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When the Jones siblings entered the Waverley Substation a few days later after their magic class, they were met by a very interesting scenario.
Harper stood in the stairs that lead to the Russos' apartment gasping for air while Theresa, wearing a 'Go Harper' T-shirt with Harper's face stamped on it, held a rather large silver trophy in her hands.
"Other people should know a Russo won the marathon." She said.
"Harper is a Russo?" Athena asked no one in particular, narrowing her brows in confusion and making the Russos, Harper and Zeke turn to face her and her brothers.
"No." Alex grumbled. "She's not a Russo."
Theresa turned to her daughter. "Until one of you kids wins a marathon, she is." She declared with pointed finger at Alex. "Hey, kids." She greeted Athena, Aaron and Joshua.
The Jones said their greetings before approaching the cashier, where the rest of the group stood.
"Hey, Max." Athena smiled at him.
The boy smiled back, scratching the back of his neck and looking down before looking up again and greeting Aaron and Joshua.
"Ah, congratulations for winning the marathon, Harper." The oldest Jones smiled at the Finkle girl. She thanked him just as Max started.
"You know what I'm gonna do for you?" Max pointed a finger at Harper. "I'm going to make you my special after-marathon-get-relaxed smoothie." Harper smiled at him. "Herbal tea, warm milk and a jasmine-scented candle." The smile fell from Harper's face.
"Did he just say candle?" Aaron asked his brother in a whisper, not taking his eyes from Max.
Joshua nodded discreetly, his arms crossed over this chest. "I think he did." He whispered back.
"But Max, you're not allowed to play with candles anymore." Harper argued, making the Jones wonder what happened for him to be forbidden to deal with candles.
Max glanced to the kitchen where his mom was. "Or a blender, so shut up about it." He blurted out nervously before turning his attention to the Jones siblings. "Thena, wanna help me?"
Athena felt her cheeks warming up at the nickname, but quickly brushed off. Aaron and Joshua exchanged a glance. "Yeah." She started to make her way to the kitchen with Max when, out of the sudden, a groaning person wearing a green ET mask entered the restaurant and fell on the ground.
The person squeezed their water bottle in their face, spraying the mask with water, before getting up and stumbling towards one of the restaurant's tables.
"Justin, you made it." Zeke started.
"That's Justin?" Athena questioned with a worried voice. Harper nodded, also confused by Justin's situation.
"Where you been?" Zeke asked.
The Russo boy ripped the ET mask off his face. "I was finishing the marathon. Where were you?" He panted angrily, his face twisting as he threw the mask on the table. "I wore the alien mask, like we discussed, when I crossed the finish line, and there was no one there to take the picture."
Zeke bounced on his feet with nervousness.
Athena shook her head slightly before turning to Max, who also watched the scene with amusement. "So, jasmine-scented candle?" He nodded before placing his hand on the small of her back and leading the way to the kitchen.
"Are you sure this is edible?" The blonde questioned while passing Max the blender lid.
He shook his head. "No." He put the lid on. "But it still tastes amazing."
Athena nodded, deciding not to question, and observed the weird looking smoothie as it was mixed.
Max turned off the blender and took the lid off, pouring the content into a cup. "Wanna try it?" He smiled sweetly at Athena. The girl felt her heart skipping a little bit at his caramel eyes and the sweet smile on his face, not realizing that candles were definitely not edible.
"I think I'll pass." He shrugged and placed the cup into the fridge.
"So, about the Chemistry project." Max turned to face her, resting his forearms on the kitchen counter like she was doing, but on the opposite side.
"Uh, right." She tilted her head. "Have you got any ideas?"
The Russo boy nodded. "Actually, I do." She motioned for him to keep talking. "What if we talked about a chemical bond that happens inside the human body?"
"Like in a hormone or enzyme?"
Max shrugged, not really putting to much work in figuring out the difference between the substances she just mentioned. "Yeah, maybe. What do you think?"
The girl bobbed her head. "That's actually a pretty great idea, Max." She smiled. "Yeah, let's do it. We just have to pick an substance and then-"
Voices coming from the stairs interrupted her. "So you're telling me that Alex used magic so Harper would win the marathon?"
'Did he just say magic?' Athena asked herself, a frown taking over her face and her eyes starting to travel towards the stairs.
As Justin's voice rang through Max's ears and he noticed his friend gazing over to where the conversation was happening, he cleared his throat loudly, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "So, Thena." He almost screamed, making the girl raise her chin in confusion. "When are we starting the project?" He yelled in a question.
