Double Trouble (5 page)

“Can we pretend to be seasick?” asked a round-faced boy with messy brown hair.

Ali rolled her eyes. Barry Oakes always thought he was
so
funny.

Mrs. Harvey sighed. “If you must”

The teacher put some classical music on the CD player, and the groups began to shuffle around. At first the music was quiet, although it sounded very Joud to Ali's tiny ears. Then, with a couple of drumrolls, the music grew louder and
louden It was a good thing Genie hadn't put the backpack next to the CD player; Ali thought. It would have deafened her!

The groups were now staggering around the room, clinging to each other and wiping imaginary water from their faces. Ali had to admit that it
did
look like fun. And Genie was pretty good! She swayed from side to side, lurching about and pretending to clutch at ropes.

“Watch out crew!” Genie shouted as she slid across the floor and bumped into Tiffany, who looked furious. “The storm's really blowing up now!”

Grinning, Ali leaned farther out of the backpack to get a better look But as she did so, a barrette slipped out and landed on the floor.

“Oh no!” Ali bit her lip. The barrette, which had a little strawberry on the end, was one of her favorites. And the way everyone was running around the room, it was going to get stepped on any minute now. Barry Oakes had nearly squashed it already with his huge sneakers.

Ali quickly made up her mind to do something. She heaved herself out of the
pocket and scrambled down the side of the backpack. Just as she stretched out her hand to pick up the barrette, Barry lumbered past. He kicked the barrette without even noticing. It flew across the floor and landed even farther away, near Genie's group.

“Oh no,” Ali groaned. She would have to make a dash for it right to the other side of the room, avoiding all those
enormous prancing feet—while making sure no one saw her!

Hugging the wall, Ali ran as fast as she could to the barrette. She hid behind a pile of gym mats to catch her breath.
Phew! What's that awful smell?
she wondered. She looked over and saw an old gym sock lying in a smelly heap beside her: Yuck! Pinching her nose, Ali raced out into the middle of the room. Luckily everyone was too busy in their storm-tossed boats to notice her Even Little Genie!

As Ali bent to pick up the barrette, she saw Tiffany glance over at Mrs. Harvey. The teacher was talking to another group and had her back to the studentsTiffany grinned nastily and gave Genie an enormous push. Genie
gasped and went sprawling on the floor.

Tiffany laughed. “Someone's fallen overboard, and we don't have any life jackets!”

Ali glared at her “Genie, are you all right?” she called in her tiny voice. But there was so much noise in the room, Genie couldn't hear her.

Genie jumped up, rubbing her elbow. “No problem, everybody!” she shouted cheerfully. “It's a good thing I can swim!”

That'll show Tiffany!
thought Ali. She watched as Genie zoomed across the room toward Barry's group.

“Help!” Genie yelled, waving madly at Barry. “Can I come on board?”

“I thought you said you could swim,” Barry called.

“I can,” Genie replied, dog-paddling. “But this water's freezing!”

“Come on in, then,” Barry said with a grin.

“You know what?” Genie said as Barry grabbed her hand to haul her into the pretend boat. “It'd be a lot more fun if there was a
real
storm!”

Ali's heart began to pound. What was Little Genie planning now? “No, Genie!” she yelled.

But her words were swept away by a sudden gust of wind that seemed to come from nowhere. It raged around the room, rattling the windows and making it impossible to hear anything except Tiffany Andrews's shrieking.

Ali tried to run across the room to the
safety of the backpack, but the wind was too strong. She clung, to a nearby chair leg, wondering what was going to happen next. Somehow she didn't think Genie's idea of a real storm would stop at a gust of wind.

And then Ali saw a huge green-blue wave of water rising slowly at the far end of the room. It loomed higher and higher until it had covered the windows!

“Oh no!” Ali gasped.

Mrs. Harvey was staring at it open-mouthed. So was everyone else.

“Man the lifeboats!” yelled Genie, rushing around with a big grin on. her face. “Wave ahoy!”

And then, very slowly, the wall of water rolled over. It crashed to the floor,
rushing toward every corner of the room. The noise was deafening.

Mrs. Harvey raced over to the door and pulled it open, waving desperately for the class to run outside. Ali wanted to follow, but she was too scared of getting trampled. There was nothing she could do, so, feeling very scared, she stayed under the chain And when she looked up, the huge wave was plunging straight toward her.

“Help!” Ali yelled, cowering under the chair She was already wet through from the spray. In just a moment, the water would be right over her head.

“Ali!”

Above the roar of the water, Ali heard someone shout her name. Footsteps splashed across the room, and suddenly there was a very damp Genie, still looking like Ali, kneeling beside the chair Ali
had never been so glad to see anyone in her life!

“Come on!” Genie said urgently, lifting Ali up.

“Ali!” Mrs. Harvey called anxiously from the door The rest of the class were standing shivering in the corridor “Over here!”

Ali glanced over just in time to see the teacher jump out of the way as the water crashed into the doorway.

“Genie!” Ali shouted. “Look! The door is flooded. We won't be able to get out!”

