A quiet breakfast and inattentive lectures

(Planned Title was 'An Indoor Voice' but it got away from me. This is a bit of a long one building up Kevin and Jessica's feelings, but the specter of Alex looms sure enough.)

“Kevin! Wake up!”

Kevin shot up to the sound of his mothers yell. He tried to respond, but little more than a whisper escaped from him. Pausing for a moment, he suddenly started remembering some of the events from last night. Getting dressed for school and exiting his room, he was surprised to see that a whiteboard had been attached to the outside of his bedroom. Written on the board in marker, suspiciously like his own handwriting, was a note stating that he would be out late and dated yesterday after school.

He once again tried to speak, or rather see how loud he could as he remembered the extent of the wishes he heard placed upon him. With the **** of a yell he was just barely able to speak above a whisper, but the strain of doing so left him breathing deeply. Giving up on trying to talk normally he descended the stairs. Stepping into the kitchen he saw his mom placing a plate of waffles on the table.

“Morning quietbee, let me know if you need something,” she said, gesturing towards his normal seat at the table. In his place was the normal breakfast plate, but to the side appeared to be a small whiteboard with a marker to the side. He stared at it incredulously, moving his mouth to say something but nothing audible enough would emerge. Frustrated he got his cup of juice from the counter and sat down at the table.

Sitting down he pulled down his phone, going through his few contacts to select Devin. His fingers lay still above the keypad. With a few taps he was able to put down 'Alex' but found that he couldn't seem to write anything at all about what happened, his fingers just refusing to move. Trying to find a way into tricking the wish, he found every time he tried something, such as writing unrelated things but then erasing them for the letters, his fingers would still just freeze up before they could form into anything meaningful.

Trying to just put down he wanted to talk, he found that he was unable to even do that. The wish seemed to know exactly why he wanted that and treated it as an attempt to communicate. Frustratingly putting down his phone, he finished his breakfast and got up to leave.

“Hey, where do you think your going?” his moms voice rang at him. Turning to give her a blank look she gave him a dead stare, finger pointing at the board.

Realizing what she wanted, he wrote down 'Love you' and with a nod from her, he left for school, really worried this could become a regular thing.

Jessica tried her best to believe that last night had just been a weird dream. She showered, dressed, eat breakfast, a texted with a few friends like she normally did before school. She had awoken later then she planned, she and Tia had planned to awaken about an hour early to do a 'cursory cleanup' around the house but she ended up find herself up at her normal school time. Tia had repeatedly insisted it was fine, and that she was happy to do that bit herself, and Jessica almost convinced herself that it was simply an accident and not a result from last night.

It was as she was leaving for school that she got a text from Tiffany.

Hey girl, gr8 party! To bad kevin n creep snuck in.

Jessica stared at the text, trying to convince herself it did not serve as a confirmation. She remember drinking much, but maybe she lost track and a nightmare warped what she remembered? After all, her being a genie, and the creep having a ring that bound and controlled her powers? There was no way any of that could happen.

Well actually...

Jess knew there was something she can do to prove that it is all bogus, an irrelevant tidbit that stuck out from from the strange dream. So opening her mouth, she decides to invoke the subject of the nightmare.

“Mistress.”

Kevin was relieved when he discovered that his voice returned to normal when he arrived at school, excusing himself as he slid between two students in the hall as he made his way to the locker. He still did not have a plan to deal with Alex; he was hoping she would calm down and undo her wishes, and maybe he could talk her into sharing the ring or something. As he pulled the rest of his books from his locker, he noticed the dirty looks being given to him. Spotting Brad coming down the hallway, a frown of anger on his face, he quickly moved down the hallway. He could get to his class first, though Brad had it as well, but if he was quick afterwards he could get out first and avoid him entirely.

Kevin found himself more worried after class began. He and Alex normally both had history at the start of the day, but she never came in. Mr. Durnham had marked her absent while taking attendance, suggesting she did not do anything to change her schedule, and then he made a dismissive comment about her missing a lot more if she kept things up like this. Kevin knew that Alex was on shaky ground with the school after her recent incidents, like with the books, alleged peeping, and the occasional tardiness.

She was really apathetic about getting to school on time, and even when she did she would often nap or daydream instead of participating in class. She used to read a lot, but Mr. Durnham was one of the teachers that would confiscate anything she brought in not class related now; a result of the prior book incident. Kevin was actually surprised to see Durnham, figuring that Alex would have done something about him and the other teachers she had fought with.

He knew he should be concern more with Brad at the moment, but knowing that being roughed up would be minor compared to his **** silence if he could not find Alex and talk with her.

I wish Mom ended up getting a new job with great benefits and that she would be leaving for a nice island vacation for a week.

While the tingling did catch her off-guard, Jessica had no trouble concealing it. The feeling of low-level dread she felt since trying to say Alex's name early shot up however. She was not sure why Alex had refrained from wishing till second period, but she had no illusion that she would keep showing restraint.

I wish she made sure that I had everything I needed to be fine while she was gone.

More sensitivity this time, but still manageable. Maybe the drinking last night made it worse? Jess thought. It did seem to build on itself the more it was done, but it was nowhere near as bad as it was last night, suggesting that maybe the **** was a bit to blame.

I wish she decided that she did not need someone to hang around and watch me.

Jessica wished she would stop it though! Each one was making her consecutively more sensitive and warm in all of her delicate parts. Not a feeling she enjoyed having in class, though at least it was while Ms. Littlewood was teaching. With the attention the boys gave her they would be less likely to notice anything Jess did. Any other boring teacher would have a number of wandering eyes roaming around, and she did not want to do something that would embarrass herself.

Thankfully no one paid any attention to her while she calmed down. It was so hard for her to brace for the wishes when there was no warning they were coming! Part of her wished that she would not see Alex today; however she knew that her wish about the ring leaving her possession was just till tonight. She did not see why Alex wanted to put a time limit on that, but that would be the earliest something could be done.

Still, with her hand holding her phone hidden under the desk, she found herself having trouble sending anything to have someone help her. They had joked about the creep hanging around sometimes when practice was happening, but Jessica actually had no idea if there was any truth to that. Still, she figured she could find a way to extend practice a bit late. She was hoping she could then convince someone to help her snag the ring when the wish was up, however she found herself unable to actually send a message. It must count as harm if she planned to keep people around late for the purpose of taking the ring.

I wish Tiffany had an obligation to come pick me up for school now.

Even if the wish had been a bit sooner to build upon the prior, Jessica would have paid little mind to it. Jessica found herself distracted from the feeling almost entirely as her mind tried to comprehend the why of the wish. She turned to look at Tiffany as a phone alarm started to beep.

Why wouldn't she wish for her own car?

Why not just wish to be here?

Why wish for Tiffany?

“Ah, thanks for letting me go Ms. Littlewood!” Tiffany said, grabbing her bags. Seeing Jessica staring at her she mouthed the words See you at lunch before leaving the room. Jessica stared at her, a look of utter confusion on her face.

“Jessica, don't be distracted!” Ms. Littlewood said to her, “Tiffany has permission from the office.”

“I... for what?”

“Ah, I assumed you would know," Ms. Littlewood mused, before explaining, "She has signed up as a 'Sister' for Students in Trouble. They check in on at risk students who did not make it in by a certain time and try to convince them to come to school. Alright, well back to page 367.”

Jessica's fingers were flying.

Tif, what r u doing?

The text went unanswered though. Looking up at the clock Jessica saw that she had about thirty minutes to go before it got to lunch period.