Time to go home

"You seem to be getting back to normal," Sam observed.

Jess perked her head up as she held up her bare feet on her friend's dashboard, dressed back in her clothes from her party, freshly cleaned minus one particular item. Aside from letting her hair go and the new jewelry around her neck and wrist which were from a certain someone.

"Mhm. Getting there."

Why shouldn't she feel better? She was with her friend driving her home, they even picked up smoothies on the way back like it was a normal weekend.

Okay, aside from the obvious, but that didn't seem so obvious now.

"You're being unusually quiet right now," she mentally called.

She waited for a brief moment as she could hear the echo of a familiar male voice in her head, "Well you said you wanted some time to try and adjust to keeping up appearances. Sam would have asked more questions if I did drive you home."

She slurped her smoothie as her eyes rolled, "Well yeah, but I also really don't know what kind of car you'd drive."

"Was thinking about asking someone for an upgrade."

She raised an eyebrow and smirked out the window, the familiar site of her street coming back into view, "Oh. And who would that be?"

"Oh I have my methods. Trying to impress a girl."

She bit her lip and smirked, "It'd have to be something she'd like. This girl might be hard to please."

Her mouth opened as she drank down the pink ice-drink biting down on the straw, "Master must think carefully. Just a sec, I need to talk to your sister again."

Oh yes. This telepathic connection definitely grew on her after this morning. She glanced back over at her driver, and sat back upright after her feet kicked off the dashboard, "Hey, Sam. Just pull up past the garage, I want to check something real fast."

"Yeah, sure. You all right?"

Jessica nodded as she smiled, "I just want to make sure the door wasn't left open last night. I heard it got pretty rowdy in there."

Sam nodded her head slowly and spoke like it was the understatement of the century, "Ohhh yeaaaahhh... boy did it."

The blonde girl leaned forward and smiled, "Yeah, Simon told me a little story about how he saw you sabotage Brad when he was trying to do a keg stand?"

Sam let out a howling cackle, "Oh man, you should've seen the shot I took. He deserved it though. I swear the next time he tries that, I'm going to knee him in the groin."

Jessica bent over and stretched her neck, placing her hands on her knees as the went on the hill of her driveway, "Yeah careful. He won't take that well."

"Like I care," the redhead scoffed, Jess watched as she put her car in park, turned off the engine, and turned to her with her own greener smoothie in her hand, "Honestly what do you see in him that appeals to you?"

What kind of question was that, Sam?

"I'm the 'It' Girl, he's the 'It' Guy. What's so hard to understand?"

Well it would have been easier to understand over a day ago. Sam wasn't exactly buying the argument either as she pointed out, "C'mon Jess. You had the whole high school wrapped around your finger for the last year and a half. Feels like you're just trying to trophy hunt."

Oh. Oh Jess had to check for moving trucks nearby, because that was rich coming from her.

The comment immediately made the blonde genie frown at her friend, "You literally try to out-compete anyone, and you're accusing me of trophy hunting?"

Sam shook her head, took a deep breath and pressed her hands against the steering wheel of her car, "I'm just saying you're sounding like you're with him because you're supposed to be. He doesn't have to worry about that, he feels entitled to it. Everyone has ingrained that to him since he's started getting noticed by colleges. Meanwhile, I probably have to worry about him trying to intimidate Simon tomorrow."

Jessica's eyes widened as she pulled her legs in and put her feet on the seat, gripping down on the leather with her hands as she protested, "Brad wouldn't do that! Would he?"

Sam let out a laugh, "You kidding? If he didn't know I had my brother's back, he'd probably be more of an asshole to him than he already was. Kevin is probably a dead man, but the minute you spill about how you and Simon were reconnecting he'd want to draw a line in the sand."

The blonde bit her lip, and then looked up at Sam being under her intense glare. Her emerald eyes closed and she paused.

"Master?"

A second later, he responded, "Hm?"

"Does Brad like to bully you?"

The silence lasted a bit more this time, though it was only seconds in time, it had felt longer, "He mostly goes after Kevin, but yeah. He won't go after me as much because of Sam, and other reasons, but he likes to get some barbs in."

"Jess, did you hear me?" Sam's voice was growing impatient with her.

"I'll tell him not to mess with him anymore then," her eyes became focused as she glared back at Sam, her hands moving to grip on her ankles.

