AN: I don't know if it has been a long time since I updated, but if it has, blame it on my homework. Day after day I get homework and doesn't stop! No breaks whatsoever! Five pages of math, three essays, journal entries! To me this a big deal, I'm not the study type!...Sorry, I just needed to lose some steem.

Moving on, I really had a lot of fun writing this chapter and I hope many of you enjoy it too. Don't forget to leave reviews, I really want to know how many of you like this chapter.

Mall and Jackets

The mall was pretty big, it was only three stories high, but it was the size of two football fields. The middle of the third and second floor's ground was an open area; you could see the first floor on the edge. Even though there was a large earthquake, the mall was still pretty full with people. It was like nothing had happened.

Alex was having the time of her life. Behind her, Max followed not bothered at all that they were there, but for the two boys behind was a different story. They both had an expression that clearly said they didn't want to be there.

"Alex, where are you going?" Justin asked seeing his sister heading to an all girl clothes store. Alex stared at him with a confused gaze. "We came for J.R, remember?" Alex opened her mouth wanting to argue that she wanted to see the new cute shirts, but she did say they were here mostly for J.R.

She gave up. "Fine, let's go." Alex said looking for a store for J.R.

J.R took the lead quickly finding a store with clothes for him. He began to search for simple clothing; he wanted to get this over with as soon as possible. Also, he didn't want to get anything expensive, Alex was the one paying after all and he doubted she was going to spend that much on him. She had that sparkle in her eye that said she was in a shopping mood. He ended up getting five T-shirts, two black, two red, and one blue. Three jeans, two navy blue ones and one black.

Alex was looking at a few shirts when J.R came and showed her what he got. "What, that's it?" Alex asked taking the clothes from him. Justin and Max were looking at a few jackets thinking it was going to take longer then a few minutes for J.R to pick out clothes. They were a little surprised when they saw J.R handing Alex his wardrobe. They went over to them, curious to see what he picked.

"Seriously, that's it?" Alex asked looking over the clothes he picked. "They look so…plain." Alex stared at J.R's expressionless face. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but you're worse than Justin when it comes to these things."

"Hey!"

"Are you su-" J.R cut her of. "Yes." Alex scoffed. "Fine let's go." Alex said heading towards the cash register. While Alex was paying, Justin knew what was going to happen next so he decided to take action. He too saw that sparkle in her eyes.

"Pss, Max." Justin whispered. Max looked at him wondering what he wanted. Justin was making signals with his hands telling him they should go. Max nodded and they began to walk towards the exit as quietly as they possibly could. They were planning on making a run for it once they were out of the store.

Just a few more steps…

"Where do you think you're going?"

They both froze. Justin and Max turned their heads and stared at Alex. She had her hands on her hips with a raised eyebrow. "We…" Justin tried to think up something to say. When he couldn't he looked at Max for help, but he just shrugged his shoulders. He looked back at Alex, who was waiting for an answer. "We were going…to…find a…store that… you would… probably like to go." Justin said slowly. Alex narrowed her eyes as she stared at them, but then smiled. "Okay then, let's go." She said walking pass them while giving Max the bag with J.R's new clothes. Max and Justin looked at each and sighed, dragging their feet as they walked after Alex.

Justin, Max, and J.R were sitting on a bench inside the clothing store with bored expressions on their faces. They were waiting for Alex, who was in the changing room. They were so out of it, they didn't notice Alex coming out. "So, how do I look?" Alex asked modeling for them. "You look fine, can we go now?" Max said not really caring, he just wanted to go. Justin thought she looked great, then again she could look good on anything, but he would never admit it at loud. "It's alright." Justin said trying to sound like he didn't care. J.R had a downcast look.

This just brought back old memories he didn't want to remember. Back then when it was just him and Alex, she would take him to the mall when they both weren't busy. She would always have fun modeling for him different outfits. She could have taken her few new friends she made, but she would always ask him to hang out whenever he was free.

Alex was enjoying this, she got to do the thing she enjoys the most, besides magic, and annoy her brothers. It was a win win situation for her. She went back to change into her own clothes.

