It seemed like any other day in the Russo family house hold. Justin was thrilled for the new day that was to come for him. He would see his (now-steady) girlfriend, Juliet, but he may have to endure another day of mischief courtesy of his sister… At least he'd be with Juliet. He grinned at the last thought after he had flossed his teeth.

Alex, on the other hand, was less than thrilled. She lazily crawled out of bed and groaned. School seemed like a meaningless chore for her. She dealt with it, however, by skipping class and seeing her best friend Harper in class or in-between. She picked out an outfit to wear and zapped it on her. She loved having magic in grueling times like this.

Jerry, the leader of the Russo clan, the father, called out from the lair for the Russo family to meet up, even Theresa, his wife. "Russos! In the lair! Hurry!"

Alex, from her bedroom, groaned and stepped out to walk toward the lair. In the hallway she met up with her older brother leaving the bathroom and her younger brother (in his footy pajamas) leaving his own room. "That Max..." she thought; then she shrugged. It was oddly unusual to see him like in pajamas like that. But then again, what wasn't unusual in Max's world?

They all met up in the lair. Theresa was looking chipper than usual. It was her guest behavior. When Theresa was anticipating guests, she was on her more than pleasant behavior.

Jerry was simply grinning has he began to announce, "Alright, everyone. This is very important. I want you all to be on your best behavior when our guest--" he paused when he realized what Max was wearing.

Max was in footy pajamas with cheerful blue pandas on them. Jerry scratched his head about this odd display for his young, teenage son. Why would he wear that to bed? Why would he wear that at all? Jerry wondered.

Jerry shook his head and continued, "Our guest will be arriving real soon."

"Who is it?" Justin asked.

Theresa answered for Jerry, "A wizard-friend of your father's is trusting your father to teach his daughter, and she'll be staying with us for awhile!" Theresa grinned.

Alex raised an eyebrow, "Why?" Alex was almost sure that deep down her mother was thinking, "Oh my goodness, another wizard living with us."

This time, Jerry answered, "It's a long story for now. Basically, her father has too much on his hands to train her."

"Why?" Alex asked again.

Justin intercepted his sister's question with his own. "How long have you guys known about this?"

Jerry answered, "Just yesterday. It was short notice."

Alex scoffed, "Really short notice."

Before Jerry could speak again, the wizard portal opened up in the lair and in walked a teenage girl with light skin, dark-brown hair, and brown eyes. She looked old enough to be Justin's age.

"There she is!" Jerry chirped, "Everyone, this is Aurora Rose. She'll be taking magic lessons with you!"

Aurora walked in wearing black skinny-jeans, a stud belt buckled around her waist, with a black cami top underneath a green-plaid jacket, and she had gray and pink high top sneakers. A black-and-white rose pendant dangled around her neck. She looked like she was a rocker-chick, minus the heavy dark make-up, tattoos, and piercings.

Aurora felt timid; because of this, she didn't make eye contact with any of the Russos. She instantly felt bad about her shyness. "For crying out loud," she thought to herself. "I'm not four anymore." She mentally shrugged off some of her shyness and smiled warmly to the Russos and greeted them.

"Hello," she said.

Jerry walked up to Aurora and guided her closer to the family. "Come on, dear! No need to be shy here!" Jerry grinned.

Theresa chimed in. "Yes, Aurora, you don't have to be shy around us. By the way, my name is Theresa. You can call me Mrs. Russo if you'd like."

She held a hand out to Aurora to shake. Aurora lifted her hand to shake Mrs. Russo's hand. The shake was unsteady and off at first, but eventually it synced. Theresa turned around to face her children and introduced them individually.

"The tall one is Justin, he's the oldest (and the smartest)..." she said the last bit under her breath, but everyone heard her still. Justin had a proud expression across his face. "That's Alex, stay out of trouble when you're with her..." Alex smirked and shrugged. She couldn't have been more right. "And the one in the footy pajamas... (oh boy) that's Max, he's the youngest."

"Clearly," Aurora muttered. The younger brother in the footy pajamas must have been the odd one in the bunch, she suspected.

Jerry patted Aurora on the shoulder. "Did your father leave you anything to hand to me?" Jerry asked. Aurora pondered a second, as if to recollect if her father did, and she dug into her jean pocket for a note.

"Just a 'Thank You' note," and she handed the note to Mr. Russo.

Jerry took the note, "Your father should know that it is no problem to us," he began to open it and glance over the contents.

"So why can't her father train her?" Alex interrupted.

Aurora took a noticeable deep breath and her expression change to a mixture of resentment and anger. Everyone took notice. Everyone, except Max and Alex, were concerned. Max was oblivious, of course, while Alex was confused.

"Alex!" Jerry growled. He walked up to Alex and pulled her aside from the group. He whispered angrily to Alex, "That's a sensitive subject to Aurora."

"Why?" The ability to comprehend the sensitivity of the situation was lost on Alex.

"My brother demands more attention when it comes to magic," Aurora started to explain. "Spike's my (young) twin brother and he's not exactly my favorite person in the whole world..."

