Hollywood

Summary: On a family vacation to LA, Alex sneaks into Condor Studios and pretends to be Selena Gomez. Alex isn't worried - after all, how hard can it be to act like a celebrity?

"I wonder where Zac Efron lives..." Alex said as she browsed the web on her laptop. She quickly typed "Zac Efron LA address" into the search engine, then clicked "search."

While she carefully folded up another dress, Harper glanced at her best friend. "Zac Efron? You hated High School Musical. And you snuck into Car Crash Every Five Minutes when I dragged you to see the third in theaters!"

"So the guy made some cheesy movies. Doesn't make him any less cute," Alex argued. Seated on Harper's bed, the laptop balanced on her lap, she began browsing the listing that the search engine gave her. Not for the first time, she felt thankful that her parents had planned a trip for Spring Break that didn't take place on memory lane. And after how well the kids had ended up behaving on their Puerto Rico trip, her parents had also decided to be a little more relaxed this time. Maybe she'd actually get to do what she wanted, like stalking celebrities or tanning at the beach.

Harper grinned. "I still can't believe I'm going with you to Hollywood! I've never been happier to be a Russo!" she exclaimed. She clapped her hands and did a small jump. "Do you think we'll get to shop in the Fashion District? From what I saw online, it looks like heaven!"

"Sure! Maybe we'll see celebrities there!" Alex agreed. She supposed it wasn't cool to care about celebrities, but she couldn't help it. They had her ideal life - they did as they pleased, and their "work" was more like having fun. Alex could only hope to live that way when she was a famous artist

A smile on her face in response, Harper happened to look in her bag, then frowned. "Hey, have you seen my MP3 player...oh, there it is." She reached for the small electronic device that sat on her nightstand, hidden by a few books.

"Make sure it's charged, because you know I'll be sleeping the whole flight there," Alex warned. Usually she wouldn't mind being bored for five hours - she knew how to kill time, like when she spent an hour playing with a salt shaker in the Sub Station. But the flight was at 9:30 am, which meant they had to leave two hours earlier. After her family dragged her out of bed and to the airport, she'd probably pass out once in her seat, and wouldn't even be conscious until the flight was almost over.

While she checked the device's battery life, Harper asked, "You know, I don't get that. Why don't you guys just poof yourselves somewhere when you go on vacation?"

Alex raised an eyebrow. "Poof?"

"You know, magically get there," Harper explained.

"I know what you meant, but I like to use 'popping in,'" Alex replied. "Poof sounds too, I don't know...fairy tale magic-y." She then shook her head. "Anyway, you know my mom, she's all about doing stuff the mortal way. She almost caved when Dad pointed out that the flight was five hours long, but she stood her ground. She says it's 'part of the vacation experience.'"

"True. I do like getting those little bags of peanuts," Harper said.

Alex shrugged. "I don't care much. We've been getting along okay lately, and she promised to let up more this time. I can deal with a five hour flight if it means going where I want in LA."

"Phew, that's good," Harper said with a sigh of relief. "At least we don't have to worry about a repeat of what happened last time." Alex had told her best friend all about their adventure in Puerto Rico when she got back home.

"What do you mean, what happened?"

But her parents were still in the dark.

Theresa had come down the stairs, a pile of Harper's laundry in her hands. On cue, she banged her head on the pipe. "Aye carumba!" she exclaimed, then glared at the pipe. "We really should think about padding that thing."

"I like it. Justin got an ugly bruise the last time, it looked so cool!" Alex said, which caused her mother to gave her a disapproving glance.

After she'd dropped Harper's laundry off on a nearby table, Theresa asked, "So what were you two talking about?"

"Oh, nothing..." Harper trailed off, nervous. "I-I just meant how you two were arguing so much before your vacation to Puerto Rico." She then ran over to the laundry pile and went through it while she thought of a way to change the subject. "Thanks, Mrs. Russo, but I told you that you didn't have to do my laundry. I did my own at home."

Theresa stared at her. "Really? A teenager doing her own laundry?" She looked at her own daughter and sighed. "I wonder what that's like." She then turned back to Harper. "Honey, really, it's okay, I do everyone else's anyway. And you already do so much."

"But, I...alright, fine, I'll let you do my laundry," Harper relented. "But only if you let me take out my own garbage."

