Love Can Be Deceiving – A Wizards of Waverly Place Fanfiction…

A/N – Well, here is chapter two! Thanks to everyone who has read this story; it means a lot to me; I hope you're enjoying it.
So I wanted to explain more of Mallory's backstory and show some of Max's thoughts. After this chapter, things should get interesting; this follows season 4 somewhat, so bare with me.

Disclaimer: I do not own WOWP but own my OC, Mallory Walker!

Chapter 2

It's been a week since Mallory had arrived in New York and met Max Russo. Since they met, Max and Mallory have hung out a lot. Mallory had met Max's family and vice versa. At first, Mallory's parents weren't thrilled about their fifteen-year-old daughter hanging out with a guy, but once they got to know Max, they found he was a lovely boy. Mallory was convinced Max won her parents over with his innocent and erratic personality, and Max just assumed he was lucky. Max's family all took a liking to Mallory from the moment she met them. The only person Mallory had any problem with within Max's family was his older brother Justin Russo. Mallory couldn't explain it, but something about Justin bothered Mallory a lot.

But, even if the two didn't get along, Justin still made sure to be polite and welcome Mallory whenever she came over and hung out with Max. Mallory and Max were hanging out at the family substation at a table, working on homework. Max was working on math while Malloy was working on her English essay. It was nice to hang out again with Max a few days after the meeting; Max and his family had vanished for a few days. During that time, the substation had been boarded up, leaving Mallory very confused about what was happening, so when the Russo was back, Mallory questioned Max about it. Max explained that they closed the substation for a while so exterminators could come and spray for bugs. The family had to wait to re-open it so the spray could settle and not get into people's food or lungs. At first, Mallory thought Max seemed off while explaining this to her, but Mallory found it logical enough for her, so she shrugged it off. However, since that day, Mallory noticed there seemed to be some tension between Max, Justin, and Alex. She wasn't sure what it was, but she never bothered to ask, not wanting to pry into Max's business. After all, they only knew each other for a week, and it wasn't like he would tell her his darkest secret if he even had one.

So, Malloy just sat there, working on her English essay while helping Max with his math homework. Mrs. Russo served customers around them while Mr. Russo was making sandwiches in the kitchen. Mallory didn't see Justin or Alex anywhere for the time being, and she had to be honest; Mallory was alright with it. The two were enjoying one another's company, and just as Malloy was about to check Max's work, a shadow appeared before them; looking up, Mallory frowned when she saw Justin standing before them.

"Sorry to bother you guys, but Max, can I talk to you privately about something?" Justin questioned with hope as he stood there with his arms crossed.

Max shrugged, "Oh…why not just ask me here?" Max wondered with a raised eyebrow.

Seeing the annoyed look on Justin's face, Malloy smirked to herself. Justin sighed, "Because I need help carrying some desk into you know where." Justin explained as he put air quotes around the words, making Mallory eye Justin and Max in confusion.

But Max seemed to know what his brother was hinting at, for Max nodded, "Right, okay, sorry, Mallory looks like our time is up; I'll see you tomorrow for school." Max wondered as he smiled at Mallory.

Nodding, Mallory smiled back as she gathered her things, "Sure, Max, I'll see you tomorrow. Bye, Justin." Mallory stated as she got up and left.

Once outside the substation, Mallory stopped and watched Max get up from their table and go with his brother to the kitchen before going into their freezer. After the door was closed, Mallory turned and frowned in confusion; Max was hiding something from her, but what? Was his whole family a part of whatever secret Max was hiding? Standing there as she thought about these things, Mallory shrugged and assumed that if it were necessary, Max would tell her eventually. If it wasn't, then like she said before, he had just met her; he wasn't just going to tell her immediately. So, since she was no longer hanging out with Max, Mallory went home.

Upon arriving home, Mallory frowned as she saw that her mother wasn't around. Yet, this was no surprise, and her mother was always working, not wanting to be around the father and her kids. Of course, with her father's strange obsession with "hunting wizards," Mallory didn't blame her mother for not being around. Just like her two older sisters, they were always gone as well. Unfortunately for Mallory, this left her to be the one to deal with her father.

