Alex slowly awoke to – not the sun streaming through – but the sudden hum that was created by the loss of electricity. Slowly, she sat up, looking outside to the storm. Great, a horrible storm to match my horrible life.
"Knock-knock!" The door opened.
"Go away, Justin." Alex snapped, dicing back under the covers and back into her foul mood.
"Alex, I'm sorry. But…can you really blame me?"
"Yes!"
"Alex, I'm sorry."
"…"
"Come on, I brought you breakfast."
"I'm not gonna lift the spell. Put it on my desk." Alex huffed.
"Alex, please!"
"NO!" The water outside fell harder at that moment. Justin froze, figuring he should listen to his sister, put the breakfast down and walked out.
Alex huffed, pulling off the covers and looking at the breakfast. Aww…She thought. There were sausages and eggs with orange juice, an apple, two oranges and a vase with a rose.
Now, do you forgive him?
No, I don't!
Alex, you can't do this forever. I mean, give him something. This doesn't happen all the time.
I know that, but he could have just said no. But no, he had to go and call me a freak. He deserves to be punished.
Alex…
Andra, can we just leave it at that?
By the silence in her mind, Alex could guess Andra was doing something like sighing. I hope you know what you're doing.
I don't.
"Justin!" Justin turned around and was attacked by a girl with black hair. Okay, okay, okay. It's just Alex wanting to apologize.
"Um…Live, what are you doing?"
Justin blinked and saw the host of the party from last night hugging him.
The girl let go, turning to a boy who had asked the question. "I was hugging Justin." Live gestured where Justin stood.
"Live, are you feeling okay?" The boy asked.
"I'm fine, why?"
"There's nobody there. And who's Justin?"
"He's right he-" Live turned to Justin, who shook his head and made a 'cut' motion with his hand across his neck. "Can I talk to you later? I actually don't feel too well." Live clutched her stomach, faking like she was about to throw up, secretly grabbing Justin's hand. Rushing to the bathroom, she locked the door. "What's going on? Why couldn't see you? And why doesn't he know you?"
"It's a spell my sister cast on me." Justin explained.
"Why?"
"I don't want to talk about it." Just fell against the door, sliding down.
"I've been looking everywhere for you after you left the party. Why'd you leave so quickly, anyway?" Live asked, sitting beside Justin.
"Again with the not-talking."
Live laughed. "So I've been looking for you, but nobody seems to know who you are."
"It's part of the spell. Nobody knows me and nobody can see me." Justin sighed, banging his head against the door.
"Then why can I see you?"
"I don't know. Maybe…you're higher than her in magic, so her spells don't affect you?" Justin turned to Live.
"Makes sense." Live stood, offering her hand. "Come on, let's go to my house. We'll see if we can break the spell."
Justin smiled, taking Live's hand.
To my house to break the spell
Leave this place where sandwiches sell.
The two vanished in a flash of light.
Alex paced her room, watching the window every now and then for Justin. Man, where is he?
Alex, relax, he can take care of himself.
Andra, is there any way you can, I don't know, become real?
Make up a spell…
Umm…
I need someone to give me direction
Appear, my guide, let us have a conservation.
Blue smoke appeared on Alex's vanity, taking the shape of a 13-year-old girl. Alex stared, admiring the beauty of her guide.
Andra had platinum blond hair, tied in what looked like a fashionable blue hair-net. Her white skin was in a blue harem outfit. "You look like a genie."
"Hey," Andra shrugged, "I liked the outfit."
Alex smiled quickly, returning to pacing shortly, she began jumping up and down. "Oh, where is he?!"
"Talkin' bout me?" Alex turned around, seeing Justin there, who looked very smug as he leaned against her door frame. "Who's you friend."
"Andra. Guide." Andra looked at Alex, pointing at the elder Russo. "Why can I see him?"
"Aren't you part of me?"
"No."
"Then I don't know."
"Live broke the spell." Justin inputted. "She saw me at the sandwich shop and then we went to her house to break the spell."
Alex dropped her arms. "Well then," she searched her head for something to say, but found she just couldn't be mean to him. "You can go now."
Justin scoffed. "Who are you, a sergent?" He said sarcastically.
"Get out." Alex huffed, turning to the window.
"No. Not until we talk about last night." Justin stepped closer.
"There's nothing to talk about. I love you and you think I'm a freak. That's it, no discussion." With each word of venom from Alex's mouth, the storm's rain fell harder.
"Alex, we can't avoid this. What happened happened and we need to settle it." Justin shot back. A hard flash of lightning appeared.
"Justin, just go away. I don't want to talk." Alex mumbled, watching the rain as it fell harder and harder.
"Alex!" As the lightning struck, Justin turned Alex around. "Whether you want to or not, we have to talk."
"Let go of me." Alex growled.
"Talk to me." Justin growled back.
"No!" Alex ripped her arm out of his arm.
"Alex, you have to! You can't walk away from this."
"Watch me!" Alex ran past him, opening the door and running down the hall. She heard Justin running after her. A third set of footsteps made Alex suppose Andra was following.
"Alex!" Justin screamed. But that only made Alex run faster down the steps. Passing her parents in the shop, she stepped out into the rain and ran down the street. The calls of Justin were close behind, the pads of Andra's bare feet just closer to that.
"Alex!" Justin caught up to Alex and turned her around, firmly holding her arms.
"Let me go!" Alex squirmed, trying to run again.
