Be Careful What You Wish For Read Online Free

good-bye.” I started to climb onto my bike.
    “No. Wait,” she pleaded. “I want to repay you.”
    “Huh?” I uttered. “No. Really. You don’t have to.”
    “I want to repay you,” the woman insisted. She grabbed my wrist again. And again I felt a shock of cold.
    “You’ve been so kind,” the woman repeated. “So kind to a total stranger.”
    I tried to free my wrist, but her grip was surprisingly tight. “You don’t have to thank me,” I said.
    “I want to repay you,” she replied, bringing her face close to mine, still holding onto my wrist. “Tell you what. I’ll grant you three wishes.”

6
    She’s crazy, I realized.
    I stared into those coal-black eyes. Rainwater trickled from her hair, down the sides of her pale face. I could feel the coldness of her hand, even through the sleeve of my windbreaker.
    The woman is
crazy, I thought.
    I’ve been walking through the pouring rain for twenty minutes with a crazy person.
    “Three wishes,” the woman repeated, lowering her voice as if not wanting to be overheard by anyone.
    “No. Thanks. I’ve really got to get home,” I said. I tugged my wrist from her grasp and turned to my bike.
    “I’ll grant you three wishes,” the woman repeated. “Anything you wish shall come true.” She moved the purple bag in front of her and carefully pulled something from it. It was a glass ball, bright red, the size of a large grapefruit. It sparkled despite the darkness around us.
    “That’s nice of you,” I said, wiping water off the bike seat with my hand. “But I don’t really have any wishes right now.”
    “Please — let me repay you for your kindness,” the woman insisted. She raised the gleaming red ball in one hand. Her hand was small and as pale as her face, the fingers bony. “I really do want to repay you.”
    “My — uh — mom will be worried,” I said, glancing up and down the street.
    No one in sight.
    No one to protect me from this lunatic if she turned dangerous.
    Just how crazy was she?
I wondered.
Could she be dangerous? Was I making her angry by not playing along, by not making a wish?
    “It isn’t a joke,” the woman said, reading the doubt in my eyes. “Your wishes will come true. I promise you.” She narrowed her gaze. The red ball suddenly glowed brighter. “Make your first wish, Samantha.”
    I stared back at her, thinking hard. I was cold and wet and hungry — and a little frightened. I just wanted to get home and get dry.
    What if she won’t let me go?
    What if I can’t get rid of her? What if she follows me home?
    Again, I searched up and down the block. Most of the houses had lights on. I could probably run to the nearest one and get help if I needed it.
    But, I decided, it might be easier just to play along with the crazy woman and make a wish.
    Maybe that would satisfy her, and she’d go on her way and let me go home.
    “What is your wish, Samantha?” she demanded. Her black eyes glowed red, the same color as the gleaming ball in her hand.
    She suddenly looked very old. Ancient. Her skin was so pale and tight, I thought I could see her skull underneath.
    I froze.
    I couldn’t think of a wish.
    And then I blurted out, “My wish is … to be the strongest player on my basketball team!”
    I don’t know why I said that. I guess I was just nervous. And I had Judith on my mind and all that had happened that day, ending up with the
disaster
at basketball practice.
    And so that was my wish. Of course I immediately felt like a total jerk. I mean, of all the things to wish for in the world, why would anyone pick that?
    But the woman didn’t seem at all surprised.
    She nodded, closing her eyes for a moment. The red ball glowed brighter, brighter, until the fiery red radiated around me. Then it quickly faded.
    Clarissa thanked me again, turned, tucked the glass ball back in the purple bag, and began walking quickly away.
    I breathed a sigh of relief. I was so glad she was gone!
    I jumped on my bike, turned it around,