Just like they expected Max, Justin, and J.R ended up carrying bags. The three boys were walking on the third floor with one bag in each hand, but they knew she was far from finished. "Look at all these jackets!" Alex said excitedly as they walked by a store's display. She stopped watching and hurried inside.

While Alex tried on the jackets, Justin and Max were looking at the leather jackets. "How do I look?" Max said putting one on. You could tell it was too big for him.

"I don't think they have a size for you here Max." Justin said. "Yeah, you're probably right." He said taking it of. Max looked at the jacket he just took of and then at Justin.

"Have about you, try it on." Max said handing him the black jacket. Justin took it and decided why not. "Dude, it looks so good on you!" Max said.

"You think so?" Justin asked looking at himself in a nearby mirror. "Yeah, totally!"

J.R watched them as they tried on the jackets. He never noticed it before, but Max, in some ways, reminded him of Gus. They both were very care free and both of them liked to have fun. Maybe that's why he took a liking to Gus, because reminded him of Max.

He was taken out of his thoughts, when a person that just walked in got his attention. He hasn't seen that person in a long time. He immediately knew things weren't going to turn out so well.

It was Alex's rival.

Gigi.

Gigi, surprisingly, wasn't with her two brainless friends. J.R watched as Gigi desperately looked around the store looking for something until her eyes spotted Alex.

Here we go.

"Hello, Alex." Her back was turned to Gigi, but immediately turned when she heard her voice. Alex's great day just went down the drain. "Hello, Gigi." Alex said trying to sound civil.

"What are you doing here?" Gigi asked.

"I could ask you the same thing."

"Is in it obvious, I'm here shopping." Gigi said. "Well, so am I." Gigi looked like she wanted to say something, but wasn't sure if she should. "You can't trick me. I know, you know, why I'm here." Gigi raised her voice a little.

Alex gave her a confused look. "I won't let you get! I have been looking for it longer than you have!" Alex didn't know what Gigi was talking about, but she certainly wasn't going to back down from whatever it was.

They both stared at each other neither of them backing down. Alex could tell she was hiding something. Gigi's eyes seem like they wanted to wander to the left. Alex shifted her eyes to see what she was looking at. That's when she saw it. She couldn't believe she didn't see it earlier. In a hanger was the latest jacket in fashion. Alex thought they were out of those. The day they came out she had her usual wizard lesson and couldn't go. Not after the crazy 10 minute sale incident.

J.R saw what they were looking at and knew what was going to happen next.

3…2…1

And they were of.

Alex and Gigi raced towards the jacket. They both got a hold of the jacket at the same time and the tug of war began.

"Let go!"

"No, you let go!"

"It's mine, I saw it first!"

They were trying so hard to get the jacket, they began to knock over hangers and bump into people. In a way it was worse than the crazy 10 minute sale.

Justin was about to take of the leather jacket, but forgot all about it when he saw Alex.

"Max, let's go!" Justin grabbed Max's arm and rushed over to Alex.

"Alex, what's going on?" Justin asked.

"Never mind that just help me!"

Justin saw at the mess they were making, but what worried him was the people that worked here. They began to walks towards them and they didn't look happy. "Alex, I think we should really get going." Justin said.

"Not without the jacket!"

Alex and Gigi made their way close to the entrance while knocking more stuff to the ground.

"Alex, just let go!" Justin yelled.

Just as Justin said that they both lost their grip on the jacket and it went flying. It went outside the store and over the handrail.

Alex and Gigi went right over to the rail to see where the jacket landed. There were so many people on the first floor they couldn't tell where it landed.

"There it is!" Alex said pointing down. A woman, who was sitting on a bench near the big fountain in the center of the mall, reading a magazine didn't notice the jacket that fell inside her shopping bag. The two girls ran to the nearest stair case.

Back inside the store…

Justin saw Alex and Gigi run for the jacket and knew he had to go after them. He turned his attention to Max. "Max, go get the bags. I'll go after Alex." With that he was of.

"But-"

J.R saw Max go after them after he picked up all the bags. He smiled a little at all this, it was just like the old days…somewhat, but what amused him the most was that none of them noticed the detector go of. He didn't want to get involve, but he certainly wasn't going to miss the show.

