Fair Coin (10 page)

“I still care. But from what I'm hearing, you want us to stop using the coin, except when you really want to. If you didn't want to share it with me, you shouldn't have told me about it in the first place.”

“This next wish has to be our last. Just to set everything straight again.”

“No,” Nathan said. “I like things the way they are. Don't take that away from me.”

“I just want to wish for Jena's father to be all right. Even the coin can't mess that one up.” He wished he was more confident about that. If the coin landed on heads, they would be okay. If not, things might get even worse.

“You just spent the last half hour trying to convince me that the coin is unpredictable. If you're right, I might lose Shelley with the next wish. You can't promise otherwise.”

Ephraim squeezed the coin. He couldn't believe Nathan was going to put his stupid crush ahead of someone else's life.

“If this wish changes that, we'll figure out how to get her back, all right? But safely, after we know how it works,” Ephraim said.

Nathan glared. Then his shoulders drooped. “Okay, Ephraim. I trust you.” He shoved their plates aside, and Ephraim stared at the coin, concentrating.

“I wish Jena's dad were healthy again,” Ephraim said.
Heads
, he thought.
Please be heads.
He flipped the coin and caught it.

Heads!

Ephraim grinned.

Too late, Ephraim realized he hadn't taken Nathan's hand before he flipped the coin.

Ephraim blinked, and he was suddenly alone in his bedroom. He was beginning to adjust to the coin's abrupt changes; the diner was gone, but the french fries he'd eaten there weighed heavily in his stomach. He wondered where Nathan had ended up this time, and what state he might be in.

He tried Nathan's house first and was relieved when he answered.

“Nathan! Are you all right?” Ephraim said.

“What? Who is this?” Nathan sounded groggy, like he'd just woken up. It confirmed Ephraim's fear that he'd left his friend behind with that last wish. Maybe there was a chance he would still remember, since he'd actually been a part of Ephraim's wishes before.

“It's me. Ephraim.”

“Ephraim…Ephraim Scott? What do you want?”

“Stop playing around. Look, I made a mistake. Please tell me you remember the quarter.” Ephraim squeezed the handset of the phone.

“What quarter? What are you talking about?”

What have I done?
Ephraim thought.

“You have to remember it.”
You have to remember me.
“The coin. Come on, think about it. Just a couple of minutes ago we were at the diner—”

Nathan groaned. “I was asleep a couple of minutes ago, and I wasn't dreaming about you. Whatever you're on, save some for me, dude. Later.” The line clicked and went dead.

Nathan didn't remember the magic coin. He barely seemed to remember Ephraim, for that matter. On the one hand, Ephraim's accidental exclusion of Nathan could be for the best: he wouldn't have Nathan pressuring him to use the coin anymore.

On the other hand, Ephraim might have a bigger problem to worry about. He might have lost his best friend.

Jena checked the time on her cell phone pointedly when Ephraim rushed into the library.

“Late, for the second day in a row,” she said.

“Sorry. Rough morning,” he said.

So he still worked there. He'd hoped that would change, considering he'd taken the job because Jena was leaving. But that didn't mean his wish hadn't been granted. The coin had landed on heads, so her father should be all right. That's what was important. The fact that Jena was at work today was probably a good sign.

She hadn't changed much either. Maybe she looked a little tired, but that was understandable with her father in the hospital.

“Why are you staring at me like that?” Jena asked.

“I'm not.”

“Okay.” She patted a cart by the desk. “This cart's ready for shelving. If you're ready to do some work.”

“Yeah,” he said. Jena's appearance was the same, but her personality had been altered. She seemed colder than before. Maybe she was still worried about her father.

“Hey, is your dad okay?” he asked.

Jena's expression softened. “He's going to be fine. It was a false alarm. How'd you know he was in the hospital?”

“My mom mentioned it. A false alarm? That's a relief, but I'm sure it was scary.”

Jena nodded.

“I guess you're still moving then? After he recovers,” Ephraim said.

Jena stopped scanning the stack of books in front of her. “I'm not moving anywhere. What made you think that?”

“Uh. Then why am I working here?”

“What? Mary said you wanted a summer job for your college applications next year. If you're having second thoughts—”

“No. I want to work here. I do. Sorry, I didn't get much sleep last night. I'm not making a lot of sense.”

She narrowed her eyes.

“I'll put those carts away,” he said.

She gave him a tight-lipped smile. “You do that.” She picked up the scanning gun and turned away from him. “Let me know if you have any questions.”

“Yeah.” All he had were questions.

Jena barely spoke to him all morning, except to give him orders, correct a mistake, or make sarcastic comments intended either as insults or humor, he couldn't tell which. She wasn't the girl he had fallen for. He worried that he'd lost her friendship too, before he'd ever really had it.

Mr. Kim wasn't going to die, at least, but that pretty much discounted his ideas about the coin flip determining the outcome of the wish. Which meant Ephraim knew very little about the coin at all.

