Dangerous Territory

When Austin Moon started his first day of school, what he didn't expect was to be pulled into the investigation that his parents were looking into. He definitely didn't expect to assess the main suspect from only 5ft away. And he certainly didn't expect to fall for the said suspect's girlfriend. It's going to be a long first term...

Prologue/Chapter 1: Schools and Settings

"So where exactly are we going?"

Dez and Austin sat in the car on the never-ending trip.

"Some place in Miami. Coral something or...no wait it's called Coral Gables."

"Weird name," Austin remarked.

"So you'll be going to Marino High School, home of the Manatees. It's a nice school from what I've read. Their main local rivals are the Miami High Stingarees"

"Cool"

They sat and watched the trees whiz past as they drive to Florida.

"This is going to be a long trip," Austin sighed.

"Oh don't worry man, I brought all my Katy Perry CDs so we could sing along."

"That's not any better than before. Actually scratch that, that makes this whole situation worse. I hate to break it to you man, but singing is not your thing. And you don't sound like her when you do."

"This is the real me Austin! You can't stop me following my dreams!" Dez yelled.

Dez then proceeded to belt out the chorus of Roar.

Yes. This was definitely going to be a very long trip.

The two of them stopped outside the school.

"Welcome to Miami High, home of the Manatees!" Dez exclaimed excitedly. "Did you know it is one of the highest ranked schools in the country?"

"So why are we here then?" Austin asked quizzically, cocking his head to one side.

"I can tell someone didn't read their introductory papers"

"Hey! I skimmed them over, I'll have you know!"

Dez rolled his eyes. "You're lucky to have me you know."

"Trust me, I know. Hurry up and get to the point! Why are we here?"

"Okay, Okay, don't have a heart attack there...Basically one of the students was found dead in a street near here. Preliminary tests point to drug overdose, but the investigators think it could be a cover-up for something more questionable."

"What? Like murder or something?"

"No stupid. Something like getting trampled by horses - of course murder!"

"But why am I standing outside this school?"

"Because your parents want you to get an education, even while they're investigating murder?"

"But it's not a school day."

Dez looked confused. "Don't you want to look around?"

"Won't it be locked?"

"Oh." Dez paused. "I hadn't though of that."

Austin mentally facepalmed. Sometimes even the simplest of things escaped Dez, who could recite the entire storyline of the Zaliens movie arc if you asked.

"I guess we'll just go home then..." Dez was totally flustered. To be fair though, Dez preferred to be home schooled, because as a child, he'd wanted to be a filmmaker, so his parents had just specialised him in that, with smaller portions of other subjects on the side. Naturally, his social skills had kinda suffered a blow. I didn't really mind. We had known each other for years, and understood each other well enough to be brothers.

Austin wasn't sure what he'd do without Dez. Dez had been there on the nights that Austin's parents hadn't made it home and Austin had automatically assumed the worst. Dez was the only person who knew that his parents worked in dangerous situations like investigating murderers. Austin relied on Dez when he couldn't rely on his own judgement. Austin couldn't even count the amount of times that they'd watched Zalien movies until the sun came up because he couldn't sleep.

As they got back into the car, Austin breathed in the smell of salted caramel chocolate and old burger wrappers. Dez's car smelt just like his room (and all of his clothes for that matter). It smelt like a safe haven. Dez was always there when Austin needed a friend the most.

Dez was quiet the whole ride home. But as they pulled up outside Austin's apartment which he "shared" with his parents, Dez cleared his throat.

"I drove us there because...I'm going to go with you."

"What? To school?"

"...Yes."

"Really?"

"...Yes," Dez looked at Austin's face. He bit his bottom lip slightly.

Austin smiled. "That's so exciting!"

Dez's face relaxed, but tension was still lingering in his eyes.

Austin tilted his head to the side and put his hand on his best friend's shoulder. "You'll be fine. Tell you what, I'll come over on Monday morning and help you get ready. You'll be fine, trust me."

"Okay."

"Okay," Austin replied. "I'll see you tomorrow, good buddy."

"You too, man"

And with that, Austin stepped out of the car and walked to the main door of the apartment block. He frantically searched through his badly packed backpack for his key. He breathed a sigh of relief as he fished the small keychain from (naturally) the bottom of his bag.

As he waited in the elevator, he mentally prepared himself for this next chapter of his life. Same characters, same plot, just a different setting.

The doors opened and he walked to his front door.

Breathe in, breathe out, repeat.

Nothing is going to change.

Welcome to Dangerous Territory, my latest exploration of the A&A AU world.

I shall be your lovely author and feel free to express your feels through Reviews or PMs anytime.

I hope to update bi-weekly (every second week) due to family, school and sporting committments, but that will change seasonally.

I aim to have around a thousand words per chapter, just to stretch my writing ability and to keep chapters interesting.

(Obviously this chapter functions mainly as a prologue.)

-Lexiconicy xoxo