“Hey,” he said, waving. Tamyra didn’t look happy. “Are these your cousins or something?”
“No,” said Tamyra. She took a deep breath. “They’re my brother and sisters.”
“You don’t have …” Max began, then stopped. He looked at the kids again. The two girls looked an awful lot alike. His mouth fell open as a horrible thought came to him.
“I do now,” Tamyra said. “Max, meet Elfie, Elsie, and Charlie.”
“Hi!” the three kids said together. They smiled happily.
Max stared at them, speechless.
“Before you ask, Arthur is at home with my aunt Jackie,” Tamyra said. “And my parents think this is all totally normal, like there have always been five kids.”
Max continued to stare at the kids. “Wow,” he said finally. “That’s really bizarre.”
“You think?” said Tamyra. “So, did you make a wish last night? That your brothers and sisters would be back?”
“Yeah,” Max admitted. “I added it to yours.”
Tamyra groaned. Behind her, Elsie and Elfie laughed. Max found himself stealing glances at them. The resemblance to Tamyra was obvious. The fact that they had his sisters’ names was freaky.
“The Wish Eater granted your wish but gave it to me,” Tamyra said.
“Your wish was gone too,” said Max. “But nothing was different at my house.”
Tamyra got a funny look on her face.
“What?” Max said.
“Nothing,” Tamyra said. “I mean, it’s probably nothing. It’s just that my wish wasn’t anything to do with my family.”
“What was it?” Max asked warily.
“We’re going to be late for school,” Charlie announced. “And I have a test.”
“Let’s walk,” Tamyra suggested, heading off in the direction of the school. Her sisters and brother followed. Max walked beside Tamyra.
“What did you wish?” he asked her, since she hadn’t really answered his question.
“Just that things would be the way they were before I wished the first time,” Tamyra said.
“Oh,” Max said, relieved. “That doesn’t sound so bad.”
Tamyra nodded but didn’t say anything. When they reached the school, Elsie and Elfie headed off to the seventh-grade classrooms, while Charlie joined the other third graders, all of whom seemed to know who he was.
“This is so weird,” said Tamyra. “It’s like they’ve been going here forever.”
Max started to say something, but just then Ji-woo Pak came rushing up to him, along with Amber Maitling and Pihu Reddy. They were three of the girls who had been angry at Tamyra the day before. Now they ignored her, focusing all their attention on Max.
“Congratulations!” Ji-woo said, grabbing his arm and squeezing it.
“Uh, thanks?” Max said.
“You haven’t seen the list?” Pihu asked.
“List?” said Max
“The cheer squad list,” said Amber, jumping up and down. “You made the team!”
“This is so great,” Ji-woo said. “You’ll be the first boy on the squad.”
Max looked at the three girls. “There must be some mistake,” he said. “I didn’t try—”
Tamyra kicked him in the leg.
“Ow!” Max said, looking at her. “What was that for?”
“It’s my wish,” Tamyra hissed in his ear.
“Our first practice is this afternoon,” said Pihu. “That’s when you’ll get your pom-poms.”
“Pom-poms?” Max said.
Amber produced a pair of pom-poms in the school colors of blue and gold. She waved them in Max’s face. “Goooooo Badgers!” she shouted, then twirled around.
Ji-woo and Pihu also shrieked, “Go Badgers!” They looked expectantly at Max.
“Oh,” he said. “Go Badgers?”
Pihu frowned. “More energy,” she said.
“Go Badgers!” Max shouted, earning himself looks from all the kids in the hallway.
“Better,” Pihu said. “I can’t wait to see your herkie.”
“My what?” Max asked as the three girls ran off, giggling and waving their pom-poms. He turned to Tamyra and scowled.
“I might have made one tiny little extra wish,” Tamyra said.
“To be on the cheer team?” said Max.
“I figured it wouldn’t hurt,” Tamyra said. “My other wishes all turned out bad, and I wanted something good to happen.”
Max groaned.
“The good news is, no one is mad at me anymore,” Tamyra said. “So that part turned out okay.”
“We’ve got to fix this,” Max said. “And fast. I can’t be on the cheer squad.”
“Why not?” said Tamyra, putting her hands on her hips. “Because you think it’s just for girls?”
“No,” Max said. “Because I’m totally uncoordinated. Haven’t you ever seen me try to dance?”
“Actually, I have,” said Tamyra. “At Tanner Bexler’s birthday party. It wasn’t pretty.”
“Exactly,” Max said. “And now they want to see my herkie. What even is that?”
“It’s a cheer move,” Tamyra said. “Where you—”
“I don’t want to know!” Max interrupted. “Because I’m not doing it. We’re going to fix this. All of it. We’re going to get rid of your new brothers and sisters, and I’m not going to be on the cheer squad.”
Tamyra looked sad.
“What?” said Max.
“It sounds so weird when you say it like that,” Tamyra said. “Getting rid of my brothers and sisters. I mean, I know they’re not supposed to be here. But they are. If we wish them away, what happens to them?”
Max thought about it. But he didn’t know either. And now that Tamyra had brought it up, it did sound kind of horrible. The new Elfie, Elsie, Charlie, and Arthur were real people. At least, he thought they were.
“We’ll figure it out,” he said as the first bell rang and everybody rushed to get to their homerooms.
The problem was, he had no idea how.
“Good overhead clasp, Amber,” Coach Digmore said.
She walked down the line, scrutinizing each person’s form as they worked through a series of poses she’d taught them during the first part of practice. She stopped in front of Max and gave him a steely stare. “Daggers!” she barked.
Max straightened his back and brought his arms up, his elbows at his waist and his fists touching his shoulders. He waited for Coach Digmore to tell him he was doing it wrong.
“Not bad,” she said, nodding approvingly. She blew the whistle that hung from a cord around her neck. “Take five,” she said. “When we come back, we’re doing it all with poms.”
The squad gathered around Max, patting him on the back.
“You’re doing great,” Amber assured him.
“Thanks,” Max said. “It’s harder than it looks.”
“Right?” Ji-woo said. “My brother and his buddies on the football team think all we do is jump around and make up cheers. He has no idea. Wait until they all see another guy doing what we do.”