He arrived back in the dining hall to chaos, because Jenny had eaten all the chicken nuggets.

Not just her own chicken nuggets, not just his chicken nuggets, but every chicken nugget she could reach. When he got there Trevor and Evan were holding her arms to keep her from charging the lunch counter and claiming the nuggets as her own. The lunch lady was holding a ladle and a big metal spatula up like weapons, ready to repel the assault if she should break free. Betty was watching the chaos, scribbling furiously in a notepad.

“What happened?” he asked.

“It was an extremely fascinating display,” Betty scribbled. “Jenny was apparently entirely unfamiliar with chicken nuggets, and has discovered an extreme addiction to them in an extremely short time. I believe the taste of chemically breaded chicken was a flavor discovery so great it has completely overwhelmed her senses and reason. Not the first victim of Robert C. Baker's glorious innovation.”

“Who?” Kyle blinked.

“Inventor of the chicken nugget,” Betty explained.

“Ah.” Kyle said. “Well I suppose I'd better get her. We're all off to science lab.”

He walked up to Jenny and put a hand on her arm.

“Jenny?” he said. “Jenny? Come on. We need to go now.”

“But there are nuggets...” Jenny said.

“I'll get you a big plate of them for dinner okay?” Kevin told her. “But for now we have to go to chemistry.”

“Oh...okay,” Jenny said, calming down. The lunch ladies began to cautiously lower their alert level. “What's a chemistry?”

“Ohhhh!” Jenny said a few minutes later, when they were all filed into the science lab. “It's alchemy!”

“Sort of I guess?” Kyle said. The school lab was a white room with a row of white counters, each one set in a station that had various pipes sticking out to attack equipment too. Pretty nice as high school science labs went. Everyone had a station where they worked on their projects while Ms. Saunders stood at the front of the class, her athletic frame draped in a lab coat. Draped because it would be hard, hard pressed to close around her chest. “I mean I suppose they're kind of the same thing.”

Everyone was paired up, like usual for class. Kyle's lab partner hardly ever attended, but he was used to doing the assignments by himself. And today he had Jenny to help him...even if he wasn't sure the excitable genie girl ought to be handling chemicals. Trevor and Betty were partnered together. Kyle rembered Betty had tried to arrange it so she and Evan were lab partners, but somehow she'd ended up with Trevor and Eric had ended up with Ammeline Trent.

The schools third princess was tall, blonde, and beautiful. He hair hung in drill like spirals from either side of her head. She had blue eyes, pale white skin, a tendency to wear long dresses and expensive makeup (of course she had goggles over the makeup right now) and a superior attitude that drove a lot of people nuts. Still she wasn't all bad. And the problems she and Evan had been having all year were, well, Evan's fault.

“Alright peasant,” Ammeline said, looking carefully at the blue liquid in her bottle. “I think we're supposed to mix this with....are you touching me again, peasant!?”

“It was an accident, an accident!” Evan said, raising his hands and waving them in the air.

“This is an important assignment!” Ammeline glowered at him. “And I will not sacrifice my perfect grades because some grubby little peasant was too busy focusing on my gorgeous figure to do the work!”

“Maybe I don't like being called a peasant!” Evan yelled back.

“Excuse me,” Ammeline said. “If you'd rather not be reminded I won't bring it up again, you grubby little pervert.”

“Should we do something about that?” Jenny said, adjusting her goggles on her face again. “Hey, these are fun!”

“No everybody's used to it by now,” Kyle sighed. “Any second now she'll storm off and...there she goes.”

Ammeline was storming away from the experiment, though Kyle knew by now she'd have done anything that couldn't wait first even with Evan getting so grabby. But unlike normal, after she came back from calming herself down in the hall, she walked up to Kyle and Jenny.

“Handsy peasant,” Ammeline grumbled, then turned her attention to Jenny. “I don't believe we've been formally introduced. I am Ammeline Trent. Lover of beauty, of art, a genuine American princess...”

“I was confused about that before too,” Jenny scratched her head. “Princesses. I thought America didn't have royal titles. Did I have that wrong?”

“No you had it right,” Kyle sighed.

“Ahaha!” Ammeline barked with a superior laugh. “Political power may have to wait until I run for senate, but in every way that matters I am truly a princess! And interstate high school fencing champion!”

“Why are you proudest of that one?” Kyle asked, but Ammeline ignored him.

“And you are my new rival!” Ammeline said, pointing at Jenny. “I declare it!”

And it was a grand declaration, too. Kyle could almost see rays of light bursting from her body, it was so grand.

“What!?” Jenny said, her face flushing as she waved her arms in flustered panic. “But I can't be your rival!”

“Too late, I declared it!” Ammeline said triumphantly. “From this day forward, you are my rival by royal decree!”

“But...but...” Jenny stammered, “but I don't even know how to fence!”

“Ah,!” Ammeline put a hand to her mouth. “Ahahahaha...yes, I'm sorry. I see your confusion. I suppose that was, my, er, error. I do not intend for us to become rivals in fencing.”

