Riley whirled around. “What?” he asked innocently.
“You were staring at Marianna O’Shaunnesy!” Alex exclaimed.
“I wasn’t staring!” Riley replied adamantly. “Alex, why do you always get so jealous? I was just looking, that’s all.”
“Just looking, huh?” Alex crossed her arms in front of her. “As in, just browsing? As in, doing a little shopping around? What are you in the market for, Riley?” she taunted. “A new girlfriend?”
But Riley had tuned Alex out. He was staring at someone across the street. “Hey, honey!” he called.
“You’re doing it again!” Alex could hear how shrill she sounded, but she couldn’t stop herself. They’d been going out for a few weeks. What was he doing?
“Honey! Honey!” A guy in a bee-in-a-honeypot costume walked by and handed Riley a honey straw.
“He’s giving out free honey samples,” Riley explained. “I mean, come on, Alex, this is crazy.” He sounded exasperated. “I don’t think we should go out anymore.”
“What? You’re breaking up with me?” Alex couldn’t believe it. Sure, she’d been secretly dreading this moment since they first started dating. But she’d never really thought he’d do it. “But we’re so good together. I mean, we have so many good memories. Remember you, me, and the penguins at the zoo?” She waddled down the street like a penguin.
“What are you doing?” Riley asked.
“I’m acting out our favorite memories,” Alex said, the desperation obvious in her voice. “And that one time when we went for a walk.” She took long, exaggerated strides in front of him. “And then we went down the stairs.” She pretended to descend a flight of stairs. She was sure if he could visualize the good times, then he wouldn’t want them to end.
“Alex, I’m breaking up with you,” he repeated.
“Okay, I’m not a very good mime. I’ll admit that,” Alex said.
“No, it’s because you are constantly jealous,” Riley explained.
“I’m not constantly jealous. I just really like you,” Alex told him. Why can’t he see that? she wondered. If I didn’t like him so much, I wouldn’t care who he looked at.
Riley shook his head. “Well, you have a funny way of showing it.” He headed down the street.
“No, I don’t!” Alex shouted. “I’m constantly jealous. That’s how I show it!”
As Riley continue to walk away in the other direction, Alex blinked back tears. She couldn’t believe Riley had broken up with her. They were so good together. All their friends said so. She had to get Riley back.
But how?
Chapter Two
“Okay, I’m done with my wizard homework,” Max told Justin. He handed his paper to his older brother. “Can I watch TV now?” He hopped off the sofa and looked for the remote control.
“Sit,” Justin commanded. “Let me check it.” He sat in the chair next to the sofa, pulled the pencil off his clipboard, and studied Max’s work. “Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh,” he said after reading each answer. “Hmm. Yes.” He handed the paper back to his brother. “You might want to look at spell number five.”
“I got spell five wrong?” Max asked.
“No. Spell five is the only one you got right,” Justin said.
Max stuck his tongue out. “You’re meaner than Dad.”
“Thank you.” Justin decided to take this as a compliment. His dad was a good magic teacher. “Okay. You need to think harder about the Murrieta-animata spell. If you leave animated objects animated too long, then they develop emotions.”
Max picked up one of Justin’s boxed action figures from the coffee table. Justin loved action figures. “You mean if I turn this doll into a person, it’d feel bad about being stuck in the box?” Max asked, waving the box in the air.
“Don’t touch that!” Justin cried. He snatched the box from Max. “That’s Calico Woman in her Legion of the Superladies uniform. They only made a thousand of these lovely ladies.” He looked at the box lovingly. “Isn’t that right, Calico Woman?”
No one in my family understands my collection, Justin realized. Not only was each action figure worth a lot of money, but each had a personality, a story, and a fabulous superpower. He knew so much about each figure, they felt like friends.
“So what you’re saying is, there’s nine hundred ninety-nine other guys who couldn’t get a girl to talk to them,” Max joked.
“Don’t listen to him,” Justin whispered to Calico Woman. His brother had a lot to learn—about magic and about action figures!
“Riley broke up with you?” Harper’s eyes widened. Her best-friend radar had immediately sensed something was wrong when Alex ran over to her in line at one of the street-fair food carts.
