Disclaimer: I do not own wowp

Chapter 9: The queen of manipulations

When the movie was over, Justin and Alex came out of the theater, fighting and laughing, and saw Max standing outside, waiting for them.

Right. Max. Welcome aboard once again buddy. (Ugh. Just go away!)

"How was the movie?" Justin asked cheerfully.

"It was awesome, but", Max frowned, "I think I am going to be sick… Can we go home, Justin?"

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" Alex interrupted quickly. "What do you mean 'we'? You're going home. We're hanging out."

"Alex." Justin scolded. "We can't let our little brother go home all alone by himself."

"Umm, guys, I can go home myself. I am 15." Max reasoned.

"With the brain of a 5 year old." Justin pointed out. "We need to go home."

Alex frowned. Great. So when she could have perfectly got rid of Max, she has to abandon all her plans? Boo.

She looked down at the ground and started digging her nails, clearly disappointed. "Come on Alex." Justin persisted, gently patting her shoulders.

She obeyed (not without shooting him a dirty look) and started walking (storming) out of the theater.

When she got out and looked up, she saw Harper, standing there in front of the theater, with Zeke. Her nose scrunched up in disgust as she saw them act love-struck and all, holding hands. (They are not kids! They won't get lost if they don't hold hands all the time!) But her eyes lit up in new excitement as she got a new idea. (Ah, finally someone she can manipulate.)

"Hey Harper!" she greeted, using her most indifferent, casual tone. "What are you doing here?"

Harper laughed. "What do you mean? Didn't I tell you I have a date with Zeke?"

"Yeah I know", Alex nodded quickly. "But, I thought you'd be at home, studying for your… History test." (Yes! She remembers!)

Harper scoffed. "Don't worry Alex. I have already studied. I have revised and re-revised the chapter."

Alex groaned mentally. Why do people study in advance? Why was everyone in her life so smart? She looked around to see Max digging his nose, staring blankly at his finger. Okay, maybe not everyone.

"But Harper", she continued, gently placing a hand on her friend's shoulder and pulling her to the side, to talk in private. "Don't you want to study again? You know, to get good grades and get into a college with Zeke. So that you two can live happily together forever…"

What? So what if she's manipulating Harper? Please, this is totally fair! Harper deserves this! It's totally Harper's fault that she fell in love with Justin!

Harper paused, thinking. "Oh my gosh Alex, you are right!" she squeaked in alarm. "I do need to study!" She walked over to the group once again. "I'm so sorry Zeke. But I need to go home and study for my test."

Zeke shrugged. "Well, I was planning to watch a movie with you today, but that's okay Harpie-bear."

Harpie-bear? Really? And how did THAT slip her ears?

Zeke smiled, gently pecking her lips (ew!) and pulling apart. "I understand that you need to study. I will just hang out with Justin."

Alex's eyes widened in alarm once again. What! No! He can't hang out with Justin! He can't ruin her perfectly foolproof plan to hang out alone with Justin!

She gasped in fake surprise. "But Zeke, I thought that... that a loving and…and geek boyfriend like you would help Harper study."

See. She's being totally selfish this time and helping Harper and Zeke be together. (And getting rid of them. shh!)

Zeke paused, thinking, and then nodded. "You're right Alex! I should help my Harpie study!"

"Aww! That is so sweet of you, Zeke!" Harper cooed, linking her arms with Zeke and giving him a quick peck on the cheek. "Let's go home, Zeke."

"Wait." Alex interrupted, grabbing Max by the arm and shoving him in front of Harper and Zeke. "Since you guys decided to go home, why don't you take Max with you?"

Evil genius. Thank you very much!

Zeke smiled brightly. "No problem Alex… come on Max."

"Bye guys." Max greeted, as he started following Harper and Zeke back home.

She smiled in satisfaction, and sighed in relief, wiping her hands on her pants. She turned around to see Justin, standing with his arms crossed, glaring at her.

"What?" she scoffed. (Staring is rude!)

Justin's frown increased. "It's not right to sabotage people like this."

She shrugged non-chalantly, and dismissed him with a wave of her hand. "Oh please! It's not like this is the first time you saw me doing this."

