I dated juniors, Jake would totally be at the top of the list!" Stacey told her, nodding.

"What?" Megan tried to keep the panic out of her voice. She never agreed to this – wasn't that kind of thing supposed to be a mutual decision? She couldn't be dating him. Or could she? Was that what that blue light meant?