Kevin was relieved when the lunch bell rang. Normally he'd walk to lunch with Evan, but Evan was off somewhere and Betty wasn't around either so he wound up walking alone with Jenny, past more of the ubiquitous posters for the spring formal.

“That was really interesting and fun!” Jenny said as the picked up their trays. “Especially the history part. The math was all stuff I know, and I can't quite follow the literature things yet, but I had no idea the world had gotten so interesting while I was away! Once I get my history textbook I'm going to read the whole thing.”

“Is this super smartness a genie power?” Kyle asked.

“I don't know,” Jenny said. “I haven't met too many other genies. And so far as I know none of them ever went to school. Do they have that food you made for me last night here? The uhm, the Ramen? It was quite good.”

“Looks like they have meatloaf surprise and chicken nuggets,” Kyle said. “If I were you I'd stick to the chicken nuggets.”

“Why?” Jenny said. “Is Meat Loaf a bad thing?”

“Actually I like meatloaf,” Kyle said. “It's the surprise I'm worried about.”

They filled their trays and walked back to the table.

“What was all that about being from Uzbedi?” He asked her as they say down. “Aren't you worried someone will look up a country that doesn't exist?”

“But it does exist!” Jenny said. “I really am from Uzbedi.”

“Uzbedi,” Betty said, putting her tray down on the table beside Kyle and taking out her smart phone. “I had to look it up. Small country in west Asia, near Turkey. Has no coastline, population of only six or seven million. Not very friendly to tourists, but because of all the ruins within their borders they have a bustling export business in artifacts and antiques. I was forced to look it up. It is apparently an ancient and prosperous but obscure country, much like Luxembourg.”

“What's a Luxembourg?”

“Precisely,” Betty said.

“Oh my fault,” Kyle said, a little relieved Jenny had said she was from a real country. And if the country was so ancient maybe she really was from there. It occurred to him he didn't know anything about her past. Well how easy was it to ask? A problem for later. “Jenny this is my friend Betty. Betty, this is Jenny.”

“It is a pleasure to meet you,” Betty said, adjusting her glasses.

“It's nice for me too!” Jenny beamed.

“I was wondering if you could educate me at all on Uzbedi at some point,” Betty said. “Such an exotic location might be useful for my current project.”

“I dunno,” Jenny said cautiously. “It's been a really, really long time since I've been back there.”

“Ah,” Betty nodded. “I see. I suppose you traveled often with your parents and their work in the antiques business.”

“Something like that,” Kyle said. “I think she might be a bigger help with, uh, the ancient history of Uzbedi.”

“That would be interesting as well,” Betty said.

“Oh I'd be happy too!” Jenny said. “Let's see...well, the kingdom was founded when the Sorcerer Lord K'vardoz claimed a piece of land sacred to Vgraa Shumdi, God of Unholy Earth, and battled him to purify it so mortal races could live there...”

Kyle slapped his hands over his face. What kind of ancient history was this? Sorcerer lords and unholy gods and wait...wait...she was a genie. A genie was telling this story what if all this was legit!?Kyle was beginning to think the world was a much more complicated place than he'd thought it was yesterday morning.

“Ah!” Betty said, pulling out a notebook. “I understand! You're a student of mythology! This is even better than history!”

“Mythology? But you said...” Jenny started, but Kyle cut her off.

“Yes, Jenny's really big on mythology!” Kevin said, forcing a huge smile on to his face.

“Ohhh right!” Jenny nodded, finally remembering they were keeping magic a secret. That had confused her a little because last time she was out of the lamp she said everybody knew about magic, but she'd shrugged and gone along with it.

“What are you guys talking about?” Trevor asked as he and Evan walked up to the table. Trevor sat down next to Jenny, and Evan walked around and sat next to Kyle. That put Kyle in between Evan and Betty, where he hated being, but there wasn't much he could do about it without getting awkward.

“I was talking about the history—I mean, the mythology of Uzbedi!” Jenny said.

