And so here is chapter 3. To be honest I had most of this written a while back but I wasn't able to find in what direction I want the story to go in. But after a few movies I decided what I wanted to do. So here it is!

Also, some of you might be wondering if this is going to be Jackson/Alex and it will, in a platonic bromantic way that could, and will if I have it my way, get misconstrued for amusement purposes.

Chapter 3

Alex was not expecting at all for Jackson to be standing on the other side of his front door with a rather annoyed expression at seven in the morning the next day. But that's how his day starts out. With him just only having gotten dressed minutes before opening the front door and Jackson, dressed and ready for school, standing outside with a face that told him he would have to do what Jackson ordered him to do or the other would kill him.

Alex only has two questions at this point; One; How did Jackson know where he lived? And Two; Why was Jackson standing at his door at seven in the morning on a Tuesday? School didn't start until a little after half-eight.

He answers his first question by himself, of course Jackson would know where he lived. Beacon Hills was a small town, one where everyone knew who everyone was and had lived with them as neighbors for so many years they pretty much knew each other like the back of their hands.

Besides the town probably didn't get that many newcomers nowadays, he knew his and his sister's arrival was big news, where they lived had likely been one of the details mentioned about them.

Alex didn't know if he liked the thought of a bunch of strangers' knowing where he lived but shrugged it off. Jackson wasn't so bad and it was seemingly, from what he had observed and watched on TV, a small town thing.

His second question is answered when Jackson all but tosses his phone at Alex who manages to catch it and looks down at the screen.

"Oh." Is his reaction as he realizes what has put Jackson in his rather unfortunate foul mood. Which had nothing to do with the other male not being a morning person.

"Oh?" Jackson mocks him as the blonde continues to g;are at the Argent still standing on his front porch. "That's your reaction? Your only reaction? Not a 'sorry Jackson but I gave the Vet your number instead of my own?' Or even a 'sorry, I didn't mean to do that without your permission?'"

Alex winces. "Okay," he sighs as he scratches the back of his head and steps over the threshold and closes the door behind him, he didn't want his parents or Alison to hear anything about the dog. It wouldn't end well for anyone, especially the dog, if his parents knew.

They had something against all dogs for some reason. And Alex didn't want to be known as the boy with dog hating parents. That type of fact on his personal History would not look good.

"I know that you are angry. I get it. But I couldn't do my own phone number. My parents' don't like dogs and would kill me if they knew I had helped a dog."

Jackson sends him a look that screams that he doesn't believe Alex as he starts to walk beside the male. After all, what kind of person hated dogs? Especially weak, very much helpless, dogs that were shivering in the cold.

Chris and Victoria Argent apparently.

"I'm serious," Alex refutes the silent 'really?' aimed at him. "They don't like Dogs at all." He'd had to sit through one too many talks about putting down vicious but innocent dogs during awkward family dinners with his Grandparents and Aunt. He didn't want to have to sit through another about saving animals that shouldn't even exist let alone be seen.

God, Alex sighed mentally in resigned confusion, what the hell did his weird family have against dogs? He tells Jackson this as they continue to walk down the path, leaving out the detail of awkward family dinners filled with pleased looks about killing dogs.

Unfortunately Jackson doesn't need to hear about the family dinners to figure out that something else is there. He scoffs, shaking his head. "Your parents are weird."

Alex doesn't say anything to show is disagreement with the statement. He doesn't really disagree. "So," he asks as soon as they reach Jackson's car and they get in, "what brings you here at his time of morning?"

Jackson sends him a annoyed look as he puts his keys into the car and ignites the engine. "Did you read the text?" The blond asks as he revs. Alex shakes his head. He didn't get the chance to read the text, not when he had been to busy apologising to Jackson. Jackson makes a sound in the back of his throat that sounds disappointed before he speaks once more. "The Vet says the dog hasn't shown up in the Missing Pets Database, so it's a stray. He mentioned something about giving it some jags and making sure it was friendly."

Alex winces at the mention of jags, he hated the mention of them enough as it was without the thought of getting once himself. Poor dog, he thought, perhaps it would have been better off in the rain than with the Vet.

