Chapter 1

She spins towards her partner. But her partner doesn't catch her. She's falling, falling like humpty dumpty. And a loud voice rings around her safe, quiet environment made of puppies and unicorns. It's getting louder. Not even the Princess's scream can be heard over the noise now. And still…it gets louder. Now here comes the dreadful end to it all. It's her downfall, her ending. This is no fairytale…this is no happy ending. This is life…teenager style.

Alex Russo jumped onto her stepsister's back, smiling down at the brunette beauty. "Hey, sis. What's shaken?" she chirped cheerfully. Alex reminded Mitchelle of a bird, the way she was always on the move and so cheerful. All fun and play, she'd always say. Well right now it was time to…

"CUT IT OUT!" Mitchie, short for her birth name, flung Alex into the pool. SPLASH! Alex bobbed up, spluttering and spitting out water. Her hands waved in the air for a moment, as if looking for something to grasp. She wiped the water out of her eyes, and then looked up. "Was that fun, miss perky?" Mitchie smirked. Alex opened her mouth to speak, then shut it and put on a serious thinking face.

"Yeah! Do it again!" Before Alex could climb out of the pool, Mitchie was running towards her favorite hiding spot. She couldn't STAND her sister sometimes. So perfect, so cheerful, so airheaded! Mitchie stumbled along the tree trunk, but managed to grab onto her ladder for support. She looked around, making sure no one had followed. Then, up she went into the treehouse hidden by millions of branches and leaves.

Mitchie sprawled herself on the floor, next to the box of pictures and next to the crown. All this stuff is what I have left, she thought sadly. Mitchie picked up a picture, peering at it closely. "Mitchie!!!!!!!!" she screamed, dropping the photo. Without her noticing, it slid and glided all the way down to the end of the tree, settling itself under some leaves. Mitchie got up, stomped off the mud on her jeans and rushed towards her house. "Michelle Devonne Torres! Why is your sister all wet?" Mitchie froze.

"I, I don't know, mom! I guess she just tripped into the pool," she replied innocently. Those acting skills paid off because as soon as she faked a it's-not-my-fault-mommy- look, her mother's eyes softened. "Maybe I tripped her by accident, I'm sorry mom," Mitchie threw her arms around her mother's trim figure. Connie patted her daughter, rolling her eyes.

"Okay, okay. Just go get ready for school."

Alex appeared with a towel and smiled. "Hey, Mitch, let's go! The bus is here!" she pointed. Mitchie had an annoyed face on, that quickly changed to panic.

"Why didn't you tell me before?" Mitchie yelled, running outside.

"I'm sorry, it was hard to. You know, water in my mouth, leaves up my nose. That kind of hard," Alex rolled her eyes, but put on a cheerful smile. She went after her sister, clomping onto the bus. When she saw her popular friends, Alex pushed Mitchie roughly. "Move it, Nerd!" she hissed, sliding herself into popular friend's seat. "I think there's a seat back there, with PBJ kid," her friends laughed. Mitchie looked ahead, cringing at the kid with a stuffy nose and weird craving for PBJ all the time.

"No thanks, I'd rather see you without makeup before sitting with him," Mitchie muttered before sitting with a random guy. "Guess I'm stuck with you," she whispered.

"Uh, thanks?" Mitchie jumped, looking beside her. A boy with long black hair down to his shoulders, and a guitar propped up on his knee smiled, friendly. I've collided with another perky priss! Mitchie thought, slapping her forehead. The boy's expression turned into a frown. "Okay, enough friendliness. Get out my seat, never speak to me again, and oh, have a nice effing day." Mitchie sat there with her mouth opened.

"One: speak to me like that AGAIN; you won't have to worry about talking, AT ALL. Two: I'm sitting here, get used to it, or kiss my ass. And three: I plan to have a kick-butt day, thank you. So to you, have a great day too," she shot back. The boy's eyes widened in surprise and he shoved his hands in his pockets. Turning to the window, he rolled his eyes.

"Whatever."

So they rode for forty minutes on the bus, each of them sitting in hate and bitterness. Once or twice they'd look at each other, but never spoke. Shane, which was the boy's name, knew a girl he hated the moment he saw her, and he definitely hated this one. And Mitchie definitely knew when she was hated, and oh boy, this boy wanted to kill her in a pot of fire. This would be fun messing with him.

Mitchie slid down the banister, earning her a glare from her sister. "Geez, you weirdo," Alex whispered, pushing past her. She took out a tube of lipstick, making Mitchie want to shove the tube up her-

"Mitchie!" Allison Swift ran up to her best friend, grabbing onto the banister. "Did you, hear, that, [breathes], Shane Gray IS GOING TO OUR SCHOOL!" she screamed. Mitchie blinked, blinked again, and then she took her notebook and slapped Allison over the head.

"Why, would, I care?!" she yelled, slapping Allison with each word. Allison grabbed the notebook and threw it over her shoulder. Mitchie could hear a girl scream, "OW!" and that was enough to crack her up. "Seriously, what's so cool about it? He's just some guy who thinks he's all that and a bag of chips," Mitchie perked up. "Oh, chips. I want chips." Allison followed her friend as she weaved through the crowd, heading towards the vending machine.

"You don't even know him!" she defended. Allison bit her lip. "But he is a jerk. But a hot one!"

Mitchie turned towards her friend, mouth full of chips, "AHHA! I knew it," she shut up as soon as chips fell out of her mouth. Mitchie chewed then swallowed. "I knew it! No Hollywood guy is nice AND hot," she explained as if it were Kindergarten math. Speaking of math…her eyes widened. "I FORGOT MY HOMEWORK," Mitchie made a sad face. "I'm going down!" Taylor's eyes widened.

"This has been the randomest talk we've EVER had," Allison said, walking around Mitchie and heading to class as the bell ring.

"But not the hungriest," she smiled, rubbing her stomach full of chips. Mitchie ran off to class.