"Good, your home!" Mr. Walker stated with a grin as soon as he heard Mallory shut the door. "Drop your bag off to your room, and let's go to the training room!"

Mallory could only sigh at this and do as she was told, not wanting to get on her father's wrong side. Finding herself in their family's basement/training area, Mallory listened as her father went on and on about today's training lesson. Mallory's family wasn't typical; her father was a well-known "wizard hunter" in the magical world. Mr. Walker had captured and turned some well-known wizards of time into the government, getting paid royal for his findings. All Mr. Walker wanted was for one of his kids to follow in his footsteps. Her sisters avoided the subject and never came home until bedtime, leaving Mallory, the so-called chosen one, to carry on the Walker name for hunting wizards.

Of course, Mallory thought hunting wizards was a ridiculous thing. Out of everything her father could've hunted magical-wise, it had to be wizards. Mallory didn't understand why her father thought wizards were terrible; they were good. Mallory always used Merlin and Harry Potter as her points whenever she argued with her father, but he always said, "Those are fairytales, and they don't count; real wizards are evil and want to use their powers to hurt humanity." So eventually, Mallory gave up arguing and sat through the lessons; even though she never planned on being a wizard hunter herself, she never wanted to hurt anyone. But once more, if she told her father this, she would probably be disowned and kicked out; Mallory didn't want that to happen to her.

After the lesson about wizards and fight training, Mallory was free. Max asked if they could text until they fell asleep. As usual, Mallory agreed. Texting while falling asleep had become a thing after they met, trying to get to know one another and talking about their day at school.

…

When Max noticed his new friend Mallory didn't reply, he assumed she had fallen asleep. Chuckling to himself, Max also lay there and tried to sleep too. However, it was hard for him to sleep because so many things were running through his mind, including his friend Mallory. Max wasn't going to lie; when he first saw Mallory in school, he thought she was beautiful and that he had to know who she was, but now that he knows her, he finds that he feels sad whenever Mallory is away; Max always wants to be with her. Yet, at the same time, it was hard.

It was mainly hard because Mallory didn't know that magic was real; Max was a wizard, and so were his brother and sister. Unfortunately for Max, this made him feel guilty for lying about and hiding this information from Mallory. Max felt like a bad friend, for example, when he had to lie about why the substation was boarded up and why he and his family were gone for a couple of days. That was not because exterminators spraying the shop; it was because their whole family was captured by government agents and taken to a secret facility to escape. All of that was for the stupid wizard competition by Professor Crumbs to test the siblings and see who could keep the secret. Justin was the first to expose them, then Alex. Or at least, both attempted to anyway, and because telling someone about magic is a big no-no, they had to face wizard court; there, they were both punished and dropped back to level one, whereas Max was in the lead now and possibly the future Russo family wizard. Everything was complicated, but Max couldn't tell Mallory about magic; he didn't want to get punished like his brother and sister. Although one thing he couldn't figure out was how Alex could hide the fact that Harper knew about their family being wizards and not get in trouble. But maybe because she was a Russo anyway, the wizard council didn't question it. Either way, Max sighed as he tried to fall asleep; being a wizard was frustrating sometimes, and he felt terrible for lying to Mallory.

But, for the moment, Max could do nothing but go about his life as if he were an average human. After all, it was possibly better than Mallory didn't know he was a wizard, it would keep her out of danger, and he wouldn't have to worry about her getting involved or hurt during one of their magical adventures. That's when Max thought about how Harper always got in the middle of things with Alex and how often she came close to danger. It was better this way; that's what Max thought.

As Max's mind wandered, he soon fell asleep with a smile. Mallory was officially one of his closest friends, even if only a week had passed. Max missed Mallory when she wasn't around, and he yearned for her to be there. What this feeling was, Max wasn't sure yet, but Max just hoped that Mallory would be around for a long time and that they would be close friends just like Alex and Harper were. It would be nice to finally have a friend and someone who seemed to understand and accept him for who he was. At least, that's what Max thought; little did he know that Mallory wasn't who she appeared to be…