Double Trouble

Book by Jones Miranda

Chapter Two
Oola, Moola, Poola

"I must be dreaming," Ali Miller murmured, sitting up in bed. She rubbed her eyes and stared at her desk. Her pink furry pencil case was wiggling about as if it was alive! Suddenly, the zipper opened and a tiny head with a long blond ponytail popped out.

"Oh, Genie!'' Ali said. "What are you doing?"

Little Genie grinned. "I thought this would make a really cool jacket," she said, stroking the fur. "What do you think?''

Ali laughed. Having her very own genie around was definitely the most exciting thing that had ever happened to her.

"I think my pencil case would look great as a jacket, too,'' Ali said. ''But I need it for school today."

Little Genie wriggled out of the pencil case. Her ponytail drooped. She was wearing sparkly purple pajamas and matching slippers. "I'd better put all your stuff back, then," she said with a sigh. Ali's pencils, pens, erasers, and ruler were lying on the desk in a topsy-turvy heap.

"I'll help you,'' Ali offered, climbing out of bed. She pulled back the curtains. Sunshine streamed into the room. "Isn't it nice out?'' She yawned. ''I wish I didn't have to go to school!'' She looked hopefully over at Genie.

Little Genie held out her arm. On her wrist she wore a tiny gold watch shaped like an hourglass and filled with sparkling pink sand. ''Remember what I told you,'' she reminded Ali. "Your second set of wishes won't start until the sand begins moving through the hourglass."

Ali nodded. She was really looking forward to her next three wishes, which would last for as long as the sand took to run from one half of the hourglass to the other. The hourglass ran on genie time, which didn't seem to follow any rules. Ali never knew how long her wishes would last, but she still couldn't wait. This time she was determined to wish for something she really, really wanted.

"Why don't you want to go to school?" asked Little Genie, heaving a ruler into the pencil case. "You sound like me. I didn't like going to Genie School either.''

Ali grinned at her small friend. Little Genie had told her that she'd got into such big trouble mixing up spells that the genie teachers had expelled her. Genie had had to stay in her Lava lamp and study magic until her eleventh owner came along–who was Ali!

Genie's magic skills still weren't very reliable. All shook her head as she remembered her first wishes. Genie had brought a tiny purple tiger to life from a chocolate advertisement in one of Ali's magazines. The tiger had been very sweet, but keeping him hidden from Ali's mom had been a nightmare. Not to mention the ten thousand bars of chocolate that had appeared when Ali wished for her favorite treat!

''So what's happening today?'' Little Genie asked, perching on Ali's strawberry-scented eraser.

Ali made a face. "A science test and drama class.'' Science was pretty fun. But she hated tests. And she wasn't so sure about drama. Some of the things the teacher wanted them to do were kind of dorky.

''Science and drama,'' Little Genie repeated longingly. ''In Genie School we had to do things like blinking exercises and ponytail swinging.'' She frowned. "Not to mention classes like Spells for Beginners and Math for Modern Genies.''

Ali twirled a pencil between her fingers. "Science is pretty cool. We do experiments and mix up chemicals in test tubes. But not today." Today she'd be trying to think of the answers to questions that were really hard.

"That sounds like Advanced Potions class!" Little Genie exclaimed. ''My teacher, Miss Cauldron, didn't like me very much. She sent me back to Spells for Beginners."

"Why?" Ali asked.

"I almost singed her eyebrows off with my exploding peanut butter," Genie confessed sheepishly. ''Anyway, what's drama?''

Ali shrugged. It was kind of hard to explain. "We do things like pretend to be trees." She started waving her arms about to show Little Genie what she meant and knocked the rest of the pens off the desk with her flailing hands.

"Oops!'' Ali bent to pick them up.

''Drama sounds great!" Genie said eagerly, peering down at Ali from on top of the desk. ''In Transformation we actually had to turn ourselves into trees, which always seemed silly. Especially when another genie named Lampella couldn't turn herself back. Although it did make our classroom a bit more interesting." Genie smiled. ''Just pretending to be one sounds lots more fun.''

Lampella? Ali shook her head. ''I don't think so.''

''Well, if school's going to be such a drag, it's a shame you can't just stay home," Little Genie said. She sat on the edge of Ali's desk, swinging her legs and looking thoughtful. "Hmmm.''

Suddenly, the bedroom door opened. Quick as lightning, Little Genie dived into the open pencil case, zipping it up behind her.

''Ali?" Her mom came into the room, looking puzzled. ''Who on earth were you talking to?''

Ali thought fast. Maybe this was her chance to get out of going to school! ''I was just trying out my voice," she said weakly, pretending to cough. "I've got a really sore throat."

Mom raised her eyebrows. "Open up," she said.

All opened her mouth wide and her mom peered inside.

"It doesn't look red," she said briskly. ''You'd better get dressed and come and have breakfast or you'll be late.'' She went over to the door. "Oh, and don't forget your science book,'' she added. "You can do some last-minute studying for your test.''

Ali's shoulders sagged as her mom went out. It had been worth a try, but her mom was hard to fool.

"Help, Ali!" called a tiny voice. "I'm stuck!"

The pencil case was twitching wildly from side to side like a fluffy pink worm. Ali rushed over to the desk. Genie's pajamas had got caught in the zipper. Ali tugged gently until the pencil case opened.

"Phew!" Little Genie panted as she stuck her head out. ''Thanks." She grinned at Ali. "So your mom didn't fall for it?"

''No," Ali admitted. "She never does."