"I feel bad for the dog," he comments to Jackson who only nodded his head in response for even the blond, apparently, shared a sense of solidarity with Alex over the thought of needles.

"Nothing we can do about it," Jackson response bluntly as he turns the wheel once more to turn right. "It needs to have them. It's best that it does."

They fall into a comfortable silence and Alex positions his head slightly so that he can stare out the window at the passing sights. It was the same sight but the light from the sun made it look different then it did in the night and it took a while for Alex to recognize where they were. They were nearing the school. He glanced at the digital clock in the car and frowned, it was only half-seven now, they wouldn't have to go in for another hour.

"Food," Jackson said without anymore of a prompt than a glance at the clock, "there's a small café near the school that we sometimes go to." Alex arched an eyebrow, going to a café where both Jackson and Lydia, - he didn't have to ask if it was Lydia, she seemed like the type that would be able to convince Jackson to sit down in a cafe without any complaints from the male - what would the neighbors think?

He didn't say that out loud though, he wasn't stupid. Jackson would kill him and hide his body in a ditch somewhere that everyone in the town knew of but never spoke about it as it was said to be cursed. He halted his thoughts and glanced warily at the now glaring Jackson.

Jackson wouldn't do that. Not his style. Alex noticed they had stopped and Jackson had parked the car and was now tapping his fingers against the steering wheel. On second thought, maybe he would. This was Jackson after all and it seemed almost as if anything would set the male off.

Absently Alex's thoughts were drawn to the male he had seen playing lacrosse yesterday as he got out of the car. Scott McCall, he remembered, the guy who his sister had been eyeing with interest. He scowled, what was up with that? She had only just got in town, it was her first day at school and already she had her eye on a guy?

"What are you thinking about?" Jackson asked as soon as the waitress walked away. Alex broke out of his thoughts and looked around the café Jackson had herded him into when he wasn't paying attention. It was a small, homely quaint little building that was sending out a comfortable vibe that asked for its clients to be calm. The waiters and waitresses, all of which were dressed in matching uniforms of the male and female variations, were taking their time as they walked around and asked for orders, they weren't rushing at all.

It wasn't like San Francisco nor any of the other cities they had been at over the years at all.

"Nothing much," he says not wanting to talk about the McCall boy that Jackson had something against, the other male had been in a pleasant mood so far after the initial annoyance over Alex giving the Vet his phone number. "Just dreading how much work we'll get handed in the next few weeks."

"You're already thinking about the tests aren't you," Jackson stated blankly, "they're still months away and you shouldn't have any problems with them. The teachers," he continued to assure Alex after giving the waitress a nod of gratitude as she placed the order he had ordered for them both on the table, "will go over it anyway."

Alex relaxed at the words, while it hadn't been the most pressing matter in his head, - that was saved for Allison and McCall, - or even in the top five it had been one of them. He had heard one too many horror stories about failing grades and possible punishments to think failing was a good idea.

"So what classes do we even have today?" Alex inquires sipping on the Hot Chocolate that Jackson had ordered for him, with a shrug and answer of 'everyone likes Hot Chocolate.'

Jackson takes a bite from his sandwich before answering. "Harris. Coach. Daniels. Evans. Brooke. Evelyns. Then Lacrosse Practise." Alex doesn't comment that Jackson didn't answer his question, he just nods his head slowly and continues to drink his Hot Chocolate.

Maybe he would come again to the café one day with or without Jackson and order some more. It tasted nice.

The second day of school goes much like the first, with a few smiles and introductions of who he is and where he came from and why he was there, with the only difference being that some of his classes were with his sister.

It was a change that Alex appreciated, normally he was in classes with Jackson or Danny the only other class he had with his sister besides this one was the one taught by Harris.

A class so traumatic Alex had already forgotten the name.

Alex tries to pay attention as the teacher, Coach Finstock, continues to speak but finds himself drifting off in boredom. Coach, as Jackson shortens his name to, isn't saying anything interesting or worthwhile to the Argent male. He wasn't, like more than a few others in the class, in the Lacrosse Team and the teacher kept going on and on about it.

Alex ends up sharing a look with his sister who, like him, seemed to be fighting the need to yawn with boredom. It this was what he was going to have to sit through everyday then he really wasn't going to like this.

