Chapter Text
Ruben Gomez knew better than to be up late on a school night, but he felt that he deserved this one night to himself after spending hours finishing up an English paper and cramming for a physics exam. Even though it was already 2 in the morning, he thought it was the perfect time to finally test out the vintage video game console he bought at an old garage sale this past weekend.
Ruben pressed the on button and muttered to himself when he saw nothing happen. It couldn’t be the batteries; he just changed them. The seller assured him that the game still worked, but that could have been a lie to get the old game out of his garage and con a teenager out of his already scarce allowance. Thinking about his lost allowance, Ruben pressed the on button a little more aggressively and smacked the game in the palm of his hand.
“Come on,” he grumbled. “Why won’t you turn on?”
The console let out one half-hearted beep and went silent. Ruben lifted the game close to his ear, as if that would encourage it to come back to life once more, but then pulled it away quickly once he realized how hot the game was becoming in his palm. Had he not dropped it on the floor by his bed, it probably would have burned him. Before he could reach down and pick it back up, there was a bright flash of light accompanied by a louder beep. Ruben shielded his face with the covers on his bed. Once he managed to find the courage to move his sheets, he saw a boy curled up on the floor in the center of his disheveled room.
Wait a minute. A boy ?
How on Earth did a random boy just spawn in his room? Ruben wanted to scream, but all he could do was stare and remain frozen in his bed. The boy – who seemed to be about 15 like him – looked around with wide eyes and blinked. Ruben watched the boy slowly stand up and gaze confusedly around the room. Eventually, the boy noticed Ruben and jumped.
“Whoa… were you the one who turned on the game?”
“Yeah, I guess I did.” Ruben wasn’t sure if he really turned on the game. He was able to peer over at the screen and still saw no activity on it. Well, there goes his $35.
“Thank you so much!” The boy stretched his arms above his head. “Man, being stuck in a video game takes a toll on your back.”
Ruben raised his eyebrows. There’s no way the boy’s implying what he thinks he’s implying. “Wait, what? What do you mean you were stuck in a video game?”
“Ah, I guess I should explain myself. So, my name is Sergio, and I’m kinda, sort of a genie. You know how genies live in lamps and stuff? Yeah, that video game was like my lamp, but by turning it on, you freed me. So, thank you!”
Ruben stared. “Did you just say you’re a genie?”
“Yeah, I did. And since you freed me, I owe you four wishes. Normally it’s three, but since you’re the first person to ever free me, you get a bonus one. Cool, right?”
“...So you’re telling me that genies are real?”
Sergio pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed before responding. “You see me standing here, don’t you?”
“I could just be really tired and be imagining things.” Ruben turned and saw his alarm clock blink 2:00 AM. He very well could be half-asleep right now.
“I promise you’re not imagining things, dude. I really am just-” A crash rose as Sergio leaned on a stack of crates, causing them to topple over. Ruben cringed and leaped out of bed to help Sergio up before he crashed into something else.
“Are you insane? You’re gonna wake up my parents.”
“Hey, at least I proved to you that I’m real. Anyway, aren’t you going to introduce yourself to me? That’s usually a two-way thing, you know.”
“I’m Ruben.”
Sergio smiled. “Thanks for getting me out of that video game, Ruben.”
***
Later that morning, Ruben rubbed his eyes as he studied himself in the mirror. He knew it was impossible to rub away the bags under his eyes and make himself look more awake, but he thought he’d try anyway. It wasn’t fair that he looked a mess, but Sergio – who was the reason he was so tired – looked as fresh as a daisy. Ruben caught sight of Sergio’s reflection in the mirror as he slipped on a pair of Ruben’s old shoes, his hair falling into his face perfectly despite the fact that it had not been maintained in nearly 40 years.
After spending most of the night listening to Sergio’s backstory, he now knows that Sergio is a teenager who was living in 1980s. In January of 1988, he went to the arcade, came across the same video game that Ruben now owned, and also freed the genie who was living there. Sergio had stupidly wished to become a genie himself, resulting in him getting trapped in a video game. Now, Ruben was responsible for the strange kid in a strange new decade.
Ruben’s first task as Sergio’s new guardian was to bring him to school, even though Sergio had no backpack, no supplies, not even a pencil. But there was no way he could leave Sergio at his apartment for the day. Thankfully, his dad had already left for work, but what if his mom saw him? Something told Ruben that his mom wouldn’t handle seeing a strange teenager around the house. He hoped that he could sneak Sergio out of the apartment without her noticing.