“Oh,” Jenny said. “But what kind of rivals are we going to be then?”

“Why rivals for the title of most beautiful girl in school of course!” Ammeline said proudly. “You're the first worthy challenger I've had since freshman year!”

“But I don't wanna be rivals like that!” Jenny said. “I mean okay, I think you're really pretty! I dunno if I'm as pretty as you...”

“Going the humble route?” Ammeline said. “A sound tactic, but one I could never employ. My beauty just demands to be praised!”

“But there's a lot of pretty people around here!” Jenny said. “I mean you're pretty, that Tanya girl is pretty, Betty's pretty...and anyway, isn't it kind of uh, based on what the person, uh, looking thinks...”

“You mean beauty is in the eye of the beholder?” Kevin suggested.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“Right!” Jenny said. “Yes!”

“Ahahahaha...maybe that's true,” Ammeline said. “But if we're doing quotations, let me say that my eyes are truly like the sun, and I've got a damasked rose in each of my cheeks!”

“What does that mean!?” Jenny stammered, spirals swirling in her eyes from confusion and panic.

“A-HA!” Ammeline said. “And a win for me!”

“Huh?” Jenny blinked. He could almost see a question mark floating over her head. “What do you mean?”

“A girl trying to take my spot should know her Shakespeare!” Ammeline said, pointing at Jenny again. “Our battle has begun, and first blood to me!”

“Ammeline?” Eva called out. “This next part needs two people.”

“We will clash again my rival!” Ammeline declared. “Of course I intend to win, but do try and make it interesting for me, ahahahaha...”

“What just happened?” Jenny asked, clinging to Kyle's arm.

“She's just a little crazy is all,” Kevin sighed.

“Okay,” Jenny said. “But she's gonna come at me with a spear!”

It took Kyle a second to work that one out.

“Shakespeare was a writer,” Kyle said. “He wrote plays mostly. He's the most famous writer who ever lived. I actually know a lot about him because...well I like reading, and I guess living in the antique shop I'm used to older stuff. We actually quote him all the time when we just talk normally, he was that important. He basically wrote a lot of what we just...say, every day. Most people don't actually bother to read his stuff anymore though, but some people see it as kind of a status thing to know your Shakespeare.”

“Another thing I missed out on huh?” Jenny said, suddenly looking sad. “From what everybody said I must have been in that lamp for hundreds and hundreds of years before anyone found me. I missed so much.”

“I'll help you catch up,” Kyle promised. “If you're interested in Shakespeare we've got the books at home.”

“Really!?” Jenny said eagerly.

“Really,” Kyle promised, smiling. She was just so cute when she smiled like that. Beauty might be in the eye of the beholder, but he was having a pretty good time beholding Jenny right about then. “Now come on, Evan's right this part really does take two people.”

Coach Saunders walked back into the classroom.

“Alright everyone!” she called out. “What step are we all on? Looks like fourteen, good. Okay, we're going to get up to step twenty one today, and then it has to sit for a while. Four hours is enough but we're going to leave it overnight, it'll be fine. So if anyone has any questions don't hesitate to ask.”

There were a few questions, but Kyle and Jenny didn't need to ask any. Mostly they spent class carefully following the steps and occasionally getting distracted by Ammeline yelling at Evan for...being Evan. They finished step 21, put the beaker full of blue green liquid in a stand to rest overnight, and breathed a sigh of relief.

“That was interesting,” Jenny said when class was over. “But I didn't really understand it.”

“You came in a little late,” Kyle said. “Don't worry.”

Trevor and Betty came over while Kyle and Jenny were packing their station up.

“So,” Trevor grinned. “Looks like you have a rival!”

“But I don't know what I'm supposed to do with a rival!” Jenny said.

“Well based on my research there are three possible alternatives,” Betty said, adjusting her glasses. “The first path is to crystallize a deep, bitter hatred for each other in the core of your hearts until the final confrontation comes, most likely on a high place. And most likely with a great deal of fire. In that confrontation, one of you dies, finally ending the rivalry forever.”

“I don't want to do that!” Jenny gasped.

“The second option is for you two to grow closer over your many battles,” Betty said. “To achieve a grudging respect for each other in your constant clashes that grows, eventually, into friendship.”

“That one sounds better!” Jenny said. “But I don't know about all those battles. What's the third option?”

“It's just like the second option, but...” Betty adjusted her glasses again. The light made them look like flat panes of white. “...it ends in extremely vigorous sexual intercourse.”

The entire group fell silent.

I will not nosebleed and pass out like an anime perv, Kyle told himself. I am not Evan. I will not nosebleed and pass out like an anime perv, I will not...

“Couldn't we just skip all the fighting and be friends?” Jenny said. “Or skip right to the sex part?”

That did it. Kyle felt his head go light and he was down. He was woken up a few seconds after by Trevor and Betty. There noses were bleeding too.

“You were hit pretty hard there,” Trevor said. “Can't say I blame you but...”

“Are you okay?” Jenny said. She looked so concerned Kyle had to fight not to burst out laughing.