“Yeah, but I’m being really strong.” Alex’s lip quivered.
“Well, that’s good.” Harper reached for the sugary doughnut stick the man in the cart handed to her. “You want some churro?”
“Sure.” Alex suddenly burst into sobs. “Riley used to buy food and let me eat some of it,” she said sadly.
Harper nodded sympathetically. “You guys were so good together.” She just couldn’t imagine why Riley would dump Alex. “Remember that time you went to see the penguins?” She waddled like a penguin for a few steps.
Alex cringed at Harper’s charades. “Oh. That did look weird,” she said, remembering when she did the same thing in front of Riley. How many other weird things did I do in front of him? she wondered.
“Hey, Alex,” a voice suddenly said.
She looked up to see Ken Walsh from her math class standing in front of her. He was holding Lane Redmond’s hand. They had been dating for almost a month.
“Uh, I heard that you and Riley broke up.” Ken nervously brushed his blond hair off his forehead. He gazed at Alex longingly. “What do you say you and I go out?”
“Um, excuse me, Ken?” Lane asked haughtily. “Hi. Uh, we’re going out.” She raised her hand, which was still holding his. “Like right now.”
“Yeah, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that,” Ken said casually. He smiled at Alex. “This will only take a second. Wait for me.” Then he pulled Lane a few steps down the street to talk to her alone.
Alex rolled her eyes. She’d laugh if she weren’t so sad about Riley. “I can’t believe Riley thinks I’m jealous,” she complained to Harper. Then her despair quickly changed to anger. “You know, Riley would be jealous, too, if I were looking at other guys all day,” she pointed out. Suddenly a plan started to churn in her head. A plan to get Riley back.
“You know what you should do?” Harper said. “You should have an open and honest talk with Riley to establish trust. Then, you’ll have a firm foundation for the future.”
“Ew.” Alex stepped back in disgust. “That sounds like something old couples in their twenties would do.”
“Then what are you thinking?” Harper asked.
“I’m thinking I’ll find a boyfriend who’s cuter than Riley, make him jealous, and then he’ll want to get back together with me,” Alex said.
“Yeah.” Harper smiled. That did sound like a good plan! “What am I thinking? We’re not in our twenties.” She and Alex laughed.
“So, see any cute guys around here?” Harper asked as they walked through the fair.
Alex scanned the street. A bunch of guys from school, no one really . . . and then she spotted him. He was tall, with dark hair. Alex stared. He was perfect. There was only one teeny, tiny problem. He wasn’t alive. He was a mannequin in a store window!
So what if he’s just a mannequin, Alex thought. A little magic can cure that.
The first thing she had to do was distract Harper. “Hey, Harper, did you see that booth where they sell rock families with the eyes glued on them?” Alex asked.
“Where?” Harper squealed. She absolutely loved rock families. They were so incredibly adorable!
“Around the corner where—” Before Alex could finish her sentence, Harper dashed off in search of the r
ock families. Alex glanced around. No one was watching. She quickly climbed into the display window. Reaching into the sleeve of her shirt, she pulled out her magic wand and pointed it toward the cute mannequin. “Murrieta-animata,” she chanted.
There was a quick flash of bright light. Then the mannequin moved. He stepped stiffly off his platform.
“Ow. That pole hurts,” he said.
“Well, hello, handsome,” Alex greeted him with a grin. She tucked the wand back into her sleeve.
“Hello to you,” he said. The mannequin seemed surprised to hear his own voice. “Hello. Hello. I can say hello. Why can I say hello?”
“I’ll explain that later.” Alex figured it was better not to get into the details. “The important thing is, I’m Alex and your name is . . . Manny. Yeah, Manny. Last name Kinn. Manny Kinn.” That’s good, Alex thought. Real good. “Okay. And you’re my new boyfriend.”
“Whoa. This is moving too fast. I just got off that pole!” Manny protested.
Alex grabbed his hand and pulled him from the display and out into the street. “Let’s go!” she exclaimed excitedly.
Just wait until Riley sees me with my new boyfriend, Alex thought. It was time to begin Operation Jealousy.
