Double Trouble (4 page)

“That's a great idea!” Ali could listen to the teacher; but she wouldn't have to
do
anything embarrassing! She took a deep breath.

“My second wish is, I wish I was tiny!” she said.

As soon as she made her wish, Ali began to feel dizzy. The room spun and she closed her eyes, feeling a bit sick.

“Ali?” Genie's voice suddenly sounded very loud. “Where are you?”

Cautiously Ali opened her eyes. She was standing next to a huge, shiny tree trunk Then she took a closer look It was the leg of the kitchen table. She really
had
shrunk!

“I'm down here,” Ali called. Her voice sounded tiny too. She stared up at Little
Genie, whose face loomed over her. “This is really weird.”

Little Genie laughed. “You'll get used to it,” she promised. “After all, I'm that size most of the time.” She bent down and carefully picked Ali up. “Don't worry, I'll look after you.”

She put Ali down on the table while she retrieved her backpack. Ali stared at the pepper grinder next to her. She wasn't much bigger than that! She hoped it didn't fall on her—it looked heavy.

“You'll be quite safe in here,” Little Genie said, unzipping one of the backpack pockets. “You'll be able to see and hear everything that's going on.”

She slid Ali gently into the pocket. Ali ducked her head through the zipper and
looked around. At the bottom there were a bunch of empty candy wrappers, paper clips, old papers, and some sticky pieces of grime. It was about time she cleaned her backpack, she thought, wrinkling her nose.

“Okay, Ali,” she heard Little Genie say. “We're off now Hold tight!”

The pocket was zipped up, and Ali was plunged into darkness. She felt the backpack being lifted off the table, and then there was a loud fizzing noise followed by a
whoosh!

Ali's heart thumped with excitement This was traveling Genie style! The backpack began to bounce all over the place, and Ali clung to a pencil to stop herself from being thrown around too much. She began to feel sick all over again. She crouched down and hugged her knees, hoping they'd get to school very soon.

There was a bang, and the backpack came to a stop. A tiny wisp of pink smoke drifted through the pocket.

“We're here,” whispered Genie.

There was the sound of the zipper
being undone, and then bright daylight flooded into the pocket Ali jumped to her feet Blinking, she carefully popped her head out They were in the school playground, behind one of the oak trees at the edge. The playground was full of kids.

“Genie!” Ali groaned. “What if someone had
seen
us?” How on earth would Genie, looking like Ali, have explained arriving in a puff of glittering pink smoke?

“Don't fuss,” Genie told her “No one's noticed a thing. Come on, let's go and find everyone.”

Ali watched from the half-open pocket as Genie walked across the playground. It was very strange to see everyone looking so huge while she was so small. She
couldn't see Mary anywhere, but Tiffany Andrews was shooting hoops with her friends. As usual, she spent most of the time bossing them around and shouting at everyone who got in her way.

“Hey, that looks like fun!” Genie said as Tiffany took a shot at the hoop. “I bet I could do that.”

Ali shook her head fiercely. “No way! Tiffany and her friends always get to the basketball court first,” she said through clenched teeth. “And they never let anyone else play with them.”

To Ali's alarm, she suddenly noticed that Tiffany was walking toward them, glaring at Genie. Quickly she ducked down inside the empty pocket.

“What are you looking at, Ali?” Tiffany
demanded. “I suppose you want to show us how good you are at hoops!”

Tiffany's friends laughed.

Ali had to bite her lip to stop herself from replying crossly that she
was
good at basketball.

“Well, yes,” Ali heard Genie say cheerfully. “Thanks.” Ali felt Genie slip the backpack off her shoulder and put it on the ground.

“No, Genie!” Ali whispered in a panic. “Tiffany wasn't
really
asking you to play!” What would all her friends think if they saw her shooting hoops with Tiffany Andrews? But when Ali popped her head out of the pocket, she was just in time to see Genie grab the ball from Tiffany and aim a shot at
the hoop at the far end of the court.

“You'll never score from there,” Tiffany scoffed as the ball sailed through the air. “You're too far away.”

Genie shrugged. “We'll see,” she said.

Everyone stopped and watched as the ball flew in a graceful arc toward the hoop. It fell straight through the net and bounced onto the court.

