Chapter 1 – When Everything Goes Haywire
A/N This is my first story ever published. So please reply to tell me what you think. I'm posting the complete story so you people can enjoy it. Again, english is not my first language, so if find any mistakes, let me know. If you people like this story, I have others in the making, that can be published soon. At first, this was supposed to be a one-shot, but got too big. Still, it is shorter than my others. I hope you enjoy, people. Anyway, let me know.
At a very young age, the Russo siblings, Justin and Alex, were basically inseparable. They did not have many other friends so they spent much of their free time playing together around the house or in the family diner, that was set beneath their apartment. Looking at the siblings now, you would never guess, but that was a perfect time for them.
That until Justin decided he had become a big boy, and that big boys don't play home with their baby sisters. From then on, Justin wouldn't spend that much time with Alex, only the necessary, mainly during their wizarding lessons. But Alex didn't like that new arrangement. She wanted to play with him, be next to him, so she started using any resources she had that would end up bringing him close to her. And that was how the pranks started.
To this day, that behavior continues and it became a constant in their lives. Every time Alex pulls a prank on Justin, he comes and yells at her, curses her … but he comes. She doesn't even know why she does that anymore, she doesn't remember how it started, only that she feels better when he comes, when she is feeling a little down.
Today she feels that she needs something to cheer up her day, but she doesn't have anything, nothing that would bring him to her. So, she goes to his room. Over time, she have repeatedly searched all of his common hiding places, so she knows she needs to look somewhere else for new places. And that is what she does, even looking at the not so hidden spots, like under his bed … yeah, she wishes it would be that easy … Finally she finds something. A few journals placed on the back of a drawer in his wardrobe. Wow! Journals are a whole new level. This is even better than taking his Captain JimBob Sherwood junk. She takes one and runs back to her room where she puts it somewhere safe.
The excitement of the discovery keeps her motivated, so the journal stays untouched for a whole day. But really, what does she care about his life? However, in a moment of weakness - if you can even call it that - when she has absolutely nothing else to do, she gives in to curiosity.
"Pff! Whatever!" She scuffs and takes the journal.
Not that she was expecting something bombastic, or even of any significance, but … could this be any more boring? She doesn't care that he learned how to make someone dissolve into liquid. - Ew! - However, she keeps reading. There has to be something she can use against him.
Now she gets to a point she recognizes. Justin writes about how their father gave him the family wand. And she is still not over that, by the way! Justin writes a little bit about Puerto Rico. Then, something weird. For a few pages, Justin starts writing, but stops just a few sentences after as if he had given up on writing whatever that was. But the serious tone is an indication that it is something important.
Things like this come up repeatedly. "What the hell am I doing? I have to stop with this." Or things like "I can't do that anymore. I can't stand being with …" and the phrase stops, just like that. Or still "This stops now."
Okay, this cryptic writing is starting to get annoying, it not only doesn't tell anything but also is getting Alex so curious that she even considers asking Justin about it. Then she turns the page and, after some more ramble, she finally finds a long text that promises to bring some light to what all this mess is about.
"I've had enough. I can't keep doing this to myself. And if she finds out, there's no spell to fix it. I can't do this to her."
Great, now she knows there is a girl involved. If she finds out who she is, a new level of blackmail is coming Justin's way.
"So this is what I am going to do. I'll admit it only once and will never let this out again. I'm going to start dating, and I'll forget her and she will never find out about it, even if I have to erase what happened completely from my mind."
Oh, this is going to be so good. Alex flips to the next page.
"I'm in love with Alex!"
The shock makes Alex to throw the journal to the other side of the room. No! She did not just read this. It was just her mind playing tricks on her. She slowly walks to the journal and stoops down to catch it. She stays there, with her hand in the air, almost touching it but afraid of doing so like it is scorching hot, maybe it is radioactive, who knows. But Alex takes the journal. She has to check it for sure.
She sits on her bed, afraid that her knees are going to fail her in case she is not crazy. Quickly, she flips the pages back to where she was and stares at the words in Justin's handwriting.
"I'm in love with Alex!"
Dammit! There they are. They are really there, he wrote that. How could he?
"There! It's done! Now I'm gonna find a way to get rid of this. I know there is a way. Maybe I should look into WizardWeb."
Okay, Alex has to admit it, she is scared. That, written in Justin's handwriting is weird. She can't stop looking at it. But looking at it gets her more scared. Crap, panic is building up. She cannot have a panic attack. She is not going to have a panic attack. To hell with it!
"Aaahhhh!" Alex screams and throws the journal away again. She stands up and starts pacing back and forth in her room, trying to control her breathing.
It takes some time for her to get back to normal and be able to think clearly again. When she does, she has to make some sense out of it. She has to understand what was going on when he wrote that. There has to be an explanation.
She stays in her room, thinking, going through the journal again, and then again, looking for clues. But there is nothing; nothing that she hadn't seen. This can't be happening.
