Disclaimer: I do not own WOWP or song in the beginning or end or the characters I have used, except Mike. He's my original character, and you'll get used to hating him as well as sympathizing with him.

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Heroes of the play,
we search ourselves in mirrors,
we are the masters of our lives,
tightrope walkers on the ropes of our dreams,
even without a net don't be afraid to cross.

Adolescente from Chiquititas

(Song courtesy and translation: Baku Bake,

Thanks again girl!)

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"Promise me we'll find normal people."

"We are not normal people."

/////

The hardest thing in life is to let the one you love go. He had to do it twice- but this time, he was certain that she wasn't coming back. His world ended, everything shattered in front of his eyes, and it was his fault, once again. He couldn't save her. He couldn't save her again. What was he going to do after this?

"How am I going to tell her parents?" He whispered uncertainly into the thin air and the darkness of night.

No reply came. He titled his head and looked at her face. Tears were flowing down her cheeks and she was crying silently.

"Alex-"

"Don't, Justin, just don't-"

He sighed and looked away. She was right. He should let her cry. She lost as much as he did. Why did they both love and lose at the same time? Was life intentionally playing tricks on them again?

"We should go home." He whispered.

She still didn't move.

"Come on Alex." He persisted as he got up- slowly, his legs still weak as an aftershock of all the events. He offered her his hand and nodded.

She took his hand in hers hesitantly and tried to get up. He supported her weight and balanced her by placing his arm around her shoulders. She looked so delicate, so vulnerable, so shattered, so fragile. He wiped the tears from her cheeks with his other hand- he could never see her cry.

He had to stay strong- for her sake.

///////

One month later

"Don't you think you are rushing?" he asked, wiping the empty and shining table with a piece of cloth for the fifth time, not paying particular attention.

"No." she shrugged and poured some sugar into her mouth.

"Alex", he said, and he sounded defeated already, wow. "You just broke up last month."

"Last month is a long time, Justin." She replied non-chalantly, moving on to another table and another container of sugar.

"Alex-" Justin scolded, slapping her hand away from the sugar container. "You don't know this guy properly! You should give it more time. Why are you in such a hurry to find a replacement for him?"

"I'm not trying to replace anyone." She snapped quickly. "Justin, I think I'm old enough to make my own decisions... This is a good thing. I feel so much better already. You should try dating someone too."

He shook his head as he threw the dirty cloth on the table. "No Alex, for me, there will be no one else except Juliet."

There was that stinging feeling in her heart again, and suddenly she wasn't sure who she was trying to replace.

//////

"I think I should meet him." He proposed while walking home from school.

"You are not my father." She snapped, 'accidentally' bumping into a woman who had been rude to her once, and spilling the woman's drink all over the woman's clothes.

"Alex!" Justin scolded, running after her. "That wasn't necessary."

She rolled her eyes and ignored him (as usual), while the woman was shouting and cursing at them from five feet away. ("I actually did her a favor. I made her understand that you can't run when you are wearing high heels. I'm sure she never wore them again. I actually saved her from tripping and falling again in the future. You're welcome." She says proudly.)

"I need to meet him Alex." He said sternly, returning to the old topic again. "I'm your brother. I have to make sure he's all right… I don't want you dating random guys."

"Fine!" she yelled, grabbing her cell phone from her back pocket and dialing a number. "I'm telling him to meet me at the sub-shop one hour later… are you sure you don't want to double date?"

"No." he replied immediately. He still wasn't ready to move on.

//////

Justin fidgeted, sitting on a table in the sub-station.

"Relax, you're just meeting your sister's boyfriend, not your Math teacher." She teased, popping another marshmallow into her mouth.

"I'm not scared of my math teacher." Justin snapped back. "And stop eating those! Alex!"

He tried to slap her hand away, but somehow ended up holding it. He froze, the familiar tingling returned to him again.

"Alex?" came a voice.

"Mike!" Alex saw her boyfriend standing two feet away, looking at them, and immediately withdrew her hand from Justin's.

This time, there was the stinging feeling in Justin's heart.

"Justin, this is Mike." Alex introduced. "And Mike, that's Justin, my brother."

"Oh." Mike relaxed, relieved to hear he was her brother, and grinned slightly. "The dorky one?"

Alex laughed and Justin glared at her.

"Sorry man, those were Alex's words…" Mike apologized. "You aren't as dorky as she said you were... in fact, you look quite cool."

"Nah, you are nice." Justin said, smiling and then turned to look at Alex. "Congrats Alex, looks like you found your normal person."

Alex smiled back and linked her arms with Mike's as Justin walked away.

The stinging feeling returned to him again. He wasn't jealous- he was hurt. But he told himself he was just being worried about his little sister… maybe he should have known this guy a bit more before giving him the green card?