Chapter Three
Alex and Manny walked through the busy street fair. Manny stopped every few seconds to gasp at the amazing sights. A stop sign. A hot dog. A miniature poodle. He couldn’t believe how awesome the world was!
Alex searched the crowd for Riley. She wanted to walk by casually with her new boyfriend. Let him check out Manny. But she didn’t see him anywhere.
She sighed and bought a can of soda from a street cart. Flicking open the top, she handed the can to Manny, offering him the first sip.
Manny inspected the shiny metal can, then lifted it and poured the soda over his head!
“No!” Alex grabbed the can. She forgot how little Manny knew about the real world. She ripped the paper off a straw, popped it in the soda, and handed the can back to him.
Manny smiled, then poured the soda on his head again.
Yikes! Alex reached for the can and, at that moment, spotted Riley standing by a booth that was selling T-shirts. He was definitely watching her.
Alex pretended not to know Riley was there. She opened a second straw, pushed it into the can, and then snuggled close to Manny as they both sipped the soda, cheek to cheek.
A little while later, Alex spotted Riley sitting at a table outside a pizzeria. Riley pulled a newspaper open and acted as if he were reading it. Alex totally knew he was watching her and Manny. Score!
“You know, you look so familiar. Where do I know you from?” Manny suddenly said.
Alex whirled around. Who was he talking to? Oh, no! Manny was a having a conversation with a plastic pizza-guy statue by the front door of a pizzeria.
“You know, you look just like my uncle. But they took him away a long time ago.” Manny didn’t seem to realize that the plastic statue wasn’t alive. “I mean, that’s okay, because, I mean, it was just me in the window then for a while.”
Alex grabbed Manny and pulled him down the street. She couldn’t imagine what Riley was thinking. They stopped in front of a plastic duck game. The ducks floated in a circle in a small pool. Manny clapped his hands in delight. He pulled a pink plastic duck from the water and presented it to Alex.
“Uh . . .” Alex was getting a little freaked out. She turned to leave and spotted Riley poking his head out from behind a row of stuffed animals at a nearby booth. He was spying on her. Her plan was working!
Alex turned back to Manny. She accepted the plastic duck and smiled at him.
Meanwhile, Harper headed into the Waverly Sub Station, searching for Alex. She hadn’t been able to find her again at the street fair. She hoped she wasn’t off in a corner depressed about Riley.
But Alex wasn’t in the restaurant, so Harper sat down next to Max and placed a box on the table. She pulled off the lid and showed him her new rock family nestled inside. “This is my mom, my dad, my grandma, and me,” she explained.
“Your dad’s a pirate?” Max peered closely at one of the painted little rocks.
“Oh, my gosh! One of my dad’s eyes fell off! Nobody move! Nobody move!” Harper screamed. She dropped to her hands and knees, searching the floor for a tiny googly eye.
Max got up and walked away from Harper. She’s on her own with this one, he decided. He sat next to Justin at the counter. Justin was wearing science-lab goggles and plastic gloves. He was cleaning the side of a doll’s box with a cotton swab. “What are you doing?” Max asked.
“I’m cleaning Calico Woman, because I’m selling her on the Internet. Well, her and Man Boy. Even the box has to be in mint condition.” He rubbed off a small fingerprint. “Oh, by the way, did you clean your room or just shove everything under the bed?”
“Cleaning my room is shoving everything under the bed. That’s why beds have an underneath,” Max told him pointedly.
“Hey, everybody,” Alex called as she and Manny entered the restaurant. He had a bewildered look on his face. “This is my new boyfriend, Manny.”
Manny stepped up to the counter. “Hey, everybody.” He smiled proudly. “I can say hello.”
“Uh, hello. I’m Justin.” Justin held out his right hand. But Manny totally ignored it and walked away. Strange dude, Justin thought. “Uh . . . Alex. What happened to Riley?” he asked.
Alex rolled her eyes. “We broke up, like, an hour ago. Where have you been?” Brothers were a little slow when it came to relationships, Alex realized.
Alex looked at Justin and smiled. “After grieving over Riley for fifteen minutes, I met Manny and it was love at first sight,” she told him. She turned to her new boyfriend. “Right, Manny?”
