Lawndale and Sandi Griffin’s Genie
Prologue
Lawndale, Maryland, United States of America
Wednesday, February 17 1999
It was a bright sunny day in Lawndale, a not-so-typical American suburban town. Almost no-one knew what was going to happen that afternoon. Those that did know had been preparing for the upcoming events for the last three months. It was an event that would set off a chain of events that bring about massive changes to the town (or suburb, though Lawndale was certainly separate from the nearby settlements, many of which also considered themselves towns).
Only a minority of people knew what was about to happen that afternoon, after school had finished for the day.
Lawndale High School was the domain of Angela Li, a dictator of a Principal, who tended to put security above other concerns, like the budget for the maintenance of the school’s buildings. However, even she was not aware of the secret meeting that was taking place beneath the school during the last period of the school day.
The attendees of the meeting were students, who had been excused from class for a variety of reasons, and two or three teachers who didn’t have a class for that period...
“Now, does everyone understand what you need to do?” the convener of the meeting, who stood in a shadow that the meagre lights of the room did not reach, asked.
“Yes!” the teachers, and most of the students, said enthusiastically.
“Yes, Of course I do. There was no need for the repetition,” the remaining student said. As she had been sitting separately from everyone else, she quickly exited the room.
“Excellent! Meeting is adjourned,” the convener said.
The students who attended the meeting then returned to their classes via various secret passageways beneath the school buildings, re-emerging into the corridors, or the basement, where Li’s cameras had blind spots.
The last of the students whom had attended the secret meeting had returned to their classes 20 minutes before school finished for the day.
Sandi Griffin, sophomore and President of the school’s Fashion Club (and who had not attended the secret meeting), did not know as she exited the school’s front entrance what role she would play in the history making events over the next few weeks.
“Quinn, where were you?” Sandi turned to the source of the question. It was two of the other members of the Fashion Club, Quinn Morgendorffer and Stacy Rowe.
“I was in the bathroom, Stacy,” Quinn said.
“For half an hour?” That is a very long time, even for you, Quinn,” Stacy said, not entirely convinced.
Sandi had to interrupt; something was happening that she might take advantage of.
“Maybe, Qui-inn, like, you were somewhere else?” she said. Quinn blushed.
“Ok, Ok, I was in Study Hall,” Quinn said, not entirely convincingly. “I miss-read my timetable,” she said.
Sandi could tell that her Vice-President rival was lying, but she saw that Stacy believed her. To accuse Quinn now could cause problems within the Fashion Club for the rest of the month, Sandi reasoned.
“I suppose so, even though the time table change was 3 weeks ago,” Sandi said.
“Thank you, Sandi,” Quinn said.
“Besides, I have misread my timetable many times,” Stacy said, in support of Quinn.
“Thanks, Stacy,” Quinn said.
Sandi talked to Quinn, Stacy and the fourth Fashion Club member, Tiffany Blum-Deckler, for about ten minutes before heading home. Her thoughts were full of plans for the months ahead, regarding school, and the Fashion Club. ‘I hope that Quinn’s weird sister will not interfere,’ she thought as she turned into her street. Little did she know that all her plans would come to naught.
After an hour of looking at fashion websites Sandi went out to her backyard. After a minute of observing her two brothers playing she noticed a glint in the grass. She went over and picked it up. It was an emerald. “How did we not notice this before?” she asked herself. She took it to her bedroom.
When she had placed the emerald on her bedside table, her phone rang. She quickly forgot about the Emerald, as she talked to Tiffany about her choices of clothes for a party on Friday night.
After her conversation with Tiffany she did some homework. She did not give the emerald another thought until the next morning.
Chapter 1 – The Beginning
Thursday, February 18 1999
Sandi awoke early, around 6:45, from a nightmare. “What a dream,” she said. She did not remember many details. She did however remember the emerald and picked it up as she climbed out of bed. The emerald looked dirtier in the early morning light than it had the previous afternoon. “I need to get the dirt off,” she said. She began rubbing it.