/////

"Dude, what's up?" Mike asked, joining Justin in front of an ice-cream shop.

"Just buying an ice-cream… you want one?" Justin offered sweetly.

"Sure, if it's your treat though."

"Ah, now I see why Alex likes you…" Justin teased as he took out his wallet and started rummaging through it for the exact money.

Mike gasped. "You have your sister's photo in your wallet?"

"Uh… yeah…" Justin said, gulping hard. He was so busted.

"Oh." Mike said casually, taking the ice-cream from the vendor. "What about Max's?"

"Umm… no…" Justin replied, and suddenly, his hands were trembling around the ice-cream stick.

"Why not?" Mike asked coolly again, licking the ice-cream.

"Umm… Alex and I have always been closer to each other than Max..." He said honestly, because that was true- it just wasn't the only reason why he kept her photo in his wallet.

Mike nodded, like he actually believed him, and glanced at his clock. "Oh man, it's already 4. I gotta go before Alex gets mad. See you later, dude!"

"Yeah, see you!" Justin waved as Mike ran away. "Phew!"

//////

"Hey" Justin greeted as Alex entered the living room.

"Hey", she replied briefly, walking up to the fridge.

"How was the date?"

"Fine." She replied concisely as she sipped some water from a bottle.

"And…?" he pushed further.

"Mom, I'm just gonna go to my room…" Alex announced, ignoring his question and walking up the stairs.

"Wait, Alex, is something wrong?" Justin asked instantly, praying that he wasn't the cause of the problem.

"No." Alex snapped as she started walking up the stairs.

"Wait, Alex-" Justin grabbed her hand and forced her to turn around. "What's this?" He asked, pointing at a bruise mark in her arm.

"I… I fell down…" she replied, yanking her hand free from his grasp and running upstairs again.

Justin sighed in relief. So that was why little princess was so mad- she never really liked bruises, she said it made her look less charming than usual. He didn't believe that- she always looked beautiful- always.

/////

"Hey", he said, opening the door to her room. "I brought you some medicines…"

No reply came.

"Alex?"

He took in the darkness in the room, and noticed a sleeping form in the bed. He smiled and quietly walked up to the bed. He took out the cotton and started cleaning the wound, before applying antiseptic cream. When he was done, he looked at her face. He couldn't see it properly because of the lack of light ("Will it kill you to sleep with a night light on?" he still yells.) but he could see that her eyes were closed. He gently took her hand in his and gave it a slight squeeze. "Goodnight my little doll…" he whispered as he walked out of the room.

Once the door was closed, Alex sat up. Wiping the tears, she gently touched the bruise in her arm, and sighed, relieved that Justin didn't realize she was awake and crying. Clutching the dolls closer to her chest, she let the tears flow again…

She had to let him go… for the sake of all of them- Three lives depended on her decision now, including her own wretched one.

//////

By next week, he knew something was wrong- she had stopped talking to him.

"Hey" Mike waved, entering the sub-station. "Is your sister home?"

"I don't know." Justin mumbled, frowning.

Mike stopped in his tracks and stared at him. "You guys fighting again?"

Justin shook his head. "We would be if she was talking to me…"

Mike chuckled. "You know Alex and her whims… God knows what is going on in her mind… it'll be over soon. I'll talk to her." He assured, as he climbed up the stairs.

Justin smiled to himself. At least his sister had a nice boyfriend.

///

"So… why aren't you talking to Justin again?" Mike asked during the lunch date.

Alex shrugged.

"He looks kind of sad…" Mike said, glancing at Justin.

"Why do you care?" Alex hissed, giving him a cold glare.

Mike glared back at her. "I'm not a bad person Alex… just a bit possessive, okay? I didn't say you couldn't talk to him… I just wanted the unnecessary hand-holding and arm-grabbing to stop…"

Alex shook her head. "No Mike, it's better this way…"

//////

By next month, Justin knew she wasn't going to talk to him. He had made up his mind- he was leaving for college in a far, far away place, far away from her, far away from the feelings (hopefully). His application was accepted and he was ready to leave.

"Just walk away,

Oh and don't look back,

'Cause if my heart breaks,

It's gonna hurt so bad.

You know I'm strong,

But I can't take this.

It's going too late…

Oh just walk away."

-High School Musical 3

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(A/N: a lot of changes took place here. It's a sort of filler chapter, not much jalex or emotions involved, but I promise it'll be better from the next chapter. Things are going to get dramatic, angsty, emotional and a LOT better from next chapter. Review for faster update, reviews kind of dropped in last chapter :( even though hits increased! BTW the 10,000 word jalex one-shot will be called "Breathless". Watch out for it!)