"Alex, talk to me!" Justin shook her trying to get her to look at him.
"No! No! Let go of me! Let go! Let-" Alex was silenced in shock when Justin crushed his lips against hers. Not knowing she else to do, she kissed back. She felt like she was going to melt, tingling all over. Slowly, Justin lips moved against Alex's and his tongue pushed against her lips. Alex parted her lips, feeling fireworks as Justin tongue curled over her own.
Justin let go of Alex's arm, locking them behind her back. Alex clawed at his shirt, stepping on her tip-toes every few seconds.
When oxygen became a major issue, the two broke apart. Looking around, they were dripping wet in Alex's room. Looking at each other, Alex bowed her head when she saw all the shame in her brother's eyes.
"I…" Justin started.
"Alex?" A knock from the door echoed and the two jumped apart. The head of their mother popped in. "Alex, honey, are you okay?" Theresa came in and got a good look at her daughter. "Hija, you're soaking wet. Justin, you too. What happened?"
"It's okay, Mom. Just and I got into a fight and then I ran outside." Alex explained.
"Yea, and then I…brought us back here." Justin looked at Alex, a look of confusion quickly darting across his face.
"Oh, well have you two stopped?" Theresa asked.
"Yea, just give us a minute, Mom." Alex said.
"Okay. But, when you're done, put your clothes in the tub, then come down for dinner, okay?" Theresa explained, slowly leaving.
"Okay, Mom." Justin responded, slightly gesturing his mother to leave.
When she did, the siblings turned to each other. "Alex, I…" Justin started, but Alex cut him off.
"Look, I know you're going to say that what happened in the street was a mistake, so spare me, okay? Let's just…pretend it didn't happen."
"Alex, we can't do that. What'll we do? Avoid each other? What'll we tell Mom and Dad?"
"Sure. Just say we're not speaking to each other. They'll buy it." Alex sighed, walking to her dresser.
Justin sighed as well. "For how long?"
"I don't know. You're graduating in six months. I guess till then." Alex explained, looking through her clothes for clean sleep clothes.
"Can we do that?"
"We have to. Now, if you don't mind, I got to change." Alex grabbed her clothes, walking to the door and opening it, waiting for Justin to leave.
Justin sighed. "Then…I guess this is bye."
"Yea."
Justin pursed his lips, slowly walking out. When Alex closed the door, he leaned against it, softly banging it against his head.
On the other side, Alex leaned on the door, her hand upon it, softly clenching away the paint. She sighed and turned. Peeling away her wet clothes and stepping into her sweats and gray tank, she climbed into her bed and fell asleep.
Alex found herself sitting, once again in Justin's bed, smiling back at him. Quickly, she kissed him.
Knock-knock
The couple looked to the door. Alex's eyes widened. "Justin…"
"Relax, Alex. It's probably just Mom and Dad waking me up." Justin pulled out of the bed, walking to the door.
The knocking became harsher.
"Justin, don't open the door."
"Why not?"
"We're gonna get in big trouble."
"How do you know?"
"I saw it. In one of my dreams."
Justin walked back to the bed, grasping Alex's hands. "Alex, don't worry. Okay?" Alex smiled, nodding. As Justin walked to the door, Alex hid beneath the covers.
Justin breathed, trying to act like he just woke up. Opening the door, his suspicious were confirmed. "Hi Mom, D-"
"Where the hell is she?" Jerry marched in, looking around the room.
"Huh?" Justin turned to his mother.
"We saw you and you're sister last night. Kissing." Theresa snapped.
"How is that possible?" We always put spells on the room." Justin's eyes widened when he realized what he said.
"Oh, so just when were you two gonna tell us about this little…infatuation?" Theresa snapped once more, crossing her arms.
"Here she is!" Jerry flipped back the covers, grabbing Alex's wrist nad yanked her out of bed.
"Daddy, what are you doing?" Alex shouted.
Jerry didn't answer, throwing Alex into Justin's arms. Justin wrapped his arms around her, holding her protectively.
As Theresa and Jerry looked at Justin and Alex, a swirl of pink and blue lights surrounded them. "Oh no." Alex turned to Justin. "Your memory spell, it's breaking."
The adults shook their heads, looking at each other and then at their children. Anger contorted their face.
"You put a forgetting spell on us?!"
Justin stepped forward, protectively standing before Alex. "We just wanted same place to stay until I graduated. Then we'd tell you because…we'd have our own place."
"Yea, you don't know how cold it was." Alex piped up.
"Alex was on the verge of dying when I cast the spell." Justin said.
"Well, you better hope you two have good immune systems because I want you to pack up your stuff and get out!" Theresa screamed.
"NO!"
"NO!"
Alex sprang up, heaving up and down in breath. Andra! Andra!
I need someone to give me direction
Appear, my guide, let us have a conservation.
The blue smoke formed right before Alex on her bed. "What's wrong?"
"It was my dream. Me and Justin…we were in his room. My parents came in then they started screaming at us and, I don't know, but…Mom screamed at us to get out." Alex explained through deep, heaving breaths.
"Get out, get out as in get out of the room or-"
"Get out of the house." Alex explained.
"Ow. So…" Andra tightened up for a second. "What do you think it means?"
"I don't know. Maybe…my dreams are telling me what'll happen if I get caught with Justin."
Andra pursed her lips. "I hope you're gonna be okay."
Alex sighed. Me too.