What happened next was entirely unexpected. It frightened her much more than the nightmare did.
The Emerald lit up! Sandi dropped it in shock, collapsing back onto her bed. “Eep!”
There was static on the radio, where there had been a clear signal from one of Lawndale’s local FM stations (but not Z93) only a moment before. The bedroom light was flashing on and off. Then many swirls of light emanated from the emerald.
Sandi had recovered herself enough to think ‘What is happening?’
Then, there, in the centre of the room impossibility occurred. What appeared to be a normal teenage girl, much like Sandi herself appeared, appearing to coalesce out of the swirls of light. She had medium length dark blonde hair, about the length of Sandi’s, and grey eyes that showed a much greater age than her looks implied.
Sandi fainted.
A while later Sandi came to. The stranger was sitting on her chair at her study desk, where the accoutrements of the previous night’s homework session were, undisturbed by the stranger.
“Like, who are you?” Sandi asked, with fear, rather than the usual haughtiness, showing in her voice.
“I am sorry for the fright that I have given you. I am a genie. You may call me Jeannie, or Jean for short.”
Sandi didn’t know what to believe, genies were the stuff of fairy tales and Disney movies.
“Say that again, a genie who grants wishes?” Sandi asked, her voice showing scepticism similar to that of Quinn’s sister, not that she would ever admit that fact.
“Yes, I grant your wishes. If you are holding the emerald in some way when you wish for something out loud it will be granted. The number of wishes is without limit.”
Sandi didn’t know what to think. One thing was certain, if her parents discovered Jean in the room, she would be in trouble.
“I wish that my family would remember that you are staying here on exchange,” Sandi said, hoping that that it was a wish that Jean was capable of granting.
“Do you mean your immediate family or your extended family?” Jean asked.
“My immediate family, those that are living here!” Sandi said with impatience.
Jean then blinked, holding her arms across her chest as she did so. A strange sound surrounded Sandi on all sides.
“Your wish has been granted, although it would be easier if I knew your name. I know that the surname is Griffin, from the granting of the wish, but not your personal name,” Jean said.
“Alexandra, though I prefer Sandi if you don’t mind!”
“I will call you Sandi,” Jean said.
“Sandi! Jean! Your breakfast is ready,” Sandi’s mother, Linda, called.
“Yikes!” Sandi said, looking at the time (7:30 by her clock radio).
They were out in the kitchen in slightly less than 10 minutes, a record for Sandi. Sandi was wearing her usual outfit; whereas Jean was wearing one of Sandi’s other outfits...
Breakfast was tense.
Lawndale High School 8:30
Sandi and Jean were dropped off by Linda in front of the school. “We’re early; Stacy and Tiffany do not arrive until 8:45. Quinn usually arrives five minutes after that.” Sandi said after her mother had driven off.
Jean stopped short of the front entrance. “Aren’t you forgetting something Sandi?” she asked.
“What have I forgotten?” Sandi asked.
“I am not enrolled. I am not in the school’s records!” Jean said. Sandi mused on this. Ms Li would very quickly find out that someone was at the school, who was not supposed to be there.
“Good point,” Sandi conceded. “I wish that you were in all the relevant records at the school.”
Jean granted the wish, repeating the gesture from earlier, with the same sound.
“The wish is granted,” Jean said.
“Who can hear that anyway?” Sandi asked, referring to the wish granting sound, whilst entering the front entrance of the school.
“The person making the wish, and anyone in the immediate vicinity,” Jean said, as she entered the school building herself. Sandi could see that she was holding some information back, but figured that she would find out soon enough.
“Where are we going?” Jean asked.
“The Library. It is, like, open before homeroom on Thursdays. I would like to see if there is any information there about genies in history,” Sandi said.
“Ok,” Jean said, not sure what Sandi’s motives would be in such a project. They passed the Cafeteria and then went out into the quad towards the library.
Once in the Library, Sandi looked around and made sure that there weren’t any ‘popular’ people there who could identify her. She saw no one whom she recognised. She then went over to the cataloguing computers.
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