"Justin can't be in love with me!" She finally says it aloud after saying it in her head several times, just to see if sinks in. No, it doesn't.
Alex keeps thinking about it. The flutter in her stomach is still bothering her. Until …
"Wait!" Alex finally got something. "That bastard is trying to prank me. He wrote this on purpose for me to see it. He was trying to scare me. Then I would stay away from him" Alex's face scrunches up in a fit of anger hardly seen. How dare he prank her with something like this. This is so wrong … and sick. "Oh, boy. He is so gonna have it."
Alex stands up from her bed and angrily stomps out of her room. She goes down stairs to the loft and finds Justin on the couch, reading a book, and Max in the kitchen doing … well, something, she doesn't really give a damn. Alex sees red when she looks at Justin, but not in the traditional way, she actually sees blood in his future.
Alex sneaks up on Justin from behind and pinches his ear. Justin screams … like a girl. He then freezes in place not to get any more hurt.
"Get up!" The anger is all over her voice. Justin does exactly what she says, and rounds the couch to get closer to her.
"To my room, NOW!" Alex orders.
"Okayyy!" Justin cries before starts walking to the stairs, and Alex keeps him on track still holding his ear.
They get to Alex's room and she finally lets him free. Justin immediately holds his ear and checks for blood, while Alex closes and locks her door. When he looks at her, the evil face she has on is the most scary he has ever seen.
"Wha … What is the problem?" Justin stutters.
"You have a LOT to explain."
"What do you mean?" Justin questions, with fear now taking the best of him.
Alex walks past Justin to the corner of her room and takes something from the nightstand that Justin cannot identify at first and it only comes to him when she turns around and almost shoves it on his face.
"What the hell is this?" She asks.
"MY JOURNAL!" Justin panics and gives a step toward Alex. But she hides the journal behind her back.
"Not a single step or I'll tell Mom!" Justin stops, not really sure what she means. All of his journals are practically the same and he can't tell specifically which one this is. He doesn't know what she is holding against him, but in those journals there are several things she sure could use.
"Give it back to me!" He demands.
"Not yet." Alex yells at him, cutting him off. "Did you really think you could prank me like this?" Her fierce tone keeping Justin from saying anything else. "This is not funny. It's just sick. It's so beneath you, how could you go that low."
"What are you talking about?" Justin asks seriously confused.
"Really?" Alex flips the pages to the important part. "I've had enough." She reads from the journal. "I can't keep doing this to myself. And if she finds out, there's no spell to fix it. I can't do this to her."
On Justin's face only panic is seen now, especially because of how pale he suddenly became. "So this is what I am going to do. I'll admit it only once and will never let this out again."
Justin shoots against Alex, he tries to take the journal but she resists. She keeps it away from him for a little bit, but then, in a way she never expected coming from Justin, he grabs her wrist with a strength he never used before. He hurts her, more than just physically, when he pulls turning her to him. Alex stares in his eyes, genuinely scared for his behavior and the fierce look on him, while he yanks the journal from her hand. When he releases her, she drops on her bed, paralyzed by his attitude, and watches him turn around and leave her room with quick steps, no other word said. She only snaps out when she hears the sound of his door slamming shut.
For a second, Alex doesn't know what to do, she doesn't understand what just went through his head to act like this. She ponders if she should go and demand an explanation or wait to do it later. Oh, hell, when did she leave things for later! She stands up and stomps to his door.
"Justin!" She yells. "What the hell was just that?" She waits for a reply but only silence follows, not a single noise comes from inside, like he isn't even there.
"What the hell is wrong with you? How dare you hurt me? You come out here right now and talk to me!" Still nothing.
"Justin, I know you are in there!" Alex waits for a few more seconds, stunned by everything. "Justin!" She tries one last time, but on this one her voice fades a little bit. She walks back to her room and closes the door.
Why would he act like that? If that was a prank, maybe he has forgotten about it, and maybe got embarrassed that he would even think about doing it? And why would he hurt her because of it? Only if … no, there was no way this could be true. They are like nemesis. He would never fall for a girl like her. And why is she even thinking that?
Justin doesn't come down for dinner. When Jerry calls for everyone, he notices that Justin is not around.
"Alex, go call Justin to come down." He asks.
"If I go, then he is really not coming down." Alex answers.
Jerry stops and gives Alex an angry look for a second while Max and Teresa take their seats. "What did you do?"
"Okay, I know that this is usually the case, but this time it wasn't my fault."
"Fine!" Jerry agrees, unwillingly. "Max, go up and call your brother."
"But I'm already eating!" Max complains. But his father's mad face makes him go.
However, Max comes back down after also getting no response from Justin. Again, not even a sound. They finish dinner without him. Later, Teresa worries and tries herself. She knocks on his door, calls him to come down and eat something, even says that Alex had already gone to bed, but nothing.
In her room, Alex can't stop thinking about it. For hours she tries to imagine another reason for Justin's behavior, but she falls asleep before getting anywhere.