“Oh not history,” Trevor groaned, hanging his head in his hands. “It's my worst subject. I think my brain is fried on it this morning already.”

“Oh, this is Trevor,” Kyle said.

“Nice to meet you!” Jenny said.

“You too,” Trevor nodded. “Hey Kyle, why didn't you tell us you were getting a roommate?”

“Yeah I was wondering that too,” Evan said. “I mean not telling us is all part of you being a filthy traitor, but still.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“I didn't know,” Kyle said, glad he could be mostly honest. “I got home yesterday and she kind of...showed up.”

“I bet you didn't complain though,” Evan waggled his eyebrows.

“Evan,” Kyle sighed.

“What?” Evan said with mock innocence. “I was just thinking you're all alone in that house at night and now you have company.”

“That's not what you meant.”

“Company with an enormous rack!” Evan grinned. Kyle winced. There it was again. He wished Evan would just...

Chill with it sometimes. If he was being completely honest, Evan's outright lewdness made Kyle feel guilty. Guilty for being attracted to Jenny himself, guilty for thoughts shooting through his head not too different from what Evan was saying. So as uncomfortable as the way Evan talked made him, he didn't think he had a right to really condemn him. But still, Jenny was right there. Talking about her body didn't seem to upset her, and alright Evan was socially awkward. Kyle was too. But still, they'd only just met Jenny.

But while he was thinking about that, Kyle had forgotten Evan wasn't the only one at the table who wasn't socially normal.

“Yes,” Betty nodded. “You have a truly impressive set of mammaries. I noticed most of the boys and a good portion of the girls in class having their eyes drawn to them repeatedly during the lesson, myself included. Would it be possible for me to get a picture of you nude? For research purposes.”

“Betty!” Kyle said, despairing.

“I don't mind,” Jenny said. “But I don't know if I have time to sit for a portrait--”

“OKAY changing topics immediately!” Kyle said. “Actually, maybe not completely, because I've been dying to get this answer for a while. Betty, what the hell is it you're researching, exactly?”

“My project,” Betty said.

“Yeah but what is it?” Kyle pressed. “I remember that time we were in fourth grade and your project was to breed hamsters, and the whole school got overrun with hamsters. But now we're always seeing you with those hentai books and...”

Evan let out a long, low whistle. A wolf whistle, like out of old cartoons. Kyle was a little surprised Evan didn't just turn into a wolf. It derailed the entire conversation, as everyone else at the table tried to catch up with Evan's thought process.

A horrifying thought at the best of times.

“Aha,” Betty said, turning her back on Kyle to look at Evan. “You are making the sound of arousal. A primitive mating call, really.”

“You bet I am,” Evan said, gesturing to a girl with long golden hair cascading down her back like a waterfall. “Goldie Goodman.”

“Who's that?” Jenny asked.

“One of Rolling Hills Highschool's three princesses,” Evan said. “There are three super hot, super rich girls who come here, and all three of them compete for the top spots in grades. Ammeline Trent, I haven't seen her yet today. You already saw Tanya Myrden in class earlier. Goldie over there is the one who eats up the math department. Head of the chess club, too.”

“Stop staring,” Kyle said.

“I can look,” Evan told him.

“Not like that you can't.”

“It's only illegal if I'm doing it through a wall, not out here in public.”

A shadow fell over the table. Entirely unexpectedly. Lunch wasn't really a likely time for bully activity, not at Rolling Hills high school. And all their friends were already there. One of Trevor's screaming girl mobs would have just trampled the entire table. So everyone was confused when someone else walked up, and even more confused when they saw who it was.

“You!” Tanya Myrden said, pointing to Kyle. “I need to talk to you. Right now. In private.”

“Uh...” Kyle looked around. Everyone shrugged. “Jenny, are you going to be alright?”

“I'll be fine!” Jenny said. “I have lots of friends here, right?”

