12

For seven days, Alex didn't have to work in the shop. Every day, she, Kevin and eighteen other kids entered the basement garage with loud music blaring, the windows rattling and the fixtures vibrating from the noise and dancing steps. In order to promote the show and make money, Jerry had a "Guess That Song" contest in the shop for whatever customer could identify the tune pounding through the floor and walls. The prize was for a week's worth of free sandwiches, and for the first day, they had almost a hundred guesses, five hundred by Wednesday and clear over a thousand by the end of the week when he closed the contest. Justin kept track of the guesses on his computer, but the problem was… no one had any idea just what Alex was singing. Guesses ranged from N' Sync, The Backstreet Boys and The Beatles to The Monkees, Abba, Smashmouth and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. One customer thought it was "In Gadda Da Vida" by Iron Butterfly. Another customer guessed "Objects in The Rear View Mirror Might Be Closer Than They Are" by Meatloaf. Justin thought it was "Rock And Roll All Night Long" by KISS then tried to sneak in to find out, but Kevin's cronies caught him and chased him from the scene. Whatever it was, Alex had insecurely hidden her rehearsing for the talent show.

On Friday night, Jerry was wearing a shirt and tie and was at the school at six for the show, family camcorder in hand, with Theresa in her nicest dress and both Justin, Harper and Max with them. To Harper, this was a date, but Justin sat Max between them to disillusion her. Alex's nemesis, Gigi Daniels, was there to escort them nicely but rudely to their fifth floor seats, but the hardest part of the night was bearing through all the acts… eighteen music acts ranging from pop to rock to jazz and rap music along with two comedy acts. Seventeen-year-old Jason Loomis compared the school to the state penitentiary and made fat jokes at the expense of Mr. Laritate, the principal, but cute Spenser Tucker in her white dress mocked and made fun of her parents and her family tree. A few more music acts, Wanda Shapiro had a magic act, and a few Goth kids droned on through a song no one could identify. Through it all, proud and disillusioned parents taped their kid's acts…

"Sounds like American Idol early auditions…" Max commented and Justin cracked up laughing.

"Good thing Alex is at the end…" Justin whispered back. "Her voice will clear the school out…"

"Guys…" Theresa glared at them with a look. The audience clapped for the second to last act as Miss Tisdale announced the last act for the night.

"Ladies and gentlemen…" Miss Tisdale addressed the packed auditorium. "For our last act, I want to introduce a young lady who has come so far so fast in the last month. To tell the truth, we the teachers have been scared to death that we'd have her in our classes again next year, but now… we are so proud to having had the chance to know her. Ladies and gentlemen, Alex Russo, Kevin Mitchell and friends…"

"And friends?" Jerry and Theresa looked to Justin.

"I honestly have no idea what she's doing." Justin answered as Jerry raised his camera to tape his daughter singing. The curtain parted to Alex alone on stage with slow music playing. Her dark hair combed out a bit long, she stood alone in a nice red dress in a solitary spotlight surrounded by darkness with Kevin coming out to her while wearing the schools white work-out outfit.

"Living in my own world…" Kevin began with a song from a Disney movie. Alex turned to face him as if she were a Disney princess. "Didn't understand… that anything can happen when you take a chance…."

"I never believed…" Alex lifted the microphone to her lips. "What I couldn't see. I never opened my heart…" Kevin added to the tune a bit. "To all the possibilities…." She looked to Kevin in love with him, a faint tear rolling down her face.

"I know that something has changed…"

"Never felt this way…"

"And right here tonight…"

"This could be the start of something new…" The voices joined in the one spotlight. Their classmates in the auditorium were getting excited. "It feels so right to be here with you, and now looking in your eyes…. I feel in my heart… the start of something new." The music changed to another tune from High School Musical and the lights on stage went on to reveal all the other kids from the Russo family garage. The costumes were identical, the faces nearly the same… the whole school cheered excited with this final act turning into a major spectacle.

"Together, together… together everyone…" The pulse was pounding. Classmates backstage were singing along. Teenagers in the audience started clapping, rising and pounding their fists and cheering near their parents.

"Together, together, come on, let's have some fun…" Alex and Kevin parted as their friends took the stage.

"Together, we're there for each other every time…" The kids had the dance moves down as they moved in beat and together in harmony.

"Together, together, come on, let's do this right…" The entire was clapping along except Jerry taping Alex on stage.

"Here and now, it's time for celebration…" Kevin had the Troy role down with Alex as his Gabriella. "I finally figured it out… that our dreams have no limitations. That's what it's all about!"

"Everyone is special in their own way…" Alex belted out her lyrics as well as the actress before her. "We make each other strong… We're not the same… we're different in a good way… Together is where we belong!!!"