Ruben told Sergio to wait in his room until he gave him the all-clear to come out. Then, he scanned the hallway and the kitchen, not seeing anyone around.
“Ok, the coast is clear!” Ruben hissed. Sergio emerged from the room in a pair of acid-wash jeans, an old band tee, and Ruben’s dirty white sneakers.
“Woah, look at this place. Your apartment is so cool!” Sergio looked around, admiring the furniture. He gasped as his eyes fell upon the television screen in the tiny living room. “Is this a TV? There’s no way! How is it so flat? Where do all the electronic parts go?”
Ruben didn’t have time to catch Sergio up on over 30 years of technological advancements. “Look, we can admire the furniture later. We have to get you out of here before- ”
“Ruben? Who’s this? I was wondering who you were talking with.” Ruben’s mom had stepped out from her bedroom, already dressed for the day. She darted her eyes back and forth between a petrified Ruben and a smiling Sergio. Ruben had to think fast.
“Oh, uh, this is my friend… from school. He came to pick me up.”
Sergio waved, but Ruben’s mom crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows. “How come I didn’t hear a doorbell ring?”
“Mom, no one rings doorbells these days. Now, we just text. Anyways, we’re going to be late so we have to go right now.” Ruben leaned in and gave his mom a kiss on the cheek, exchanged goodbyes, and then pulled Sergio outside of the apartment.
“I’m surprised she didn’t ask why I didn’t have a backpack.” Sergio chuckled as Ruben shut the door behind him.
“Thank goodness. I have no idea how I’d get myself out of that one.”
***
Ruben maneuvered around the desks to his usual seat towards the back of his first class of the day, trying to keep his head down as if that would make Sergio stick out any less. Sergio, on the other hand, gazed around the room with giant eyes. He thought he noticed some of his classmates look in his direction and whisper, and Ruben knew it was going to be a long day.
“Wow, it’s been so long since I’ve been inside a classroom,” Sergio said as he sat in the desk next to Ruben. “Is that… a whiteboard? Since when did we stop using chalkboards?”
“Ok, Sergio, if you wanna fit in with the rest of the school, you can’t say things like that.”
“Say things like what?”
“Like not having been to school in a long time or asking about chalkboards.”
Sergio nodded. “Right. No weird comments about school.”
After the bell rang and the last couple of students hurried into the room, the teacher lifted her eyes from her laptop, uttered a greeting to the class, and stood up from her desk. She began to turn around to write on the whiteboard when she suddenly stopped in her tracks. The teacher turned back around and stared in Sergio’s direction, making Ruben start to sweat in his seat.
“Excuse me, young man with the long hair. I don’t think you’re enrolled in this class.”
Sergio looked at Ruben panicked as all the students in the class turned to look at him. “Uh… yeah. I’m a new student. Just moved here the other day.”
The teacher crossed her arms. “If I had a new student, the office would have told me about that in advance, don’t you think?”
“Offices, they can never do anything right.” Sergio let out a pained laugh and sighed. “I think I’ll just head over there and get this whole thing sorted out.”
“No, you stay here. Maybe I’ll give them a call.”
“Come on, do you really think I’m an intruder or something? I’m a student!”
“Students usually have backpacks .”
“I really am. Just ask Ruben here. Ruben, I’m a student right?”
Ruben felt his face start to burn as the class’ attention fell upon him. “Uh, yeah. He’s supposed to be in this class.”
The teacher blinked at Ruben, then turned back to Sergio. “Can you give me any sort of proof that you’re a student at this school, much less in the class? Even a student ID will do.”
“Does Ruben’s word not count as evidence?”
The teacher glared, and Sergio nervously swallowed.
“Then, uh, I guess I don’t have proof.”
“Well then, you leave me no choice but to call the police. Ruben, you said you knew him? Maybe you’ll be able to tell the police something.”
Ruben didn’t think she would actually do it, but he watched her press the numbers 9-1-1 and wait to be connected. He panicked. Perhaps this is the right time to use one of those wishes Sergio was talking about.
“Sergio, I have a wish request.” Ruben hissed, hoping no one else could hear them.
“Here? Right now?”
“Yes! I wish that you were an enrolled student at this school.”
Sergio’s eyes lit up and he smiled. “Oh, good idea!” He put his hands together in a praying position, closing his eyes to concentrate. “Your wish is my command, dude.” It seemed like nothing had changed at first, but then the teacher stopped in her tracks.
“Wait, what was I doing?”
