The Wish Stealers (7 page)

A few feet from Griffin a tall, willowy girl, whom Griffin recognized from gym class, stopped with her mother to look
in the bakery window. “Look, Mom,” said the girl. “Look at the cake with the ballerina! She’s beautiful! Can I please, please,
please
take ballet lessons?”

“Kristina, I told you, it’s a waste of money,” said her mom.

“How do you know?” Kristina asked.

“Only one percent of ballet dancers can even get a job or make a living.”

“What if I’m the one percent?” asked Kristina.

“Most people aren’t meant to be dancers; they’re meant to watch. Lessons are a lot of money, and then for what?”

“Mom—”

“The answer is no!” said her mom. “Come on. I’m going to get a parking ticket!” Kristina’s mom walked away.

“I know I could be the most beautiful dancer if I took lessons, Mom,” called Kristina to her mother’s back.

Griffin froze.

Most beautiful
rang in Griffin’s ears.
That’s one of the wishes,
she thought. She turned to look at Kristina.

Kristina slunk a few paces behind her mother.

Griffin went back inside the bakery. A giant cake was set on the counter in the shape of Saturn, its rings frosted in yellow, orange, and red. The frosted letters on top read,
Congratulations! We’re over the moon (s) for you!

Griffin smiled. Saturn had more than sixty moons, so
the writing was a special joke for the people who worked at the observatory. “It’s not every woman who would want a Saturn-shaped cake,” said her dad, laughing.

The bakery door flung open behind them. Samantha, Sasha, and Martha strutted right past Griffin, pretending not to see her. At the counter Samantha said to the saleswoman, “I’m here to pick up my forty chocolate chip cookie invitations to my birthday party.”

Glancing down at the Saturn cake, Samantha whispered to her friends, “Nerd cake! Maybe they should serve it with
toilet paper
.”

Sasha and Martha laughed.

Griffin stared at the three girls and mumbled under her breath, “I wish Samantha looked like a queen lizard with warts all over her face!” Griffin gasped. What a horrible thing to wish … even on Samantha! Her chest felt tight, her throat went dry … as if dark tentacles coiled inside her.

“We’d better hurry, Griffin,” said her dad.

“I know,” she said.

Inside Dadesville’s domed planetarium a galaxy of millions of stars was projected against the darkening blue sky. The Pleiades, Betelgeuse, Sirius, Pegasus, Orion’s Belt, Ursa Major, and Hercules all shined in the dimming heavens. Even
Cygnus, the swan, soared on the giant ceiling above them.

Griffin sat alone in one of the reclining chairs looking up at the universe. From the bottom of her backpack she took out the box of pennies and hid them under her coat. Penny number one, “no homework,” had not gone well at all. How had it fallen out of her pocket when she had stuck it deep inside the cotton lining?

Griffin peered into Mariah’s black box. Slowly she studied the different pennies. She had slid the “world peace” penny back into its slot. Griffin held a penny up to the faded ceiling starlight. The label was curling off. It said “success.” “Success?” she whispered. Griffin’s grandma said she had a great success every time her garden bloomed in the spring. Was success qualifying for the Olympic team, having a true friend, or being a great parent?

“Please, please, please,” she whispered, “to all my old and favorite stars my mom taught me, help guide me to return these stolen wishes.”

When it is dark enough, men see stars.

—Ralph Waldo Emerson

T
he next day in Mr. Luckner’s class, Griffin watched the planets swish on the wire above her desk. Mr. Luckner gave the class some time to work on their projects in class, but kids just slumped in their seats and chatted. Griffin tried to cheer herself up. She had returned the “no homework” wish, and maybe something good would come of it. David Hunt tugged a strand of Griffin’s hair from his desk behind her. He teased, “Girls go to Jupiter …”

Griffin whirled around. “David, you’re saying it all wrong. It’s ‘Girls go to Mars to become rock stars.’”

“Yeah, right. Girl rock stars stink,” said David.

“Dude, there are some amazing girl rock stars: Janis Joplin, Michelle Shocked, Tina Weymouth,” said Garrett, flipping his moppy bangs as he walked past their desks.

How can he see under all that hair?
Griffin wondered.

“How do you know so much about music?” she asked.

“I’m in a band,” he said proudly.

“Really? That’s so cool. What’s the name of your band?”

“Excuse me,” said Mr. Luckner. “This is work time, not social hour. Everybody is so busy chitchatting that it seems you all prefer partners. Okay, class, it’s TEAM PROJECTS, then! You all must earn a grade together! My two As, Audree and Aiden—a team! Brian and Brent … Garrett and Griffin …”

“Come on, no, Mr. Luckner, please!” some students begged if they were unhappy with their partners. On the other hand, people who got hardworking partners couldn’t stop smiling.

Garrett beamed.

Griffin cringed.

She couldn’t imagine working with Garrett for the next month. Although half the girls already had crushes on him, with his crazy hair and twinkling blue eyes, Griffin noticed how he doodled nonstop in every class they were in together.

Garrett stood over her desk.

“Have you started a project or picked an idea?” asked Griffin.

“Yeah. It’s practically finished.” Garrett shrugged and tossed his hair out of his face.