Tiffany's face was red. “That was just a fluke,” she snapped. “You couldn't do it again.”

“Sure I could,” Genie said, sounding surprised. “It was easy!”.

Ali couldn't help laughing at the sight of Tiffany's outraged expression.

“I could show you how I did it if you like,” Genie offered. She looked down at Ali in the backpack and winked. “Look,” she instructed Tiffany, speaking very slowly. “You hold the ball like this….”

Ali winced. Genie was being quite funny, but Tiffany was getting really mad. Ali was sure Tiffany would try to pay her back sometime. And knowing Ali's luck, that would be when her wish was over and she was back at school as herself!

“Genie, stop it!” Ali whispered as loudly as she dared, but Genie didn't hear her.

“Ali?”

Ali jumped when she heard Mary's voice behind them.

“What are you doing?” Mary asked, looking very surprised “You're not playing basketball with
Tiffany Andrews
, are you?”

“Not exactly,” Genie said, grinning broadly as Tiffany flounced off across the court with her friends, “I offered to give her some lessons, but she said no.”

Ali peered out and saw Mary give Genie a very strange look. “Are you okay?” Mary asked. “You've been kind of weird today.”

Ali squeezed her eyes shut. Mary was obviously getting very suspicious.

“I'm fine,” Genie said breezily “Never felt better”

“And where did you go at lunch?” Mary went on. “I saved a seat for you but you didn't show up.”

“I—I had to go to the office,” Genie stammered.

“Why?” Mary wanted to know.

“Well, I—I forgot my math book.”

“But we don't have math this afternoon,” Mary pointed out, looking more confused than even “We've got drama.”

Genie shrugged. “Oh, well, at least I'll have it ready for tomorrow!”

Ali was beginning to feel a bit anxious. What if Mary didn't want to be friends
with her anymore because Genie was being so weird? She had to tell Mary what was going on. Without thinking, Ali waved at her friend. “Mary! Over here!” she called in her tiny voice.

Genie glanced down and frowned. Quick as a flash, she zipped the pocket right up. Ali had to duck out of the way to stop herself from being caught in the zipper as it whizzed shut.

“Genie, let me out!” she yelled. But Genie ignored her.

Ali sat down on a scrunched-up candy wrapper; feeling fed up. She knew she shouldn't have tried to attract Mary's attention. She'd only done it because she didn't want to lose her best friend. “But if I told Mary everything, Genie would
have to go back into the lamp. And then I wouldn't be able to have any more wishes,” Ali mumbled. Although looking at how the wishes had turned out so far, maybe they weren't worth all the trouble!

When the bell rang, Ali felt the backpack swing up into the air. She bounced around as Genie walked. At last the backpack was put down with a thud, and the zipper opened.

“Where are we, Genie?” whispered Ali. She could hear a lot of voices. “In the classroom?” She was too nervous to pop her head out and look.

“No, we're in the hall,” Genie told her,
bending down low. “We're about to start drama class. I can't wait! Sorry for zipping you up like that But I couldn't let you tell Mary!”

“Are you talking to your backpack?” Ali peeked out with one eye and saw Mary standing there, staring at Genie.

“Who, me?” Genie joked. “No way! I was just talking to myself.”

Ali was very relieved when Mary burst out laughing. “Oh, that's all right then. That's completely normal!” she teased.

“Okay, people.” Ali's drama teacher; Mrs. Harvey, clapped as they filed into the large room that was used for drama as well as gym class. “Get into groups of five, please.”

Little Genie propped the backpack
against the wall so Ali would have a good view of all the action. Then Mary grabbed her hand, and they ran into the center of the room.

Ali watched as the class began to divide itself up with a lot of noise and bustle. Genie and Mary were in the same group, but there were, six of them, and only four in Tiffany Andrews's group.

“Ali, will you join that group, please?” Mrs. Harvey called, pointing to Tiffany and her friends.

Bad luck, Genie
, Ali thought as she saw Tiffany and her friends making faces at each other Genie didn't look bothered, though. She bounced across the room to, join the other group, ignoring their glares.

“Today we're going to imagine that we're at sea and a huge storm has blown up,” Mrs. Harvey told the class. “Imagine what it would be like to be tossed around on the waves with the rain beating down and a gale-force wind blowing in your faces, sea spray everywhere.”