"Master isn't a bad person. After this morning, I'm starting to understand what you were trying to tell me the whole time about your brother. So I'll tell the others to lay off of him for you, too. Besides, he did make me breakfast. A girl can't fault a man who knows how to cook."

Jess' smirk and wink to her caused Sam to slump her shoulders forward and press her forehead on the steering wheel, "Ugh, it would've_ _been so much easier if you had listened to me beforehand about this! Why do you have to make everything so complicated!"

The door unlocked and the blonde smiled at her friend as she opened it up to sweet freedom, "Because it's fun!"

She almost felt like skipping ahead of Sam after shutting the door to her car. The sight of her family house was of some relief after all the craziness. The first stop of course was the garage where the family cars and hardware area was. The blonde peeked her head inside seeing the door was still open.

Her father's table was still in there waiting its final treatment before its trip to the house.

Which meant she definitely couldn't let Sam see that without raising more questions. Apparently the wish worked too well in some cases. So Jessica promptly turned and closed the door, then ran out in front of Sam and leaned out to look around the property.

"Looks like they cleaned my yard up pretty well!" she observed.

Sam pointed at the garage, "Everything okay in there?"

"Definitely not that table, but I bet it can be fixed," the blonde lied, "Someone probably took the keg home with them, so at least that's gone. C'mon, I wanna check the house out, too!"

She also wanted to run on ahead for another reason.

"Master, I'll make sure Brad and the others don't mess with you anymore."

"Jess, you don't have to do that for me."

"I want to!"

"Does that mean I have to sit at lunch with them now? I'd rather not."

The genie let out a huff in displeasure, "I want you to sit with ME."

"You know I will!"

She rolled her eyes and stopped speeding ahead of Sam. Her Master was silly. Here she was trying to do something nice for him and he'd rather just do his own thing. How was he going to sit with her if everyone else sat with her also? Unless he just wanted to eat together alone... just them. In front of everyone.

Jessica felt her face warm up at the idea of it. Suddenly the dynamics of Eastlake high school social life were once again slapped over with the reminder that they were meaningless to someone who thought like Simon.

Why did her Prom Queen chances matter when he could make her Empress Genie of the Fucking Universe if she asked him?

She rubbed her head. That conversation still hurt her brain, but this stuff started to rub off on her. Her eyes looked up at her forehead as she remembered something else she wanted to ask.

"Hey. What are you looking at right now, anyway?"

"Trying to research more about you."

"You mean like stalking my socials or actual genie stuff?"

His mind started laughing at the accusation, "No. Actual genie stuff. Turns out there's other names for them, like Jinn."

Jessica blinked as she approached the front of her house and waited by the courtyard, "I always thought it was like a cross between Aladdin and that old TV show before Mom turned up dressed like a **** girl."

"Well I mean, I think I did too, but I was curious. If you're really a genie, then why do we even know what a genie is? Like if your Mom didn't want you to let anyone know, how come people know what a genie is to begin with? You get what I mean?"

Jessica turned around and leaned back on the front column nearby to stretch, waiting for his sister to finish walking up to her.

"I think so? Like I thought genies weren't real, but even though I thought they weren't I kinda knew what they already were. So why wouldn't my Mom have to explain what a genie was to me or that I can grant wishes?"

"Right. People have been documenting genies in some fashion for thousands of years, and if they're real, that means people had to know about them somehow, so maybe someone or SOMETHING left a trail of breadcrumbs," her master explained.

Jessica let the information process in her head as she smiled in realization. Of course!

"Master that's fucking amazing! How'd you get so good at stuff like this?"

Her Master froze up again as he sounded nervous, "Um...I don't know? I think maybe my brain traded my people skills for this sort of thing..."

Well at least there was a real benefit for her in that, "Hey Jess, sorry about this, but I need to make a wish."

Her eyes darted around as she watched Sam approaching her, and where she was currently located. She took a deep breath, scrunched her face up, and stretched herself out to build tension.

"Okay. But make it quick. Your sister will catch up to me in a couple seconds."

He didn't waste any time with that.

"I wish I'm able to read, write, comprehend, understand, and speak any or every language fluently."

Holy Fuck.

Jess felt the familiar energy spike within her, hard. Her fingers clenched into fists, her stomach and hips began to gyrate like a dancer, and she had to prop her right leg up on the column behind her to keep her pussy from feeling its new compulsion for release. She let out a gasp and a familiar sounding moan as the feeling passed through her.

