They all gasped. "It's incredible." Rachael exclaimed. "I thought those only existed in books." Cloe said in disbelief. "Girls. It's a genie's lamp." Ryan stated not surprised, "They aren't too hard to find in antique shops these days." Rachael reached inside and pulled out a golden lamp fit for a genie.
"Lets rub it." Cloe urged. "What?" Ryan asked, "Cloe, you don't actually believe that stuff about rubbing a genie's lamp, do you?" "Of course she does." Rachael told him with a sigh as she shook her head. "I'm not afraid to say I am." Cloe retorted a bit stiffly, "Why don't we se what else is in the chest?"
"We'll do that." Ryan looked at her with a sour face, but then smiled at her when Rachael's back was turned. "Do you think I'm going to break something?" Cloe demanded an answer. "Well, it's quite possible." Ryan teased. "You better learn to sleep with your eyes open." Cloe sulked.
"Which reminds me. If you'll be so kind as to let me stay over, I'll be glad to learn how." Ryan told the girls. "Why?" Rachael asked curiously, while digging through the photographs inside the chest. "Well, I knew Sharpay would never let me come here, if she knew, so I told her that I was spending the night in a hotel." Ryan explained. "Well then, welcome to the Hotel ala Rachael." Rachael told him looking up.
"Thanks." he responded gratefully. "No problem." she said, "But you might want to take a look at this." "What is it?" Cloe asked still a bit disgruntled. "A bunch of letters written to my mother." Rachael responded. "Well, read it." Ryan told her.
"I read through one of them and it's talking about some lady's trips to Arabia where she picked up this lamp we have here." she explained. "Who's it from?" Cloe asked interested. "Somebody called Corinne Miller." Rachael responded and Ryan started to choke. "What's wrong?" Rachael asked as Cloe went over to him and started to pat him on the back.
"That's my mother!" he exclaimed as he gasped for air. "And, by the looks of these letters, our moms were best friends." Rachael said. "How so?" Cloe asked still rubbing Ryan's back to calm him down. "I'm not sure." Rachael told them, "But it means that the Evans and the Thomas families are old family friends."
"What luck." Ryan choked. "Breathe, Drama Boy. In, out." Cloe told him and he started to calm down. "Thanks." he told her. "What happened that your moms both stopped talking?" Cloe asked curiously as she sat down next to Ryan. "I'm not sure." Rachael responded paging through the letters, "But whatever it was, it had to have been big to break up friends like this."
"Maybe it was a crush." Cloe suggested. "Could be." Ryan added. "Well, it says here that Corinne got the lamp from a merchant who said it was good luck and had supposedly hosted a one of a kind family of genies." Rachael stated. "It looks like your mom didn't buy that story either." Ryan told her.
"I still want to rub it." Cloe said and crossed her arms. "I don't know." Rachael laughed nervously. "Yeah. I heard that smoof is a hard stain to get out." Ryan teased. "Ha. Ha. You're so funny." Cloe stated sarcastically as she looked at him. "Hilarious." he retorted. Cloe rolled her eyes at him and he smiled.
"Whatever the case, we're not going to rub the…smoof…of a lamp." Rachael told them, "What is smoof anyway?" "Genie dust. It's what keeps the genie in the lamp." Cloe said as a matter-of-factly. "Bravo." Ryan stated, clapping his hands. "Brava." Rachael corrected.
(A/N) This is another short chapter. I'm sorry to keep you hanging…again, but I really enjoy giving you sort-of cliffies. Just ignore the fact that this chapter was so short. R&R! Please…please…please… I need reviews…or else I might stop writing this thing. R&R!