Monday 18th October, 8am.

‘What are you doing in my cupboard, Astrid?’ asked Poppy, trying to act like there was nothing strange about suddenly popping out of a bottle.

‘Mum told me to come and get you for breakfast,’ said Astrid, ‘and also I need to borrow your new hiking boots.’

‘You came to snoop around, more likely,’ said Poppy crossly.

‘Who cares,’ said Astrid dismissively. ‘We’ve got way more interesting things to talk about! Like, how long have you been a genie? Am I one, too? When do I get a wand? Mum and Dad are going to be so mad that you didn’t tell them first! And we’ve finally found your special talent, little sis!’

Poppy felt herself growing more and more upset as Astrid talked. Being a genie was her own special secret! For a moment, Poppy thought about snatching the bottle out of her sister’s hand and running away. But if the bottle smashed, she might not be able to get back to the Genie Realm!

So instead, Poppy tried to stay calm and said, ‘You can’t tell anyone about this, Astrid, especially not Mum and Dad. It’d be a big disaster if you did. So just hand me back my bottle, and we can forget all about this.’

But Astrid held it up high, out of Poppy’s reach. ‘I don’t think so, little sis!’ she said, waggling her finger in a very annoying way. ‘I want my three wishes. You’re obviously a genie, and I found your bottle. So you owe me.’

Suddenly, Poppy understood completely what Lexie meant about wish-granting not always being fun. Granting Astrid’s wishes wouldn’t be even slightly enjoyable. Plus there was a huge problem. I haven’t got my wish routine worked out yet, thought Poppy.

Then she remembered the wish twisting rules. Can I try and talk Astrid out of making a wish? she wondered. It was worth a go.

‘Listen, Astrid,’ said Poppy, as sweetly as she could. ‘I’m very new at this whole genie thing. I’m not even allowed to grant wishes yet. How about I write you a special genie I-O-U and maybe in a couple of years –’

‘No way!’ Astrid interrupted, shaking her head. ‘You’re always trying to get out of stuff because you’re the youngest, but I’m not letting that happen this time. I want my wishes or I’m telling Mum on you!’

‘But I’m not sure that I even know how to grant one,’ said Poppy crossly.

‘Don’t worry,’ said Astrid. ‘I’ll start with an easy one.’

‘Oh yes, and what’s that?’ asked Poppy suspiciously.

‘Easy,’ grinned Astrid. ‘I want to be super famous – the most famous person ever!’

‘But you’ve already won heaps of medals and trophies,’ pointed out Poppy angrily. ‘Aren’t you famous enough?’

But Astrid shook her head. ‘No way, sis,’ she smirked.

Poppy knew she was in a tough spot. She had about as much chance of granting her sister’s wish as she did of suddenly sprouting wings and flying around the room. But there was no way Astrid would give Poppy back the bottle unless she granted her wishes!

Suddenly, Poppy had an idea. I’ll just pretend that I’ve granted Astrid’s wish, she decided. I’ll tell her it won’t work straight away. Then, when she’s not looking I’ll get the bottle back from her and find a MUCH better hiding place. It was a risky plan, but Poppy didn’t know what else she could do.

‘OK, OK,’ Poppy said to Astrid, pretending to give in. ‘I’ll grant your stupid wish if you promise not to tell anyone.’

‘Finally!’ said Astrid smugly.

Poppy stood on her bed. She did the snake hands move, followed by a double spin. Then she did a slide and this time, ended the routine with a low bow. There was no puff of smoke so she knew the routine still wasn’t right, but that didn’t matter. She just had to convince Astrid that she knew what she was doing.

‘I grant Astrid’s wish,’ Poppy said, in a loud, serious-sounding voice. ‘She will be the most famous person in the world!’

Then she and Astrid stood there, staring at each other.

‘How do I tell if it’s worked?’ asked Astrid suspiciously.

‘Of course it’s worked,’ said Poppy quickly. ‘It takes a while to kick in, that’s all.’ Then she reached out her hand towards Astrid. ‘And now that I’ve granted your wish, please give me back my bottle.’

‘Nice try!’ laughed Astrid, pulling the bottle away. ‘But I bet that if you get your hands on this thing you’ll disappear. Sorry Poppy, you’re not going anywhere just yet.’

