Chapter Sixteen: Till Death Do Us Part

I blinked at Bridget, and threw her hand off my mouth. "What? That's impossible. I can just wish--"

"Not you can't," she interjected. "Trust me. You can wish, you can plead, you can pray, and you can run, but like it or not, now that we have locked eyes, our souls are intertwined until you kick the bucket."

I slammed my hand on my locker. "BULLSHIT!"

"Oh, don't act like that. You don't think I like this either, do you? I don't. But it's the fucking truth. Good news is, I don't have a wish limit. You can make wishes all you want." She scoffed. "I can't promise it's gonna work out well for you though."

"So I'm assuming that since we're stuck together until I die, you're going to try to twist my words and use my wishes to kill me?"

"Are you seriously trying to accuse me for trying to murder you when we haven't even known each other for two hours? Yeah, I could technically use your own wishes to kill you, but then whoopdie do, I'd have a new master. I could slaughter a million masters, but it wouldn't free me from being a genie. I could wipe out the entire human race, and it still wouldn't stop me from being a genie. Hell, I've had animal masters before. Like it or not, you and I are going to be together forever."

"What?" a voice said. I turned around, and there was Jean standing behind me with Kaylee.

"Told you, girl," Kaylee said. "He was all looking in her eyes and shit, saying they were special. I seen them."

I could feel my face redden. "That was completely out of context!"

"Shut up, cheater!" Kaylee pointed her finger at me.

"Jean," I said, attempting to collect my words together. "Let's talk. I'll explain everything."

Jean's eyes were full of tears, but she nodded. The two of us walked to the garden portion of our school. Since class was over for the day, no one was here but us.

"I want to know everything," she said. "I won't be mad, but I just want to know the truth."

Unlike other girls, when Jean says she won't get mad if you tell her the truth, she's actually genuine. She's calm and polite. I know that I can tell her the truth in most circumstances and she'll still approach me with calmness and kindness.

Unfortunately though, I still couldn't tell her the truth. I wasn't trying to evade her non-existent wrath, nor was I attempting to deceive her for my own gain. I was doing it to protect her. When I made my last wish with Jean, I wished for her to be freed from her genie past, so she forgot all her memories. They were too traumatizing for her. She would have night terrors and cry in the middle of the night. If she knew I had a new genie that I had to deal with, it could risk bringing all that back, and that was a risk I wasn't willing to take.

I touched the gold coin necklace around my own neck. Jean looked calm, but I could feel her pain seeping through. It was a skill I've picked up in the past year I've been together: how to read the necklace's emotions. It was easier to me than trying to read a person's small context clues or personal psychologies or whatever.

I was going to have to fabricate a story that was as close to the truth as possible, but was put in a way Jean could understand. "So this is what happened," I said, hoping my story would magically find its way into my words if I just started talking. "Bridget showed up in my economics class, and she was a new student, right?"

"Yeah . . . ?"

So far so good. "Out of fucking no where, she just started staring at me. Then, she told Ms. Ariel that she wanted to sit next to me and gave her threats. You can ask all the people in class. It happened. Eventually she won, sat next to me, and stared at me the whole time. I ran from her after class because I was under the impression that she was insane, but she found my locker and started talking to me, and she told me that she wanted to be with me forever."

Jean's jaw dropped. "Oh my gosh, Nick. Is she . . . is she stalking you? You need to go to the police."

I shook my head. "I . . . I can't."

"Why not?"

Yeah, why not, genius? I seriously backed myself into a hole. Think, think, think. "Because I feel bad for her. She's been through a lot lately. Her parents just died, and her brother just went to prison. I think she might be having a mental breakdown, so psychologically she is trying to cling to me because she can't handle all the loss. Her first instinct was to latch on to someone, and I guess I was the closest guy nearby." What kind of bullshit was I even spewing out.

Jean frowned. "Wow, that sounds awful." She raised a brow at me. "I never knew you could be so empathetic. I have to say, you've really been impressing me lately with your people skills."

I shrugged. "Well, I guess I'm just a people-person guy now." I'm so stupid for dragging myself even further into this hole, but as the kids say, 'yolo'. "For now, I have a proposal. I think we should wait her out. She's not dangerous, she just needs therapy."

"I'll do whatever you think is best." She gave me a hug. "Thank you for being so honest with me. I really appreciate that." She kissed me on the cheek. "I knew Kaylee must have misunderstood. I love you."

I held her hand. "I love you too, Jean."

Something was stirring within me. Some negative feeling of some sort. What was this feeling? No, I'm only humoring myself again by pretending I needed to ask. It was guilt. Very, very heavy guilt. No matter how many times I tried to convince myself that I was doing the right thing, guilt was intertwined with my soul.

* * *

When Jean and I got back to our lockers, Bridget was gone. Kaylee, for whatever reason, was completely confused as to when she left and why she didn't remember. I had to explain myself to Kaylee now too and lie even further when she poked holes in my story. This lying thing was beginning to go too far. I could only hope this was the right thing to do, because I was in deep.

* * *

After school, me, Ryan, Kaylee, and Jean did something that used to be our 'signature thing', but we haven't done it in a few months: we went bowling. Back in the previous era of our friendship, bowling was actually pretty enjoyable. It was a good bonding time between the four of us that was laced with friendly competition, laughs, encouragement, and cheer.

Now, bowling wasn't bad, but it just wasn't the same. It was awkward, and every moment I was there felt like my skin was being gently pricked by a cactus. Key word: gently. The vibe between us before was a humble orange, but now it was ash gray. Every time someone tried to lighten the mood, it didn't work out well. Everything was just too bleak, and all four of us knew it.

I tried to convince myself that it was just because Kaylee and Ryan were fighting and in time, their relationship would get better, along with our friend group, but who's kidding? The era had it's time, and now its time is over.

* * *

Finally, after a long day, I was outside my house. Jean wanted to hang out a bit after the bowling alley, but I told her I was too tired, which was the truth. Too many things were happening at once. My mind was overflowing with thoughts, and I wasn't in any mood or condition to entertain my girlfriend. I needed time to contemplate. I needed to think.

I walked through my front door. I expected the lights to be off, but they were on. I double-checked the driveway. My dad's car wasn't here, but was he home? Maybe he just forgot to turn them off. I plopped down on the couch. I tried to focus on my problems and what I needed to do, but I was so tired. Every thought I pumped in my brain gradually became less complex, until they were nonexistent and I dozed off.

BOOM. I woke up. The noise came from upstairs. I got up and checked the driveway again, but my dad's car was still absent.

Click, click, click. Footsteps came from upstairs. Okay, perhaps something happened to the car and my dad had to take the bus home.

I slowly walked up the steps. "Dad? Is that you?" I was cautious, but eventually I made my way to the second floor. My dad's office was down the hall, and there was the rustle of furniture being moved around. "Dad, is that you? Where's the car?"

I entered my dad's office, but all his stuff was gone, and was replaced with a bed, desk, and suitcases. Never mind that. There was Bridget, piercing me with those teal eyes, arranging the room. "Sup, master?"

"What are you doing here?!"

"Till death do us part, remember?"