Chapter One: Be Careful What You Wish For—There's Always a Catch
~Laurie Halse Anderson
Welcome to the first chapter of When Wishes Come True! Please enjoy, and remember to review at the end.
Thank you!
Word count: 1,840
ONTO THE FIRST CHAPTER!
When Jamie laid down on the hill with her best friend, just watching the stars, she doubted that she had ever felt happier.
It wasn't even anything special; since they lived in the real world and not some crappy, cliche story where being so utterly blissful automatically made the grass green and soft, the stars bright and clear, and the night warm and perfect, it wasn't necessarily a five-stargazing (see what she did there?) hill; the grass was rather poky and obviously somewhat dead, the night was colder than comfort and being in pajamas was really not helping, and thanks to the amount of pollution in the air, it was hard to see the stars.
But between Jamie's ability to find beauty in everything and Zoe's love for the night sky, it was a wonderful experience.
Jamie's emerald green beanie cushioned her head against the ground. She loved that beanie. Not only was it a gift from Zoe, but it was also extremely comfy, and she only took it off when it started to smell and she had to wash it. On the nights when she was too lazy to take it off, she even slept with it on.
Gross?
Jamie didn't care.
Next to her, Zoe shifted on the ground. "I'm going to be so sore tomorrow," she muttered, obviously talking about the fitness test they had during P.E..
Jamie smiled slightly. "Don't worry; one day we'll achieve world domination and completely demolish the atrocity we call P.E.."
"Make that the entire school system, and we have a deal."
"Done."
"Do you have an army, yet?"
"Of course. It's in tip-top shape. Also, it's entirely fictional."
"That's great. Fictional things are the best."
This was the kind of talk that got the twelve-almost-thirteen-year-old kicked out of other foster homes. Not that she cared; if they couldn't handle her humor, which was probably the easiest part to handle (not that she was a handful; she just wasn't a pushover; a trait that many people seemed to despise), then why should she have to deal with them? Besides, she had a much better family, now.
The Mitchells were amazing. When Jamie was 11, they had tried fostering because Zoe (their daughter) talked to no one her age—well, she did, but it was like Insult was the only language she spoke ("They're idiots," she'd said bluntly when Jamie asked why, and she kind of had to agree—assuming that she wasn't a part of the "they," of course. Although, knowing Zoe, she did consider Jamie an idiot, too). But when Zoe and Jamie met, they instantly became best friends. Even before adopting her, Mrs. and Mr. Mitchell (or Alice and Scott, as they asked Jamie to call them) treated her like their real daughter, which was a stark contrast from other foster families, who often were sugary-sweet or didn't really care that much and tried to control their foster kids. And controlling Jamie? You'd have better luck with making a T-Rex vegetarian.
(Yes, that was a KotLC reference. Deal with it; Jamie was a complete fangirl.)
Not to mention, Zoe was her best friend—well, only friend, but neither of them needed any more.
"Hey, make a wish," Zoe started, pointing. "There's a shooting star."
Jamie looked where Zoe pointed and realized she was right. She closed her eyes and wished...
When she opened them again, the shooting star was gone.
She turned to lay on her side and face Zoe. "So, Zoe, I'm a telepath. But I'm a special telepath. I force people to say their thoughts. What did you wish for?"
"For Shannon Messenger to make a new Keeper of the Lost Cities book."
Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger was Jamie and Zoe's favorite book series that had ended less than—but close to—a year ago.
"You?" Zoe asked.
"I wished to be able to go into Keeper of the Lost Cities," Jamie told her. Sure, it was a weird wish, but, one, she and Zoe always made the most unrealistic wishes (like wishing to have superpowers, to be able to conjure food wherever they go, or to pass a test). It was their thing.
Two, Jamie completely adored the Keeper of the Lost Cities characters. She admired Dex's creativity, Biana's grit, Linh's kindness, Sophie's bravery, Tam's loyalty, Fitz's ability to be a pathetic jerk (really, she did admire that! He made it look so easy!), and absolutely loved everything about Keefe Sencen. So, it made sense for her to wish that.
Suddenly, the alarm on Zoe's phone went off, signaling that it was eight-forty-five p.m., and they had to go back inside. Sighing, the two girls stood up, walked down the hill in their backyard, and went back inside. After they took off their shoes and said "good night" to their parents, they climbed under the covers of their beds, and slowly drifted off to sleep...
..."Miss Blair!"
Until a nasally voice woke Jamie up. After she opened her eyes, she blinked a couple of times, wincing as bright lights assaulted her vision. She seemed to be in a museum of some sorts...