The girl blinked a couple of times. "Uh, I thought we settled to start tomorrow after class?" She asked in an confused tone and just as she did, the other Russos emerged from the stairs. They all shared a quick look and Alex hit the back of Justin's head for being so loud. Justin groaned.
"Athena, hi!" Alex walked over to where she and Max were and threw an arm around the blonde's shoulder.
"Hey, Alex." She smiled sweetly at the Russo sister. "Mr and Mrs Russo." Their parents smiled at the girl.
Justin shook his head, going back to whatever he was talking. "Anyway, I'm gonna train hard, eat right and win the next marathon. Yeah..." His voice held excitement. "I'll start as soon as my toenails grow back." He smirked and started to walk leaning on his heels. "Hey, Athena." He greeted in a painful voice as he passed by where she sat.
"Good luck with your toenails!" She exclaimed.
"Thank you!" He yelled from the top of the stairs.
Theresa checked to see if Justin was already gone. "See what you've done?" She glared at Alex, who still stood next to Athena. "Not only have you hurt Harper's feelings, but you've sent your brother off on an unrealistic goal."
Alex frowned. "Why? His toenails will grow back." Jerry rolled his eyes at his daughter. "But, I... I do feel bad about Harper."
"Why? What happened to Harper?" The Jones girl questioned with a frown.
"Alex cheated for Harper on the marathon." Max filled her in, walking over from where he stood behind the kitchen counter to Athena's side, their shoulders brushing slightly.
The blonde turned her face to Alex, deciding not to move away from Max. "How do you even cheat on a marathon?"
Alex sighed, placing a hand on her chest. "It's a form of art, really." The blonde chuckled.
"Well, I don't know how you're going to make her feel better." Jerry got up from the stuffed chair he was, a framed picture of Harper in his hands. "I mean, it's not like she can do all those competitions over again." As soon as he finished the sentence, his face twisted in a regretful expression and he mumbled a 'oh, shoot.'
Theresa rushed to his side. "What's wrong?"
"I think I accidentally gave Alex an idea."
"Yes, you did!" Alex said with a triumphant smiled plastered on her lips.
Jerry groaned in frustration, knowing his daughter would come up with a twisted plan.
"Athena, Max, how do you feel about organizing a Spelling Bee?"
The Jones girl and Max exchanged a worried look, before both of them turned to Alex. "I can barely spell my own name."
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For the following days, Athena had to find the time to go to school, go to wizard classes, help Alex organize the Spelling Bee (which majorly was just painting cardboards and helping Max with his smoothies) and manage to eat and sleep.
It was safe to say it had been a busy week for Athena Jones.
The Lab partners found themselves surrounded by markers, textbooks and colorful pens in the Russo living room. And, as Max promised, a pile of sandwiches rested on a plate on the coffee table next to them.
With a finger, Athena brushed a misplaced lock of hair out of her face for what felt like the thousandth time on that day, while her eyes scanned a list of a bunch of chemical reactions that happened in the human body.
Max sighed, trying to concentrate on his own research. But his eyes betrayed him, traveling to the girl sitting by his side. He watched as she struggled with her hair falling on her face and noticed how her under eyes looked deep. She yawned quietly, and Max felt like smiling.
"Okay, what if we talked about serotonin?" She suggested, pleading for the Universe that Max would agree and they'd start on their project.
The boy closed his text book, blinking away from his staring transe and hoping she didn't notice his stare. "Thank god. I couldn't take any more of that." She chuckled, closing her own textbook.
Adjusting herself in a more comfortable position on the ground, she started to read the topics that were required for the assignment.
"I take half, you take the other half and then we put it all together?" Max interrupted, getting on his feet and offering his hand for her to take.
"Deal." She took his hands and he helped her up.
Once they were standing side by side, the two lowered their gazes to their holding hands, quickly separating.
"Hm... let's get to the spelling bee." Athena tried to conceal her flushed cheeks by lowering her head, her blonde locks covering her face.
Max nodded, clearing his throat and bitting his lip before following her downstairs.
"Where were you?" Aaron ran to his sister as soon as she planted feet on the Waverly Sub Station.
"Upstairs with Max." She motioned to him with a thumb. Max grinned at him.
"Yeah, we were working on our Chemistry project."
Aaron stared down at Max suspiciously, but brushed it off his concerns for his little sister. "We have to talk."
"But the competition is about to start-" Athena begun, but before she could protest, Aaron grabbed her and threw her over his shoulder, carrying her outside. "Hey!" She trashed around and smacked his back. "Put me down!"