"Yeah, I have seen you do it before." Justin nodded in agreement. "But I just don't get it…" he shook his head in confusion. "I don't see the point! Why did you get rid of all of them? Why did you want to hang out with me alone?"

Ugh. Is this the part where she is supposed to confess her feelings?

She shrugged again, praying that Justin would buy it. "I… I don't want to go home… and Harper could totally use Zeke's help in studying!"

He sighed, giving up. (What made him think she would tell him the truth? Like she ever does that!)

"What do you want to do now?" he asked in annoyance. (This will never work out if he remains so annoyed like this.)

"Pizza?" she asked, smiling sweetly.

He nodded, sending a pointed look in the direction of the road, and started leading the way.

Alex frowned. Just because this isn't a date doesn't mean they shouldn't walk together!

She glared at his back, growling. Fine. She'll do this the hard way then. Time to be sneaky. (Well, she's always naturally sneaky. Whatever.)

"Ouch!" she yelped, sitting down on the pavement, clutching her foot. (Thanks for the idea, Maxie. She'll give you back your ball… after two months?)

Justin turned around and quickly rushed to her. "Alex, are you all right?" he asked, bending down to look at her.

"No." she mumbled, pretending to be in pain. "I tripped and fell."

He frowned. "We need to get home fast."

"What! No!" she protested, getting up instantly, and limping on one leg. "I can totally walk... see."

"Yeah, right." He chuckled. "Come on Alex."

You know what? On second thoughts, this wasn't such a great idea… BUT… she CAN still benefit from this.

She sighed dramatically. "You're right Justin… I can't walk." She gulped, making it look like she was having a lot of trouble swallowing her pride. "Help me?"

He sighed. "Let's just get a cab."

"No! No! No!" she quickly grabbed his arm. "Not a cab!"

He creased his eyebrows together in confusion. "Why not?"

Think Alex. Think. (Ugh! How can she think when his touch is burning her?)

"Because…" she began, looking around. "Because mom and dad would know something is wrong with me… we can't go home by cab! We can't go home now Justin!"

He scoffed. "And how can mom and dad not know about your leg with you limping like a chicken?"

She glared at him (She was looking for solutions, not new problems! Or comments). She shrugged. "I am hoping that my leg would get better by then." (Yeah. She can probably find a way to drop the acting.)

He shook his head and sighed. "This doesn't make sense to me at all. But I don't even feel like standing her and arguing with you… come on Alex."

When he began walking ahead once more, she stared at him in disbelief. "Justin!" she yelled in annoyance. "I said help me!"

He turned around, and eyed her skeptically. "What are you up to this time?" he demanded, fixing her with a glare. (Like that would intimidate her? Yeah, right!)

She shrugged. "Nothing." She replied innocently.

He continued glaring at her, and offered his hand.

She took it; acting like it was the worst thing in the whole world, all the while beaming inside. (Ugh. Why did her mind have to start painting pictures of the day when he'd offer his hand to her like that, and ask her to run away with him?)

"Are you planning on blackmailing me or something?" he asked, putting an arm around her waist to balance her weight. (And that began burning as well. Really? It's not like his touch is acidic… wait. Acids are supposed to burn your skin, right? What? It's not like she took advanced chemistry so that she could be in the same class as Justin and read this thoughts all the time!)

"Gosh! Stop over thinking! This is not the first time I am asking you to help me!" she snarled. (She was running out of excuses!)

He sighed sadly. "I knew I was getting myself into trouble the minute I offered to hang out with you."

"Me too." She agreed, grinning deviously. "You should stop getting yourself into trouble like this, Justin."

He stared at her incredulously, while her grin increased.

Okay. On second thoughts, holding hands IS fun…

And now she just needs to figure out a wait to make him stop at the pizza bar. Okay.

(A/N: Hope you liked this chapter :) please review and tell me! Next update will be on Saturday or Sunday, depending on your reviews. I am going to be very busy tomorrow, so no update on this… I think this story is going to be longer than I thought it would be. Around 20-25 chapters? You guys okay with that?)