Double Trouble (7 page)

“Genie!” she called. “I need a hand! We can use my sweatpants to block out the light under the door.”

Yawning, Genie scrambled out of bed to help her Together they pushed the sweatpants tightly against the gap at bottom of the door Now Ray's lamp wouldn't shine onto the landing.

“I've turned my light off now,” Genie called.

“Good,” Mom called back. “Now get some sleep. Good night.”

Ali and Genie both sighed with relief. “That was close!” Genie breathed.

“But I think the light's getting even brighter” Ali said in dismay as Genie lifted her back onto the bed. “How am I going to get to sleep?”

Genie picked up Ali's sparkly pink sunglasses, which lay on the desk. “No problem,” she laughed. “I'll wear these.”
She put the sunglasses on and climbed back into bed.

“But what about me?” Ali grumbled. She wasn't going to wear sunglasses at night! Besides, she didn't have any that would fit her.

“You could sleep under the quilt,” Genie said, lifting it up.

“No, thanks,” Ali said. “You might squash me. Besides, it's too hot!” Sighing, she climbed back to her place on the pillow and buried her face in it to block out the light She Was sure she was never going to get to sleep.

***

“Ali, hurry up. It's time for school. Ali!”

Ali woke at the sound of Little Genie's voice. She blinked and sat up, rubbing her eyes. She was still tired because it had taken her forever to fall asleep. Her heart sank as she realized that nothing had changed. She was still tiny, Genie still looked exactly like her the lamp was still glowing brightly, and Ray was still asleep on his flying carpet.

Genie was standing in the middle of the bedroom, already dressed in jeans and a blue top. “Look,” she announced, holding out her wrist. “There's still lots of sand to run through the hourglass. That means I'll have to go to school again today”

“Oh.” Ali felt a bit upset. She had been looking forward to the special cooking
class they had once a week. And Mrs. Jasmine was going to be reading students' stories to the class in language arts, and Ali didn't want to miss that.

“Do you want to come with me again?” Genie asked. “Yesterday was fun!”.

Ali hesitated; then shook her head. “No, thanks. What if the sand ran through and we changed back in the middle of class?” She sighed. “Just put me on my desk and I'll find something to do.”

Genie scooped Ali up and carried her over to the desk. Then she slung the backpack over her shoulder and opened the door. “Have a great day, Ali. See you!”

Ali listened to Genie run downstairs. She sat gloomily on the desk, swinging her legs. She was bored already. Ray was
still asleep. There were some magazines and books on the desk, so Ali went over to see if she could find something to read.

The pile of books looked as big as paving slabs, and it was really difficult to pull the top one off the heap. It took Ali ages, and she was hot and breathless by the time she managed to open it. She began to read, but the print was so huge, it made her eyes hurt, and turning each page was a struggle. In the end, Ali gave up. She glanced at the clock. To her dismay, it was only halfway through the morning.

Ray turned over mumbling in his sleep again.
“Now, I'll do the R-30 at a special price just for you, with go-faster fringes
thrown in for nothing can't do better than that…”

“Is he ever going to wake up?” Ali wondered out loud. She felt a bit dizzy and her head hurt. It was probably because she hadn't had enough sleep last night.

Then she looked down at her hand. Her fingers were tingling. Was it her imagination, or were they getting
bigger
? Yes, they were! And that meant—

Ali leapt to her feet. She had to get off the desk! But it was too late. In seconds she shot right up to her full height She had to duck to avoid hitting her head on the ceiling.

Pop!
Ray, his flying carpet, and his sun-lamp disappeared.

Ali couldn't help feeling very relieved, even though she had liked Ray. “I'm back to normal!” she exclaimed. “All the sand must have run through Genie's hour-glass,”

She climbed down from the desk, feeling much happier. Now she could enjoy herself for the rest of the day and watch TV.

But a terrible thought suddenly struck her. If all the wishes were over and
she
was back to normal, then that meant Little Genie was back to normal too. And that meant Genie was somewhere at school, looking like Genie instead of Ali!

“Nearly there!” Ali panted, running at full speed down the street toward Montgomery Elementary. She'd thrown on a pair of jeans and a dark blue top and dashed out of the house. Somehow she'd have to take Genie's place in the class without anyone noticing. Genie would be small again, so it should be easy for her to hide somewhere.

Ali raced across the playground and
was just about to run into school when the bell rang. A moment later, all the doors opened and everyone began to pour outside for recess. Ali's class was one of the first out Tiffany and her friends appeared; then Mary came running out She did a double take when she saw Ali.

“How did
you
get out here so fast?” she asked. “Honestly, Ali, you've been acting weird all morning!”

“I didn't feel well,” Ali said quickly. “Mrs. Jasmine said I could come outside for some fresh air”

“Oh.” Mary still looked puzzled. “You looked okay a few minutes ago.” She stared at Ali's shirt. “Weren't you wearing a light blue shirt?”

Ali tried to laugh. “I guess the color just looks different in the sunlight,” she said. “I—I think I need to go get a drink” She ran back inside, leaving Mary staring after her.

Hoping that none of the teachers would spot her Ali dashed along the corridor; past an army of cleaning people mopping up the puddles in the hallway, and raced to the kitchen classroom.

The kitchen was empty. Cooling racks covered with chocolate chip cookies were lined up on the counters. A delicious smell lingered in the air.

Ali looked around frantically. “Genie!” she called softly. “It's me, Ali. Are you here?”

At first she didn't hear anything, but
then … was that a moan? It seemed to be coming from a canister of sugar!

Ali leaned across the counter and fished cautiously around inside the sugar canister In a moment she pulled out a very sugary Genie! “Are you all right?” Ali cried, trying to dust her off. “What happened?”

“I was leaning across the counter when the wishes ran out.” Genie sneezed, wiping sugar from her face, “When I shrank, I fell into the sugar! Luckily everyone was too busy tasting their cookies to notice.”

“Let's get you cleaned up,” Ali said, trying not to laugh. Genie looked like a little doughnut! She took Genie over to the sink and dabbed at her with a damp paper towel until all the sugar was off.

Genie was almost clean when the bell rang again for the end of recess. A moment later, there were footsteps in the corridor.

“Everyone's coming back to get their cookies,”; Ali whispered. “You'd better hide!” She picked Genie up and popped her into her pocket.

A second later; Mrs. Jasmine walked in with the class behind her. “Ali!” said the teacher, looking rather annoyed. “What are you doing in here?”

“I just wanted to check on my cookies, Mrs. Jasmine,” Ali said. She could see that Mary was looking suspiciously at her again, so she grabbed the baking rack that held Genie's cookies. “Would anyone like to try one?”

Everyone crowded around. Not surprisingly, Tiffany and her friends pushed their way to the front and took the first cookies.

“I bet they're not as nice as mine,” Tiffany said scornfully, taking the biggest cookie of all.

“Ali!” Genie tugged frantically at All's shirt.

“What's the matter?” Ali said under her breath. “The cookies look great!” Ali hoped that if the cookies were yummy enough, Tiffany might just forget about Genie making her look stupid on the basketball court.

“I'm not sure Tiffany's going to like those cookies much,” Genie confessed as Tiffany took a big bite. “I made the
cookies exactly the way genies like them—with extra-hot pepper!”

Ali watched in horror as her classmates began to cough, their eyes watering. She turned her back on them and locked eyes with Little Genie.

“Turn the hourglass upside down!” Ali said urgently as Tiffany pushed past her to get a glass of water. “I need my next set of wishes to start right now!”