"That was close...you still there, Master?"

He responded with a equally stimulated tone, "Whoa. That was a fucking head rush... guh... I'm gonna need a minute. Schiesse, Kuso..."

"Um. What?"

"Shit. In German. Japanese. I'm fluent in every word for Shit, now."

Jessica bit her lower lip and let out a giggle, "See what happens when a girl makes you smarter?"

"Alqarf..."

"Jesus! What's with you today?" Sam's voice immediately snapped Jess down from her cloud talk with her Master and let her leap off the porch of her stairwell to the very flummoxed redhead.

"Had a fun daydream waiting for you to show up!" she chirped back.

Sam seemed an equal combination of worried and impressed by her imagination with that answer as she pointed back to her previous spot, "Must've been. It looked like you were ready to start humping your house."

Jess scoffed as she turned around to open the door and let themselves in and walked past the familiar areas of her house. As they walked past the front entryway and into the main hall, she suddenly had an appreciation for the vastness of her father's home. She had fit so many of their classmates and different groups inside as her playlist blared at full blast across the sound system, that now that it was all over and done she was standing inside a cavern. Their voices could even echo across the room towards the kitchen, the dining hall, and up the impending staircase. Her home had always been the center of attention around town in one way or another through her Father's relationships, Stephanie's parties, or even her own.

Now with the only light entering through the large panes of the windows onto the finely crafted floors it felt so...

...empty.

Sam seemed to catch onto that feeling as well.

"Are you sure you're gonna be all right here by yourself after last night?" she asked skeptically.

What? C'mon Sam, it was her house.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be? Everything's all cleaned up. Just have to make it by myself for a few for more days and school starts back up tomorrow. What's so hard about that?"

Sam rolled her eyes at her insistence, "Well, if you suddenly change your mind. You can always stay back at our place. Now that Simon can behave himself around you."

Jess found herself taking offense to the comment for some reason. It wasn't like Sam wasn't talking any differently about her Master with her. Just the way she talked about her own brother was just starting, well, bother her.

"C'mon Sam. Your brother isn't that bad."

The redhead nodded, "Yeah, yeah. I know! But, just what you said earlier about finally remembering when we would hang out together with him. I'm just wondering now if he acts that way around you is because you just used to be so smitten with him."

The blonde genie laughed and raised an eyebrow, "What? Me? Smitten?"

Sam didn't seem to be laughing as much as she stretched her neck, "Yeah, c'mon. You remember? You used to drag him everywhere and boss everyone else around, 'Simon says this', 'Simon says that', honestly you haven't changed that much now that I think about it, but I'm worried about what that'll do to him. I love my brother and it's not his fault that he is, but at the same time, he isn't exactly normal."

Normal. Like Human. As in him not being a normal human.

Jessica scowled and became annoyed with her friend in that instance. She was supposed to be closer to her brother than anyone else. Hell, Samantha Harris was supposed to know better about her own brother. She knew her Master was a talented person behind his shell. His sister should've know that even more.

"Hey Sam," her voice was terse, but she was going make sure her friend learned her lesson.

Sam looked back at the blonde and raised an eyebrow, "Hm?"

"Simon says you're going to completely forget what I'm about to tell you in the next 3 minutes."

Jessica watched the red haired young woman's eyes focus and her posture relax into the straight one it had the moment before the first time she used her new ability, but she was going to put Sam in her place. Whoever, whenever she wanted, no consequence.

"Sam, I cheated on Brad last night," she confessed to her friend.

Sam's green-blue eyes started to widen in shock as Jess applied the real blow, "With Master."

The red heads hair would've stood on end if it could, her body suddenly tensed up as Jess watched her face cycle and try the right emotion between shock, fear, outrage, outright surprise, and outright befuddlement.

"You. Did. WHAT?" she shrieked at the top of her lungs.

Jessica walked up to the front of her friend and stared at her in the eye, "Last night after you went to bed, he told me how close we used to be, and then I asked him to fuck me. And he was good at it. You were right this morning. The reason I was wearing his robe was because I woke up naked in his bed."

Sam's head looked like it was ready to explode as she covered her ears and backed up a couple of steps, "Noooo way. Oh man. Oh man. You did NOT just say that. You're just messing with..."

