A/N: I won't bother you with the reasons why, but I assure you, I do have them. I am beyond sorry though.
Chris and Cathy had sex. She's not sure how she feels about this; part of her thinks that she should have seen it coming, although she's not sure why. But Chris gets kind of upset afterwards and claims her raped her while Cathy pats his back and assures him she wanted it and Alex can't help but laugh at how ridiculous the older brother is being; images of late nights wrestling matches on the coach come to mind and she blatantly ignores the reasons why the two situations are similar.
She doesn't understand Chris's panic, but it's familiar and predictable; he's so like her own goody-two-shoes brother. She's gotten used to manipulating him into thinking she's partially to blame after the few times the dark haired boy had done wrong. She can handle it, he can't.
Justin acts weirder than usual after he marks her progress, and she'd asked him what's wrong, but that would imply she cares and perhaps pull her into a conversation about feelings and problems that can't be fixed with a quick fight and hug or a flick of her wand. He studies at her though, and she realizes with a kind of start that he hasn't really looked at her since he discovered the title of the paper back. The young wizard clenches her jaw, trying not to shift under her brother's intense scrutiny and failing.
"They didn't stay together." It takes a second to register her own words, and there's a bitter-sweet taste on her tongue as she realizes this disappoints her; she chalks it up to the deeply hidden romantic in her simply wanting a happy ending.
There's a pause beside her and the older boy evaluates her words, testing them carefully and she pictures beakers and machines that do complicated mathematics. "They do later, in one of the sequels." He's watching her face, recording her reaction to his own response, and she's not sure what surprises her more; that she's pleased that the two will one day continue their illicit relationship, or that her brother seems to be relieved over her disappointment that they ever separated.
She looks up the next books in the series, reading quick plot summaries and seriously contemplating reading through another book just so she can see Chris and Cathy have their happily ever after. It lasts all of five second though before she decides that the knowledge is enough.
Harper talks her into starting on her paper. Words like "easier" and "faster" finally convincing the under achiever to at least try it her best friend's way. She also has a sneaking suspicion that it's the only way she's going to get the redhead to shut up.
Explain the significance of the relationship between the main characters. (2-4 pages)
The young wizard wonders absently if maybe the teacher knew a head of time what book Alex would be reading and planned the question for her. It wouldn't be the first time a teacher had purposely given her an easy assignment in hopes that she'd pass and they'd never have to see her again.
She's gotten over half a page done before her mom comes to fetch her for dinner. Theresa tries to convince her to let Justin read over it, but she stubbornly refuses. It's not ready, and for some reason it's really important that it is before he sees her work.
They sit close at dinner, arms brushing every once in a while and her stomach kind of clenches in a way that's not unpleasant. His long legs are stretched out in front of him under the table, jeans brushing her bare leg and gray eyes sparkling happily as he tells of something that happened in chemistry class lifting his fork as a prop to better explain his story. She's not sure if she's always been this aware of him, or if it's a new thing.
It's only later that night, when she's "working" on her science homework (also known as painting her nails) and she feels the familiar prickle at the back of her neck does she realize that she's always known him, always been aware of the dark haired boy in a way that she's never been aware of anyone else; she never claimed to be self-observant. She turns her head quickly, brown eyes peeking at him out of the corner of her eye as she gives him an unhappy look at being interrupted.
"Can't you see I'm doing homework?" She ignores the way he lifts one eyebrow, eyes glancing over the brush between her fingers and the paint drying on her left hand.
"Really now? And what class is that for?" He doesn't expect an answer, his voice taking on the mocking tone his little sister hates so much.
She doesn't justify him with an answer, turning back instead to her waiting half done nails in hopes that he'll go away; he makes her think about things when he's that close and she doesn't like it. He moves closer though, smelling faintly of the pasta they had for dinner and detergent and all things family, and she wants to tell him to go away, but then the stubborn boy might listen and that bothers her more than his presence.
He sits next to her on the bed, jolting the bottle of brightly colored paint and dark eyes watch as several drops spill over onto the expensive comforter she begged their father to get her before a familiar hand reaches out to grab it and place the bottle on the girl's bed side table. Alex looks up to glare at her older brother, mouth opening slightly to berate him for spilling the contents, but the words die on her lips. When did he get so close? Her heart is pounding loudly in her chest and a brief question of if Max can hear it flashes through the young wizard's mind before settling back on the boy in front of her. Gray eyes are intense as the dark haired teen nervously licks his lips; her eyes are automatically drawn to the movement.
There's the urge to say something, to break whatever it is that's happening because she's not ready for it, whatever it is, but there's no stopping the thought that if she does, it may never happen again and she's not sure she can handle that.
"Done with your homework?" The voice startles both teens and two heads turn quickly to see their father standing in the door way. She feels an unusual flash of guilt at the non-suspicious look in the gray eyes so like that of the boy sitting across from her, but she quickly smashes it down.
"Justin spilled nail polish on my bed." She's suddenly unexplainably angry, face flushed and unable to look at her brother.
But Jerry doesn't even bother to punish Justin, only lightly berating him as he leads him out of the artist's room and calling to Theresa to help Alex clean up the stain. She throws her book against the wall after her father and brother are gone, feeling that somehow it's to blame for her troubles. No good could come from reading.
