Nobody Likes Megan McGowen

25. Don't Get Mad, Get Even

After lunch, Megan walked into English. She tried to pretend that everything was alright, especially since Karen was sitting right next to her, but it was so hard! She didn't want to be a baby or anything, but she couldn't get over how horribly wrong her life was going. Why couldn't things ever be easy? And for maybe the hundredth time, she started thinking about how she would have been better off if she'd never met the stupid genie.

She decided to just spend the rest of the day ignoring Jake. She knew it wouldn't be easy, especially since he was still in all her classes. But she decided to occupy herself by trying to come up with a plan to get back at him. Unfortunately, that plan was interrupted almost instantly by Karen.

"Hey – what happened back there?" Karen asked, sliding into the seat next to Megan. They actually did have assigned seats in this class, but Mrs. Boyd never seemed to notice when they switched.

"Nothing." Megan said, clenching her jaw. Even just thinking about it was enough to get her mad all over again.

"I know it's not nothing." Karen informed her. "You took off out of the cafeteria so fast you didn't even grab your backpack."

"I didn't?"

For the first time since she'd yelled at Jake, Megan realized she didn't have any of her stuff with her. "Well, that's just great."

"Don't worry, I got it." Karen handed her the backpack Megan only barely realized she'd been holding. Wow – Megan must really be out of it.

"Thanks." Megan mumbled, taking her bag and setting it on the floor next to her.

"So what happened anyway?" Karen asked. Then lowering her voice, she added, "Did you and Jake get in a fight?"

"Yeah, kinda." What was the point in denying it? It was pretty obvious she was livid.

"What happened?...I promise I won't say anything if you don't want me to." Karen looked so sorry for her that Megan almost felt guilty.

"It was just a...misunderstanding, I guess." Megan mumbled lamely.

When it came down to it, she knew there was no way to explain it. What was she supposed to say? That he magically made himself her boyfriend even though she didn't wish it at all?

"A misunderstanding?" Karen didn't sound convinced.

"He thought I said something when I didn't." It sounded even worse now that she was trying to explain it.

"...That's it?" Karen sounded incredulous. "Look, Megan, I know you're really great – that's why we're best friends. But even I think that's a little extreme."

"I know." Megan sighed. She knew it really wasn't, but she could never explain it.

"Think you should apologize to him?"

"Oh....no. I can't."

There was no way she could ever apologize to him; the only reason she'd yelled at him was because he purposefully messed up her wish in the first place! Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw Jake straighten. Was it just her imagination? Or was he listening in on them? Well, if he was listening, she definitely wouldn't give him the satisfaction of hearing her admit she could have been wrong! Besides, what would that accomplish? All it would mean was that he'd know for sure he could trick her. Right now, Megan was pretty sure he only suspected it. It wasn't much, but she really needed him to have that sliver of doubt. How else could she keep him from running all over her?

"Is everything alright?" Mrs. Boyd asked, staring at them from the front of the room. Megan jumped. She didn't even realize class had started.

"Uh, yeah. Fine." Megan told her, barely paying attention.

"Well, I'm glad to hear it." Mrs. Boyd beamed at her.

Megan sighed.

"So, Megan, can you tell us your thoughts on what we've read in The Scarlet Letter so far?"

"Um...it's good?" Megan hoped it sounded more like an opinion than a guess.

"Very nice." Mrs. Boyd told her, smiling.

"I like it too." some girl behind Megan said.

"Whatever." Megan mumbled to herself. Didn't these people have any opinions of their own?

"I think it's the best book we've read this year." someone informed her. It sounded like Kurt. Unfortunately for him, Mrs. Boyd heard.

"Yes, but why do you like it?" she asked. "I'm glad you're enjoying it, but it's important to have a reason."

Megan turned around in her seat to get a better look. She didn't know much about what was happening in that book, so if someone could tell her something about it, she wasn't stupid enough to waste the opportunity.

"Well...it's just really good, you know?" Kurt said slowly. "I mean, like the mystery part of it is pretty good."

"It is, isn't it?" Mrs. Boyd nodded approvingly. Kurt breathed a sigh of relief, and Megan tried not to be disappointed.

Now that Megan had expressed her wonderful opinion, she was pretty sure she wouldn't be called on again. That meant she'd have some time to try and figure out a way to sort this whole mess out. She wasn't going to waste her final wish on getting him to undo it – that's probably what he wanted anyway. Besides, doing that would basically mean she'd only got one wish, and she still wasn't sure how that whole popularity thing was working out yet.

With ten minutes left until class got out, Megan got a text.

She slid her phone out of her backpack, barely even trying to hide it. She knew she wouldn't actually get in trouble for texting her friends – why would she? Other kids, yes – of course. But not Megan. Still, it was probably better not to antagonize her teacher and at least pretend she still had the same rules as everyone else. She unlocked her phone and saw the message was from Jen.

What if he breaks up with you? it said.

What? Megan wrote back.

She was pretty sure she wouldn't get her wish back; it'd just end up being wasted.

If you get him to break up with you, maybe the wish doesn't count.

Megan thought about it for a minute. And she couldn't come up with a single reason why that wouldn't work. If he broke up with her, it would mean he'd been the one to cancel the wish. And that had to mean she'd get another one. He couldn't just undo it without giving her a new one, could he? She looked over at him, trying to decide.

Of course, what she really wanted to do was ask him. And here would be that perfect opportunity to see once and for all if he really could lie to her. But she knew in her heart she couldn't do that. If she asked him, all that would accomplish would be alerting him to her plan.

She continued to stare at Jake, suddenly finding it hard to fight the smirk that was creeping onto her face. He looked over at her, and she could tell he was worried; this was the first time she'd even so much as glanced in his direction since he'd granted that not-wish. And she knew the expression on her face was probably less than comforting at the moment. He tilted his head slightly, and Megan knew he was trying to figure out what she was thinking.

As she watched the look of worry on his face deepen, Megan actually stopped being mad. Finally, she knew how she'd get her revenge on him: all she'd have to do was be the worst girlfriend imaginable. If she was bad enough, maybe he really would break up with her, and she'd get to make another wish. And if he decided to stick with it, Megan still won. She'd finally be able to mess with him like he'd been doing to her for the past month. Megan couldn't wait to show him how it felt to have someone causing problems in his own life for once.