As the clock ticked toward twelve o'clock, he tried to figure out how to ask Jena to join him for lunch. But at the stroke of noon, the wide glass doors of the library slid open, and Mary and Shelley walked in. Of course she would already have lunch plans.

“Hi, guys,” Mary and Shelley said in stereo.

“Hi,” Jena said. She smiled for the first time all day.

Mary sidled up to Ephraim. “Hey, sweetie,” she said. She put a hand on his arm and leaned in for a kiss. Ephraim froze.

“Hi, Mary,” he choked out.

He disengaged himself and grabbed onto another cart half-full with books. “I'll be right back. Just have to finish this up.”

He tried to ignore the hurt look on her face and the annoyed one on Jena's. He pushed the cart dangerously fast and ducked behind a shelf, knocking some books to the floor. He could still see the front desk through the gaps in the books on the shelf. He leaned on the cart, his heart pounding.

“You ready for lunch?” Jena said to the twins.

“You bet,” Shelley said.

“Is it all right if…” Mary darted a glance toward where Ephraim had disappeared.

“Sis wanted to have lunch with Ephraim,” Shelley said. “She was going to
make
him lunch until I talked her out of it. I mean, it's the twenty-first century, right? Do we really want to perpetuate those outmoded stereotypes?” Speaking of stereotypes, that was the longest sentence Ephraim had ever heard Shelley say at once. Had everyone changed with that last wish?

Jena darted a glance over her shoulder and lowered her voice. Ephraim practically shoved his head through the bookshelf as he strained to listen.

“…creeping me out,” Jena whispered.

Jena didn't sound jealous of Mary like he'd assumed. More like she hated him.

Ephraim pulled out the coin. “You caused all this trouble,” he said to it.

“Who are you talking to?” Mary said. She had just come around the corner. He concealed the coin in his fist.

“I was just…working.” His eyes fell on the book cart. “I like to read the titles aloud as I put them away.”

“‘You caused all this trouble’?” Mary said.

“It's a self-help book.” Ephraim shoved the coin in his pocket and stepped around the cart.

When they reached the library entrance, Ephraim saw Nathan standing there, and he couldn't believe his eyes. Nathan had really changed—physically. His usually floppy hair was short and spiked, pointing in every direction. He wasn't as thin as he should be, either; his shoulders were broad, and tight muscles showed through a thin Summerside Badgers football jersey. Nathan hated football.

“You've met Ephraim, Nat?” Shelley said.

Nat?

“Ephraim? Hey, what did you want this morning?” Nathan's voice sounded deeper than normal.

“Nothing. I dialed the wrong number,” Ephraim said. “Sorry about that.”

“You know, I think I'll pass on lunch,” Jena said. “I didn't expect it to be a big group thing.”

Mary drew Ephraim outside with them. He pulled his arm away from her at the top of the stairs. “I can't come either,” Ephraim said.

“Why not?” Mary asked. A lock of curly brown hair stuck to her sweat-dampened forehead.

“We're just busy today,” Ephraim said. He glanced over his shoulder back into the library. He saw Jena at the circulation desk, head bent down toward her computer screen.

“You'd rather hang out with the bookworm?” Nathan laughed.

Ephraim stared at Nathan in shock. He felt Mary's eyes on him, and he shriveled up inside under her gaze.

“It's my job,” Ephraim said.

“Do you want to meet up later?” Mary said softly.

“I can't. I have…plans tonight.”

“We don't need him along to have a good time,” Nathan said. He grabbed for Mary's arm, but she jerked it away from him.

“Actually, I think I'll go home then,” she said. “Three's a crowd.”

“Suit yourself,” Nathan said.

Shelley pouted. “See you later, sis.”

Mary stalked off down the street.

“Nice ass,” Nathan said. He winked at Ephraim. “That's the best thing about dating Shell. She can't get upset if I compliment her sister's looks.”

“Is something going on with you and Jena?” Shelley said quietly to Ephraim.

“No.” Not anymore, anyway.

She looked like she wanted to say something else, but Nathan pulled her arm.

“Ow,” she said.

“Come on,
chica,”
Nathan said. “I'm hungry. Let's get some wedges.”

Ephraim trailed after Mary, trying to think about what he could say to make things better, but coming up short.

He caught up with her in front of the post office. “Mary!” She finally slowed and leaned against a mailbox. He put his hand on her shoulder, and she flinched away. She wouldn't turn around, so he moved in front of her.

She glared. “Were you just playing with me?” she said.

“Mary, I'm sorry. I've just been a little preoccupied-”

“I see that.” She spat her words at him now. “You're interested in my best friend. Why not chase my sister while you're at it?”

“Nathan would kill me.” The levity didn't disarm her the way he'd hoped.

“You don't want to go out with me though, do you?”

“It's not that,” he said. “You're terrific. I like you.”

“But?” She stood up straighter.

“You're very attractive…” Ephraim said.

“Just admit that you'd rather be with Jena.” Mary squared her jaw, and she put both hands on either side of the mailbox, clenching it so tightly he wasn't sure if she was bracing herself on it or trying to tear it out of the ground so she could hit him with it. An elderly man approached with a handful of letters, glanced at them, and turned around to head into the post office.