Sergio raised his hand with a smirk. “You were taking roll. Nothing’s out of the ordinary, right?”
“Oh, that’s right.” Her eyes scanned the room “Looks like everyone’s here.”
Ruben couldn’t believe it. Sergio really was a genie!
***
Ruben cursed as he saw a crowd of kids surrounding a lunch table and made his way towards them. He heard the crowd gasp, then later break out into laughter and applause. Even though he couldn’t see who the students were surrounding, he already knew who it was.
And he was right. There in the heart of the crowd was Sergio seated on top of the table, waving a $100 bill in the air like some sort of magician.
“C’mon man, you have to tell us how you did that,” a student said, crossing his arms with a smile on his face.
“No can do. A magician never reveals his secrets.” Sergio wiggled his eyebrows and handed the bill to a girl in the audience. Her jaw dropped as she inspected the bill, and her friends all pushed around her to get a look. Sergio looked pleased with himself until his eyes met Ruben’s.
“Ok, everyone, show’s over.” Ruben grabbed Sergio’s arm and pulled him off the table, inciting complaints from the crowd. Once they were far enough, Ruben let go. “What was that? I left you for only 2 seconds to go use the bathroom, and I come back to you doing tricks for the entire school!”
“Would you calm down? I just wanted to get to know some of my classmates better, so I did a magic trick for them. What’s the harm in turning a $1 bill into $100?”
“Well, that depends, did you use illusions or genie magic to do the trick?”
Sergio shrugged. “They won’t know the difference.”
“Yes, they will!” Ruben groaned. “Sergio, this is serious. We can’t have anyone knowing that you’re a genie, ok? Who knows what people might try to do to you if they find out?”
“So, no magic at school?” Ruben shook his head no, and Sergio let out a sigh. “So what about earlier when you made a wish in the classroom, huh? Magic was okay then but not now?”
“That was an emergency! I was trying to prevent us from being handcuffed and thrown in jail. Just promise me no more magic at school.”
Sergio groaned “Ugh. You’re no fun.”
Ruben was about to retort when he heard someone call his name. He turned and saw his friend Ricky wave him over. His other friend, Raymond, stared at Sergio with a confused expression.
“Come on, I’m gonna introduce you to my friends. And remember, no mention of being a genie or magic or being from the 80s or anything that will make you suspicious, okay?”
Sergio made a zipping motion by his lips and nodded. The two headed over and had a seat at the spots saved for them.
“Hey, aren’t you the guy who was doing magic tricks earlier?” Ricky asked Sergio as the two sat down. Sergio silently turned to Ruben, and Ruben sighed.
“Guys, this is Sergio. He just transferred here today. Sergio, this is Ricky and that’s Raymond.”
After exchanging handshakes, Raymond raised his eyebrows. “How nice of you to show the new kid around, Ruben. Doesn’t seem like something you’d usually do.”
Ricky chuckled as Ruben rolled his eyes. “Sergio, do you have an Instagram?”
“See, what is that? Earlier someone brought that up, and I have no idea what that is-”
Ruben dropped his head in his hands as Ricky exclaimed, “You don’t know what Instagram is? Have you been living under a rock?”
Sergio nervously laughed. “Um, I guess you could say that.”
Raymond laughed. “It’s a social media app. If you give us your phone, we can set one up for you – if you want, of course.”
Ruben had to stop this before Sergio asked them something ridiculous like where the nearest payphone was. “He, uh, actually forgot his phone at home. Right, Sergio?”
Sergio caught on and nodded. “Right. My phone is at home.”
Ricky looked around. “Is your backpack also at home, or how come you don’t have one?”
“I, uh, forgot that, too.”
“On your first day of school?”
“I’m very forgetful.”
Raymond and Ricky both turned to Ruben, and he knew they knew something was up. There was no way he could tell them that Sergio was a genie, though. So, he just gave a hopefully convincing smile back and hoped that the end of the day would come soon.
***
Ruben and Sergio managed to get through the rest of their classes. Some of the teachers seemed puzzled about when they got a new student, but there were no more threats of calls to the police, which was good enough for Ruben. He thought maybe he could actually pull this off. That is until the end of the day rolled around.
Ruben was grabbing some textbooks from his locker when he heard a deep voice shout “Hey!”, and his blood turned cold. He recognized that voice that terrorized the halls of his school. Xavier was coming down the hall, and Ruben bet that his right-hand man Charlie was by his side. He knew what to do in these situations: don’t make eye contact and get out of their way. Usually, they never noticed him. But that was when Ruben wasn’t with Sergio, who seemed to command attention from everyone.
