Justin's POV:

"Alex! What are you doing?" I said, both angry and nervous.

"No, Justin. The question is, what are you doing?" she asked.

"I asked you first!"

"Fine! I was eavesdropping. Your turn," she told him.

"I…umm… how much did you hear?" I asked.

"All of it!" she said angrily. "How could you do this Justin? Why would you do this?"

"Listen, Alex," I stammered. "I can explain!" He had never seen her this mad before.

"Explain then," she said, coldly.

"I was only seven years old. I just wanted people to notice me," I explained. "I was always left out. I always felt like I didn't belong. Zeke was my only friend. All I was, was average. When I found out about Smarty Pants, I saw it as a chance to be noticed. I didn't know what the outcome would be!"

Alex didn't say anything, she was just staring at me. "Alex? Say something!" I say.

"What do you want me to say, Justin?" Alex said angrily.

"Why are you mad at me?"

"Gee, Justin. I don't know," she said sarcastically. "Maybe because you've been lying to everyone for eleven years of your life. Maybe because I thought I knew you, when you don't even know yourself. Or maybe, it's because I've had to live in your shadow all of my life, when the truth is, if you hadn't screwed up, my life would be completely different!"

"Alex…I-"

"I'm done with you!" she yelled at me. "Do you know what it's been like, living in your shadow? I've spent my entire life being compared to you, and I put up with it because you're my brother, but I can't believe you would do this to me! To all of us!" She was close to tears now.

"Alex…I'm sorry…" I said, sadly. "Please, just, don't tell mom and dad."

"You know what, Justin?" she says. "Don't talk to me!" And with that, she stormed upstairs, slammed her door, and left me in tears. What have I done?

Alex's POV:

I slammed my door, and collapsed on my bed crying. I was hurt, and angry at the same time. I knew there was something he was hiding, but I couldn't believe this. Was he planning on keeping this a secret forever? I don't know Justin, but I do know that he is a horrible liar. He could have never hidden this forever. She didn't know what she should do. Was she supposed to get to know her brother all over again?

She ended up crying herself to sleep that night, and woke up early at 7:30. It was Saturday so she stayed in bed until 8:00, not wanting to face Justin. Eventually she couldn't stay in bed any longer, so she got ready, and went downstairs. Justin was sitting at the table, eating breakfast.

"Good morning," he mumbled.

I ignored him. I grabbed some cereal, and sat down on the sofa to eat.

"Alex, please talk to me," said Justin, getting up and sitting next to me. "I know I screwed up. I know I shouldn't have done what I did. You have every right to be angry with me, and you don't know how sorry I am, but can we please just talk about it?" he pleaded.

"Fine. What do you want?" I say.

"I need to know that you forgive me, Alex," said Justin, earnestly.

This is something I had to think about. I wanted to forgive him, but I also wanted to forget him. He told a pretty big lie. A lie that affected everyone. But he's my brother, I may not know anything about him, but he's still my big brother, so I said, "I forgive you."

"Really? Are you sure?" he said.

"Are you trying to change my mind?" I asked him.

"No, I'm not. Thank you," Justin said. "And I truly am sorry for this whole mess. I'm going to figure out a way to fix this," he said confidently.

"Hey, I've just realized something," I said.

"What?"

"Since you're not smart anymore, I'm the one who is probably going to win the wizard competition!" I said cheerfully.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…" he said. "But you won't be so cheerful when you do something wrong, and nobody's there to fix it."

"Oh, no…," I said, realizing this. "You're right."

A/N: I hope you liked this chapter. As always, please review. Thank you!