Wishful Thinking (5 page)

“What?” Sophie loved Harvey, of course she did, but sometimes she feared for his sanity. “Is this another one of your nonverbal communication things? Because it's not funny.”

“Soph,” Kara said in a soft voice as she continued to stare. “He's not joking. You really need to look at your arm.”

Sophie shot them both a look before she cautiously peered down at her arm (which, thanks to this boiling weather and her short-sleeved T-shirt, was almost fully exposed). Then she only just resisted the urge to scream as she looked at her other arm and realized her friends really hadn't been joking.

As far as she could make out, she was completely orange.

O
KAY, SO IS ANYONE ELSE THINKING WHAT I'M thinking?” Harvey asked ten minutes later as they squeezed into the janitor's closet, which was full of mops and buckets but completely empty of evil, lying djinns who obviously liked to spend their days tricking innocent girls.

“What? That this place smells of bleach?” Kara wrinkled her nose as she looked around the tiny space. But Sophie hardly heard them as she continued to stare at her arm in disbelief.

There had been moments in her life when she had really thought the world was about to stop. Like when her dad had left and then forgotten to come back, or when her mom had refused to get out of her pajamas for four weeks after it had happened. But nothing had prepared her for how she might feel to discover that she was orange.

Oh, and she wasn't talking about a “spray-tan-gone-wrong” sort of orange either, but more of a “Hello, and welcome to your new life as an Oompa Loompa” orange.

“No.” Harvey shook his head so that his straight hair went flying into his eyes. “Of course I'm not talking about the smell, I'm talking about Sophie. Is anyone thinking that the djinn wasn't lying about the fact that Soph's now got all of his power?”

“But that's ridiculous.” Sophie finally dragged her gaze away from her arm and resisted the urge to look into the small chipped mirror that was hanging on the wall, since absolutely no good could come from seeing her face right now. “I mean, it makes no sense.
And where is the djinn anyway?
He said all I had to do is clap and he would turn up. Why hasn't he turned up? Why?” she demanded as she continued to clap her hands in a manic beat.

“I don't know, but the important thing is not to panic,” Kara said in a soothing voice.

“How can I not panic?” Sophie panicked as she started to clap even louder. “I'm orange.”

“Yes, but for all we know it could just be some weird disease with a really complicated name and we're freaking out about nothing,” Kara said. “What if we go to the school nurse and ask her?”

“You think a disease that turns you orange isn't something to freak out about?” Sophie yelped, and Kara shot her an apologetic wince.

“Sorry. I just meant that it might be a complete coincidence and nothing to do with the djinn at all. Stop looking at me like that, Harvey. It could happen.”

“I really don't think that there are many diseases in suburban San Diego that turn you orange.” Then he turned back to Sophie, the frown lines still clearly etched into his face. “So when you saw the djinn before, what exactly did he say to you?”

Sophie rubbed her brow for a moment and tried to recall. Of course the problem with being a positive person was that she tended to push aside the negative stuff that she didn't want to hear (especially when it involved being turned into a djinn).

“Okay, so first he told me that by taking the ring off his finger, I had killed him. Then he said that because I'd worn the ring for twenty-four hours (without dying), I'd now inherited all his powers. I mean, can you believe that?” As she spoke she blew another breath of air up onto her burning forehead.

“Yeah, sort of.” Harvey reluctantly nodded while ignoring the blatant glare that Kara was throwing at him. “I hate to say it, but it sounds like he was telling the truth.”

“Oh, man, this is bad.” Sophie helplessly waved her hands in the air before realizing that seeing her orange fingers was anything but comforting. She immediately thrust them into her pockets instead. “I mean, I'm eleven. What am I going to do?”

“Go back in time and not put the ring on?” Harvey suggested.

“Harvey, you're not helping,” Kara interrupted, but Sophie shook her head and felt a faint glimmer of hope rise up.

“Actually, he's right. Well, not about the going back in time thing, but it all started with the ring, so what if I just take it off? Perhaps things will just go back to normal?”

Please let things go back to normal.

“I don't know.” Kara started to frown. “Didn't the djinn tell you to leave the ring on? I mean, things are bad enough. You don't want to make them worse.”

“Worse? How can it get worse? Besides, he also told me that I would never see him again and that everything would be fine, so I guess we can conclude that the djinn is a big fat liar, complete with flaming pants and a very long nose,” Sophie retorted as she closed her eyes (to stop from noticing how pretty and shiny the ring was). Then, before she could change her mind, she yanked it off her finger.

There, it was done, and now her life could go back to normal and. . . 
argh
.

She dropped to the floor in pain as it felt as though a thousand daggers were plunging into every inch of her skin.

“What's happening?” Kara yelled in alarm. But Sophie hardly heard her as her mind clouded with pain, and she shut her eyes to try and close it out.

“Soph, put the ring back on,” Harvey commanded, but when she didn't respond, he bent down and eased it over her knuckle. The pain instantly retreated, and Sophie looked up at him, her mind still a bit foggy.

“Oh my God,” she croaked. “That
was
worse. Like really, really worse.” Then she leaned against the mop bucket as the truth finally hit her. She let out a groan. “I'm a djinn, aren't I?”

This time even Kara reluctantly nodded her head. “It seems like it.”

“B-but I don't want to be a djinn.” She could feel her lip start to wobble. “Especially not an orange one. How can I even leave the closet looking like this? I'll tell you how, I can't. Which means I'll have to live here. Forever. With only a mop and a bucket for company. I'll be like Tom Hanks in that movie where he's stuck in an airport with only a coconut to talk to, but at least he wasn't orange and—”

“That was an island, not an airport,” Harvey interrupted, but Sophie just waved him off.

“Whatever. The point is that I can't let anyone see me like this. You know how kids are. I would
never
be able to live it down.”

