2

***

Alex stared in fear at the words in bold... Could she actually do it? At the moment, all she could do was think about the reprocussions... She sighed heavily and shut the battered book roughly, tossing it aside. Making absolutely sure that not a soul could tell what page she had pondered over, she rose from the large bed.

Alex flicked off the light switch as she went and made her way upstairs to the family sub station.

"Hey, mom," she muttered evasively, causing Justin to, yet again, look at her suspiciously. She scoffed at him and grabbed for the sandwich in his hands.

"Hey! I was eating that!" he shouted at her.

She scoffed at him again when her mother made her way to their table, looking about ready to scold someone.

"Be nice, Alex," Justin told her tauntingly under his breath.

"Watch it," she muttered darkly, watching him raise his eyebrows in response.

He snorted, strutting off to another table for peace and quiet, and said over his shoulder, "What are you gonna do, Alex, jinx me?"

She raised her eyebrows when his back had turned, and muttered, "Maybe..."

She half-smiled, deciding, in that justifiable moment, that she could do it... There was no doubt in her mind now.

***

"Hey, Max, hand me that book, will you?" she said, strugging to stay upright.

It was Wednesday afternoon and she'd just gotten home from school. Max was strewn across the black couch in the lair while she was reaching for a large volume from the old bookshelf. She wasn't having much luck with that.

"Sure," he said distractedly, looking at oddly distorted wizards cascaded across the pages of his textbook with his head turned upside down in amazement.

"Uhhh!" Alex muttered loudly, "Put that down and help me before I fall!"

"OK. Sorry, Alex, I'm on it," he muttered yet again but this time he rose from the black sofa on which he'd been laying.

He handed her a stack of the largest and sturdiest books from the shelf behind him and placed them atop a dozen more underneath Alex's feet. She was now stretching her thin arms as high as they could possibly go but she still could not come in contact with the one she needed from the top shelf. The stack of books beneath her feet shuddered violently and she swayed for a close second before steadying herself by gripping her fingers on the edges of the shelf nearest her.

"Come--on--almost--got--you--! OH!"--Crash--"Oh, owww..."

Alex screeched and moaned loudly as more books came spiralling down in the general direction of her head.

She gasped as one particularly heavy hardcover fell with a smack right on top of her.

By the time she'd recovered and dug her way out of the oncoming piles, Justin, and her father and mother had appeared, with startled, questioning looks of what looked like concern--at least in her parents case, Justin was just looking at her as if exasperated.

Theresa rushed forward and pulled her daughter out from under the heavy books by the arm, yelling hysterically, "Are you alright, Alex?"

"Fi--I'm fine," she replied tersely, rubbing a spot near the top of her head that several of the hardcovers had attacked vigourisly.

"Are you sure, hunny?" her father said questioningly, puzzlement mingling with concern. "What happened in here?"

"I--was just getting--a book..from the top," she answered, waving off need for concern.

"You could have just asked one of us, or Justin," he said, not noticing how she grimaced at the mention of help from her eldest sibling.

"Doesn't matter, Dad. I'm fine."

And with that, she walked off.

...

The truth had been that she'd needed to look up something in another book about her upcoming use of the Time-Turning charm that the Wizard Studies book did not mention. To tell her parents or even, she shuddered at the thought, her brother Justin, would be beyond foolish and idiotic.

She looked up from her seat in her booth to see a cheery-looking Harper coming through the entrance to the Waverly Place sub station and she frowned slightly. Keeping this from Harper would be...difficult. However, having her find out would be worse. Much, much worse.

She'd occasionly done some wrong as far as her family was concerned..but nothing this big. She didn't know what Harper would think..but her scolding would do no good regardless.

Alex rushed off, hiding herself from view in the kitchen. She grabbed the huge key from it's hook in an agressive fashion and tore through the hidden lair door.

Justin was already here no doubt. She stopped to grin at him, looking smug.

He shook his head, livid, and went back to his book.

"And what's wrong with you, smarty-pants? Beat anyone at magic lately?" she asked tauntingly as she took her seat beside him.

"You did not beat me. You were just lucky." he stated firmly.

"Huh, yeah. I'm pretty sure being the first to learn how to turn myself invisible and then turn back is called beating you. You're just jealous I learned an advanced spell before you did. What, are you scared I'm gonna beat you out in the family wizard contest?" she replied, smirking slightly.

"Yeah, maybe in another world. Everyone knows I'll be the one to win, Alex. You never pay any attention, how do you expect to win?" he asked her.

She looked smug again. "I think knowing advanced magic should give me a leg up in the competition, don't you, Justin?"

He scoffed in her direction, and looked away towards the wall.

"That's what I thought."

***

note:: sorry for the shortness. i was writing a pretty long chapter so i decided to split it up into 2 seperate ones. i'm finishing the next one atm. it should be finished soon! hope you like it, and please, please, review! ;)