“I'm fine,” he said. “This is just...a thing that happens. And I didn't know you were into girls.”

Jenny looked a little confused, but before they could explore the discussion any further Ammeline stormed over. She had packed up like everyone else, and had a backpack on her back.

“What was that awful geyser of blood I just saw spray across the classroom?” the haughty girl asked. “And why are all your faces bloody?”

“Ammeline has just revealed to us that she is a lesbian,” Betty said, adjusting her glasses. “The mental image conjured was more than Kyle's system could handle.”

“Hmph!” Ammeline sniffed. “Boys. Evan's like working with an octopus, he keeps “accidentally” bumping into me! I'd report him if hitting him in the head for trying wasn't so satisfying. But they're all perverts. You're Evan's friend, right?”

Ammeline glared at him and Trevor. It reminded him of Tanya's cold laser eyes.

“W-well yeah,” Kyle said. “But I swear I'm not like that...”

“Is he?” Ammeline turned to Jenny. “You live with him, don't you? Has he gotten all grabby?”

“No!” Jenny said. “Well, he kinda grabbed my breasts one time but it was an accident and he kept apologizing. And I kind of liked it!”

“What's this now?” Trevor grinned. Betty adjusted her glasses, turning them into panes of white once again.

“Yes please,” Betty said. “Do elaborate. This is vital for my research. Though I thought you said you were a lesbian...”

“I never said that!” Jenny said. “I just said I wouldn't mind having sex with Ammeline!”

Silence fell like a brick on concrete.

“Ah,” Ammeline said, apparently not having any other idea what to say, backing slowly away from the group. Her face was flushed bright red. “Well, I mean, I'm flattered of course but I...I mean, I've never even considered...you know...girls, I mean I've, uhm...I don't...”

She backed into the lab table and the edge of it slid under her backside. Her face went from red with embarrassment to scarlet with fury in less than a second,

“Evan this is not the time you filthy peasant!” she snarled, whirling around and swinging her backpack like a club. Evan looked up in surprise from where he'd been packing his backpack way across the classroom.

“What did I do now!?” he asked, totally oblivious.

Ammeline just had time to look shocked before her backpack slammed into their lab project, sending the beaker flying across the room. It landed, luckily enough, in one of the class's many sinks before it spilled out, their entire day of work and assignment for next class gone in a second.

“What did you do!?” Evan yelled, running to the sink. “It...it's gone! It's all gone!”

“B-b-but....” Ammeline stammered. “He's been...I felt...my ass...I didn't mean...” she looked back at them. “I-it was a reasonable assumption, right? I mean...I...I couldn't have...”

She fell to her hands and knees and it was like a dark cloud hovered over her and everyone else in the room faded away until she floated alone on and endless swirling galaxy of dark despair.

“No there's no excusing it...and in front of my rival...it is all my own fault and I have been completely...defeated....”

“Now what are we supposed to do?” Evan said irritably, looking at the spot where their project had been moments before. “It's completely ruined!”

“Maybe not,” Kyle said. “If you guys ran and got permission you could probably come back and use the lab later tonight. She said it needs at least six hours right? If you come back and do all the steps again, it'll still have time to sit and be ready for class in the morning.”

“And I happen to know Coach Saunders always stays late so she could be officially monitoring you!” Trevor clapped his hands together. “Yeah it could work!”

“And we'll all come help!” Jenny said cheerfully, looking back at the others. “Right?”

“Uh...sure, why not?” Kyle shrugged. “We can come help.”

“Thank you,” Ammeline said, looking at them all with big puppy eyes. “Thank all of you!”

“If we're going to do this we better go find Coach Saunder's now,” Evan said.

“Yes,” Ammeline nodded. “Come along, peasant.”

“I don't want to hear that from you right nOOOOWWW!”

“Then keep your hands to yourself, peasant!”

Trevor, Betty, Kyle and Jenny watched them leave.

“Well,” Trevor said. “I guess I'll see you guys here after school then.”

“Yes,” Betty nodded, watching Evan and Ammeline leave. “I suppose so.”

They broke up then to go to their next classes. Jenny and Kyle walked away down the hall together.

“Jenny?” he said. “There's something I ought to tell you.”

He told her about Tanya, and what she'd said. About the Uzbedi government, and about Jenny possibly being the last genie.

“I mean of course she didn't know you were a genie when she said it,” Kyle said. “I just thought you ought to know.”

“Thanks,” Jenny said thoughtfully. “I don't know. If it's been so long since the last time I was out of lamp, anything could have happened. I mean Uzbedi still exists, but it could be completely different from how I remember now.”

“I'm sorry,” Kyle said. “It sounds lonely!”

“I'm not lonely!” Jenny said. “I was for a while, only meeting people every couple of dozen years. But I've got you now right Kyle? And I made so many new friends today! I'm so glad you said I could walk around outside of the lamp!”

Kyle smiled, but before he could respond a pair of shadows fell over them. Their path was blocked by Danny and Barry. The two bullies loomed in the hallway.

“Are these more friends?” Jenny asked.

“No,” Kyle said. “No, they're really not.”