Alex and Gigi ran as fast as they possible could. If they ran like this in their P.E class, they would probably finish way before the others. They were also doing a great job at dodging the people that were walking.

"Sorry!" Alex said bumping into a woman.

Well, almost.

The escalator was full of people, but Alex didn't care. She hurried down the escalator evading people the best she could. Gigi in the other hand went for the elevator that just opened.

Justin couldn't believe how fast they were running. Alex the girl that always walked the mile was running like she was part of the track team.

He stopped in front of the escalator trying to catch his breath. "Man…when a girl… has to shop…she shops." He said. He looked down and saw Alex reach the second floor heading for the next escalator. With one last deep breath he went down the escalator.

Max was trying his best to keep up, but he was having a hard time with all the bags he was carrying. He was barely half way to the escalators.

As Alex ran for the escalator she looked at the elevator Gigi was in. Good thing those elevators were slow. She was to busy looking at Gigi, she didn't notice the bench in front of her or the group of people sitting there.

Crash!

"I'm so sorry I-" Alex didn't finish because of the death glares she was receiving, it didn't help that they were gothic kids. Alex quickly stood up and stared at them. "I'm…gonna go."

Justin reached the second floor and looked around for Alex. "Where she go?" Justin asked himself. He looked everywhere until he spotted her. She was half way down the escalator that led to the first floor. "Okay seriously, why isn't she in the track team?" He started to run again. He was trying not to lose sight of her while he ran, but he probably should have looked in front of him. That way he could have seen the guy that was walking with a fast food soda cup. The guy barely had time to jump back, evading Justin.

"Hey watch it!" The guy yelled angrily. He looked at his empty hand. "He took my soda!"

Justin looked at what he was holding. "Where did this come from?" Again he should have been looking in front of him. That way he would have seen the gothic group that were sitting on the bench. The same group Alex ran into.

Crash! Splash!

Justin slowly got up and his mouth hanged when he saw what he did. The death glares he was getting now were much worse than the ones Alex got. Especially because he didn't just knock them down, he also got them wet with soda none the less. He gave them a nervous smile. He didn't know what to say so he just ran.

After some time Max made it to the escalator. It took him a while because the bags kept falling and he had to go back for them. The problem now was he was stuck on the escalator. With all the bags he was carrying he couldn't walk down because of the people. He had to wait until the stairs reached the bottom.

As soon as Alex got down the escalator, she started to sprint to the center of the mall. Gigi got out of the elevator as soon as the door opened and just like Alex, she ran.

"Watch out!" Alex yelled at the people in front of her. There were so many people that if she didn't pay close attention she was sure to knock into someone. Alex could see the big fountain ahead. After dodging a bunch of people both Alex and Gigi made it to the bench. They were both out of breath. There was one problem…the woman was not there!

"Where…did…she…go?" Gigi said between breaths. "I …don't know." Alex said also breathing heavily. After a few short rests they began to search for the woman.

"You got to be kidding me!" Alex said loudly. She saw the woman walking on the second floor.

Alex and Gigi looked at each other for a few moments then they ran towards the escalators at the opposite side of the mall from were Alex came from. There was a small stage with a band playing in front of the escalators. They could have run around it, but neither one of them wanted to waste any time, so instead they got up on stage and ran through the band. Let's just say the people playing weren't too happy about that.

Justin reached the first floor and headed to the middle of the mall, that's were he saw Alex going when he was coming down. He was getting pretty good at avoiding hitting people. When he got close to the fountain, he began to get relieved thinking it was almost over. That relief was short lived when he made to the bench and found no one. He looked around and saw them running up the escalators at the other end of the mall.

"Where…are…they…going now?" Justin was really out breath. He took a small break and began to chase after them again.

All the way up on the third floor J.R was watching them. He was standing at the opposite end of the mall from were Alex and Gigi were. He watched as Alex and Gigi raced up the stairs. He watched as Justin went up on the stage. He also saw Max running on the second floor with all the bags, heading for the escalator. J.R couldn't help, but enjoy this. He couldn't remember the last time he felt like this. This thing that he was feeling right now, it was small, but still…he hadn't felt this in such a long time. He was actually feeling…happy. The happiness of the past.