“Sure,” Kyle said. Well, she'd probably be okay. “Switch seats with Trevor so you don't end up next to Evan.

“Hey!” Evan said.

“I'll be right back,” Kyle told her. “Whatever this is about.”

He got up and followed Tanya out of the cafeteria. Trevor, Evan, and Betty exchanged looks.

“What's up with him lately?” Trevor asked.

“I dunno,” Evan grumbled. “I bet he's keeping secrets from us. Why wouldn't he tell me how to get all the hot girls out of nowhere if he figured it out? I'm his best friend!”

“Perhaps we should discuss this later,” Betty said. “Jenny appears to be exhibiting extremely odd behavior.”

Jenny's eyes had glazed over. Little stars sparkled in them as she sat completely still, a chicken nugget hanging half out of her mouth. Without the rest of her body moving the nugget slid up into her mouth and she bit down, chewing and swallowing it.

“What was that?” she said softly. Almost like she was in a library, or a church. “What was that food I just ate?”

“It's a chicken nugget,” Evan said. “Haven't you ever had a chicken nugget before?”

“No...” Jenny said, reaching out for another one.

“Wanna try dipping it in sauce?” Trevor said. “You've got honey mustard and bbq right there, in the little cups.”

“Oh yes,” Jenny said. “Sauce...”

She grabbed a second nugget dunked one end in each cup. Jenny could tell a whole new adventure of wonder and discovery had begun.

Kevin, meanwhile, was wondering when he would discover what all this was about. She led him out of the building and into the same alley where Danny had chased him the day before. When they were there in the dark, she whirled on him. The alley was kind of tight, so they wound up pressed extremely close together. For a second he wondered if she was going to try and make out with him, but there was nothing romantic in her expression.

“The first thing I need to know,” she said, completely oblivious to their distracting closeness, “Is should I be talking to you, or your grandfather?”

“I-I don't know,” Kevin said. “What do you want?”

“I want the lamp,” she said, and all of a sudden Kevin wasn't distracted by juvenile fantasies anymore. Panic shot through him, but he made himself calm down.

“What lamp?” he said, surprised at how calm his own voice was.

“Don't give me that!” Tanya snapped. “You've got a pretty good poker face, but don't think I'm stupid. We track the lamp to your shop, and now you show up with an Uzbedi girl this morning out of nowhere? Stop fooling around. How much have the Uzbedis offered you?”

“I didn't even know about Uzbedi until I met Jenny,” Kyle said. “I don't think I ever even met anyone else from Uzbedi!”

“That doesn't answer my question!” Tanya said, leaning in closer. Her chest pressed against his and all of a sudden Kyle was distracted again. He slapped the thoughts away. Dammit, this was important. Even if he didn't have any idea what was going on. “I didn't ask how long you knew her. I want to know how much the Uzbedi government offered you!”

“I have no idea what you're talking about!” Kyle said. Tanya made a sound that was part grunt, part groan, part snarl, and all exasperation.

“Look just tell me so I know how high I have to go to make you a better offer!” Tanya said. “Whatever they said they'd give you, I'll double it.”

“No one made me any offers!” Kyle shouted. “I don't know how else to say it, I really don't have any idea what you're talking about!”

Tanya glared at him.

“Fine!” she said, turning away and walking off down the alley. As she turned her chest dragged him over and slammed Kyle into the dirt. While he was picking himself up, she looked back. “But take my advice, Kyle Anderman. Don't trust the Uzbedis. They're not the paragons of justice they like to think they are.”

“I wouldn't know,” Kyle said. “Because I've never met them.”

“Right,” Tanya shook her head. “Look if you're going to sell it, get rid of it quick. We'd rather not involve the Uzbedi's at all, and we really can make you a better offer, but we'll work with them if we have to. Just remember there's plenty of interested parties who won't be so polite, not when the prize is something as powerful as the last genie.”

And with that flabbergasting exit line she stormed off, leaving Kevin watching her back disappear down the alleyway totally confused.