“You, Magic Boy.” Xavier strolled up to Sergio with Charlie by his side as predicted. Sergio turned towards them, not a hint of fear in his eyes.
“Is that what they’re calling me now?” Sergio smiled. “How can I help you?”
“People have been saying that you’re a human ATM or something. Is that true?”
Sergio shrugged. “Unfortunately, this ATM is closed. Sorry.”
Ruben could feel the air grow more tense, and he knew he needed to get himself and Sergio out of this situation. He grabbed onto Sergio’s arm. “Sorry guys, but we have to get going.”
Ruben felt resistance and noticed that Xavier had grabbed Sergio’s other arm with more force. “Not so fast. I think you’re going to need to make an exception for us. I want $100 now.”
“Make that $200.” Charlie smirked from behind.
Sergio tried to wriggle his arm loose. “I already told you guys no. Besides, I’m not just giving money to anyone, that was a one-time thing.”
“And I said you’re making an exception.”
“And why would I do that?”
Ruben tugged on Sergio’s arm again. “Sergio, just-”
Xavier picked Sergio up and pushed him against the locker. “I forgot, you’re the new kid. Let me introduce myself. I’m Xavier, and that’s my friend Charlie. Nobody tells us no at this school, because if they don’t give us what we want, they end up feeling a lot of pain. Do you want to feel a lot of pain?”
“Okay, okay. You’re very convincing, you know that? Just put me down and I’ll get you your hundred dollars.”
“That’s two hundred.” Charlie piped up. Xavier set Sergio down, looking quite satisfied with himself.
“Ruben, I’m going to need to borrow 2 one-dollar bills.”
Ruben sighed and pulled a couple of bills left over from buying the video game from his backpack. He handed them over to Sergio nervously. He noticed that Sergio didn’t seem the slightest bit scared. In fact, he seemed quite confident in himself.
“Great. Now, I’m going to need one of you to stand on either side of me.”
Xavier moved on over to Sergio’s other side and leaned against the lockers, shoving Ruben over to get the perfect view.
“Ok, now I’m going to crumple the bills in my hand like this,” Sergio squashed the bills in his palm, closing them completely so the bills couldn’t be seen anymore. “And I need you guys to say ‘abracadabra’.”
“You can’t be serious.” Charlie crossed his arms.
“Do you want the money or not?”
The two boys sighed and muttered the phrase.
“See, that wasn’t so bad. Now, I’m going to open my hands and…”
WHAM!
The two lockers closest by Xavier and Charlie swung open, whacking Xavier in the back of the head and Charlie on his nose. They both cursed and groaned, and while they were disoriented, Sergio moved in Ruben’s direction.
“Dude, let’s get out of here!” He said, pulling Ruben along. They both ran out of the school hall, leaving behind a shouting Xavier and an equally annoyed Charlie. Ruben was afraid of what might happen if they caught up to him. He’d never been in a situation like this before. He was usually very good at flying under the radar and avoiding the attacks of the bullies, but thanks to Sergio, they definitely knew his face now.
Once they had made it about a block away from the school by a nearby residential area, Sergio and Ruben came to a stop, crouching down in front of a wall to collect themselves.
“I cannot…believe… you just did that.” Ruben said between breaths.
“What? Outsmart those guys? They’re seriously not as smart as they look. Did they actually believe that I would give them a hundred dollars each after they harassed us?”
“Sergio, not only did you just make us targets of the two most vicious guys in our grade, but you used magic in front of them. Magic ! After I told you not to use it anymore, you used it in front of the worst people you probably could have.”
“Hey, you said I could use it for emergencies. That was an emergency if I do say so myself.”
“Good point.” Ruben let himself fall back against the wall and turned to Sergio with a smile. “Hey, um, thanks for getting us out of there. That was pretty smart what you did with the lockers and everything.”
“Did you see the look on their faces?” Sergio laughed.
“I wish I could have gotten a better look. Charlie’s definitely going to have a bruised nose.”
“Can’t wait to see it tomorrow… if that’s okay with you, of course. I know today wasn’t the best day…”
Tomorrow. Right. Sergio wasn’t just going to disappear into thin air after tonight. Who knows how long Ruben would have to watch over him and keep him out of trouble? However, he wasn’t as worried as he should’ve been anymore. Something about Sergio made him feel comfortable, and he suddenly realized why he was so popular.
“Of course you can come back with me tomorrow, Sergio.”
Maybe having a genie friend wouldn’t be so bad.