In a submarine sandwich shop down in Waverly Place on the island of Manhattan, the other storekeepers kept their attention peeled. Strange things happened near it. The rumors were nothing like the ghost stories coming out of the old theatre or the speculation of modern-day gangsters working out of the pizza shop. The Micellis weren't really gangsters; they just played up the myth for business. The Russo family was something else. The parents seemed ordinary to a certain limit. Jerry Russo might not have looked like a handsome man, but his beautiful Latino bride, Theresa, could have been a model or actress. His son, Justin, was gifted, and his younger son, Max, had the mixed qualities of the average boy with the mouth of a smart aleck TV kid. It was Alex the middle child that some of the neighbors wondered about. Strange things happened around her. Mannequins tended to vanish around her to be replaced by similar looking people, objects vanished and reappeared where she was concerned and sometimes she knew what others could not. At best, some whispers claimed she was psychic. Others claimed she was just a bratty yet weird girl. One of her schoolmates thought she was a vampire but for the fact she lived during the day. Whatever the secret of Alex Russo and her family, it was obvious the cute Italian-Mexican girl was something special.

"Daddy…" Alex came down from her bedroom into the apartment loft above the shop. "Can I borrow your credit card?"

"You've got to be kidding me." Jerry was cleaning the breakfast dishes of his family. "Alex, who was it that conjured up Hannah Montana for a wild party here last night while your mother and I was out?"

"Uh…" Alex thought a second. "Justin? Yeah, he's crazy about her."

"And Kelly Clarkson?"

"Justin."

"And Britney Spears?"

"Justin."

"And Jessica Simpson?"

"Justin."

"And Lindsay Lohan?"

"Justin."

"And Carrie Underwood?"

"Justin."

"And Christina Aguilera?"

"Max!"

"Your brother was at the library!" Jerry's voice rose as Theresa entered the room to investigate the argument. "And Max was spending the night with his friend, Spenser…" He wandered around the room still collecting dishes. "I'm still cleaning up from your mess. You had every female pop star here except maybe Mikaylah!"

"I'm not exactly crazy about her." Alex palmed her long hair back. "She looks like someone I know, and it freaks me out…" She looked back at her father. "Dad, please…" Alex followed after her father. ""It's Harper's birthday and I'm still about fifteen dollars short of the locket I was buying to give her."

"How do I know there even is a locket?" Jerry turned to start loading the dishwasher. "How do I know you're not scamming me again? Alex, your credibility with me is about shot right now."

"Jerry," Theresa came round to help her daughter. "We can extend her a little money, and she can work it off."

"No, I'm not giving her any money for chores she'll never do." Jerry closed the dishwashing machine and started it. "I may not be able to strip her of her magic, but I can take her allowance away…" He noticed Alex trying to object. "Just try me young lady! I'll make it two months no allowance instead of just one!"

"But what sort of best friend would I be to Harper if I don't have anything to give her tonight." Alex sounded really desperate for that money. Jerry exhaled deeply annoyed trying to be a strict father and a loving father at the same time.

"Here's what you do…" He turned and looked to Alex. "You look at Harper, tell her you don't have the money for her gift yet, but you'll get it later then give her this…" He took down an old coupon for a free sandwich from the shop and gave it to Alex. "There you go…"

"Dad…"

"Jerry…" Theresa was slowly taking a stand. "We can do so much more than that." Jerry looked at his wife, to his daughter and looked away trying to keep from screaming. Being a father had its good parts, and this was definitely one of its harder parts. Trying to turn Alex into a decent moral person was getting harder and harder, but when he looked at her, he realized she was trying hard as well. He gave in a bit with a hesitant chuckle and stroked her hair like a father.

"Okay," He placed her hands together palm to palm with the coupon in between her hands. "Hold the coupon like this, and say Virbius Fortunatus."

"Virbius Fortunatus." She repeated her father a bit perplexed of what was happening. There was an intense flashing light between her hands like a camera flash. "What was that?"

"That's a wish spell." Jerry confessed. "Wizards give them to their non-wizard friends. Normal people just think of them as good luck, but they're mostly for grant good fortune on those who need it. Just get Harper to make a birthday wish and it will come true."

"Really…" Alex used her devious voice. "So, let's say…"

"Wish spells are voided on wizards, Alex." Jerry looked at her. "How stupid do you think I am to give you a wish spell that you could use yourself. That wish is for Harper."

"Of course…"

"Alex!!" Justin yelled up from the shop. "Harper's here!"

"Honey…" Theresa scooted her daughter off. "You go on off to school, and you give that wish to Harper. She could get that locket after all."

"Yeah…" Alex collected her books and started down the steps directly into her family's sandwich shop instead of down the back way through the kitchen. Guiding herself down by her left hand, her feet ringing against the iron spiral staircase, she looked over to Harper Evans. She had been her best friend since grade school, and in some way, she had never changed. Although she was fifteen, now going on sixteen, Harper had yet to grow out of coloring books, pre-school stickers and a love for delicacies no wilder than peanut butter and jelly. About the only purely teenage thing about her was her unrequited infatuation for Alex's older brother, Justin.

"So…" Harper beamed to Alex. "My birthday party is after school today. When are you giving me my gift? Now or later?"

"Well…" Alex stood in the center of the shop and looked back to her father staring back at her from the stairs. He looked and watched her carefully. Alex turned back to her best friend.

"I'm going to have to give you your gift next month." Alex confessed. "I'm a bit strapped for cash." She looked back to her father. He was smiling to see she did the right thing. "So, in the mean time, I have this coupon."

"A coupon?" Harper was a bit dismayed as she looked over the lackluster offer. "For a free sandwich? Alex, as your best friend, your mother already gives me free sandwiches."

"I know, but…" Alex was thinking and improvising on the spot. "Why don't you think of it as an early birthday wish? I mean, there must be something you really want."

"Well, yeah, there are a lot of things I'd really like…" She shined and smirked a bit hearing Justin move past her to head to school.

"See you at school…" He waved to them.

"See you, Justin…." Harper mooned for the older brother of her best friend and sighed a bit. Alex just rolled her eyes and wondered why out of all the cute guys at her school that her best friend would pick her older brother to harbor an infatuation. Harper sighed dreamily watching Justin heading onward to school.

"So," Alex knocked her back to reality. "Why don't you think what kind of wish you want for your birthday?"

"I know something I've been wishing for a long time." Harper felt the pitter-patter of her heart going faster just from being close to Justin.

"Well, what is it?"

"Alex, I can't tell you." Harper looked at her trustingly. "It's a secret birthday wish, and it can't come true if I tell you!" She shook her head with a grin and pulled on her backpack to head to school. She gestured to Alex to hurry up.

"Great…." Alex sarcastically rolled her eyes.