I DO NOT OWN WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE. Tell me what you'll think, I'll update on this story and my other one soon!

The mood from early morning carried over. Even without knowing what had gone on, an entire family could feel the vibe, and it wasn't a good one. "I don't feel like working today." Alex Russo said in a lazy tone, tapping her nails on the table she was sitting at.

He two brothers silently agreed with that, she could tell by the was they were walking. The Sub Station was nearly empty, the morning rush was over. Without talking, Max and Justin bused the empty tables. They took all the dishes to the kitchen, where their parents were talking.

"What's got you guys so down today?" Theresa asked, seeing her children's faces. "Yeah. Are you guys okay?" Jerry added. Alex shrugged wordlessly, opening the freezer door. She stepped inside the lair to go get her magic journal, things would be a lot better in a world of her own. She needed to relax.

Jerry and Theresa exchanged worried glances while Max peered out the kitchen window, an absent look on his face. No one questioned that, it was normal. Justin stood next to him, sorting wizard mail. "This one's for you, Max." He said, holding out an envelope.

Max didn't take it. He seemed more distracted than usually. What he did next was even more strange. Without explanation, he ran full speed for the front door. "Max!" Theresa yelled after him, but he was already out the door. Justin rolled his eyes and went after him.

"Why does he have to pick today to be extremely weird…" Justin mumbled to himself. Catching up to his brother was hard. "Slow down! Wait up!" He said, making random people on the street laugh. He ignored that, picking up speed.

Soon enough, he was right behind Max. "What… is your problem?" He asked, clearly out of breath. Max laughed loudly. "If you can't keep up with your little brother, then you're the one who's got a problem." Instead of arguing, Justin asked another question.

"Fine… make fun of me all you want. Why are you running?" He was breaking a sweat, but his brother was fine, running on pure adrenaline. "I have to catch her!"

Although he couldn't direct it at his brother from behind, Justin gave Max a weird look. "Her who?" "I have no idea!" Justin stopped running, realizing something. How random his brother was being didn't matter at the moment. "Wait a second. This is Harper's block." He didn't know they had been running long enough to reach it.

Max wasn't listening. He hadn't stopped running. Aggravated, Justin called after him a few times, before giving up. He turned to see that he was right in front of Harper's house. He hadn't been there in years. Instantly, an eerie feeling came over him.

The house was quiet, but he didn't like that. He was standing on an empty street listening to silence, and he was all alone. He looked the house over. It made him shudder. It looked like any ordinary home, but he knew that it wasn't. If it was, Harper wouldn't have to laugh to hide the pain. Then again, she didn't know he'd heard her say that.

Her life was hard, that was no secret. Everyone's was at some point. He tried to calm himself down, but he couldn't help feeling sad standing where he was… because he did nothing about it. His blue eyes scanned the windows, until he spotted something he thought he'd never see.

Harper paced back and forth in her nearly empty room, passing a Tears Of Blood poster each time. He never knew she was a fan of his favorite band. But that wasn't the shocking part. He watched as she cleared out all her drawers, letting the clothes fall in piles. Frustrated, like she didn't want to see the fashion she created anymore, she began to tear it all apart.

Her mother came in to see what was going on at that point. Justin found it horrifying that she smiled at what she saw. As far as he was concerned, Harper was close to having a mental breakdown, and her mother was close to dying of laughter. He couldn't just stand around and watch anymore.

He came through the unlocked door. There was no one to stop him, Harper's dad had left the house so he could have some peace and quiet. Justin ran up the stairs as quietly as humanly possible, listening to every word he heard on the way up.

"Well, I see you're finally learning." "It's called conforming, actually." Harper replied, trying to ignore the teasing, torturous tone her mother used. "It's called smart. You don't want to be singled out." "No, that would be horrible." She said sarcastically. "Shut up!" Dead silence from Harper. "You know I'm right. Don't try to argue with me, little girl. You're not gonna win. You never win anything."

The door swung open again, hitting a wall from the force used. Harper didn't mind the dent it made, even if her eyes were too glazed over with tears to see why it happened.

"Justin?" For Harper's mom, he was the last person she'd expect to come bursting through the door. He said nothing to her, just stepped into the room. By then Harper's vision had cleared up. Tears were streaming down her face, and she didn't have the strength to wipe them away. Justin was standing right in front of her.

"Pretend she's not here right now." He whispered. I wish I could. Even the voice in Harper's head sounded sad. Justin told he what he was thinking. "This has to be fate, me being here right now. Especially since I wasn't even supposed to be here. I honestly have no idea what's going on with anybody right now, really."

Harper's mother was giving Justin dirty looks behind his back. "You're not helping her." She said bluntly. "I could be." He said, not looking at either of them. "If you ever need a place that feels like home, you know where to go. I'm not gonna force you, just think about it."

Justin didn't know what else to do, so he left without another word. Walking out the door to go back to the Sub Station, he knew Harper's mom was right. He wasn't helping her, and he had no idea how he could. It made him feel like a failure. He hung his head in shame walking away from a house that a one-sided fight would be heard coming from soon enough.

The chase Max was part of ended at Central Park. The girl that started it got tired and sat down on a bench. She seemed like she was about to hyperventilate, and then Max saw why when she pulled out an inhaler. "That was not a good idea." She thought out loud.

"Yeah." Max agreed. "All that running is bad for the both of us." The girl giggled, looking up at him with her light green eyes. "Actually, what I meant was… I'm lost." She admitted. Max figured she must have just moved to the city. His expression changed, to mirror the sad one on hers. He had to fix that. "Where do you live?"

Her answer was simple. "Waverly Place."