Suddenly, waves of emotions hit her, strong enough to almost make her knees buckle. She could pick out annoyance, smugness, and excitement, and each emotion felt like it had a string that connected it to various points in the place—
Wait, not just points...
People.
"Miss Blair!" Ugh, there was the voice again—and they called her by her last name. She hated that.
"Yes?" she asked distractedly as she tried to make sense of the feelings she was getting.
"Is there a reason why you're barefoot and wearing your pajamas to school?"
Snickers erupted from the rest of the people around her, all who were around a foot taller than her. Only the man—a teacher, maybe, since he said she was wearing them to school?—and the blonde girl next to her didn't laugh, but the blonde shrank back. The blonde was the only one who was around the same height as her, too; the rest looked like high school seniors or something.
Slowly, Jamie looked down, and realized in horror that she was, in fact, wearing pajamas (shorts and a baggy, Spider-Man t-shirt that was extremely loose and hung off her shoulders) and no shoes to "school" (with her beanie, of course... not that it helped much). She looked back up and blurted the first reason that came to mind:
"I'm trying to get a tan!"
More snickers, and the blonde winced. The others whispered about how stupid she was if she believed the man (Mr. Sneezy or something) would believe that excuse.
"A tan?" he repeated, sounding understandably confused; Jamie was, too.
Uh-oh-uh-oh-uh-oh, her brain chanted.
"Uh... yeah?" It came out more like a question. "I mean, you have to expose your skin to tan, right?"
And that just sounded weird...
"We're inside," Mr. Sneezy stated incredulously, although he thankfully ignored her last sentence.
She—unfortunately—opened her mouth again. "Fluorescent lights! They can give tans!" When he opened his mouth, she added, "You don't know I'm wrong, Mr. Sneezy!"
The annoyance that connected to Mr. Sneezy became pure rage as he turned bright red, the others cracked up, and the blonde shrunk back further. "My name is Mr. Sweeney!" he hissed.
"Oh, sorry Mr. Sneezy—I mean, Sweeney!"
"I will be sending a message to your parents," he vowed angrily before stalking off to the next room.
Jamie toyed with the idea of shouting back, "I don't even have parents!" but decided against it: she was in enough trouble, and she didn't even know the guy.
Also, where exactly was she?
For one, she was still in the pajamas that she had worn the previous night, as Mr. Sneezy (Sweeney—whatever) ever-so-graciously pointed out. For another, she did not sleep wherever she was, thank you very much. She was an orphan, not homeless.
So... there was only one explanation, then: she was kidnapped, and her memories were wiped, and—
Okay, that was a dumb idea. No, she was probably dreaming.
Satisfied with that answer, Jamie turned to follow the group, but the same blonde from earlier turned to her and crossed her arms. She had light blond hair and brown eyes, and was shockingly pretty—but it was obvious from the dull colors that she wore that she tried to not draw attention to herself.
"You know, for a twelve-year-old high school senior, you can be surprisingly stupid." she said, her voice that strange mixture between disapproval and grudging amusement that Jamie had thought only adults could use.
And then she realized something.
A high school senior?! Who was she, Sophie Foster—
Suddenly, the pieces fell together; Sophie Foster was blond-haired and brown-eyed twelve-year-old high school senior. Mr. Sweeney was her teacher, who absolutely hated her. And then some kid came and insulted her—
"Nice job, superfreak," a boy wearing a t-shirt that read BACK OFF! I'M GONNA FART sneered at Sophie as he shoved past her. Jamie remembered reading about this guy; he was Garwin Chang, and he was bitter about something... Right! Because Sophie was offered a full scholarship to Yale, while he was rejected!
Jamie took a second to marvel at how smart Sophie was, because, let's get real, that was impressive.
"Maybe they'll write another article about you," he continued. "'Child Prodigy Teaches Class About the Lame-o-saurus."
Anger swirled in Jamie's heart as she watched Sophie just take the insults, hurt swimming in her eyes. That made her speak again:
"Really makes you wonder why he didn't get into Yale," she drawled, but not loud enough so that Fart-Face could hear, unfortunately (don't judge the name! If he wears a shirt like that, he should know the price). "I mean, 'Lame-o-saurus? Not only should he apologize for insulting you, but also to the Limbosaurus,"
Sophie smiled slightly but still corrected her, "Lambeosaurus,"
"But Limbosaurus sounds cooler!"
Sophie just sighed and shook her head, and Jamie finished her train of thought from before Garwin interrupted her; some kid came and insulted her about being famous.
Waves of nausea overtook her as she came to her conclusion:
Jamie was in Keeper of the Lost Cities.
What do you think?
~Sarcasticsnark13