Nobody Likes Megan McGowen

38. Square One?

After that disastrous conversation with Megan, Jake was sentenced back to the bottle. He hoped it'd give Megan a chance to rethink things, but he wasn't counting on it. And as soon as he was back inside, the cork came crashing down overhead.

Jake took a deep breath, trying to stay calm. Ok, so she was really mad. But he'd made plenty of people mad before. Sure, this time he'd kind of done it on accident, but he was still pretty hopeful it would blow over soon. Maybe he'd have to wait it out for a day or two, but he doubted it'd be longer than that, especially since he went to school with her now. Megan might be kind of oblivious to what he was up to most of the time, but she'd remember school. And when people asked where he was, she'd have to let him out, right? At least, he hoped someone would ask where he was.

He tried to put it out of his mind, but he knew all too well that there had been plenty of times when no one cared where he'd gone to. He could only hope that his having friends this time would keep that from happening. Good thing their friends all thought they were dating; if anyone would know where he was, it should be his girlfriend. And maybe their asking would help convince her that he didn't need to stay in here for weeks.

He knew all of this started with that ridiculous second wish. Why had he done it? He would never admit it to anyone, but it had actually been kind of an accident. Not that he didn't mean to have it happen; he most definitely did. But it was possibly the first time he'd ever done something like that without really worrying about the consequences. It was sort of like an itch he'd scratched without consciously thinking about it. He ran over it in his mind for what must have been the hundredth time. He'd been sitting at the table at lunch, talking to Greg, Kurt, and Drew, just like every other day since he'd started going to her school.

"Can you believe Drew missed that pass?" Greg grinned knowingly.

"Well, I wouldn't have messed up if Kurt wasn't screwing around downfield!" Drew retorted.

"What? Loretto girls are so hot!" Kurt told them.

"Not so hot that you should be messing up like that." Drew muttered.

"You think she'd still be impressed when you end up being on the losing team?" Jake asked.

As he laughed at Kurt, Jake felt a kind of tingling that briefly swept through him; Megan had said something that could qualify as a wish. And even though he was sitting just a little too far away to hear it, he knew what it was anyway – and he knew just what to do about it. He waved his hand, like maybe he was shooing away a piece of dust. It was done before Kurt even had time to respond.

"Of course – who wouldn't be impressed by me?" Kurt told him, unaware of what Jake had just done.

"Of course you'd think that." Greg rolled his eyes.

"Well, you have to admire that kind of confidence." Jake told him.

"Can I talk to you a second?" Megan asked.

Jake looked up. She looked mad – furious, actually. Jake thought quickly, trying to remember what he'd done.

"Oooh, someone's upset." Kurt looked like he was settling in for some fun.

Jake grinned at him, glad that his friends appreciated making Megan mad almost as much as he did. He stood up and followed her outside. It wasn't until they'd left the cafeteria that Jake remembered what he'd done.

His eyes widened, but he tried not to show his sudden worry. Oh, she was going to be really mad at him for this one.

He knew she'd be upset about it sure. But he'd wasted people's wishes before. Actually, it was almost a hobby of his; if he didn't get any, why should they? Especially when they wasted his magic on such frivolous stuff and then left him stuck in a bottle like some thing that wasn't even worth considering. So, he tried to make their wishes come out as awkwardly as possible.