"Now," Coach says with a clap of his hands that pulled the older Argent out of his thoughts, "I'm sure you all heard about the girl in the woods. If you haven't... Hmm, dead girl in woods. The end." He glances around and takes in the looks being aimed at him, most of which are filled with a resigned horror at the way he was speaking of the incident.

Alex didn't make a sound but gives his sister a comforting look when she turned wide eyes towards him. Apparently his sister hadn't heard about dead girls, something that he suspected Lydia, who she had been hanging out with, had been expertly avoiding any mention of. Really, he thought, it was quite the skill, he would have to ask Jackson about it one day.

Then again, most of the students only said it in hushed voices, he had only over heard because he had been sitting behind a girl that had her sister killed.

Fortunate for him he supposed.

Unfortunate for her.

"Most of you have probably heard about it." The teacher announces without any hesitance, "in fact some of you might have even been there when it happened," narrowed and suspicious eyes gazed around the classroom.

"The Police," Coach continues on as if he hadn't just accused his entire class of murder, "has given a curfew. After school you're to go straight home, if you have lacrosse Practise you're to get picked up."

The rest of the class follows the same vein, stating things that most of the class knew already so Alex tuned him out and gazed out of the window.

That was the second time he had heard of the murders, his forehead creased, maybe something was going on in the town, perhaps he should look into it.

Inwardly he scoffed and shook his head, that was the kind of thinking that always led into a Horror Movie and Alex was fairly certain he didn't want his life to be like that. For some reason it never ended well for the characters' involved.

Let the Police look into it he thinks as he eyes slide out of the classroom, they'll be able to manage it.

It took several hours, a car trip and a 'see you tomorrow' to Jackson before Alex was back in the house he was now calling his own. His bag, previously hanging loosely on on his right shoulder and filled with books, dropped to the ground with a thud as he shrugged if off and walked towards the kitchen.

No one, he came to realize after grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl and pouring himself a drink, was in the house. He knows because his mother, father or Allison would have already started complaining about the bag had they been in.

It feels odd, he thinks as he bites into the fruit, being in the house alone. Then again, it was also the first time since they arrived in town that the entire family had something to do on the same day at the same times. Perhaps that was what he found the most odd about the situation. The simple fact that everyone but him had something to do.

He sighs and looks around. What could he do now?

He eventually settles on watching a movie he doesn't remember the name of on the TV in an attempt to pass the time. It doesn't work. Instead he finds himself scowling as he makes snide comments about the stupidity of the characters involved along with the idiotic plot line he's meant to believe had a possibility of happening. He doesn't buy it for one second. No way would any of it happen, his life wasn't a horror movie.

Looking up when the house phone rings Alex switches the TV off and goes to answer it. "Hello?" He answers as he glances at the hallway wallpaper surrounding him. He'd have to ask his mother but maybe they could change the entire thing to something else that didn't resemble a scene from his worst nightmare.

He frowned when a barely familiar baritone spoke through into his ear. Jackson, Alex thought with a scowl when the conversation had ended and he placed the phone back in its cradle, was going to die.

"Why is it," Jackson growls as he stomped behind Alex, "that every time I spend time with you outside of School it ends up involving darkness and a deserted place?"

Alex shrugged but didn't refute the statement. It was, in part, the truth after all. In the last three days Jackson had known him, two of which had ended up with them disobeying the curfew that had been set and wandering around in the dark. Neither of which the others' Girlfriend had particularly liked if Jackson's complaints were to be taken into account. How she had found out Alex didn't know but he suspected that it was due to Jackson's weak nature when it came to Lydia.

Not that the Argent male blamed the other in any way at all for being so. Lydia, he had realized in the last few days of knowing her, seemed like the type that wouldn't accept no as an answer let alone a reasonable one.

"Besides," Jackson continued on with his complaints as Alex turned the flash light towards some bushes, "it's not even my dog." Alex gave a hum in response as he repeated the motion with the flash light onto another bush. "And your not even listening are you?" Alex made a sound in agreement and only just heard Jackson's sound of annoyance at being ignored. "Come on," the blonde tried in an attempt to get an response out of Alex, "you seriously can't be angry that I gave Deacon your number."