"Oh, I know how that is..." Alex said sarcastically as she turned her glance towards her older brother. Justin glared back and made a face in disgust to Alex.

Jerry went back to read the note. It was more than a "thank you" note; it was Aurora's father explaining the siblings' relationship and his plans for the two in depth. He thought Alex and Justin's sibling rivalry was bad, but Spike and Aurora's was turbulent.

"I don't think you do," doubted Aurora.

Jerry looked back at Aurora and muttered to himself, "I've gotta do my best to help then."

Everyone heard Jerry muttering, and Theresa asked, "What was that, honey?" Jerry shifted his eyes. He quickly made something up so he didn't have to repeat what he actually said.

"I said, we gotta do our best to help Aurora get settled in." Jerry smiled to mask his lie.

"Oh, right!" Theresa turned to Aurora, "Where's your stuff, mija?" Aurora pointed to her blue backpack. "That's all?" Theresa asked her.

"It's enchanted. It can hold almost everything in here," Aurora said as a matter-of-fact.

"Impressive," Justin commented.

"I thought so," she said.

"What's 'almost everything'?" Max asked.

"Almost everything… but my car," she emphasized her disappointment. "My bag can hold everything that was in my room (including my bed), but when I went to the garage to get my car, it could hardly fit inside!"

"Well, yeah, because it was already holding your bed," Alex commented sarcastically.

"Exactly!" Aurora missed the sarcasm. "So it was 'want' versus 'need'... and I needed my bed."

Theresa patted her shoulder, "Good choice."

"Where's she going to sleep?" Alex asked, "Oh, here's a hint, she added, "Not my room." She grinned.

"Alex…" Theresa said condescendingly, "That's very rude." Alex shrugged; as did Aurora being that it didn't really bother her.

"Well, mom, she said she brought her own bed. Don't you think she needs her own room?

"Oh, that's right…" Theresa began to brainstorm. "She can't sleep in Max's room…. We might not see her the next day if one of his socks grabs her."

Aurora's head perked up in fear and curiosity and turned her head at the younger brother named Max. Her eyes widened and began to envision those cheery, blue pandas suffocating her in the middle of the night after a number of months without washing them. She shuddered at the thought.

"She definitely can't sleep in Justin's room," Jerry said glaring at Justin, then at Aurora.

It didn't process in the kids' minds (especially Max). Alex looked at Justin and Aurora. Why couldn't they share a room? Justin… Aurora… Same age. Boy… Girl… Justin looked at Aurora with squinting eyes as he pondered on it. Aurora stared back at him. It finally clicked. "Ohhhh" filled the room; followed by a "eww" from Alex. Justin never really thought about it. Sharing a room with a girl, a girl he just met. He shifted his glance from Aurora to the floor and proceeded to hide his embarrassment. Parents never fail. It's always awkward when all parents could think of when a boy and a girl share a room, is what a boy and girl SHOULDN'T do when they share one.

Jerry had an idea. "I got it!" Jerry exclaimed. "We won't let Aurora sleep in Justin's room, but we'll let her sleep in the attic above it!"

"What?" Justin was nervous now. "First, you say she--then you say…? I'm confused."

"We have an attic?" Alex asked.

"Look, I trust you both to not do any 'shenanigans' while she's above your room," Jerry explained to Justin and Aurora. Then he answered Alex's question, "And yes, we do have an attic."

"Since when?"

"Since always. Look, one day, Max found the door to the attic and the ladder fell on his head," Jerry explained.

"Oh my god, that explains a lot…" Alex laughed. Max had no recollection of the event. Justin chuckled. The laughter stopped when Jerry glared at them.

"Anyways, I hid the door by plastering over it, and I'm sure with the Russo men at work, we can re-open that door above Justin's room and Aurora can have her own space."

"Her own space, in Justin's room…" Alex added slyly. Justin glared at Alex.

Jerry corrected her, "No, Alex, just above it."

"I wonder what Juliet would think?" she teased Justin. He was embarrassed and she knew this.

"Girlfriend?" Aurora asked Justin.

"Y-yes, we're going steady." Justin felt the need to add the "going steady" part to his relationship status. Aurora simply nodded.

"We'll start working on it after you guys get back from school," Jerry said. "Now go get ready for school (and especially you, Max). Oh, Aurora, you have your records to give to the principle, right?" Aurora nodded in reply.

"I'm hungry," she said bluntly, while placing a hand on her stomach.

Theresa chuckled, "Of course, sweetie! Would you like some chorizos con huevos?"

"Tienes tortilla de f-flor?" she struggled then laughed awkwardly at her attempt.

Theresa smiled warmly, "Si, tenemos tortillas de flor."

They laughed as they walked out of the lair and headed towards the kitchen. Alex mocked the conversation.

Justin took notice, "Jealous?"

"No… Ha! See? That was Spanish!" Alex exclaimed. Justin rolled his eyes.

He began to think back to the situation at hand. He was going to have a girl in his room-- No, correction… He was going to have a girl above his room. This was going to be interesting. He only hoped Juliet wasn't going to read too much into it.

Kitten: My only concern is the format. Heh, I don't have much to say.