A warm smile on her face, Theresa nodded. "Deal."

Meanwhile, Alex tried not to puke at the sweet moment. Though she had lived there for several months, Harper was still uneasy about being treated as one of the Russo kids, even though she thought herself to be one. Harper had tried to explain that she just felt weird treating Jerry and Theresa as her parents, but Alex constantly insisted that she should get over it. After all, the parents said many times that they considered Harper one of their own. "Harper, the rest of us are looking bad over here, so start acting like a real Russo." She looked at the pile of laundry. "You can start by leaving that out for a while. I mean, who puts laundry away as soon as they get it?"

"Funny, Alex," Harper remarked, and still began to sort through the folded clothes. "Thanks again, Mrs. Russo, I needed some of this stuff for the trip."

Though pleased by Harper's polite remark, Theresa still put her hands on her hips and said, "Harper, for the last time, call me Theresa! You're family now."

Uncomfortable, Harper quietly replied, "Oh, right. Thanks...Theresa."

"Good," Theresa said. She began to head back to the stairs. "'Night, Harper. Alex, it's getting late, you should head up to bed. We're leaving at six tomorrow morning."

Alex stubbornly argued, "Mom! I'll be able to sleep on the five-hour flight there!"

"But we still have to wake you up at five-thirty and somehow drag you to the airport," Theresa reminded her. "You need some sleep."

About to argue again, Alex realized that she was right. She might as well get six hours of sleep or so to make leaving for the airport a little less agonizing. "Fine, I'll go now. 'Night Harper."

"Good night, Alex! This time tomorrow, we'll be in LA!" she squealed.

Alex smiled as she closed her laptop, put it under her arm, and got up from the bed. "Yup. California, here we come."

Twelve hours later, Justin was finding out that getting sleep on the flight would not be an easy feat.

"Ouch!" he exclaimed for maybe the fourth time, his elbow sore from yet another collision with the snack cart. His position in the middle aisle seat made it near impossible to get more than a half hour of sleep. He tried to stay awake, he really had, but he was so tired from getting up so early.

His lucky sister had been seated next to a window, promptly laid her head down on the pillow they'd been given, and hadn't moved since. She hadn't even cared to make her younger brother switch seats with Harper when they found out that Max had been assigned to the seat next to her.

At first Justin had thought he'd be sitting next to Harper, but much to her disappointment, she'd been given a seat a couple of rows ahead. His parents were sitting next to each other, which meant that he'd been stuck with a stranger next to him.

However, once he saw who that stranger was, he hadn't minded too much. A cute, blonde teenage girl about his age had taken the seat, which reconfirmed his belief there existed a higher power who was looking out for him. But rather than take the opportunity to strike up a conversation, he'd been way too shy to say anything other than the courtesy "hello" they'd exchanged when she sat down. She seemed nice enough, but she'd put her headphones on. That was enough to deter him from making his move.

"Making his move"...the very idea of hitting on someone felt strange after he'd been with Juliet for so long. But the relationship had ended months ago. Of course, he didn't know what the appropriate time was to wait when the two parties involved were broken up by circumstances beyond their control. Not only that, but Juliet had become her true age...he wasn't even sure if she was still alive, in which case he could be considered a widower. Justin had tried to figure out exactly what had happened to Juliet, but all his father would say was that vampires didn't "last long" in that condition.

Justin preferred not to think about that too hard. He liked to think she had reunited with her parents, who had flown out to Transylvania to meet her, and was adjusting to her situation. Which, morbidly thinking, he supposed was like believing that the family dog had actually been sent to happily spend the rest of his years on a farm.

Either way, his gut was telling him to get on with his life. Alex trying to get George to take her to the dance had been almost like a sign - if she was starting to date again, then it was perfectly okay for him to do the same. If that wasn't a sign, then a cute girl, out of all the different types of people, sitting next to him probably was.

Of course, he wished his heart would stop pounding long enough for his brain to listen to the logic.

"Dude!"

The whisper didn't register at first, but eventually Justin managed to ignore his nerves long enough to realize that Max was calling him. "What?" Justin whispered back. Wary of oncoming beverage carts, he cautiously leaned over so the girl wouldn't hear him, just in case her music wasn't very loud.

"If you're not going to talk to that girl, can I?" Max asked eagerly.

Annoyed, Justin shook his head. "She's got to be at least three years older than you."