“Yes, but if you're a djinn, perhaps you can do some magic and become un-orange?” Kara suggested. “I mean, when we saw the djinn yesterday, he was doing all sorts of stuff without even breaking a sweat.”

“Yeah, like tricking me into wearing his stupid ring,” Sophie brooded before realizing that right now freaking out wasn't going to get her anywhere. “But I guess I could try.”

Harvey frowned. “I'm not sure that's such a good idea, but if you are going to try and dabble with forces beyond your control, I don't suppose you could magic me up some food as well? We had to leave the cafeteria pretty quick, and I didn't get to finish my lunch.”

“Harvey,” Kara growled.

“What? I'm just saying that a little food wouldn't go astray. I mean, it's not like you couldn't ask her for something as well. One of those horsehair paintbrushes that you're always going on about. Or. . . okay, fine. I'll stop thinking about food,” he trailed off, probably influenced by the way Kara had narrowed her normally wide eyes at him.

“Thank you,” Kara said in a sweet voice before giving Sophie a reassuring nod. “Just focus on thinking un-orange thoughts.”

“Okay.” Sophie took a deep breath. After all, not only was she a positive thinker, but she was also a master of visualization. And despite the fact that her vision of the first day of sixth grade wasn't quite going as planned, Kara was right, if she really was a djinn, then it stood to reason that she could do magic.

Which, she had to admit, would be very cool.

She cleared her mind and tried to picture what her face normally looked like (okay, without so many freckles, but what was the harm in that?), and then she tried to regulate her breathing. Slowly, her mind emptied, and she shut her eyes and let herself get lost in the moment.

I'm not orange. I'm not orange. I'm not, not, notty-not-not orange, she mentally chanted as a feeling of peace settled over her. Finally, after what seemed like ages, she opened her eyes and turned to her friends.

“Well?” she demanded in an expectant voice. “How do I look?”

“You know, it seems to have gone a little bit paler,” Kara said in a kind voice.

“Really?” Sophie wanted to know as she finally succumbed to the temptation of looking at herself in the mirror. It was not pretty viewing, and the combination of her straight blonde hair, her brown eyes, and her freckles all against the backdrop of her bright orange skin made her look like a bad fall day.

“Okay, not really,” Kara was forced to concede as she put her hand over the mirror so that Sophie would stop staring at her reflection. “But perhaps these things just take time to learn?”

“Which wouldn't be a problem if we didn't have a math class in ten minutes,” Harvey said as he glanced at his watch, and Sophie immediately shook her head.

“I'm sorry, guys, but there is no way I'm leaving this closet looking like this.”

“You want to miss class on your first day of school?” Harvey asked.

“I don't exactly have much choice.” Sophie waved her arms to prove her point, but before she could say anything else, Kara let out a yelping noise.

“Actually, I think I've got an idea of how we can get rid of the orange skin.”

“You know magic?” Harvey looked surprised, but Kara quickly shook her head as she rustled around in her bag for something.

“Not exactly.” Kara grinned. “I was thinking more along the lines of painting you.”

“You want to
what
me?” Sophie stared at her friend as if she was crazy.
Actually, scrap the “as if”‘ part of that sentence.

“Seriously, this paint I got at my art camp is amazing, and it's totally nontoxic, so it will be fine on the skin. Now hold back your hair so I can start on your face.”

“What? No, it's bad enough being orange. I don't want to be orange and covered in paint,” Sophie protested.

“How about being orange and given a detention for missing your afternoon classes on the first day of school,” Harvey pointed out. “It's got to be worth a try. At least until your djinn friend turns up and teaches you a few tricks.”

“Come on, guys,” Sophie started again. “You don't seriously think this is going to work, do you?”

“It would work a lot better if you could keep still,” Kara admonished with a frown as she chewed on the end of her paintbrush for a moment before using it to carefully dab Sophie's chin. “Because if you keep wriggling, I'm going to get paint all over your clothes.”

“I know, but I can't help it.” Sophie moaned some more. “I mean, this is the worst thing ever. And why hasn't the djinn turned up yet?” she demanded as she once again clapped her hands together.

“I don't know, but I do know that you need to stop with all the clapping and let Kara finish painting you,” Harvey said.

Personally, Sophie would've preferred to go straight home and hide under her bed until this whole thing was sorted out, but they were right, sneaking out of school on the first day probably wasn't such a great idea. Especially since her mom had been looking a little bit stressed lately and her getting a detention probably wouldn't help.
For that matter, neither would finding out that her daughter had been turned into an orange djinn.

“Okay, I'm almost finished.” Kara stepped back and seemed to be examining Sophie's face with a critical eye before turning her attention to Sophie's hands and arms. Finally, she nodded in approval. “There. Done. And you know, as long as you don't let anyone get too close to you, I think you should be okay for the next two classes.”

“And this will help cover you up,” Harvey added as he shrugged off his favorite hoodie and draped it over her shoulders.

“Thanks,” Sophie said as she wriggled into it. Due to the fact that Harvey was so tall (and she was so short), it reached almost to her knees, and the sleeves covered not only her arms but her hands and fingers as well. “Though I'm still not sure about this.”

“It won't be forever.” Kara gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze as she passed over a small mirror so that Sophie could inspect her face. It wasn't perfect, but at least the paint was now hiding the worst of the orangeness. Then she inspected her fingers and wrists and tried to convince herself that they looked normal. “It just needs to work until you can get hold of the djinn and get this whole thing sorted out. Now, there's the final bell, so we'd better get our hustle on. Oh, and Soph, one more thing.”

“What?” Sophie blinked as she tried not to think about just how insane this day was becoming.

“Don't let anyone throw water on you.”

Yup, definitely insane.