Part Iv

After giving her demands to her grandmother and talking to her uncle Kelbo, Alex was in a good mood as she made her way over the buffet table. She'd managed to wheedle out of Kelbo that he got "Alex" upgrades for her laptop, which she'd been wanting for a while. The item itself didn't sound like something Kelbo would give her and she told him so. But he let slip that one of the upgrades was a security system that turned the intruder into a rat, and Alex, as her mother, had a hard time concealing her excitement. She couldn't wait until one of her brothers tried to use her laptop without permission.

She didn't try to get herself too worried about the impending switch. After her mother failed to get a wand from either of her brothers, they'd decided that they would take a break from switching back since there was nothing they could do at the moment. The big dance between "Alex" and her brothers was coming up and neither could sneak out without being noticed. Alex, as Theresa, supposed she could, but it would look highly suspicious to her father if she was missing…after all, she was the one who was excited about all these Quinceanera traditions in the first place.

Wandering over to the buffet table, she smiled when she saw the dessert out already. Mmm, cupcakes! She thought. She was about to make a beeline for it when she was intercepted by Justin and Max. Frustrated, she snapped without thinking, "What do you two want?"

"Oh, uh, sorry Mom," Justin answered, giving her an apologetic yet confused look. "What's the matter? You okay?"

Alex shook her head to calm herself and answered, in the most casual manner she could, "Yes, son, I am fine. What is it that you and my youngest child want to ask me?"

"We need to confess something!" Max blurted, too anxious to notice the odd question.

This ought to be good, Alex thought, smiling. It was probably about what her brothers had been whispering over all day. "Well, I do always say that you kids should be honest with your father and I. What is it?"

Squirming from nerves, Justin answered, "I-I, uh, we…it wasn't our fault! Grandma took us out of our dance lessons, and now we don't even know how to do the Macarena!"

"Actually, I know how to do that. Mom taught me at a family party once," Max replied. He began to do the dance, putting both hands face down as he began. "See, you put both your arms out, and then you…"

"Max, I don't care about how to do the Macarena! We need to learn the salsa in about five minutes!" Justin exclaimed.

Alex rolled her eyes and groaned. You nimrods! She thought. But rather than lose her cool and let her brothers in on the switch, which she would never hear the end of, she said, "Boys, I cannot believe you didn't tell me until now! What are you going to do, go out there and make idiots of both yourselves and your sister?" Wow, that was pretty good, she thought, giving herself an imaginary pat on the back.

"I know, we're sorry!" Max insisted. "But Grandma said she would teach us everything we needed to know, and she didn't!"

"Yeah!" Justin replied. "Instead, she went off trying to get Alex a Quinceanera present…oops…"

Waving a dismissive hand, Alex said, "I know all about that and took care of it." But in that moment, she felt sorry for her brothers. They weren't the only ones to be victims of her grandmother's irresponsibility. "Okay, look, um…maybe we can make it a joke, you know? Instead of this big, important dance, we'll just do the Macarena! Everyone will think it's hilarious."

Justin looked at her, confused that his mother would be so willing to turn the important tradition into a joke. "Are you serious?"

"But there's a problem with that. Justin here doesn't know how to do the Macarena," Max pointed out.

"Oh, that's no problem, I can teach you that!" Alex replied, getting into position and beginning the dance. "See? It's like the Spanish version of the Hokey Pokey, except when you're supposed to turn yourself about, you shake your…"

"Al…I mean, Mom!" Theresa exclaimed, running across the dance floor. "What are you doing? You're embarrassing me!" She added, stressing the 'me' and making it clear that she meant in both senses of the word.

Giving her a weak grin, Alex turned to her brothers and said, "Excuse me a minute, I'll be right back. Max, you keep teaching Justin." Once they went to a private corner, she asked, "Hey, Mom, what's up? Having fun at your Quinceanera?"

"Oh, don't you be innocent with me. Why were you doing the Macarena?" Theresa demanded.