The two girls were so concentrated in getting to the jacket first, they didn't noticed that there bodies were way past their limits. In any case, they were going to feel it in the morning. Once they got to the second floor, where they last saw the woman, they began to look for her. They couldn't see her, not with all these people on the way. This was one of those times Alex wished she could use magic in front of people. Both girls desperately searched the entire mall with there eyes. If the woman wasn't anywhere on the second floor then she must have gone to a different one. The problem was which floor? Alex decided to take her chances with the third floor. She ran back to the escalators. Gigi, thinking Alex saw the woman, went after her.

After getting past a very angry band, Justin ran up to the second floor. As he went up, he saw Alex and Gigi looking around for something. He hoped they would stay there long enough for him to catch up to them before they moved again. When he reached the second floor, again they were gone. He didn't know how much more of this he could take. Since he was tall, he could see, somewhat, pass the crowd. He didn't see them anywhere on this floor. They either went back down or up. He picked up. If they went back down they would've gone to the escalator near where he came from and he would have seen them.

Poor Max finally made it to the first floor. It was too bad he didn't know his siblings were on the third floor. Max got a weird experience on his way down on the second floor. This group of gothic kids gave him very dirty looks when they saw him running towards them. Max thought they must have been having a bad day. Back to the first floor, Max was walking trying to see where Alex and Justin had gone. It was impossible for him with all these people walking around. He decided to go to the big fountain in the middle of the mall. Maybe he would find them there.

It turns out Alex was right, the woman was on the third floor. As soon as Alex saw the woman she ran towards her with Gigi right behind her.

"That jacket is mine!" Gigi yelled. "Not if I get to it first!" Alex yelled back. Gigi wasn't going to stand for this, she ran as fast as she could to get even with Alex. Let's just say Alex was surprise, now it was anyone's game. The closer they got to the woman the more they tried to out do the other. When they got near the woman Gigi reached for the bag. She was planning on taking the jacket by the sleeve that was hanging out as she ran. "It's mine!" Gigi triumphed as she almost got a hold of it, but she was too much into wining she didn't see the big man that was in front of her. She crashed into him knocking her down.

"Nice try!" Alex said as she ran passed Gigi.

Alex grabbed the jacket by the sleeve while still running. "Yes! I got it!" Alex said holding up the jacket.

Seriously though, you really need to see where you're going when you are running. There are so many things that could happen to you for not looking in front of you.

That's a lesson Alex is soon to learn.

If she saw what was in front of her, she would have stopped. There was a sign that said wet floor, but of course she didn't saw it because she was to busy looking at the jacket. She slid on the ground, but maintained her balance. This wasn't what made her panic; no what made her panic was that she was heading straight to the handrail. As much as she wanted to she couldn't stop.

Alex screamed as she went over the rail.

Luckily for her, she got a hold of it. She was literally hanging on the rail. Alex was scared out of her mind. She slowly looked down and screamed. She screamed even louder when one of her hands slipped.

"SOMEBODY HELP ME!" She yelled. Her other hand began to slip. She didn't know how much longer she could hold. Why wasn't anyone helping her?!

"I'm slipping!" Alex closed her eyes tight as her hand slipped "AHHHHHHHHHH!"

…….

…….

Alex slowly opened her eyes and saw she was still hanging in the air, but she wasn't falling. She looked down at the first floor and then up. Alex has never been this happy in seeing Justin. He caught her hand on time.

"How is it hanging?" He asked with a small smile. It was taking his entire strength not to let go.

"What are you doing here?" Alex said smiling.

"What does it look like I'm doing here? Getting you out of trouble as usual and saving the day." Justin said with a forced smile. He was losing his balance.

"Justin!" Alex yelled as Justin began to fall forward. The only way he got to her was because he leaned as much as he could over the rail. This, unfortunately, made all of his weight go forward.

He couldn't keep his feet on the ground anymore. He fell over.