Poppy could have screamed with frustration! I’m stuck here until I find a way of getting my bottle back, she realised grimly. And that could take forever …

‘Poppy! Astrid! Breakfast!’ called their mum from the kitchen.

Astrid shoved the genie bottle into her school bag and flounced off down the hall.

Still feeling quite upset, Poppy quickly changed out of her genie uniform and into her school clothes. She was about to redo her hair into its normal style when she stopped.

No, I’ll keep the high ponytail in, she decided. It’ll remind me of who I really am.

She kept her silver genie bangle on too, and slipped her school books into her red tweenie backpack. Then she went down to breakfast.

It was weird seeing her parents that morning. Even though it had been just over twelve hours since she last saw them, it felt like much longer. For them, nothing had changed. They were drinking tea and reading the paper, just like they did every morning. But for Poppy, everything had changed.

‘So, Poppy,’ smiled her dad as she came in. ‘How was your first night as a tweenager?’

Poppy shrugged. ‘Not too bad,’ she said.

Her mum looked at her curiously. ‘You look different somehow, sweetie.’

‘It’s probably just my new hairdo,’ Poppy replied quickly.

‘No, that’s not quite it,’ said her mum thoughtfully. ‘You just seem older.’

‘Well, she is older,’ said Poppy’s dad, putting down his newspaper. ‘And that reminds me. Now that you’re twelve, Poppy, we expect you to start doing a few more chores. You have to start earning that pocket money.’

‘Does that mean I’ll get a bit more?’ asked Poppy hopefully.

‘No,’ said her dad. ‘You get quite enough for someone your age.’

‘You need to take your school work a little more seriously from now on, too,’ added Poppy’s mum. ‘You’re not a baby anymore.’

‘Well, if I’m not a baby, can I walk to school by myself, instead of walking with Astrid?’ asked Poppy. ‘And can I go into town alone on the train?’

‘Definitely not!’ said her mother quickly. ‘You’re far too young for that.’

Poppy sighed and ate her breakfast, ignoring Astrid’s smirks. This conversation had summed up exactly what was bad about being a tweenager. Everyone told you that you were still too young to do fun stuff. But at the same time they expected you to do a whole lot of extra chores because you were no longer a little kid! It was totally unfair.

But, Poppy thought, giving her long ponytail a little pat, if I wasn’t a tweenager then I wouldn’t be a tweenie genie either!

Imagine if her parents knew that she’d spent the previous night learning about granting wishes and zooming around on a magic carpet! Just thinking about it gave Poppy a shiver of excitement. And it made her more determined than ever to get her bottle back from Astrid.

After breakfast, Astrid and Poppy headed off to school together. Usually Astrid walked a few metres ahead, as though it were embarrassing to walk with her little sister. She always tried to make Poppy carry her bag for her, too. ‘You should see it as an honour,’ she would say. Poppy always refused, of course.

But this morning, everything was the opposite. Astrid wouldn’t leave Poppy’s side. And there was no way she was letting Poppy hold her bag while the genie bottle was inside!

When they were around the block, Astrid turned crossly to Poppy.

‘What’s going on?’ she demanded. ‘Mum told me to stack the dishwasher after breakfast and believe me, famous people do not stack dishwashers. Plus we’ve passed heaps of people already, but no-one has asked for my autograph. I’m starting to think your wish didn’t work. So, here’s a warning: if it hasn’t worked by the time we reach school, guess what I’ll be talking about in Show and Tell this morning?’ Astrid patted her school bag and gave Poppy a menacing look.

‘Astrid, we’re in high school,’ Poppy pointed out, trying to look calm. ‘We don’t do Show and Tell anymore.’

‘Maybe not usually,’ said Astrid darkly, ‘but I suspect they would make an exception when they see what I’ve got.’

Poppy didn’t say anything, but she knew Astrid was right. Everyone would be very interested to hear they had a genie at school. It was only a matter of time before Astrid realised that the wish hadn’t worked, and Poppy was no closer to getting her bottle back.

All too soon, they arrived at their school and nothing had happened.

‘Right,’ said Astrid loudly, as they stepped onto the school grounds. ‘I’m officially sick of waiting for this wish to kick in. Unless something happens right now I’m going to … ’

And then something did happen. Something totally unexpected and really quite remarkable. It started off as nothing more than a faint humming noise. And then steadily, the noise began to get louder and louder.

Poppy and Astrid stood perfectly still, listening. What was going on?