Alex let out a nervous chuckle and replied, "Because it's fun and entertaining?"

"Alexandra Margarita –"

"Alright, alright, stop middle-naming me!" Alex interrupted. "Okay, Grandma took the guys out of the dance class, telling them that she'd teach them herself, but she never did and now those two clowns have no idea what they're going to do for the dance! I figured rather than make all three of you look like idiots, we'd turn it into a joke."

Massaging her forehead with one hand, Theresa put her other on her hip and replied, "Your grandmother is in so much trouble when I am back in my body. But for now, no, you can't do that. While it's a good idea, I don't think the family will appreciate turning a long-standing tradition into a joke." Crossing her arms, she said, "I can't believe I'm about to ask you this, but…is there some kind of dancing spell your brothers can use?"

Alex's jaw dropped as she stared at her mother. "Wow, Mom, letting us getting away with two spells in one day? I'm impressed!"

"Thanks, but if you tell your father I swear I'll deny it!" Theresa promised.

Laughing, Alex was about to go tell her brothers the good news when she stopped. "Uh, I think you better go – if I just randomly tell them they can use magic…"

"Hey, why are we keeping this a secret from them? They can't get us in trouble," Theresa replied.

The idea just occurring to her as well, Alex shrugged. "Okay, that works too."

Theresa and Alex went over to the boys, who were practicing the Macarena as they approach. "Hey, boys –" Theresa began.

"Mom! I think I'm getting the hang of this!" Justin exclaimed. When he shook his butt and turned around, he nearly fell when he realized his sister was with her. "Oh, uh, hi Alex, we were just…"

Alex sighed and interrupted, "Yeah, yeah, she knows, you're busted."

"But why did you tell her when she was the one person we were trying to keep it from?" Max asked.

"Because the person you were trying to keep it from already knows," Theresa answered. "Alex used the body switch spell."

Justin's jaw fell in shock while Max stared at them in confusion. "Why did you call yourself Alex, Alex?"

"Alex and Mom are in each other's bodies, you egghead!" Justin explained. "We've been talking to Alex this whole time!"

"Oh…oh man, Alex, you're not mad, are you? We were afraid you'd play a mean prank on us when we made you look stupid in front of our entire family," Max said.

Alex shook her head. "No, it's okay, I understand. But I'm not about to let myself look stupid either, which is why Mom suggested you use some type of dancing spell."

"Mom's telling us to use magic? It's a world gone mad!" Justin said, staring at his mother with wide eyes.

"Hey, don't get used to it," Theresa warned him. "This is a special and…weird…situation."

Thinking the situation over, Justin asked, "So Mom was actually asking us for our wands before? Why? You don't need a wand to cast this spell."

Theresa glanced down at her feet, a little ashamed to admit her magical failure in front of her three wizard children. "I, uh…I can't do it. The spell, it's…it's too hard, since I've only had Alex's powers for…"

"Wait, you have Alex's powers?" Max said. "I thought Dad said…"

"I know, I know, but for some reason it worked like that. I thought if Mom had a wand the spell would be a little easier," Alex explained.

Lost in his own thoughts, Max exclaimed, "So, wait, I told Mom about the jelly Alex put in my bed…yes, payback!"

"Max!" Alex yelled.

"We'll talk Alex's prank habit later. Right now, you boys have some dance spell casting to do," Theresa interrupted, not quite believing she'd just said those words.

As the three kids thought of a good spell, Max said, "Too bad we can't use that body switch spell we just learned, huh?"

Justin was about to respond, then his gaze fell on the two dance instructors sitting at a table across the room. "Who says we can't?"

Once Max caught on to the plan, the two said, "Richard, Candace, Cambia Corporum Meum Corpora Sua Nominavi!"

Whispering to her daughter as her sons switched bodies with the dance instructors, Theresa said, "I was thinking of something along the lines of a spell to make themselves great dancers, but I guess this'll have to do."