"Together, together… together everyone…" The auditorium was reverberating with several voices everywhere singing the songs of the most successful Disney movie ever made. Theresa was dancing before her seat. Justin was actually proud of Alex and felt proud to be her brother, but Max didn't understand why everyone was jumping around as if they had ants in their pants. Off to the side, two more Tribeca Prep students who had started the show earlier on looked oddly familiar…

"I don't know why…" Zack Bolton of the school basketball team spoke up. "But every time I hear this song, it creeps me out."

"You too?" His girlfriend, Vanessa Montez, responded.

"We're all here…" Gigi's younger brother, Adam, came down the center in a white outfit and white hat. "And speaking out with one voice. We're going to rock the house. The party's on now, everybody make some noise. Come on and shout…" His friends lifted him up as a cute blonde came out.

"We've arrived because we stuck together… champions one and all…" It was Samantha Danvers! Shocked to see her, Jerry looked over to her father, Professor William Danvers, but he directed Jerry to look over to the side and notice Jerold Flick in a dark suit and red vest with the other parents gesturing to Jerry. He had finally caught that wild child as well and corrected her through the same process as Alex.

"We're all in this together…" Samantha joined the front row with Kevin and Alex and other students who looked like the roles of the blockbuster movie. "Once we know that we are we're all stars, and we see that we're all in this together…" They all showed a lot of hard work in duplicating the moves from the movie. The audience, the whole school, the entire building was applauding the whole act.

"And it shows… when we stand… hand in hand…. Makes our dreams come true…" Alex was standing with them in the show, singing… dancing… living her dream… her dark locks bouncing on her shoulders as Kevin and her vision came together as one. She could see her father grinning ear to ear at her. He was never so proud of her now as he had ever been. His baby girl was singing her heart out… she was going to be all right, and he had proof. He was going to watch this tape over and over and over and over… He was going to post this on the family Internet site and share it with all his friends. His chest bursting with pride, he was going to share this someday with his grandkids…

"Wow, mommy, you were really pretty…" A child's voice echoed.

"I'd like to think I still am…" It was several years later, and Alex was a beautiful woman at twenty-nine with two preschoolers and a husband who was the creator of two successful TV shows. Professor Danvers had successfully won the "Guess That Song" contest for the act that had vaulted her into her career as a singer and actress. She now lived about two hours from the center of Hollywood in a nice split-level Dutch Colonial with a swimming pool and downstairs exercise studio. Her last two movies were successes, even if her one TV series was not, but her last album was in the top ten list for two weeks and the top forty for just over a month. Her best friends included Hannah Montana, Demi Lovato, Kellie Picker and Taylor Swift. She had acted alongside Nicolas Cage, Hugh Jackman, Jack Nicholson and Robert DeNiro. She adjusted her long hair in her foyer mirror, checked her watch and looked up to Kevin adjusting his cufflinks.

"Mom…" Alex adjusted her wrap and looked to her mother visiting from the East Coast. "I'm not sure how long this thing is going to last. Can you keep things held down to after midnight?"

"Honey…" Theresa was still very attractive even in her sixties. Only the vague traces of graceful white hair illuminated her dark hair and the vague wrinkles of time lit up her face. "If I can take care of you and your brothers, I can handle two little pixies…"

Alex's daughter, Sophie, and son, Nick, lifted their giggling cherubic faces.

"I can't believe your brother can't be here to cheer you on…" Coming from the kitchen with a plate of snacks, Jerry was heavier now with a head of snowy white hair and laughing wrinkles around his eyes with a trimmed mustache and beard tinted with white hair. "I know he's busy now, but he can't take the time off to spend it with you?"

"Dad!" Alex posed as Kevin helped her with her wrap over her shoulders. "Justin's the freaking Vice President of the United States! He doesn't have time for this stuff!" Outside the house, a limo pulled into the circular driveway to take Alex and Kevin to the People's Choice Awards. "But if Max shows up, please stop him from teaching the kids wizard spells. Kevin doesn't like it…" Her husband sighed tiredly. "And besides, Justin and I did not give up our powers to him to teach our kids to be juvenile delinquents!!!"

"I promise…" Jerry held his hand up to God as Theresa made a face. "I will not let Max teach the kids any Wizard spells."

"Fine…" Alex turned on her heel like a movie star out to the limo with Kevin holding the door for her.

"Why did I marry into a family of wizards…" Kevin mumbled as he followed Alex to accept her People's Choice Award. He closed the door and followed his beautiful wife the vocalist and actress. In the house, Jerry was hiding a grin and turned to Teresa holding his granddaughter.

"Jerry…" Theresa was scolding him. "You lied! You're the one who's been teaching the grand-kids those tricks!"

"It's a grandfather's right to spoil his grandkids rotten as revenge for what I went through with their mother." Jerry announced with a laugh. "Now, you give them the candy and sweets you brought from home and I'll…" He looked to the munchkins. "Hey, who wants to learn to fly through the house?!!!"

The little Justin and Alex clones squealed giddily through the house and raced to hug their grandpa laughing out loud for teaching little Sophie and Nick how to drive their mother crazy.

END