Jess blushed, trying to keep a straight face, and rolled her eyes away from the redhead, "He fucked me in the ass. I gave him a titfuck. Honestly it was the most passionate night I ever had, completely salvaged the fucking nightmare my birthday turned into. Your brother's completely in love with me. Has been since those days of me, being smitten, as you put it."

Her friend couldn't take it. Her ears still covered, until she stuck out her arms. Sam held them up as she yanked at her hair and threw her hands out in front of herself as she paced around the room.

"Gross! Stop! I don't need to know anymore! Why! I-How Could You Do That! Jess! You Fucked MY BROTHER? Do you know what kind of effect that can have on him! I don't know what he's going to do now! Couldn't you have fucked someone else! Why couldn't you have just... ARE YOU A WHORE? No! Maybe! You always messed with Simon! Even when I told you not to and you just... just YOU DO THIS?"

Jessica shook her head and continued to watch her friend spiral into a breakdown from the news. That deathly aura of her sending a chill down the blonde's spine for a hot minute. She had never seen her friend get that angry or confused.

Sam looked completely betrayed now, the anger rising as she stormed back over into her face, her hands grabbed Jessica's shoulders and arms, ready to pick her off the ground regardless of how similar in size they were.

The redhead had never been more upset in her life, "YOU'RE MY BEST FRIEND, JESS! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS? I BROUGHT YOU HOME LAST NIGHT TO GET YOU OUT OF TROUBLE! DO YOU REALIZE YOU COULD HAVE BEEN ARRESTED LAST NIGHT? OUT OF ALL THE THINGS YOU COULD HAVE DONE! OF ALL THE THINGS! THIS HAS TO RANK UP THERE! HOW COULD YOU MANIPULATE MY BROTHER INTO SLEEPING WITH YOU?"

Wow. There was a lot to unpack there. Jessica even flinched from her friend's constant onslaught, but the last one made her snap back, freeing herself from Sam's grip, "I didn't manipulate anyone! He wanted it! And I wanted it! We both needed it!"

Sam continued to shake her head as her face had become red from the screaming and her voice beginning to sound raspy, "No! No! Don't you start with that! Simon would've told me! He trusts me! He can't keep something that big from me, he never would! You just had to... had to..."

Jessica watched as Sam's face suddenly froze, all the emotions draining from her face as she suddenly stared blankly forward and then blinked confused, she rubbed her face and shook her head. The blonde now free to back up a step and watch.

"I-I'm sorry, Jess. What were we talking about just now? I can't remember..."

Jessica smirked at her friend as she glanced at the nearby clock in the other room.

3 minutes. Exactly.

The blonde turned her green eyes back onto her friend sympathetically. Sam's fiercely protective energy was as fiery and strong as ever. It felt good to actually tell her what happened as well, now she wouldn't have to feel guilty about keeping any secrets from her.

And now she knew Sam underestimated her own brother. She wouldn't let that slide.

"Oh, nothing important," the genie hummed as she stepped closer and up to her friend, squishing their breasts together in a friendly hug.

"Thanks for being there for me, Sammy."

"Uh, yeah. What're friends for?"

Jess smiled and leaned into her ear again, "Simon says Master is a good brother."

Sam's breathing slowed and Jess squeezed her waist tightly, "Simon says you're so happy to be his sister. Simon says you'd do anything for him. Simon says you trust him more than anyone, except for me, probably."

The blonde began to grin and brushed her friend's red bangs from her ear, "Simon says you need to go relieve your stress today by going shopping. Maybe buy yourself a new toy. And Simon says when you get to your room forget all about my fight with Kevin, act like it never happened."

Jessica gave her a quick peck on the side of her face and walked back to admire her work. Sam remained still, her face blank and blinking once at every sentence she was given. Her friend shook her head after the fifth time her eyes blank, and stretched out her shoulders.

"You okay?"

Her friend nodded, "Yeah, yeah. I just... I guess all the stress from dealing with all this. I shouldn't worry about it so much, should I?"

"Nah. You're just looking out for me and your brother. It's what you do!"

Well, she did. Now that she knew how protective she was of her brother and how not prepared she was to see her best friend be in a relationship with him. At least, not yet, anyway.

