Nobody Likes Megan McGowen

2. Run Away

That day after school, Megan sat down on the bus and stared out the window. She'd actually managed to get her own seat for once – usually she had to share with that bug-eyed freshman or the creepy guy in her science class. But it looked like her magical popularity was already starting to have its benefits.

As she sat there, bumping along and trying not to think about all the homework she had, her mind drifted back to last night – when she'd made that wish. She'd been sitting at the stop for the city bus, trying to figure out how far she could get on $6.42. It was past eight and she should have been home hours ago, but she didn't care; tonight she was running away.

Megan waited impatiently for the next bus. It wasn't exactly late, but the place was pretty deserted. Maybe she should have gone down to the bus depot instead. The next bus didn't even come to this place for another forty minutes. Megan sighed dejectedly, head in her hands as she wondered to herself how it was even possible that she didn't have a car yet. She had been convinced that the instant she turned sixteen, she'd be driving everywhere she could. But like everything else, it hadn't worked out the way she expected. Her parents couldn't afford to just give her a car, and she didn't have the money to buy one herself. If she did, she wouldn't have had to scrape together couch-cushion money to ride the bus out of town.

It wasn't that Megan wanted to run away exactly; she was just tired of being a loser. She wanted to be liked by people, to have more than one friend. Was that too much to ask for? Last year had been bad enough, but she'd promised herself that junior year would be different. So far, it was the worst year she'd had in high school. No one talked to her except Jen, and the two never even got a decent spot in the cafeteria. Which, of course, meant that even lunch was a constant reminder of her loser status at school.

A car drove by, nearly splashing water all over Megan, and she only just managed to pick her feet up in time. At least she managed to do that right, she thought glumly to herself. It was bad enough that she had to run away – she didn't want to spend hours on the bus soaking wet. As the car sped away, something clattered to the curb. It looked like some sort of old bottle. Curious, Megan walked the few steps to the curb before bringing it back with her. She still had over half an hour to kill, and it wasn't like she had anything better to do.

The bottle was actually kind of interesting; it was one of those old-fashioned things that bulged out at the bottom and tapered off into a narrow neck at the top. The lip was ringed in what was probably gold paint, and the same gold color twisted down the sides of the neck before crisscrossing the bottom part. An old cork was stuffed into the top, looking completely out of place on such an ornate bottle.

She thought for a minute about tossing it back in the gutter. After all, how many times had her mom told her not to pick up trash? Megan found herself sighing; she wasn't going to have to worry about listening to her mom anymore. Besides, it was a pretty nice-looking bottle. Megan wasn't sure she'd really have a use for it out on her own, but she never knew. Maybe she would just keep it as a reminder of the last thing she ever got before she ran away. Yeah, she nodded decisively to herself; that sounded good to her.

Megan absentmindedly wiped a bit of dirt off the side, trying to spruce it up a bit. Then, she decided pull that stupid cork out of the top – it was really ugly anyway. Gently, she pulled on it, almost afraid she'd break the delicately sculpted neck. The cork didn't budge. She tried again with the same result. She'd almost decided that it really was stuck in there for good when she felt it give way just a little.

She struggled with it for what must have been fifteen minutes without success. And with each passing minute she got more and more frustrated. Still, did she have anything better to do? Of course not; if she did, she wouldn't be sitting here at the bus stop, would she? So, she kept working at it. And when she finally did get that stupid bottle open, Megan couldn't believe what she saw.