But Genie had a plan. Clutching Ali in her hand, she sprinted to the other end of the room just ahead of the rolling wave. Genie grabbed Air's backpack off the floor; then jumped onto the piano stool and climbed right up on top of the piano. The wave smashed against the wall, sending a spray of water over themvAli gulped as she pushed her wet hair out of her eyes and gazed down at the choppy water swirling on the floor below.

“You saved my life!” Ali gasped. “Thanks, Genie.”

“It was lucky I spotted you,” Genie said. A drop of water slid down her cheek. She helped Ali into the backpack pocket and zipped it half shut. “I didn't know the storm was going to be this big!” she confessed. “That wave was gnarly!” Then she winked at Ali, her eyes sparkling with mischief. “It's been fun, though, hasn't it?”

The wind was still thundering around the room, and the waves were still sweeping up and down. Suddenly a loud siren could be heard above the howling wind.

“Listen,” Ali said through chattering teeth. “It's the fire departmenti'The rest of her class, who were standing just outside the door started to cheer.

A few moments later a group of firefighters in yellow helmets and big boots appeared in the doorway. One of them waded over to Genie and Ali. “Gome on,” he said. “Let's get you out of here.”

Genie clutched the backpack tightly as the firefighter picked her up and waded back across the hall. Ali couldn't resist peeking out to see what was going on. The water had flooded down the corridor and into some classrooms. The whole school had been sent outside to line up in the playground, just like a fire drill. Everyone from Mrs. Harvey's class was wet and shivering, and Ali could hear Tiffahy Andrews being a drama queen as usual, moaning and complaining at the top of her voice.

“I bet my bag's ruined!” she was protesting. “I had to leave it behind. And it cost a lot!”

Meanwhile, Mrs. Harvey was talking to one of the firefighters. She looked very pale.

“We think a water main must have burst,” the firefighter said. “I've never seen so much water”

Mrs. Harvey nodded. “Yes, that must be what happened.” She turned to her class. “Mrs. Jasmine and I will be phoning your parents to come for an early dismissal so that you can go home and dry off. If we can't reach your parents, we'll call your emergency pickup number”

Ali shivered. That meant Gran would be coming to get her.

Mary squelched over to Genie. “Hey, Ali, wasn't that
cool?
” She was soaking wet, but she was grinning like crazy. “Scary, but fun! It was just like being in a real storm!”

“I know!” Genie agreed, squeezing some water from her hair. “I can't believe a water main burst just as we were acting out that storm scene!” She glanced down at Ali and winked.

Inside the backpack pocket Ali was freezing. She tried wrapping; one of the empty gum wrappers around her to warm up, but it didn't help. All she wanted to do was go home, climb into a steaming bath, and have a hot drink.

“There's your grandma, Ali,” Mary said.

“Oh.” Genie sounded puzzled. Ali
watched as Genie looked at the cars pulling up outside the school gate. “Um, where, exactly?”

Ali groaned. Of course Genie didn't know who Gran was! Even though Gran had bought the Lava lamp for Ali, Genie hadn't appeared until Ali had started polishing the lamp at home.

“There,”
said Mary, pointing. “Have you still got water in your eyes or something?” Ali saw Mary giving Genie a strange look. “That's her car; isn't it?”

“Oh,
that
Gran,” Genie said breezily. “I didn't know who you meant at first.”

Ali could see from the look on Mary's face that she definitely thought there was something seriously wrong with her friend! “I'm going to have a lot of
explaining to do,” Ali mumbled, shaking her head.

“Are you two all right?” Gran was hurrying across the playground toward Genie and Mary. “What an awful thing to happen. You're soaked through.”

“We're fine, Gran,” Genie said.

“Mary, can we give you a ride home?” Gran offered.

“Thanks! I'll tell Mrs. Harvey,” Mary said.

As soon as Mrs. Harvey said it was okay, Gran hurried them over to the car and put the heater on full blast. Ali was dying to pop her head out of the backpack to dry her hair; but she didn't dare.

They dropped Mary off, and then Gran drove straight to the Millers' house.
“Now go upstairs and get out of those wet clothes,” she told Genie, taking the backpack from her and putting it down in the hall. “I'll run you a bath and make you some hot chocolate. That'll soon warm you up.”

“Maybe I should unpack my backpack first,” Genie began. “My papers might be wet—”

“That can wait” Gran said firmly. “Off you go.”

Ali's face fell as she heard Genie and Gran going upstairs. She needed a bath and a cup of hot chocolate too! She couldn't unzip the pocket without Genie. She was stuck.

It seemed like ages until she heard Genie coming downstairs again.

“Gran, is it all right if I take my hot chocolate upstairs and start my homework?” Genie asked.

“Of course,” Gran said, much to Ali's relief.

Ali felt the backpack being lifted into the air She bounced and bobbed from side to side as Genie ran upstairs. When the zipper was pulled open, Ali scrambled out onto her bed.

“Are you okay?” Genie asked. She looked very warm and snug in Ali's favorite sweats.

“N-no,” Ali stammered through clattering teeth.
“Aschoo!”

“How can we warm you up?” Genie wondered. “You're too small to go into the bath. You might slip down the drain!
And you're too tiny to fit into any of your other clothes. We could wrap you in a sock or something.”