Ephraim plunged his hands into his pockets. His fingers grazed the magic coin. He didn't have to hurt her, he thought. She didn't deserve this.
I wish—

He withdrew his hands. “You don't really like me,” he said. “It's hard to explain, but what you're feeling…it isn't real.”

“I should know who I like and don't like.” She took a step away from him. “I think you're the one who's confused. You've changed somehow, Ephraim.”

“
I
seem different?”
What about all of you?
He laughed.

“See, the Ephraim I know wouldn't find this funny. You should have been honest. You aren't being fair to me. Or Jena.”

“It's more complicated—”

“I'm sure it is. But that doesn't mean it's better to feed me bullshit just to make it easier on you.” She took in a deep breath. “I thought you were a nice guy. But you're just a different kind of jerk, the kind who pretends he isn't.”

Ephraim swallowed. “That isn't fair either. I just didn't want to hurt your feelings. I'm being honest now.”

“Thanks. Good job.” Mary let go of the mailbox.

She walked past him. Ephraim thought about stopping her, but he couldn't say anything that wouldn't make things worse.

Well, you handled that well
, he said to himself. He could do something about this, but there was no guarantee the coin wouldn't make it even worse.

In the meantime, breaking up with Mary might at least make things less awkward with Jena. Unless, of course, she sided with her best friend. Maybe things would become even more of a mess from here.

Either way, Ephraim had to try to figure out how the coin worked before he dared to use it again. Then he would find a way to fix everything.

Ephraim returned to the library and settled himself at a computer terminal. He typed search terms into the library catalog database: “magic quarter,” “wishes,” “coin flip,” “Puerto Rico.”

Zero hits.

Well, he hadn't really expected it to be that easy. He tried again, cutting out “Puerto Rico,” and a short list of books scrolled onto the screen. He printed the list and hunted them down.

Ephraim was dismayed to find most of the books were children's books, collections of fantasy stories, or academic essays on fairy tales. He collected them all and sat down to look through them anyway.

Jena followed his actions from her desk while he hunted for his books. Every now and then he picked his head up from his reading and caught her watching him.

He stacked his books and belatedly realized he couldn't just leave them on the table for someone else to put away—it was his job now. None of them had turned up anything useful. He had run across references to cautionary tales about wishes: variations on a story called “The Monkey's Paw,” stories about genies and lamps,
Doctor Faustus
, and an amusing kids’ novel about a sand fairy. They all seemed to agree that it was impossible to make a wish and have it turn out the way you intended. In story after story, the wishers tried to trick their way to what they wanted and inevitably failed. That wasn't very encouraging.

Jena appeared at his side. “How's it going?”

“I'm sorry, I know my break is over. I'm just putting these away.”

“Your break ended an hour ago, but you were so focused I didn't want to interrupt you. Don't worry. It's really slow this afternoon. I can handle it.” She gestured at the books on the table. “This looks pretty important.”

Ephraim hesitated. “It might be.”

She picked up his stack of books. “Keep doing what you're doing. If it picks up, I'll call you. You're done with these?”

He nodded.

“I'll put them away.”

“Thanks,” he said.

“Sure.” She wandered away with his books, and he realized she probably just wanted to know what he was researching. At least she was talking to him again. He would take curiosity over animosity any day.

He spent the rest of the afternoon typing in different search strings on the computer, but he didn't come up with much of anything new. Jena caught his eye once and smiled encouragingly. What was going on with her? He hadn't made another accidental wish with the coin, had he? Her frosty demeanor had thawed considerably over the course of the afternoon.

She snuck up behind him again but had the courtesy not to lean over his shoulder. “Can I help?” she said. “You look stuck.”

“It's kind of…personal,” he said.

“I understand. But I saw the books you were reading. I read a lot of fantasy, so I'm something of an expert on magic and fairy tales…are you writing a paper? I didn't know you were taking summer classes.”

“I'm not in summer school,” he said. “This isn't an assignment. I was just curious.”

“Just, in general?” She put a hand on his shoulder. “What are you looking for? I think I can speed up the search a little.” She stood up straighter. “I am a librarian after all. In training.”

Maybe the coin could help Ephraim without him needing to make a wish. This was his chance to take some action of his own, make things happen without the use of magic.

He took a deep breath. “Okay,” he said. He turned to face Jena, her face close enough to kiss. “I'll tell you about it—over dinner.”

She stepped back.

“Is that such a horrible prospect?” Ephraim asked.

“I can't,” she said. She twisted her thumbs in the belt loops on her jeans.

“I'm not dating Mary, if that's what you're worried about,” he said.

“She told me. That's the problem. It wouldn't be right for me to go out with you so soon.”

“I can honestly tell you that I'm not interested in Mary. Despite what she might think, what happened between us, I never was. I can explain it all tonight, I promise. Don't look at it as a date. You're just helping me with a research project.”

She tilted her head, considering. Then she smiled.

“You're on,” she said.