Max couldn't believe what was happening, one minute he was looking for Justin and Alex in front of the fountain, the next he sees his sister hanging on the handrail all the way up on the third floor! He could have sworn his heart skipped a beat when she almost fell. To make matters worse now both Alex and Justin were in danger. Justin's right hand was holding onto the rail while he left had a hold on Alex.

Justin was having a very hard time right now. He knew he couldn't hang on much longer. He wished he had a spell for this or anything, but he couldn't think of anything at the moment. He was running out of options. His hand was beginning to slip. He looked down to Alex.

"Don't let me go." She pleaded in a small voice.

"Never." Was the only thing he said with a small smile.

Let her go? He could laugh at that. It was that last thing in this world that he would do. He'd rather die than let her go.

Justin couldn't hang any longer.

He screamed as his hand slipped from the handrail.

J.R watched as the events in front of him unfolded. He wasn't too concerned when Alex slipped on the wet floor, but he did become alert when she went over the handrail. There was no way he could get to her. She was like 120 yards away. Even if he ran at top speed he wouldn't make. His eyes went wide went she began to fall. He watched as Justin got to her on time, but by the way he was holding her, it was going to make him fall over too. A few moments later, just like he predicted he fell over.

Now they were in trouble.

Just like Alex, he wasn't going to hang on for long. He needed to do something now! He looked at his surroundings, there had to be something that he could use.

Damn it! There has to be something! I can't just watch and let her die again!

He would be damned if he let her die without doing anything! He looked over at them. He was running out of time. J.R had to calm down. The only reason he has come this far was because no matter how dire and hopeless things looked, he would never give up.

He couldn't use magic because they were pretty far out of range. J.R took one more glance at his surroundings.

There!

On the ceiling there was a banner that went half way across the mall and a second one next to it that went the rest of the way to the other side of the mall. If he was going to do this, he was going to have to time it right. He had to do it right before they fell.

Wait…

Wait…

Wait…

Justin hand was about to slip completely.

Now!

J.R ran and jumped of from the rail. He grabbed the end of the banner and ripped it of the ceiling.

Justin screamed as he and Alex fell. He couldn't believe he was going to die like this. His whole life flashed before his eyes. From his first memory onward, each first day of school, his friends, but most importantly his family. All the laughs they shared, his brother and sister's birthdays, the games he watched with his dad, the times he spent with his mom, the pranks his siblings pulled on him, the wizard lessons, all the weird situations his sister put him through. As he fell he couldn't help but notice, most of his memories involved Alex in some way.

Justin didn't want these memories to end; he wanted to create more of them. He opened his eyes and looked at Alex. She had her eyes closed. He pulled her close and held her tight. He watched as he got closer to the ground.

He didn't want to die! There were still so many more memories to be made!

Justin was about to close his eyes as he saw the ground becoming closer, but at the corner of his eye he saw something.

He couldn't believe what he saw.

J.R was coming towards them using a banner as a giant swing. J.R was holding out his hand while he used the other one to hold onto the banner. Justin knew what he had to do. He unwrap one arm from Alex and held it out. Just as he was about to hit the ground they grabbed each others hand.

Alex opened her eyes wondering why she was still alive and why she was feeling a giant breeze. She was astounded at what she saw. She was expecting to be a corpse on the ground by now, but instead she was being swung by J.R and Justin.

"Whose idea was this?" Alex yelled after getting over her shock. She wasn't mad; she just needed to yell so they could hear her.

"Ask Tarzan up there." Justin responded, extremely happy they weren't dead. Alex looked up at J.R and smiled.

"Hey, J.R! If we come out of this alive I'll gave you anything you want!" Alex yelled.

"Same goes for me!" Justin yelled.

J.R smiled a little. "Is not over yet." He told them.

"What?!" They both yelled. J.R told them to look in front of him. They were heading straight to the crowd of people walking.

"Hey people, move it! We don't have brakes here!" Alex yelled. The people walking looked at what all the commotion was about. Their eyes widened and barely had time to get out of the way. Some went to the ground and covered their heads. Others ran or jumped out of the way.

They hit a guy sending him flying in the air making him land in top of a few people.