"So?" Max asked, equally irritated. "Who knows, she might want someone to talk to on this flight...and it sure isn't going to be you! What are you doing, man? We've been on this flight for two hours!"

Justin was surprised that Max had actually paid attention to his lack of conversational skills, when the fourteen-year-old had been keeping himself busy by playing with every button on the arm rest. Rather than argue if it was any of Max's business, he decided to take the defensive route. "She obviously doesn't want to talk! Why else would she put on her headphones?"

With an incredulous look on his face, Max pointed to the screen. "Gee, I don't know, maybe she wanted to watch the movie?"

Well, he couldn't argue that logic. The girl was definitely watching the movie, her eyes focused on the screen. In his panic he must not have noticed. "Since when are you so observant," he muttered.

Max shrugged. "I was going to watch the movie, but saw that it's some chick flick. Anyway, it's over now - you should ask how it was!"

"Why do you care?" Justin asked, curious.

"I'm bored," Max explained, then glanced at his snoring sister. "Actually, I think I want to draw on Alex's face now. Got a pen?"

After a moment's hesitation, Justin replied, "Yeah, think I do." He rummaged through his carry-on and produced a washable marker. He'd brought it in case he saw a celebrity and wanted the person to sign his hand or his forehead. This was his emergency plan in case he didn't have a piece of paper, and he could always take a picture to save it.

He'd thought about every possible celebrity-meeting scenario once his parents announced they were going to LA.

The marker handed over, Justin tried to ignore Max drawing on their sister's face - after all, since his parents were several rows ahead, he was technically in charge - and went back to his original worries.

As the credits rolled, the girl thankfully took off her headphones. He took that as his cue. "Um, so...how was the movie?"

Much to his relief, she turned to him, receptive to conversation. "Hilarious. Did you see It's Complicated when it came out in theaters?" the girl asked. "Meryl Streep is so funny."

"Haven't seen it, sorry," Justin replied. With nothing else to say on the subject, the dreaded awkward silence was fast approaching, so he sputtered, "So, uh, I'm Russo...I mean, Justin!"

He'd been thinking his full name and accidentally started with his last. Oh, guano.

Fortunately for him, she laughed it off."Lilly Truscott. So, are you going home to California or going on vacation?"

"Vacation, I'm from Manhattan," Justin explained, thankful she'd started another conversation topic. "What about you?"

Lilly's eyes widened. "That's so cool that you're from Manhattan! Yeah, my friend and I are from Malibu, I was just here because she had a talk show..." she paused, as if she'd just let something slip. "...to attend. Yeah, she got tickets to um, see the Rachael Ray show and flew out."

Though of course he wondered what she'd been about to say, Justin let it go. After all, a total stranger's secrets were none of his business. As a wizard, he could definitely respect that. "So she's a big Rachael Ray fan?" He then looked around. "Where's she sitting?"

"Well, she was...going to be in vacation anyway. And she's in first class," Lilly explained. "She tried to pay for my ticket, but I just felt uncomfortable, especially since I just moved in. I mean, they're already doing so much for me, I don't need them to spend any extra money when they don't have to."

Amazed, Justin replied, "You're kidding. My sister's best friend just moved in with us, actually. Her parents moved..."

"My mom moved too! That's crazy," Lilly replied with an incredulous laugh. "But this is cool though! Now I can ask you all about what it's like, it would be nice to have some insight."

"Same here," Justin replied. Much to his surprise, he and Lilly managed to spend the next few hours of the flight talking about their home situation, their school lives...everything. As it turned out, she had a boyfriend, but they agreed to look each other up online and be Internet friends.

While he was a little disappointed that he had struck out since she had a boyfriend, he reasoned that nothing would have happened anyway since they lived on opposite ends of the country. The small experience was enough to boost his confidence, helped him open up to the idea of another girlfriend.

Maybe he'd even work up the courage to talk to some California girls.

...no Beach Boys pun intended.

A/N: Yeah, I was thinking of who Justin could talk to on the plane and couldn't resist the minor crossover. That's all you'll see of Hannah Montana characters though, I promise.

Anyway, since Alex is sneaking into Condor Studios, she's obviously going to run into some Sonny with a Chance characters. However, I'm not sure exactly how much of a character overlap there will be. I probably will move this to the crossover category eventually.