“Right,” Manny agreed.
Just then, Alex cringed. Manny had taken several straws out of the canister and stuck them behind his ears. He looked ridiculous! “No,” she mouthed to him as she removed the straws.
Manny grinned. “I didn’t even know what it was like to feel alive until I met Alex,” he told Harper, who was still crawling around the floor, trying to find her rock dad’s missing eye.
“Aw, that’s so sweet. You guys make such a cute couple,” Harper cooed. “Alex, it’s like Manny was made for you!”
“You have no idea,” Alex quipped, nervously watching Manny inspect the salt shaker. “Manny, this is Harper.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m looking for an eye,” Harper explained.
“Oh.” Manny raised his hand toward his face.
“No.” Alex batted his hand away. She pulled Manny back toward the counter. “And my brother, Max. And my older brother, Justin. And those are Justin’s dolls.” She pointed to the pile of display boxes on the counter.
“Found it!” Harper suddenly cried. She stood up, holding a tiny speck between her fingers. She peered at, it then shook her head. “Oh, this isn’t my dad’s eye. It’s a button.” She examined it more closely. “Wait, buttons don’t have legs. It’s a bug!” She screamed, dropped the bug, and bolted out the door. She bumped into Riley, who was just walking in.
Riley watched Harper run by and then slowly walked into the restaurant. “Alex. Can I talk to you for a second?” he asked.
“I don’t know.” Alex was playing it cool. She didn’t want Riley to know how happy she was to see him. “Manny and I are pretty busy talking about how I don’t get jealous, but”— she glanced at Manny stuffing napkins into his mouth and quickly changed her plan—“sure.”
She followed Riley to a booth in the corner.
“I feel horrible about our breakup. I was stupid,” Riley admitted. “I didn’t know what it felt like to feel jealous until I saw you with that guy over there.” He nodded his head toward Manny, who was now pelting cotton swabs at Max and Justin.
“His name is Manny,” Alex said. Riley is so cute when he’s apologizing, she thought.
“I prefer to call him ‘that guy over there,’” Ril
ey grumbled.
“What are you saying, Riley? You want to get back together?” Alex asked.
“I would. Yes,” he admitted.
“Well, I don’t—” Alex wanted him to sweat it out a bit. One . . . two . . . That’s long enough, she thought. “Okay.”
“Really?” He looked relieved. “Well, what about ‘that guy over there’?”
“Oh, don’t worry. Manny’s used to being ‘stood up.’” Alex laughed at her joke. Then she noticed Riley’s confused expression. “It’s a— it’s an inside thing,” she tried to explain. “Stood up.” She chuckled. It was too bad Riley couldn’t appreciate her fabulous sense of humor.
She led a happy Riley out the door, promising to meet him back at the fair in a few minutes, and found Manny sitting alone at a table playing with the sugar packets. She guessed Justin and Max were in the kitchen. There was no one else in the restaurant.
“You’re breaking up with me?” Manny asked, having overheard her conversation.
“Yes. And you’re okay with it because I’m going to turn you back into a mannequin,” she said brightly.
“All right,” Manny agreed.
She slipped her wand out of her sleeve. She pointed it toward Manny and said, “Garibay-immobilitay.”
But Manny continued to sit there smiling, looking exactly the same. “Huh?” Alex wasn’t sure why the spell hadn’t worked.
“Okay, one more time. Garibay-immobilitay.”
But nothing happened. Her spell wasn’t working. Manny was the same as before. She still had a living mannequin.
She noticed Justin coming out of the kitchen. “Excuse me. Stay,” she told Manny. She cornered her brother. “Uh, Justin. A question, completely out of the blue. What’s the spell to unanimate something you’ve brought to life?”
“Garibay-immobilitay,” Justin replied.
Alex shrugged. “Oh. Well, I tried.” She walked back to Manny and gave him a huge smile. “So, Manny, this is your lucky day. You’re free to live your life. You’ll do great out there, a handsome kid like you.” She grabbed his hand and guided him toward the door. “Okay. You enjoy.” She waved as she gave him a push out into the bustling streets.
All Mixed Up Page 4