Sam smiled and rubbed her head, "Yep. And you're right, Jess. I mean, maybe I shouldn't worry so much about my brother. I mean, compared to the guys we find ourselves around he's a damn teddy bear. To be honest, I was already proud of him with the way he handled things with you. He's really grown up, so I should give him a bit of wiggle room. He's the only brother I have, right? We've been through a lot together."

Jessica smiled and nodded her head, "Yeah, you're lucky. I don't have anyone like that. The closest thing I have to a sibling is my Step-Mom, or you, Sam. You know that right?"

Sam smiled and rolled her eyes again, "Oh you know I know that!"

The blonde cheer captain giggled at her friend as a sly smirk appeared on her friend's face as she turned her body towards the door and looked back, "Hey, I think I'm gonna go treat myself to something to help take the edge off, but if you need anything, give me a call."

The redhead shot her a wink as her hands remained in the pockets of her jacket, Jess winking back and sticking out her tongue. Then she walked back down the hall and shut the door behind her. The sound of her car engine revved up outside before Jess heard the sound of the vehicle driving away from her house.

Now she had her home to herself. Her big, luxurious mansion all for her and her alone.

Alone.

The blonde genie relaxed herself and allowed her shoulders to slump forward and then let out a deep sigh.

Had it really only been a day? It felt like she had just condensed an entire year or decade in those 24 hours.

She walked around the rooms for a closer inspection. Some of the stuff from her party was still there: her playlist, the lights, some of the equipment. Other stuff was long since gone. Kitchen was empty of people but not of food, so at least she didn't have anywhere to be, and the pantry remained fully stock as always. She grabbed a bottle of water for herself in the process.

She could hear her feet echo as she walked around and eventually to her stairwell. It really had felt like she had a long day even though it was in the afternoon. Maybe she could take a nap or something.

Jessica ascended the stairwell again for the first time since bringing the mystery box up to her room. She stopped at the stop of the stairwell to get a quick drink of water in, then twisted the cap back on. The blonde fluffed her hair a bit as she entered the open door to her room.

She glanced to the dresser on her right where a familiar stuffed animal greeted her, she sighed. Well she hadn't done this in awhile.

Jessica smiled and picked up the grey-silver Disney character, smiling his big smile with his one buck tooth, kicking down his stuffed feet. The cheerleader then walked over and slumped down on the side of her bed, her voice greeted to it in a tired sigh,

"Hey Thumper. Been awhile."

She hugged the stuff animal closed and let herself relax around it while picking at his ears, "Lot's happened since I last talked to you... where do I start? Well..."

The blonde took a moment to think about it, "I turned 18, and I threw that big party I had planned for it. Then this package shows up and I come back up here, so you pretty much saw everything right? I got to meet Mom and now I'm Jessica the Genie, so..."

The young woman sighed again. Yes, she was confessing and talking about her weekend to her childhood stuffed animal. It probably would confirm to her friends she was indeed going insane, but so was her life, so when in doubt...

"Turns out one of those monsters in my closet came out after Mom left. I lost my ring, and someone found it, so I have a Master now, but you'll never guess who it is!"

She smiled and looked down at the rabbit, scratching and fiddling with his feet, pretending he could talk, "I'll give you hint. He's someone you know pretty well. Though I didn't remember until recently... can you guess though?"

Jessica let out a giggle as she continued to hug her stuffed friend and play with his foot. She could feel the breeze coming in from her window and she heard the curtains moving behind her.

Her body suddenly flinched, her muscles tensed, she leapt up on her feet and spun around to face her window. She clutched down tightly on Thumper and felt her feet shuffle backward.

The last time she had been in her room was when Kevin burst through the door to her closet and attempted to snatch the ring from her. The door remaining slightly ajar from her vantage point, the box for her ring missing off her dresser. A voice whispered in the back of her mind that didn't belong. Someone was here. Someone was still there waiting for her.

Someone came back. Someone who still knew what happened. The image of Kevin moving about her floor, scouring her room, under her bed, in her closet, climbing in from the window flooded her mind. Her chest tightened, it became harder to breathe, she felt sick to her stomach, her heart raced, lips trembled and mouth let out a whimper.

The blonde genie retreated slowly and defensively into the corner over her room, her body overtaken by anxiety and fear.

Jessica hugged Thumper tightly as she stared back at her room. A tree brushed against the house outside and the house creaked causing her tremors to grow worse. Her knees retreated into her chest.

Only one thought called out from her.

"Master. Help me."