Maggie Malone Makes a Splash by Jenna McCarthy Page A

Burro’s second cousin.
    I quickly swipe the tiny tear puddle off my page, and wouldn’t you know it? It hits Carl Lumberton right in the arm. I figure he’s going to look at me all mean like, Thanks a lot for spitting on me, Malone , but instead he looks down and wipes the corner of his mouth. He assumed he drooled on his own arm. I exhale a sigh of relief. You have to appreciate small victories at a time like this.
    I lean back against the icy wall and wonder how everything got so bad so fast. So much for turning things around at Pinkerton.

Chapter 22

When Things Get Worse at the Mountain View Pool
    Every other class is pretty much a repeat of Spanish class—socially speaking, anyway. The only break I get all day is during speech class, because it’s the one class I don’t share with any of my “friends.” When lunchtime finally arrives, I snatch my lunch bag from my locker and race over to the auditorium. I go to the back where all the costumes are hanging behind the red velvet curtain and climb between racks of smelly clothes and pull out my genie pocket mirror.
    â€œFrank! Oh, Frank, best genie in the whole wide world!” I sing, hoping that a little appreciation might encourage him to show up faster and, I don’t know, maybe stick around long enough so I can give him the full lowdown.
    â€œMags!” he says, his face coming into focus. “You’re already back at school. Hey, nice work out there on the ocean! That’s what I’m talking about. You figured it out and all on your own, Magpie—I told you that you could!”
    â€œOh that, yeah…thanks, Frank!” I say, smiling, because it was all kinds of awesome out there.
    I was calling Frank for some genie advice on how to deal with these girls being so mean to me, but he gives me an idea.
    â€œHey, speaking of that, Frank,” I say in a nice, but hopefully not over-the-top sweet voice. “I’d like to take another spin as Marina Tide. Like right now, please. And thank you.”
    Why not? I was super helpful on the Sea Angel and jumping back into her life would be a quick escape out of my own life, which as of eight o’clock this morning has become the exact opposite of all kinds of awesome.
    â€œOh Maggie, darlin’, you know that’s not how it works,” Frank says, shaking his head. “You only get one day in somebody else’s life. That’s why I always say you’d better make it good!”
    â€œOkay. I know, then I’ll be somebody else lickety-split, Frank. Got any good ideas for me? I just have to run home and get the MMBs and—”
    â€œHold on there, cowgirl. You know the MMBs aren’t about stepping into somebody else’s life when things in your own life get tough,” Frank says, looking straight at me. I have to tell you, but when a genie looks you straight in the eyeballs, it’s about impossible to look away. I see a colorful boat float by behind Frank and realize he’s on a river somewhere.
    â€œWhere in the world are you, Frank?” I ask, because he is one globe-trotting genie.
    â€œEarly morning on the Ganges, Mags! India. You do not want to know what’s in that water,” he says, motioning over his shoulder at the murky water behind him.
    â€œEwww,” I agree, taking his word for it. “I guess I don’t.”
    â€œYou just saved a fragile, endangered coral reef, my dear,” Frank says and I can tell he’s about to sign off.
    â€œWait, Frank!” I plead, falling against Mr. Mooney’s crown and scepter.
    â€œNow go save yoursel f !” he calls out just as his image turns back to my own.
    Save myself? Genies!
    At the end of the longest, loneliest school day of my life, I race cheetah-like to my locker and grab all of my gear. I’m hoping to make it to the bike rack quickly so that I can catch Elizabeth before she takes off for practice at Mountain View Pool. I