"We need to talk!" He repeated himself loudly, catching the attention of the other people in the restaurant opening the entrance door of the restaurant.
"I'll be right back!" Athena yelled from her brother's shoulder, making Max chuckle at her.
"I'll save you a seat." He yelled back before the door closed behind them.
"Can you put me down already?" The blonde asked in annoyance, feeling her blood running to her head.
Aaron attended her request and she almost fell when her feet touched the ground, her vision darkening. "What?" She spread her arms out after regaining her composure.
Her brother took a quick look around, checking if anyone could hear them. "Joshua heard something suspicious."
The girl frowned. "What do you mean?"
"He said he heard Alex and Harper discussing, and in the conversation he heard Alex saying something about The Cheaters' Book of Spells."
Athena pointed a finger and smiled. "Ohh, I love that book!"
"That's not the point!" Aaron threw his hands in the air. "What I'm saying is that we think the Russos are wizards." At his words, Athena raised her brows. "We have to be careful and observe them in search for anything suspicious." He glanced to the Russo's restaurant's window.
"Well, if they indeed are what we think they are, that's a good thing, right?" Athena bit her bottom lip, wondering if Max and his siblings were actually wizards.
"If they're not like the other wizards back in D.c." Athena crinkled her nose at the memory.
"Have you told mom about this?"
He shook his head. "We should've?" The Jones sister shrugged, not knowing if it was better to fill their mother in or wait until they had proof. "Ok, let's just get back inside and keep an eye out for anything. And we gotta go watch Joshua embarrass himself." He started to walk towards the Sub Station entrance.
Athena frowned. "Why would Joshua embarrass himself?" Aaron turned to her one more time.
"Aren't you aware that he's participating in the Spelling Bee?"
She nodded. "But why would he embarrass himself?"
Aaron put on a 'for real?' face. "It's Joshua. Spelling."
"Yeah, you have a point." The younger sister snorted and followed her brother inside.
"Ok. Are you ready for your word, Max?" Jerry asked his son, who sat in between Carol (a contestant) and Joshua (who looked like was about to throw up from nervousness).
"Max." The youngest Russo blurted into the microphone. "M-A-C-K-S." He grinned. "Max."
Athena, who sat between Aaron and Alex, raised her brows, suppressing a laugh.
"That... that isn't your word." Jerry informed, showing him the piece of paper that contained his actual word. "That's your name." He frowned. "And you misspelled it."
Max shook his head, lowering his gaze in disappointment. "I should've asked for a definition." He grabbed a cup filled with soda that rested on the contestant's little desk and walked to where his sister, Athena and Aaron sat.
The Jones girl gave him a thumbs up and a smile when he approached. Max felt his heart skipping a beat the sight, but ignored the feeling and kept walking until he was behind the cashier. Athena, who was in front of him turned her around in her seat.
"You were great." She tried to assure him.
Max smiled, knowing she was trying to make him feel better about his failure. "Thanks, Thena."
"Ok, Carol, your word is... hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia." Jerry announced, snatching their attention back.
"Is that even a word?" Aaron mumbled under his breath.
"There's no way she'll get this right." Alex shook her head.
Carol took a deep breath, and the group watched anxiously as she pronounced the word a few times.
"H-I-P-P-O-P-O-T-O-M-O-N-S-T-R-O-S-E-S-Q-U-I-P-E-D-A-L-I-O-P-H-O-B-I-A." She blurted out in an inhuman speed.
"Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia" She grinned with pride.
"Correct!" Jerry's voice exclaimed, surprised she got the word right.
Max and Athena shared a look, both of them holding confused expressions on their faces.
"She should've got the word 'Macks" Max shook his head and sipped his drink. "She wouldn't have gotten it right."
The blonde giggled and turned her attention to the competition again.
After Harper failing to spell the word 'sergeant' it was Joshua's turn, but Carol was already celebrating her win.
"Ok, Joshua." Mr Russo begun and his eyes scanned the piece of paper. "Your word is 'wizardry'."
When he said that, Aaron spat the smoothie he had in his mouth, spraying the guy who sat in front of him. The guy turned with an incredulous look on his face, but Aaron didn't apologize as he started to cough.
"Are you okay?" Alex handled him a few napkins.
Aaron nodded, still coughing harshly. His sister patted his back a few times, before lowering her head. "Way to be discreet, dingus!" She whisper-yelled at him.
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Author's notes:
Hi hi everyone
I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please, let me know your thoughts on this story so far :)
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I hope you have a wonderful day or night and I'll see you in the next chapter
<3