After hitting a few people they passed them.

"I'm glad that's over!" Alex yelled looking back.

"Like J.R said, it's not over yet!" Justin yelled. Alex looked back at where they were going. They were going straight to the band on the stage that they ran through earlier, except this time they were going to swing at high speed.

"Incoming!" Alex yelled at the band. The people on stage jumped of. They ended up knocking most of the instruments of the stage.

"Anything else!" Alex yelled after passing the stage.

"I don't think so since were going up!" Justin yelled. They started to go up. They passed the second floor heading for the third. "J.R, you should let go once we get close to the third floor!" Justin yelled.

J.R looked down at him. "No, we won't make it." J.R said. As J.R said they didn't even get close to the handrail.

"Here we go again!" Alex yelled. They began to swing back down.

"How are we going to get down?! Are we going to wait until we stop swinging?!" Alex asked as they began to pick up speed again.

"We can't. Look at the other end of the banner!" Justin yelled. Alex looked up and saw why they couldn't just wait; the banner was beginning to rip. "What are we going to do?!" Alex asked. Justin and Alex looked at J.R.

J.R has been thinking how to land the moment he caught them. So far he has only been capable of coming up with one way. It was risky and he had to time just right again. He would have to use magic, but it was going to be a little hard not letting anyone see him.

When they came back down they knock down the remaining instruments on the stage. This time the people walking got out of the way in time. There was one other problem. They were coming back, but going in a different direction from were they came from.

"Uh, guys…pole!" Alex yelled. They were heading straight for a pole. Justin got an idea.

"Guys put all your weight to the right!" They did what he said and barely avoided the pole.

"Yes!" Justin celebrated as he looked back at the pole. He turned his head just in time to get a bucket of popcorn smack into his face.

"Justin, how can you think about eating at a time liked this!" Alex yelled at her brother.

"Ghed bis ding ob ab mae!" Justin couldn't talk because the bucket was stuck in his mouth. Alex grabbed it and threw it away. Unfortunately she did this when they were going up. "Thanks." Justin said, but his mouth hanged opened and his eyes went wide when he saw where she threw it. Alex followed his gaze making her eyes go wide also.

The popcorn spilled all over the gothic kids; they ran into earlier on the second floor.

They were almost back at the top.

"Anyone come up with anything because this is the last time we're going to go up!" Alex yelled. She was right; the banner wasn't going to hold anymore.

"Alex, Justin I have an idea that's very risky, but you guys have to trust me." J.R said as they began to fall for the last time.

They both looked at each other then at J.R. "We trust you." Alex said.

J.R nodded. "Okay, I'm going to throw us into the air and I'm going to let go you guys go. When I let go of Justin's hand, you two hold each other tight. Got it?"

This sounded very dangerous, but they did say they were going to trust him. They nodded and did what he told them. Alex held on tight to Justin and he held on tight to Alex with his one arm.

I only got one shot at this. J.R thought.

He had to do this before he came near the middle of the mall. He used all the strength he had to launch himself upwards from the banner. He let go of Justin's hand and quickly turned so his body making it face the ground. He grabbed Justin's jacket collar from the back and with his free hand formed a small blue light. It was the size of a marble.

At this point they started to fall. Justin and Alex held each other with their eyes closed. J.R used this time to act. The people were to busy looking at them, they didn't notice the small blue light fall to the large fountain.

The fountain was only four feet deep. When the small light touched the floor under the water, the ground became deeper making the fountain ten feet deep.

Alex and Justin opened there eyes because they felt a small force passing them by. For a second, right before they hit the water they saw a small light go under the water.

SPLASH!!

As soon as they were safe the ground went back to normal, pushing all thee of them up.

They all came out for air. Alex gasped for air as soon as she could, she saw Justin doing the same. Alex looked around and saw all the people gathering around the fountain. She could also see Max making his way through the crowd. Alex found J.R sitting at the edge of the fountain with his elbows on his knees.

Alex turned back her attention to Justin and stared at him in surprise. She hadn't noticed it before because of everything that was happening, but now…

"What?" He asked as he caught her staring at him.

"Nice jacket."