"That's the thing!" Alex hissed back without turning his head to face Jackson. As far as he was concerned the other didn't deserve to be looked at. "My parents hate dogs! If they find out about it they might actually kill it!"

Jackson rolls his eyes and Alex might not see it but he heard it. That and he had been around Jackson enough to know that the other had been wanting to do that all afternoon since they had met up after Alex had called the blonde and Alex had been ignoring the male.

"What kind of vet is Deaton anyway?!" Alex exclaims in frustration as he turns the torch towards the trees. "What Vet allows an Animal in their care to escape? How did he not even notice it leaving the building? Its a Damn German Shepard for Gods Sake!" He pauses and Jackson almost bumps into him as another thought comes to him. "How did it even get out? I don't remember there being a Doggy Door for it to be able to get out..."

He trails off in dumbfoundment, deciding that maybe he should give it a rest. Apparently there would be no logical explanation behind the escape of an adult white German Shepard during the daytime. According to Deaton, and the Police, - when Alex had weedled Jackson into phoning for him, - there hadn't been any sightings of the animal.

Which had brought them to the current predicament they had found themselves in. Searching the woods at night when they should have been safely at home and obeying the orders of the Police and their Town wide curfew.

Jackson is quiet for a few seconds before moving in front of Alex with a shrug. "It was probably Scott." It isn't really an answer, more a loose version of the definition, but Alex understands where it comes from. Why, to Jackson, it explained everything in a neat and organised way.

Jackson hated Scott. Scott disliked Jackson. They didn't get along. Scott had suddenly gotten a boost in the sport that Jackson was good at and earned a spot on the team, the team Jackson was the Capitan on. Scott also was, according to several conversations Alex had eavesdropped while waiting in the hallways, hopeless at many things.

Ergo, to Jackson, Scott was to blame.

Completely logical. Not irrational at all. A prime example of deductive reasoning at its finest.

Alex sighed in annoyance. "Do you think we'll be able to find the dog?" He'd been about to comment about how it might not have been Scott's fault but had decided that those words might have sparked a minefield he didn't want to touch and decided against that. He'd settled on a question about the objective they had found themselves pursing.

"I don't know," is the helpful response from Jackson. "The dog would be anywhere by now. We're just going off of the idea we have that it might have returned to where you found it." A glance at the trees that surround them makes the Blonde backpeddle, "or, around where you found it."

Alex makes a face of agreement with Jacksons words. They'd already looked at the small bushes on the road where Alex had first found the dog. It hadn't been there so Jackson had suggested that maybe it was somewhere in the radius of the area but not in the same place.

The Argent hadn't been able to find a flaw in the suggestion. He hadn't known to begin with why the dog had been on the road. It might have been suffering under malnutrition but it hadn't been hit by a car. It hadn't been injured. For all intents and purposes it was a pretty healthy dog with no reason to hang around a road in the bushes.

Unless, the dark haired Argent considers, it had been abandoned. Left behind by its owner to survive, or die, by itself. The thought makes him scoff and Alex scowls down at the torch in his hands. They didn't know whose dog it was, they didn't know they story behind why it had been there. He shakes his head to erase the thought circling around it.

He was getting ahead of himself. They didn't know anything about the dog. All they did know what that it had been near the road, that he had found it, taken it - with the reluctant help of Jackson - to the Vets and then, somehow, it had escaped without anyone knowing how.

It's not anything to go on and Alex only feels more fustrated as the realisation settles in that they might never find the dog. That it might have disappeared, that it might have not even existed in the first place and he had made it all up to give himself something to do in this spectacularly boring town.

He's about to speak his thoughts when he turns the light of the torch to Jackson. Jackson who hadn't moved an inch since he had moved a few spaces in front of Alex. Alex frowns in confusion as he moves beside the frozen male.

What he does see he doesn't expect to see.

"I think," he comments idly as he continues to stare in the same direction as Jackson, "we know why the dog stayed around here."

After all, if Greyfriars Bobby could stay loyally beside the grave of his owner, why couldn't the German Shepard do the same beside the car crash of its deceased owners?