“Really?” said Griffin, shocked. She hadn’t even decided on a topic yet. Trying to concentrate on anything was difficult with the weight of those wishes upon her.

“What have you done?”

“It’s done in my head,” he said.

The bell rang.

After ripping off a piece of her notebook paper, she wrote down her number. “Can you call me tonight? We can decide on a project, divide up the work, and set some times to meet at the library. Science night is a huge grade, Garrett. It’s really important to me. My mom’s a scientist and …”

“Yeah,” said Garrett, smiling like he’d just won the lottery. “It’s
way
important to me, too!” He walked out of class and hummed, “Girls go to Mars …”

On the way to lunch after gym class, Griffin noticed a slumped figure hunched by the water fountain in the hallway. It was the girl Griffin had seen in front of the bakery the day before. “Kristina?” called Griffin.

When Kristina turned around, her face was swollen like she had been crying all night. “Are you okay?” asked Griffin.

“Yeah,” she said, not meeting Griffin’s eyes.

“I’m Griffin. You were amazing during the fitness tests today!”

A tiny smile pulled on Kristina’s lips.

“You know, I saw you at the town bakery yesterday,” said Griffin.

“Oh, yeah?” she said, shrinking with embarrassment.

“I heard you say you loved ballet.” Now Griffin blushed at what she was about to say.

Just then Mr. Luckner walked past them, whistling to himself. Griffin wondered if she was doing the right thing at all. Taking a deep breath, she continued. “I have something for you,” said Griffin, digging into her backpack.

“Really?” said Kristina.

“This is a very old lucky penny. Maybe you could be the most beautiful dancer if you wished on it,” said Griffin in one hurried, embarrassed breath.

Kristina took the penny and read, “most beautiful” on the tiny tag glued across the penny.

Quickly Griffin swiveled her head to see if anyone was watching.

“What do I do with it?” asked Kristina.

Gurgling water surging inside the water fountain pipes gave Griffin an idea. Griffin knew water conducted electricity. Maybe if the penny were dunked in water it could reenergize its original wish. “You should wash it off,
recharge
it, and make a ‘most beautiful’ something wish. Be specific, then wait until it comes true.”

Kristina probably would have thought it silly, holding the penny under the trickling water fountain, if it weren’t such a miraculous-looking penny. “This penny is psychedelic!” She swished the dripping wet penny in her palm, squeezed her fingers around it, and mumbled her wish. Light surged out between Kristina’s fingers.

BAAANGGGG!

Griffin jumped.

Kristina’s hand jerked open. A locker slammed in a distant hallway.

“Oh, no!” Kristina cried.

“What?” said Griffin, looking down the empty hallway.

“The penny! I just dropped the penny down the water fountain drain!” Kristina’s face started to turn blotchy.

Griffin stared at the water fountain. “That’s okay, Kristina. Uhh, it’s exactly what was supposed to happen! How could I have forgotten to tell you?” said Griffin, thinking fast. “After
you wish, you need to throw the penny into water for the magic to travel. Usually it’s a well, but the school water fountain is just fine.” Griffin wiped her sweaty palms on her jeans.

A second locker door slammed and Samantha Sloane, carrying a stack of huge chocolate chip cookie invitations, slunk toward Griffin and Kristina.

“What are you guys doing? Why did you just give Kristina that penny?” demanded Samantha. “Are you
paying
kids to be friends with you?”

“What?” said Griffin.

“Griffin was just—,” said Kristina.

“NO! Don’t tell, Kristina!” said Griffin.

“Thanks. Gotta go!” Kristina said, and she ran down the hall.

Griffin stood face-to-face with Samantha. “Don’t tell me what?” asked Samantha, her teeth glinting in the fluorescent hall light.

“None of your business,” said Griffin, meeting her stare.

“Hey, Griffin!” said Garrett, walking up to them. “What’s your number again? I lost it, but I’ll call tonight,” he said. “Here, I’ll write it on my arm so I don’t forget.”

Samantha’s eyes grew narrower and narrower as Griffin told her number to Garrett.

“Passing out pennies and your number,
Griff
?” she said.

“Science project,
Sam
,” Griffin shot right back.

Suddenly Samantha swirled around and flashed her eyes like a lit-up slot machine at Garrett. “Hey, Garrett,” she purred. “I wanted to give you one of my chocolate chip cookie invitations to my birthday party this Saturday.” She handed over the frosted cookie with her address and the time of the party.

Samantha’s B-day
Sat. 9/6
1:00 PM
408 Rosmell Court

“Cool cookie!” he said, taking a bite out of the time and address. Now it read:

Samantha’s B-day!
at. 9/6
00 PM
smell Court

Griffin read the mangled cookie and smiled.

“I hope you come,” Samantha flirted.

“Thanks,” said Garrett, taking another bite of the cookie as he walked away. “Later.”

Samantha whirled back to face Griffin. Just then Samantha’s two best friends ran up to her. Martha, who always looked like she stepped out of a designer accessory catalog, said, “We just passed out another twelve cookies, and so far everyone is saying
yes
!” They high-fived and giggled.

“Your party is going to be amazing!” said Sasha.

“With only the coolest people invited,” said Martha, ignoring Griffin.

“I know,” said Samantha, and they strutted down the hall with smirks on their faces.